{"id":169958,"date":"2026-02-26T11:27:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T11:27:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/169958\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T11:27:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T11:27:07","slug":"bill-medley-brings-the-righteous-brothers-to-fort-myers-fort-myers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/169958\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill Medley brings The Righteous Brothers to Fort Myers – FORT MYERS"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n
\n
\n \/Arts & Entertainment
\n
\n <\/a>
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n <\/p>\n


\n \"article <\/p>\n


\n <\/p>\n

Bill Medley, co-founder of The Righteous Brothers, will perform songs by The Righteous Brothers with Bucky Heard Friday night at the Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall on the campus of Florida Southwestern State College in Fort Myers. Photo provided<\/p>\n


\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n <\/p>\n

Legendary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame singer Bill Medley is best known for his smooth baritone voice on the mega-hit \u201cYou\u2019ve Lost That Lovin\u2019 Feeling\u201d by The Righteous Brothers, the most-played radio song in American history.<\/p>\n

But in the early days of the group, he was equally-well known for his high range and Little Richard inspired shouting on songs like their 1962 groundbreaking hit \u201cLittle Latin Lupe Lu,\u201d which led to him and singing partner Bobby Hatfield touring with The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, and ultimately to one of the great runs in rock history.<\/p>\n

On Friday, Medley will be in Fort Myers performing memorable hits from The Righteous Brothers like \u201cJust Once In My Life,\u201d \u201cSoul and Inspiration\u201d and \u201cUnchained Melody\u201d with Bucky Heard at the Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall.<\/p>\n

At 85, Medley said it\u2019s the audience that keeps him still performing on stage. \u201cI love the music and I am very proud of the songs we were fortunate to have hits with but it\u2019s really the crowd that makes the whole thing work. It\u2019s the major piece of the puzzle. The travel is the only thing that wears us out,\u201d Medley said. <\/p>\n

Medley, who lives in California, said he expects to do 40-50 concerts this year. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to slow it down,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Fort Myers show will be the beginning of the tour. \u201cIn our mind, this is our starting off point for the tour,\u201d Medley said. Medley said he looks forward to getting back on the stage. \u201cI am really a one-trick pony. I am a singer. That\u2019s what I do. I used to play golf. I used to play racketball and tennis.\u201d<\/p>\n

When he is not singing these days, Medley said he likes to go out to dinner with friends. His wife Paula died in 2020. He is still close with actress and singer Connie Stevens, who he used to date. He counts Beach Boys singer Mike Love, singer Dion DiMucci and songwriter Paul Williams as friends.<\/p>\n

Medley said most of his close friends are gone now, like musician Glen Campbell, country singer Kenny Rogers and Beach Boys singer Brian Wilson,<\/p>\n

Medley said that when he and Wilson were recording in the 1960\u2019s, they would go listen to each other. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe used the same studio at the same time,\u201d Medley said. \u201cA lot of times he would come in to my studio and say \u2018Bill, I need you to come and listen to what I\u2019m doing. I need your ears,’\u201d Medley said. \u201cI would do the same thing with Brian. This was before he went off the rails. I still stayed in contact with him when he was off the rails a little bit and he was just a good friend. He was just too sweet for this business.\u201d<\/p>\n

Medley said while he was friends with Elvis Presley and would spend a lot of time with him when they both sang at the Hilton International in Las Vegas for five years, he doesn\u2019t feel he knew him well away from the stage. They would sit down and talk at Presley\u2019s dressing room with his hairdresser before shows but he feels he didn\u2019t get to \u201creally hang out with him\u201d and get to know him better. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe got to know each other real well,\u201d Medley said of his friendship with Presley. \u201cWe had a lot in common. He was a real great guy. People say \u2018well how was Elvis to talk to\u2019 and I say man, all the entertainers one-on-one are just wonderful. It\u2019s just when the management gets around and other people and the wives and it starts to be Elvis Presley.\u201d <\/p>\n

They would perform several shows a night in Las Vegas, with Medley going on as late as 2 a.m. at one point. Medley said he would be performing three shows a night at one point. Medley stopped performing in Las Vegas in the 1970\u2019s after losing his voice. He had to get voice lessons from his old high school choir teacher to learn how to sing again, and changed his diet. \u201cIt worked out. It came back and I am probably singing now about as well as I ever have,\u201d Medley said. <\/p>\n

Bobby Hatfield, who founded The Righteous Brothers with Medley, died in 2003. Hatfield sang lead on their hit \u201cUnchained Melody\u201d and sang with Medley on their other top hits including \u201cYou\u2019ve Lost That Lovin\u2019 Feeling,\u201d \u201cSoul and Inspiration,\u201d \u201cJust Once in my Life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Medley has since carried on The Righteous Brothers name with other singers. Returning to join Medley on Friday will be Bucky Heard, who sings the high notes once carried by Hatfield.<\/p>\n

The Righteous Brothers started out in California as The Paramores and had an early hit with the hard-driving rock and roll song \u201cLittle Latin Lupe Lu\u201d and were soon opening for The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. After teaming with producer Phil Spector, they began incorporating his wall of sound and teamed with songwriters Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil, Carole King, Gerry Goffin and others to develop their sound from a more blues rock and roll to more of a soul sound.<\/p>\n

Medley, who is 85, was unavailable for an interview as of press time due to scheduling conflicts, spoke to the Fort Myers Beach Observer in 2023 when he last performed in Fort Myers. In that interview, he told the Fort Myers Beach Observer about growing up in a musical family and how the he and Hatfield were inspired by the emerging rhythm and blues music around them. <\/p>\n

Medley has called Hatfield one of the greatest singers to come out of the 60\u2019s, who was like a brother to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cBobby Hatfield was an incredible singer. I miss him a lot,\u201d Medley said. \u201cA great instrument, a great, great voice. He wasn\u2019t afraid to use all of it,\u201d Medley said. \u201cIt was great standing on stage with him. We had a great rapport.\u201d<\/p>\n

Medley sang with his daughter McKenna for a while on stage during tours and has in recent years has been singing with Heard. Heard will join him Friday. McKenna was doing backup vocals as well after Heard joined him but will be at home on this tour taking care of her newborn soon.<\/p>\n

In the 90\u2019s, Medley was singing with Darlene Love for a short while. They used to date in the early 1960\u2019s, when she was singing with The Crystals. \u201cIf you can get away with it in the 60\u2019s, you are probably in good shape,\u201d Medley said of his romance with Love. \u201cWe dated and she is just one of the great ladies of the world and is a really great singer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before The Righteous Brothers, Medley was writing songs for other musicians, including The Diamonds. \u201cI enjoyed hearing other people sing my songs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

It was a song he wrote in 1962, \u201cLittle Latin Lupe Lu,\u201d which changed everything for his fortunes and which put The Righteous Brothers on the map.<\/p>\n

\u201cLittle Latin Lupe Lu\u201d combined the earnest energy of \u201cTwist and Shout,\u201d which was released earlier that year by The Isley Brothers, with the dual vocal smoothness of The Everly Brothers with the early rock and roll rhythms and shouting of Little Richard and Ray Charles. With an up-tempo rhythm in the vein of that year\u2019s hit \u201cDo You Love Me?\u201d by The Contours and that recalled \u201cYackety Yack\u201d by The Coasters, the song used lyrics that captured the dance moves of the time, in ways expressed by Chubby Checker and Sam Cooke. The only wonder is why it wasn\u2019t a bigger hit.<\/p>\n

It was on that song, that Medley deployed his signature shouting, that he reached back for on the group\u2019s biggest hits. Medley joked that that his yell comes from \u201cmy toes.\u201d He credits falling in love with Little Richard when he was 13 years old to giving him that roar. \u201cWhen I was 15 I had a high voice like Little Richard,\u201d Medley said. <\/p>\n

Asked how he wrote the song, which included a sophisticated horn arrangement, Medley said he initially intended for the song to be an instrumental. He starts humming the different horn parts over the phone during our interview.<\/p>\n

The song is about a girl Medley was dating at the time, who he refers to his song as his \u201cmashed potato\u201d in the song.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know man, I was just writing lyrics that I thought would sound good,\u201d he said of the use of the phrase in the song.<\/p>\n

The song has a slight resemblance to \u201cTwist and Shout\u201d by The Isley Brothers and later covered by The Beatles, and The Isley Brothers song \u201cShout,\u201d which was also covered by The Beatles. Medley has said the song was like a brother to \u201cShout.\u201d Earlier in 1962 when \u201cLittle Latin Lupe Lu\u201d song came out, the Coasters released \u201cDo you Love Me,\u201d a song that makes a couple references to the slang used by The Righteous Brothers in \u201cLittle Lattin Lupe Lu.\u201d The up-tempo song is a reminder of the fast-changing times of the period, going back to The Coasters\u2019 \u201cYackety Yack.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of Medley\u2019s favorite songs recorded by The Righteous Brothers is \u201cJust Once in My Life,\u201d a top 10 hit in 1965. The song was written by Carole King, Georry Goffin and Phil Spector. The Beach Boys would later cover it.<\/p>\n

Medley said the tune is \u201cjust a great song.\u201d Medley said he saw King \u201cnot long ago\u201d and chatted with her \u201cfor a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Medley said when King started writing songs for The Righteous Brothers \u201cshe was a young little girl.\u201d He and Hatfield would ask King why she didn\u2019t sing the songs herself but King said she couldn\u2019t go on stage. \u201cShe was very bashful but she did pretty good.\u201d <\/p>\n

King and Goffin were a songwriting team known for 60\u2019s hits such as \u201cThe Loco-Motion\u201d by Little Eva, \u201cWill You Love Me Tomorrow\u201d by The Shirelles and \u201cUp on the Roof\u201d by The Drifters.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t go as high as Bobby, but he (couldn\u2019t) go as low as me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ray Charles another influence. \u201cI was Ray Charles for about three years and I realized I couldn\u2019t do that. He touched not just my heart but he really touched my soul.\u201d<\/p>\n

Medley started playing piano at 17 years old after teaching himself. \u201cWe always had a piano in our house. My mom and dad had a band in Texas. My dad was from Texas and my mom was from California,\u201d Medley said. His parents had a swing band in Texas, with his dad as the saxophonist and his mom was a piano player and singer. His dad was sheriff\u2019s office deputy who worked in their communications department and had three jobs, including working as a gas station. <\/p>\n

That work ethic was clearly passed down as Medley has not only stayed busy touring into his 80\u2019s but released an album of country and rock and roll covers last year. The album featured him singing along with Michael McDonald and country singer Vince Gill.<\/p>\n

Medley and The Righteous Brothers were able to stay relevant and popular across the decades, while picking up new fans along the way in part by the use of their songs in a couple of movie blockbusters. <\/p>\n

The use of \u201cYou\u2019ve Lost That Lovin Feeling’\u201d in the 1980\u2019s box office smash \u201cTop Gun\u201d is one of the iconic scenes of the decade. Medley\u2019s hit song \u201cI\u2019ve Had The Time Of My Life\u201d with Jennifer Warnes on the soundtrack to \u201cDirty Dancing\u201d brought Medley more attention. In 1990, The Righteous Brothers gained increased popularity with the use of their song \u201cUnchained Melody\u201d in the hit movie \u201cGhost.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the use of \u201cYou\u2019ve Lost That Lovin\u2019 Feeling\u201d by Tom Cruise in \u201cTop Gun,\u201d Medley told the Fort Myers Beach Observer in 2023 that \u201cIf one of our songs is a pickup line for Tom Cruise, that\u2019s pretty good for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are a limited number of tickets still available for Friday\u2019s show, which starts at 8 p.m.<\/p>\n

For ticket information for Friday\u2019s show, visit https:\/\/www.bbmannpah.com\/events\/detail\/the-righteous-brothers-fort-myers-2026<\/p>\n


\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \/Arts & Entertainment …\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":169959,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210],"class_list":["post-169958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169958\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/169959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}