Bill Medley is best known for his smooth baritone voice on the mega-hit \u201cYou\u2019ve Lost That Lovin\u2019 Feeling\u201d as part the legendary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame duo The Righteous Brothers.<\/p>\n
But in the early days of the group, before they recorded the most-played radio song in American history, 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 The success of that song 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 and roll history.<\/p>\n
On Friday, Feb. 27, Medley will be returning to Fort Myers to perform 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. Medley was last here in 2023 and he said the audience reaction is why he is returning.<\/p>\n
At 85, Medley said it\u2019s the audience that keeps him still performing on stage, more than 20 years after Hatfield died in 2003. \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,\u201d Medley said. \u201cIt\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 where The Righteous Brothers started out, 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 once dated. 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 1960s, 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 got to \u201creally hang out with him.\u201d They would sit down and talk at Presley\u2019s dressing room with his hairdresser before shows often.<\/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 \u2018Man, 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
Both shared a love for motorcycles and gospel music.<\/p>\n
They would each perform regularly in Las Vegas. On some nights, each would perform two shows, with Medley going on as late as 2 a.m. at one point. Sometimes Presley would walk across the stage as Medley was performing. Medley stopped performing in Las Vegas in the 1970s 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 while they were on tour together. He died in his sleep from a heart attack in his hotel room, with cocaine in his system, tragically.<\/p>\n
Medley called Hatfield one of the greatest singers of the \u201960s, 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
Hatfield\u2019s high-tenor voice contrasted with Medley\u2019s baritone though both had exceptional range and could shift from high to low at any point in a song. \u201cI can\u2019t go as high as Bobby, but he (couldn\u2019t) go as low as me,\u201d Medley said.<\/p>\n
Hatfield sang solo on one of the group\u2019s most memorable hits \u201cUnchained Melody,\u201d where he provided his signature tenor vocals along with the backing of an orchestra produced by Phil Spector and Medley. Unbeknownst to most fans of the song, Medley is the one playing piano on the song. Medley was a self-taught pianist, picking it up from his mother who played in a swing band with his father.<\/p>\n
Medley started playing piano at 17 after teaching himself. He was inspired to play after becoming a big fan of Little Richard in the late 1950s. \u201cAfter I heard Little Richard, I wanted to do that on the piano,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\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 80s but released \u201cStraight from the Heart,\u201d an album of country and rock and roll covers last year. Among the superstar guests appearing on the album along with Medley are singers Michael McDonald and Vince Gil. \u201cIt was a real thrill,\u201d Medley said.<\/p>\n
Medley sang with his daughter McKenna for a while on stage during tours before teaming with Heard. McKenna was doing backup vocals as well after Heard joined him, and would often sing together with him on \u201cI\u2019ve Had the Time of My Life\u201d but will be at home on this tour taking care of her newborn son.<\/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. The mashed potato was a popular dance that year and the term found its way into a number of songs that year, including Dee Dee Sharp\u2019s \u201cMashed Potato Time\u201d and The Contours single \u201cDo You Love Me?\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know man, I was just writing lyrics that I thought would sound good,\u201d Medley said of the use of the phrase in the song.<\/p>\n
The song is in the same spirit as \u201cTwist and Shout\u201d by The Isley Brothers, and The Isley Brothers song \u201cShout.\u201d Medley has said the song was like a brother to \u201cShout.\u201d The up-tempo rhythm of \u201cLittle Latin Lupe Lu\u201d is a reminder of the fast-changing times of the period, going back to The Coasters\u2019 \u201cYackety Yack\u201d and the songs of Little Richard that inspired Medley.<\/p>\n
After the initial success of \u201cLittle Latin Lupe Lu,\u201d The Righteous Brothers were soon opening for The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. Feeling overshadowed, they went back into the studio with Phil Spector and began incorporating his wall of sound while teamed with songwriters Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil, Carole King, Gerry Goffin. That combination plus the backing musicianship of the Wrecking Crew developed their sound to a more soul-based, rhythm and blues sound.<\/p>\n
Medley called Mann and the late Weil to be \u201cmasters.\u201d Mann, Weil and Spector put together \u201cYou\u2019ve Lost That Lovin\u2019 Feeling\u201d and later Medley produced \u201cSoul and Inspiration,\u201d written by Mann and Weil. Medley learned from watching Spector work on \u201cYou\u2019ve Lost That Loving Feeling\u201d and other songs on how to produce songs with a rhythm section and the orchestra. Medley said Spector \u201cknew what he wanted and exactly how to get it.\u201d <\/p>\n
One of Medley\u2019s favorite songs recorded by The Righteous Brothers is \u201cJust Once in My Life,\u201d a powerful Top 10 hit in 1965 which followed the success of \u201cYou\u2019ve Lost That Feeling.\u201d The song, which features multiple rhythm changes and the signatures sounds of The Wrecking Crew and Spector\u2019s Wall of Sound, 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 and credited King for her contributions in writing it. 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 writing these songs and singing them.\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 Medley said.<\/p>\n
King and Goffin were a songwriting team known for 60s 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
Ray Charles was another major influence on Medley. \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 Medley said of his early years singing.<\/p>\n
After the success of \u201cYou\u2019ve Lost That Loving Feeling,\u201d Frank Sinatra invited The Righteous Brothers to play at The Sands Hotel in Las Vegas. The Righteous Brothers established a residency there. \u201cThere were lines to get in his show and lines to get in our show. He treated us really wonderful. I can\u2019t share all the stories,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Asked for the highlight of his career, Medley gives an unexpected answer. \u201cIt will sound crazy, but me and Bobby, one of the coolest things we ever did was open up for Jack Benny for about three weeks at the Harrah\u2019s Lake Tahoe,\u201d Medley said. Benny was \u201cjust the best,\u201d he said. \u201cHe was the sweetest, most wonderful man. We got to do some schtick with him and some monologue. He was a wonderful guy. I loved him.\u201d<\/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 1980s 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
In the \u201990s, Medley was singing with Darlene Love, the former singer of The Blossoms and The Crystals, for a short while. They used to date in the 1960s. \u201cIf you can get away with it in the \u201960s, 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
On the use of \u201cYou\u2019ve Lost That Lovin\u2019 Feeling\u201d by Tom Cruise in \u201cTop Gun,\u201d Medley said \u201cif your song is a pickup line for him, you\u2019ve got a pretty good song.\u201d<\/p>\n
There are a limited number of tickets still available for today\u2019s show, which starts at 8 p.m.<\/p>\n