sarettah
11-09-2003, 11:02 PM
I know this is a couple of days old, but it had not been posted...
so here it is......
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/artic...2-2003Nov6.html (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10272-2003Nov6.html)
Righteous Brothers' Bobby Hatfield Dies at 63
By Adam Bernstein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, November 7, 2003; Page B09
Bobby Hatfield, 63, half of the "blue-eyed soul" duo the Righteous Brothers, which made "Unchained Melody" and "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' " enduring favorites for slow dances and romantic glances, was found dead Nov. 5 in a hotel room in Kalamazoo, Mich., shortly before a musical date that night.
A Kalamazoo Public Safety Department spokesman said the cause of death is under investigation.
The "brothers" -- Mr. Hatfield doing gospel-tinged tenor and Bill Medley singing bass -- forged a career together in the late 1950s. The ambition of the two clean-cut Southern Californians was to be a Las Vegas lounge act, but they soon found a wider demand for their work.
Under the watch of producer Phil "Wall of Sound" Spector in the mid-1960s, they created a handful of consummate pop-soul numbers that became their signature sound: slow rhythm-and-blues melodies with lush arrangements and melismatic vocal stylings.
What brought further attention was that they were two white men entering musical terrain dominated by black musicians. Mr. Hatfield's nickname was "the Blonde Bomber."
"Sometimes people with blue eyes transcended the limitations of what their color and culture can actually be," singer-songwriter Billy Joel said at the Righteous Brothers' induction in March into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. "Sometimes white people can actually be soulful. This was a life-changing idea. It changed my life."
Their best-known recordings had a popular revival a generation later when "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" was used in the hit movie "Top Gun" (1986), when Tom Cruise crooned it to Kelly McGillis, and "Unchained Melody" became the love anthem in "Ghost" (1990), starring Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore.
That newfound attention created a demand for their music, and they toured frequently. Mr. Hatfield told a reporter in Elmira, N.Y., this year that he had sung "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' " about 5,000 times.
"I get into those songs night after night, no mater how many times we do it," he joked. "And I know all the words by now."
Robert Lee Hatfield was born in Beaver Dam, Wis., and raised in Anaheim, Calif., where he helped his parents in their dry-cleaning business. He told a reporter last year that, in his youth, he drew upon black singers as his chief musical influence.
so here it is......
**************************************************
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/artic...2-2003Nov6.html (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10272-2003Nov6.html)
Righteous Brothers' Bobby Hatfield Dies at 63
By Adam Bernstein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, November 7, 2003; Page B09
Bobby Hatfield, 63, half of the "blue-eyed soul" duo the Righteous Brothers, which made "Unchained Melody" and "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' " enduring favorites for slow dances and romantic glances, was found dead Nov. 5 in a hotel room in Kalamazoo, Mich., shortly before a musical date that night.
A Kalamazoo Public Safety Department spokesman said the cause of death is under investigation.
The "brothers" -- Mr. Hatfield doing gospel-tinged tenor and Bill Medley singing bass -- forged a career together in the late 1950s. The ambition of the two clean-cut Southern Californians was to be a Las Vegas lounge act, but they soon found a wider demand for their work.
Under the watch of producer Phil "Wall of Sound" Spector in the mid-1960s, they created a handful of consummate pop-soul numbers that became their signature sound: slow rhythm-and-blues melodies with lush arrangements and melismatic vocal stylings.
What brought further attention was that they were two white men entering musical terrain dominated by black musicians. Mr. Hatfield's nickname was "the Blonde Bomber."
"Sometimes people with blue eyes transcended the limitations of what their color and culture can actually be," singer-songwriter Billy Joel said at the Righteous Brothers' induction in March into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. "Sometimes white people can actually be soulful. This was a life-changing idea. It changed my life."
Their best-known recordings had a popular revival a generation later when "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" was used in the hit movie "Top Gun" (1986), when Tom Cruise crooned it to Kelly McGillis, and "Unchained Melody" became the love anthem in "Ghost" (1990), starring Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore.
That newfound attention created a demand for their music, and they toured frequently. Mr. Hatfield told a reporter in Elmira, N.Y., this year that he had sung "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' " about 5,000 times.
"I get into those songs night after night, no mater how many times we do it," he joked. "And I know all the words by now."
Robert Lee Hatfield was born in Beaver Dam, Wis., and raised in Anaheim, Calif., where he helped his parents in their dry-cleaning business. He told a reporter last year that, in his youth, he drew upon black singers as his chief musical influence.