Bill Medley
Encyclopedia
William Thomas Medley is an American
singer and songwriter
, best known as one half of The Righteous Brothers
.
Medley met his singing partner Bobby Hatfield
while attending California State University, Long Beach
. The pair began singing as a duo in 1962. Their first single
was "Little Latin Lupe Lu
"; their first hit was "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'
", produced by Phil Spector
in 1964. Follow-up hits included "(You're My) Soul and Inspiration
" and "Unchained Melody
".
The duo broke up in 1968, but returned with another hit in 1974, "Rock And Roll Heaven", and they continued to appear together until Hatfield's death in November 2003. The Righteous Brothers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
in March 2003 by one of their biggest fans, Billy Joel
.
Medley also had a moderately successful solo
career. In 1968, he released "Peace, Brother, Peace" and "Brown Eyed Woman" both of which were Top 40 Pop hits. In 1969, he won 2nd place at the Festival Internacional da Cançao (FIC) in Rio de Janeiro
, with the song "Evie", by Jimmy Webb
. He also released several solo albums during the 1970s and 1980s. In 1984 and 1985, he charted 5 singles on the country charts with the biggest of these being the Top 20 country hit, "I Still Do". In 1987 his duet with Jennifer Warnes
, "(I've Had) The Time of My Life
", was included on the Dirty Dancing
soundtrack
album, and the single reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100
. The song also won a 1988 Grammy Award
for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal and an Academy Award
for Best Original Song. Among his other notable songs are "Most of All You", the closing theme to the movie Major League
; "Friday Night's A Great Night For Football" from Tony Scott
's movie, The Last Boy Scout
; and the theme song for the Growing Pains
spinoff, Just The Ten of Us.
Bill Medley also recorded a vocal track for the song Lullabye on Jimmy Chamberlin
's (of Smashing Pumpkins fame) solo album, Life Begins Again
.
Bill Medley appeared in the two-part episode "Finally!" of the hit TV
show, Cheers
.
Medley's daughter, McKenna Medley, is herself a singer and as of November 2006 was performing in Branson, Missouri
as opening act for The Comets
.http://theoriginalcomets.com/_wsn/page5.html
Bill Medley currently performs at Dick Clark's American Bandstand Theater in Branson, Missouri.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
singer and songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
, best known as one half of The Righteous Brothers
The Righteous Brothers
The Righteous Brothers were the musical duo of Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield. They recorded from 1963 through 1975, and continued to perform until Hatfield's death in 2003...
.
Medley met his singing partner Bobby Hatfield
Bobby Hatfield
Robert Lee "Bobby" Hatfield was an American singer, best known as one half of the Righteous Brothers.-Early life:...
while attending California State University, Long Beach
California State University, Long Beach
California State University, Long Beach is the second largest campus of the California State University system and the third largest university in the state of California by enrollment...
. The pair began singing as a duo in 1962. Their first single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
was "Little Latin Lupe Lu
Little Latin Lupe Lu
"Little Latin Lupe Lu" was written by Bill Medley of The Righteous Brothers, who had a chart record with the song in 1963 reaching #47 on the Cashbox music chart and #49 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.-Cover versions:...
"; their first hit was "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'
You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'
"You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin" is a 1964 song by The Righteous Brothers which became a number-one hit single in the United States and the United Kingdom the following year. In 1999, the performing-rights organization Broadcast Music, Inc. ranked the song as having had more radio and television...
", produced by Phil Spector
Phil Spector
Phillip Harvey "Phil" Spector is an American record producer and songwriter, later known for his conviction in the murder of actress Lana Clarkson....
in 1964. Follow-up hits included "(You're My) Soul and Inspiration
(You're My) Soul and Inspiration
" Soul And Inspiration" was the first and only major hit for American popgroup The Righteous Brothers after parting ways with their longtime producer, Phil Spector, as well as the title track to the album...
" and "Unchained Melody
Unchained Melody
"Unchained Melody" is a 1955 song with music by Alex North and lyrics by Hy Zaret. It has become one of the most recorded songs of the 20th century, by some counts having spawned over 500 versions in hundreds of different languages....
".
The duo broke up in 1968, but returned with another hit in 1974, "Rock And Roll Heaven", and they continued to appear together until Hatfield's death in November 2003. The Righteous Brothers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,...
in March 2003 by one of their biggest fans, Billy Joel
Billy Joel
William Martin "Billy" Joel is an American musician and pianist, singer-songwriter, and classical composer. Since releasing his first hit song, "Piano Man", in 1973, Joel has become the sixth best-selling recording artist and the third best-selling solo artist in the United States, according to...
.
Medley also had a moderately successful solo
Solo (music)
In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer...
career. In 1968, he released "Peace, Brother, Peace" and "Brown Eyed Woman" both of which were Top 40 Pop hits. In 1969, he won 2nd place at the Festival Internacional da Cançao (FIC) in Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
, with the song "Evie", by Jimmy Webb
Jimmy Webb
Jimmy Webb is an American songwriter, composer, and singer. He wrote numerous platinum selling classics, including "Up, Up and Away", "By the Time I Get to Phoenix", "Wichita Lineman", "Galveston", "The Worst That Could Happen", "All I Know", and "MacArthur Park"...
. He also released several solo albums during the 1970s and 1980s. In 1984 and 1985, he charted 5 singles on the country charts with the biggest of these being the Top 20 country hit, "I Still Do". In 1987 his duet with Jennifer Warnes
Jennifer Warnes
Jennifer Jean Warnes is an American singer, songwriter, arranger and record producer. She is known for her interpretations of compositions written by herself and many others, as well as an extensive playlist as a vocalist on movie soundtracks.Between 1979 and 1987 Warnes surpassed Frank Sinatra as...
, "(I've Had) The Time of My Life
(I've Had) The Time of My Life
" The Time of My Life" is a song composed by Franke Previte, John DeNicola, and Donald Markowitz. It was recorded by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes, after having been selected to be the finale song for the 1987 film Dirty Dancing, by choreographer Kenny Ortega and his assistant Miranda Garrison...
", was included on the Dirty Dancing
Dirty Dancing (soundtrack)
Dirty Dancing is the original soundtrack of the 1987 film Dirty Dancing. The album became a huge commercial success in the USA. It spent 18 weeks at #1 on the Billboard 200 album sales charts and went multi-platinum. It spawned a follow-up album entitled More Dirty Dancing . Executive Produced by...
soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
album, and the single reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
. The song also won a 1988 Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal and an Academy Award
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
for Best Original Song. Among his other notable songs are "Most of All You", the closing theme to the movie Major League
Major League (film)
Major League is a 1989 American satire comedy film written and directed by David S. Ward, starring Tom Berenger, Charlie Sheen, Wesley Snipes, James Gammon, and Corbin Bernsen. Made for US$11 million, Major League grossed nearly US$50 million in domestic release...
; "Friday Night's A Great Night For Football" from Tony Scott
Tony Scott
Anthony D. L. "Tony" Scott is an English film director. His films include Top Gun, Beverly Hills Cop II, The Last Boy Scout, True Romance, Crimson Tide, Enemy of the State, Spy Game, Man on Fire, Déjà Vu, The Taking of Pelham 123, and Unstoppable...
's movie, The Last Boy Scout
The Last Boy Scout
The Last Boy Scout is a 1991 action film starring Bruce Willis as a former Secret Service agent, now working as a private detective, and Damon Wayans as a retired professional football player. The two join forces to solve the murder of Wayans' character’s girlfriend . The movie was produced by...
; and the theme song for the Growing Pains
Growing Pains
Growing Pains is an American television sitcom about an affluent family, residing in Huntington, New York, with a working mother and a stay-at-home psychiatrist father raising three children together, which aired on ABC from September 24, 1985 to April 25, 1992.-Synopsis:The show's premise is based...
spinoff, Just The Ten of Us.
Bill Medley also recorded a vocal track for the song Lullabye on Jimmy Chamberlin
Jimmy Chamberlin
Jimmy Chamberlin is an American drummer, songwriter, and producer. He is best known as the former drummer for the alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins. After a drug-related incident with touring keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin in 1996, Chamberlin was fired from the band and joined The Last...
's (of Smashing Pumpkins fame) solo album, Life Begins Again
Life Begins Again
Life Begins Again is the debut album by the Jimmy Chamberlin Complex . It was released on January 25, 2005 and as an Enhanced CD...
.
Bill Medley appeared in the two-part episode "Finally!" of the hit TV
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
show, Cheers
Cheers
Cheers is an American situation comedy television series that ran for 11 seasons from 1982 to 1993. It was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions, in association with Paramount Network Television for NBC, and was created by the team of James Burrows, Glen Charles, and Les Charles...
.
Medley's daughter, McKenna Medley, is herself a singer and as of November 2006 was performing in Branson, Missouri
Branson, Missouri
Branson is a city in Taney County in the U.S. state of Missouri. It was named after Reuben Branson, postmaster and operator of a general store in the area in the 1880s....
as opening act for The Comets
Bill Haley & His Comets
Bill Haley & His Comets was an American rock and roll band that was founded in 1952 and continued until Haley's death in 1981. The band, also known by the names Bill Haley and The Comets and Bill Haley's Comets , was the earliest group of white musicians to bring rock and roll to the attention of...
.http://theoriginalcomets.com/_wsn/page5.html
Bill Medley currently performs at Dick Clark's American Bandstand Theater in Branson, Missouri.
Albums
| Year | Album | Chart positions | Label | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
US Country | |||
| 1968 | Bill Medley 100% | 188 | MGM | |
| 1969 | Soft and Soulful | 152 | ||
| 1978 | Lay a Little Lovin' on Me | United Artists | ||
| 1980 | Sweet Thunder | |||
| 1982 | Right Here and Now | Planet | ||
| 1984 | I Still Do | 58 | RCA | |
| 1985 | Still Hung Up on You | |||
| 1988 | The Best of Bill Medley | MCA/Curb | ||
| 1993 | Going Home | ESSENTIAL |
Singles
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Album | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Country Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales... |
US Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
US AC | CAN Country RPM (magazine) RPM was a Canadian music industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. RPM ceased publication in November 2000.RPM stood for "Records, Promotion,... |
CAN Canadian Singles Chart The Canadian Singles Chart is currently compiled by the U.S.-based music sales tracking company, Nielsen SoundScan . The chart is compiled every Wednesday, and is published by Jam! Canoe on Thursdays.... |
CAN AC RPM (magazine) RPM was a Canadian music industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. RPM ceased publication in November 2000.RPM stood for "Records, Promotion,... |
||||
| 1968 | "I Can't Make It Alone" | — | 95 | — | — | 63 | — | Bill Medley 100% | |
| "Brown Eyed Woman" | — | 43 | — | — | 36 | — | |||
| "Peace Brother Peace" | — | 48 | — | — | 46 | — | Soft and Soulful | ||
| 1979 | "Statue of a Fool Statue of a Fool "Statue of a Fool" is the title of a song written by Jan Crutchfield and recorded by many country artists. It was first recorded in 1969 by country music artist Jack Greene where it was released as a single and became a number 1 hit. Brian Collins would record and release it in 1974 from his second... " |
91 | — | — | — | — | — | Lay a Little Lovin' on Me | |
| 1981 | "Don't Know Much Don't Know Much "Don't Know Much" is a song written by Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil and Tom Snow and made famous when performed as a duet by Linda Ronstadt and Aaron Neville on Ronstadt's 1989 album Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like the Wind... " |
— | 88 | — | — | — | — | Sweet Thunder | |
| 1982 | "Right Here and Now" | — | 58 | 31 | — | — | — | Right Here and Now | |
| 1984 | "Til Your Memory's Gone" | 28 | — | — | 20 | — | — | I Still Do | |
| "I Still Do" | 17 | — | 25 | 22 | — | — | |||
| "I've Always Got the Heart to Sing the Blues" | 26 | — | — | 41 | — | — | |||
| 1985 | "Is There Anything I Can Do" | 47 | — | — | 46 | — | — | Still Hung Up on You | |
| "Women in Love" | 55 | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| 1987 | "(I've Had) The Time of My Life (I've Had) The Time of My Life " The Time of My Life" is a song composed by Franke Previte, John DeNicola, and Donald Markowitz. It was recorded by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes, after having been selected to be the finale song for the 1987 film Dirty Dancing, by choreographer Kenny Ortega and his assistant Miranda Garrison... " (featuring Jennifer Warnes Jennifer Warnes Jennifer Jean Warnes is an American singer, songwriter, arranger and record producer. She is known for her interpretations of compositions written by herself and many others, as well as an extensive playlist as a vocalist on movie soundtracks.Between 1979 and 1987 Warnes surpassed Frank Sinatra as... ) |
— | 1 | 1 | — | 1 | 3 | The Best of Bill Medley | |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | |||||||||