Bill Medley has never 'lost that lovin' feelin' for performing

PRIME September 2012 By Debbie Gardner PRIME Editor Bill Medley was sitting on his deck in Newport Beach, Calif., taking in the view when PRIME called to ask about his upcoming appearance at The Big E during opening weekend. Enjoying some well-deserved down time between appearances - he'd just returned from a show in Nevada and was heading to Canada for a gig in a couple of days - the smooth, seductive bass vocalist who for 50 years has been half of the world's most recognized rhythm and blues duo said he was looking forward to his visit to Western Massachusetts. "I'm excited about it," Medley said, adding that he and his Righteous Brother's partner Bobby Hatfield had performed many times in Massachusetts during their career, including a very early gig at the famed Blinstroms nightclub in Boston. "The Big E called and asked me if I was interested [in bringing the Righteous Brothers music to the fair] and I said, 'absolutely.'" Medley said his show, which will take the Big E's Court of Honor stage Sept. 14 to 16 at 3 and 8 p.m., would feature the music fans remember, those famous r & b melodies that got him and Hatfield inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame just months before Hatfield's death in 2003. "I'll do all the Righteous Brothers hits, and I think [the audience] will enjoy it, and a lot of the boys in [my] band sing and help out with the Bobby parts, and it all works out pretty smooth," Medley said, adding that his 25-year-old daughter McKenna would be joining him in the duet, "I've Had the Time of My Life," made famous in the 1987 movie, "Dirty Dancing." At 72, Medley said he and his band still perform at 50 to 60 venues - ranging from casinos to outdoor stages such as the Big E's - every year. "I'm kind of a one-trick pony," Medley joked. "This is what I do." "I'm certainly old enough to retire," he continued. "But I tell people before I retire, I have to find a job." Through all the aspects of his career - from his start with a five-man group called The Paramours in Santa Ana, Calif. in 1961 to his chance meeting with Bobby Hatfield, a member of The Variations, in 1962, to the powerhouse duo's 1960s rise to stardom, brief mid-decade split, 1970s reunion, and Hatfield's untimely death during a 2003 tour - Medley said he's never considered what he was doing to be a job. "It's kind of a privilege to go out and sing for people and let them relive their moment," Medley said. "It's kind of a blessing." To him, it's sharing the music that matters. "If the audience wasn't moved, I wouldn't be there. They are the reason [I still perform]," Medley said. He also said there was an element of luck in the half-century-long success of The Righteous Brothers music. "We were just very fortunate to get our hands on a couple of songs that had a bigger life than average," Medley said. The duo's 1964 number one hit, "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'," he said, "is the most played record in the history of radio." That song, he added, found new life when Tom Cruise used it as a pick-up line to entice Kelly McGillis in a scene from the 1986 film, "Top Gun" Hatfield's rendition of the 1955 song, "Unchained Melody," which became a jukebox standard after it appeared on The Righteous Brothers 1965 album, also found new life when it was included in the 1990 film, "Ghost." "It was a hit in the [19] 60s, but after that movie, it was huge," Medley added. His own Grammy-winning performance of "I've Had The Time of My Life" with Jennifer Warnes in the 1987 smash film, "Dirty Dancing" starring Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey, he said, just reinforced The Righteous Brothers brand. "We were a real hit in the 60s, and toured off of that for years," Medley said. "And then comes the end of the [19]80s and these movies and we were right back on top." A product of the early Rock & Roll era, Medley said he and Hatfield were blessed to find a sound that connected with audiences in their heyday - and now. Often referred to as "blue-eyed soul," Medley said the Righteous Brothers sound was different than a lot of their contemporaries in the 1960s - "we were more rhythm and blues, but the kids liked it, and they got it." At least most audiences got it, he said, noting that when The Righteous Brothers opened for the Beatles' first American tour, their sound was not always the hit it is now. "[The tour] was fine when it was on the West Coast," Medley recalled. "But on the East Coast - we hadn't had 'Lovin Feelin' or any of those other songs yet, and while we were on [the audience] was clapping and screaming 'we want the Beatles.'" He called John, Paul, George and Ringo "great guys" and said the tour was "a lot of fun to do," noting that the Beatles' tour, as well as opening for The Rolling Stones during their first American tour, was essentially "the boot camp of Rock & Roll." "Keith Richards [of the Rolling Stones] is still a good friend," he added. And he's still amazed that, like the Rolling Stones, The Righteous Brothers music is as popular today as it was when the duo first started singing together in Orange County. "It's like a movie," Medley said of the pair's success. "What happened to our career over 50 years kind of defies gravity. "Everybody in the [music] business would love to have what happened to us," he continued. "Being able to record all those wonderful songs, and 25 years later to have those wonderful songs turn up in movies. You couldn't plan it better." As for Medley, at this point in his career he's just happy to keep sharing the music. "I feel blessed and honored that I can still do this and people care enough to come out and listen to these songs," he said. "It keeps me out there working with my daughter, and there's nothing better than that."