success. His biggest hit was "Unchained Melody", which reached #3 on the US pop chart, sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. Hibbler's version also reached #2 in the UK Singles Chart, becoming his only chart hit in the United Kingdom. Its success led to network appearances, including a live jazz club remote on NBC's Monitor. Other hits were "He" (1955), "11th Hour Melody" and "Never Turn Back" (both in 1956). "After the Lights Go Down Low" (also in 1956) was his last top ten hit. Activism In the late 1950s and 1960s, Hibbler became a civil rights activist, marching with protestors and getting arrested in 1959 in New Jersey and in 1963 in Alabama. The notoriety of this activism discouraged major record labels from carrying his work, but Frank Sinatra supported him and signed him to a contract with his label, Reprise Records. However, Hibbler made very few recordings after that, occasionally doing live appearances through the 1990s. In 1971, Hibbler sang two songs at Louis Armstrong's funeral. In 1972 he made an album, A Meeting of the Times, with another fiercely independent blind musician, the multi-instrumentalist Rahsaan Roland Kirk. Death and legacy He died at Holy Cross Hospital in Chicago in 2001, at the age of 85. He is buried at Lincoln Cemetery in Blue Island, Illinois. Discography Solo singles discography Albums Sings Duke Ellington (Norgran, 1954) Favorites (Norgran, 1954) Melodies by Al Hibbler (Argo, 1956) Sings Love Songs (Verve, 1956) Starring Al Hibbler (Decca, 1956) After the Lights Go Down Low, (Atlantic, 1957) Here's Hibbler (Decca, 1957) I Surrender Dear (Score, 1957) Torchy and Blue (Decca, 1958) Al Hibbler Remembers (Decca, 1958) Hits by Hibbler (Decca, 1958) Sings the Blues: Monday Every Day (Reprise, 1961) Big Boy Blues (Grand Prix Series, 1964) Shades of Blue (Sunset, 1968) A Meeting of the Times with Rahsaan Roland Kirk (Atlantic, 1972) Christmas with (Holiday, 1981) Solitude (Pickwick, 1997) With Count Basie Basie Jazz, Clef MGC-633, 1954 (recordings from 1952) Compilations The Chronological Al Hibbler 1946–1949 Classics, 2002) The Chronological Al Hibbler 1950–1952 (Classics, 2003) See also List of artists under the Decca Records label List of artists who reached number one on the Billboard R&B chart List of artists who reached number one on the Australian singles chart List of people from Little Rock, Arkansas References External links Al Hibbler Discography 1915 births 2001 deaths American