bobby hatfield sang unchained melody for the righteous brothers.
which of the righteous brothers sang unchained melody?
bobby hatfield
in january 2016, medley announced he intended to revive the righteous brothers for the first time since 2003. the late hatfield was replaced with singer bucky heard at las vegas's harrah’s showroom for more than 40 shows from march 23, 2016 to november 8. the repertoire included some of the righteous brothers' best-known songs, such as "you've lost that lovin' feelin'," "soul & inspiration," "unchained melody", but also the later "rock and roll heaven", as well as bill medley's "the time of my life". medley explained that it was the encouragement of the righteous brothers’ fans as well as several friends, producers and contacts in las vegas that made him consider reviving the righteous brothers' name again, while acknowledging that it was a difficult choice to continue without hatfield, saying “i’ve had a million fans hollering at me to keep the righteous brothers alive... i looked at a couple of guys, but you know, you can’t replace bobby hatfield, he’s the best in the world”. medley was previously acquainted with heard and watched him perform at a tribute concert to journey, after which he realized that heard was the only one he would consider capable of filling hatfield's shoes, also noting that he and heard had good chemistry together. medley approached heard a few days later and discussed the matter, which ended in a coin toss, which medley won, resulting in heard accepting medley's proposal. heard has since communicated that he knows he can never replace hatfield, nor will he attempt to do so and that he intends to sing like hatfield rather than sound like him. a new cd was released the same year, featuring several of the righteous brothers' hit singles sung by medley and heard.
the righteous brothers
in 1990, the original recording of "unchained melody" was featured in the popular feature film "ghost", starring patrick swayze and demi moore. it triggered an avalanche of requests to top 40 radio stations by fans who had seen the movie to play the 1965 righteous brothers' recording. this motivated polygram (which now owned the verve/mgm label archives) to re-release the song to top 40 radio. it became a major hit for a second time, reaching no. 13 on the hot 100 in 1990. it also become their second no. 1 in the uk. the duo quickly re-recorded another version of "unchained melody" for curb records. both the reissued and the re-recorded songs charted at the same time for several weeks, and the righteous brothers made history as the first act to have two versions of the same song in the top 20 at the same time. the re-recorded "unchained melody" hit no. 19 on the hot 100 and was certified platinum by the recording industry association of america (riaa).
the righteous brothers