| Bill Medley | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | William Thomas Medley |
| Born | September 19, 1940 |
| Genres | Blue-eyed soul |
| Occupations | Singer |
| Instruments | Voice |
| Years active | 1962 – present |
| Labels | United Artists, RCA |
| Associated acts | The Righteous Brothers Bobby Hatfield |
William Thomas Medley (born September 19, 1940 in Los Angeles, California) 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.[1]
Bill Medley currently performs at Dick Clark's American Bandstand Theater in Branson, Missouri.
Contents |
| Year | Album | Chart positions | Label | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | 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 | ||
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions[1][2] | Album | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Country | US | US AC | CAN Country | CAN | CAN AC | ||||
| 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" | 91 | — | — | — | — | — | Lay a Little Lovin' on Me | |
| 1981 | "Don't Know Much" | — | 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" (featuring Jennifer Warnes) | — | 1 | 1 | — | 1 | 3 | The Best of Bill Medley | |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | |||||||||