The Righteous Brothers started their career on Moonglow with two moderate hits: "
Little Latin Lupe Lu" and "My Babe" in 1963. Both songs received airplay, but their first major hit single would be "
You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" on the Philles label in 1965.
Produced by
Phil Spector, the record is often cited as one of the peak expressions of Spector's
Wall of Sound production techniques. It was one of the most successful pop singles of its time, despite exceeding the standard length for radio play. Indeed, according to
BMI, "
You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" remains the most played song in radio history, estimated to have been broadcast more than eight million times. A little known fact is that Spector used
Cher (of
Sonny & Cher fame) as a backup singer on this and other recordings.
The Righteous Brothers had several other Spector-produced hit singles in 1965, including "
Just Once in My Life," "
Unchained Melody" (a Hatfield solo that originally was the
B-side of "Hung on You"), and "
Ebb Tide." However, they did not get along with Spector and left the Philles label in 1965. They next released "(You're my) Soul and Inspiration" (a Phil Spector sound-alike song) on Verve, which became a #1 hit in 1966. After a few more top 40 songs, including their renditions of "White Cliffs of Dover" and "Georgia on My Mind," their popularity began to decline, perhaps because older recordings were being released by Moonglow during the same time they were enjoying popularity with Philles (1964-65) and Verve (1966-67). They eventually split up for more than seven years.
Medley recorded a few solos including "Brown-eyed Woman" (1968). Bobby Hatfield teamed up briefly with another singer, Jimmy Walker, using the Righteous Brothers name, but neither he nor Hatfield was able to achieve any significant level of success. In 1974, Medley and Hatfield reunited, performing on the "Sonny and Cher Hour."
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