NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Bill Medley is coming to Hutchinson Friday night at the Fox Theatre and he reflected on how the Righteous Brothers got started nearly six decades ago.
"Bobby Hatfield had a band, I had a band," Medley said. "We had a mutual friend that was working in Vegas all the time and he wanted to come back to Orange County and put a band together that could get a lot of work. He took Bobby and Bobby's drummer and myself and my guitar player and put us together. Boy, and it was fun. Every night, singing with Bobby, it was just fun. Bobby and I were just raised on exactly the same music. I didn't meet Bobby until I was 21. A record company came in, a friend of mine owned a local record company and we sang a song I wrote, Little Latin Lupe Lu. He said, boy, I love that song. Why don't we record it? So, we did. Then we needed a name."
That name came from some of their first fans.
"There was an El Toro Marine base," Medley said. "A lot of the Black Marines heard that there was these two guys down at the club singing Rhythm and Blues, so a lot of the Black Marines started coming in. If you saw a great, say a '55 Chevy, us White guys would say, boy, what a cool looking car. The Black guys would say, boy, what a righteous looking car. If they liked you as a friend, they would call you a brother. So, sometimes, coming to work, they would say, hey righteous brother, how you doin', which meant good friend. I think it was Bobby in the studio, he said let's just call ourself what the Marines have been calling us, the Righteous Brothers."
One of their biggest hits is a song they weren't sure would be big, You've Lost that Lovin' Feeling.
"We didn't necessarily think it was a hit record," Medley said. "It was too long and too dramatic and I sounded like I was singing on the wrong speed. In those days, bass/baritone voice wasn't used a lot. But, I think everything that was kind of wrong with it made it right."
Tickets are $54, $64 and $74. Purchase them online at hutchinsonfox.com.
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