The "Blue Eyed Soul" of the Righteous Brothers

It's one thing to be able to sing. It is another to be able to sing with great range. Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield were able to between them hit just about every note on the musical scale along with a few other ones.

This fabulous act was another of my favorites from my favorite music era and I know I'm not alone. Between the majestic "Unchained Melody" and the melancholy though fabulous "Rock and Roll Heaven" the Righteous Brothers cranked out some awesome sounds.

The term "Blue Eyed Soul" was used first in the 60's for white acts that sung with the deep "soulful" feelings that many black artists have. For the Righteous Brothers this description fit to a tee.

The duo was formed in 1962 when a man named John Wimbler brought them together for a band called the Paramours. While performing one night in Los Angeles in 62, a Marine in the audience yelled out "That was righteous, brothers!" Well the phrase stuck as and Bobby Hatfield would from that moment on be the Righteous Brothers.

Their first hit which only hit #49 in the U.S. was called"Little Latin Lupe Lu". That was followed by another not so big hit in "My Babe" which peaked even lower in the U.S. at #75.

Things REALLY picked up with their next hit though. Hooking up with Phil Spector, the famous "Wall of Sound" was present with "You've Lost that Lovin' Feelin" which soared to #1 in both the U.S. and the U.K.. In fact, here's a little ditty for you: The song "You've Lost that Lovin' Feelin" by the Righteous Brothers is the most played song in radio history having been played more then 8 million times! Yeow!

In 1965 and 66 they really hit their stride. Big hits including "Just Once in My Life","Unchained Melody" and "Ebb Tide" which were also produced by Spector kept the ball rolling and their popularity high. Then in 1966 "Soul and Inspiration" which was produced by Bill Medley went all the way to #1 in the United States.

After a few more hits the duo split up and stayed split for 7 years. Then in 1974 they reunited with "Rock and Roll Heaven" a song dedicated to the memories of many rock stars who had passed away. This one rose to #3 in the U.S. and was updated in 1990 to add on more stars who had passed such as Elvis Presley, John Lennon and Roy Orbison.

Bill Medley, also had some later solo success (without Hatfield) when in 1987 he teamed up with Jennifer Warnes to make "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" a song that went to #1 in the U.S. (both Pop and Adult Contemporary) and #6 in the U.K.

Unchained Melody resurfaced in 1990 with the movie Oscar award winning movie "Ghost". The song became so popular that it was re-released and became a hit all over again. It hit #1 this time in the U.K..

The Righteous Brothers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March of 2003. Unfortunately only months later (November) Bobby Hatfield was found dead in his hotel room in Kalamazoo, Michigan from what was at first simply suspected to be heart failure but was later found to at least partially be due to cocaine that was found in his system. He was scheduled to do a show with Bill Medley within a half hour of being found. As for Bill Medley, he is still performing to this day.

The Righteous Brothers were an awesome act that could between them hit the highest note and the lowest. Bill Medley's deep baritone and Bobby Hatfield's high and sometimes very high tenor was only part of the reason they wound up being called a "Blue Eyed Soul" act. They certainly sang from their souls and we are the luckier for it. I mean how can you top a song like "Unchained Melody" to express one's love for another. Not easy.

And as for the song played the most of any other, why not play it for the 8 million and 1st time? This video is from the show "Shindig 64". The video was uploaded by "John1948Ten" on YouTube. Enjoy!

Del Shannon - "Runaway" Hit Maker

One of my favorite (top 10) oldies of all time has to be Runaway by Del Shannon. One of the biggest hits of the decade of the 60's Runaway climbed to #1 in April of 1961. It was released in February of that year.

Born Charles Weedon Westover in Grand Rapids, Michigan on Dec. 30th 1934 Del Shannon learned to play guitar while growing up in Coopersville a small town near Grand Rapids. When drafted into the army in 1954 he played in a band called the Cool Flames in Germany.

Once he came back to the States, Charles Weedon Westover became Del Shannon. By combining a friend's assumed surname with his favorite car the Cadillac Coupe de Ville they came up with Del Shannon. I don't get how they did that exactly but Del Shannon is certainly more commercially feasible then Charles Weedon Westover.

With the name squared away Shannon's string of music hits began. Runaway hit the charts in 61. That was followed by "Hats Off to Larry" which rose to #5 on Billboard and #2 in a magazine called "Cashbox" which was a weekly publication devoted to the music and coin-operated machine industries in the USA.

He released "So Long Baby" next but that didn't do as well though it did hit #10 in the UK. "Hey Little Girl" was a song that went all the way to #2 in the UK but only rose to #38 in the U.S.. Shannon later came out with "Little Town Flirt" which did hit #12 in the U.S. and #4 in England. As big as his hits were in the U.S. he was having more success chart-wise in the UK.

His next biggie was "Keep Searchin" which hit #9 in the U.S. in November of 1964. Once again though the song was more popular in the UK where it hit #3.

Later in his career when the hits dried up Del Shannon would write, arrange and produce songs such as "Baby It's You" and "Gypsy Woman" which was sung by Brian Hyland (Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini).

Unfortunately Shannon wound up having a bout with alcoholism in the 70's while his career slowed down considerably. He wound up making an album "Drop Down and Get Me" in which he had a single called "Sea of Love" which hit #33 in the U.S in early 1982.

Later in the 80's the TV show "Crime Story" used his re-recorded Runaway with new lyrics to bring back some memories of Shannon and that great hit.

In 1990 however while suffering from depression Del Shannon committed suicide with a 22 caliber rifle at his home in Santa Clara, California. He was 55. Another one gone way too soon though this was at his own hand.

He wound up being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999 while his monster hit Runaway wound up being voted the #1 "Legendary Michigan Song".

It would be hard for anyone to top a great song like Runaway and Del Shannon never did but he still wound up with a heck of a career with some fine hits. If you would like to find out more about him check out his website at
delshannon.com

Finally here is that awesome hit Runaway. One of my top ten favorites of the oldies music era! This video was posted on YouTube by "folkman123". Enjoy!

This Day in Oldies Music History

Have you ever wondered what song was #1 the day you were born? Or maybe you were curious what other events in music history occurred on your birthday. Well by doing a little googling I came across a neat little site that has all kinds of historical news from "this day in music history" if you will.

Well the site is called: This Day in Music and once on it you can search any date and find out throughout the years what has happened in music. For instance my birthday happens to be August 18 so I did the search. What I found out is that on my birthday in 1962 (which happens to be the exact day I was born) Ringo Starr debuted with the Beatles at the horticultural society Dance in Birkenhead, England!

I then found out reading down to the next entry that in 1964 on the 18th of August that The Beatles arrived in San Francisco before 9,000 fans with whom which they were nearly trampled upon. The fans knocked down the fenced barriers that were set up for photographers so that they could take pictures of the group. The fans pressed against the fences and knocked them down with the Beatles barely getting away in time.

There is a search box on the right hand side in which you can search for any artist you wish to find out historical info on. And there are 2 "date" boxes for you to put in your birthday and birth year. The dates show in a drop-down (or up) list where you scroll to your desired date.

Another link called "Birthday #1" will show you what song was #1 the day you were born in England, Australia and the United States.

There are alot of neat facts and photos you can check out on the site and not just from the 50's and 60's. There is stuff on there that spans over a century so take a look at This Day in Music and find out what song was #1 on the day you were born in 3 different countries.

Something else I just found out is that Johnny Preston was born on my birthday in 1930. So to commemorate that here is my favorite Johnny Preston song, Cradle of Love:

Roy Orbison-American Music Icon

Roy Orbison is definitely one of my favorite oldies artists and that should be a surprise to no one. Not because you all know my exact music taste but because he was an awesome songwriter, musician and singer.

Born in 1936 as Roy Kelton Orbison he would go on to have 22 songs place in the US Billboard Top 40 in the early to mid 60's including the fabulous "Pretty Woman" in 1964. He had a decline after that though due to personal and physical tragedies including divorcing his wife, then remarrying her and losing her when she was struck by a tracker trailer in 1966. His 2 oldest sons also died in 1968 when his home in Tennessee burned down while he was touring in England.

After that very tough period he seemed to disappear from the music scene in the 70's. He SEEMED TO. Actually his songs were being sung by other artists like Sonny James (Only the Lonely) which went to #1 by the way and Glenn Campbell who had a minor hit with Dream Baby.

He wound up having open heart surgery ( a triple bypass) and though he felt revitalized after it his heart would never fully recover. He had been a chain smoker since he was a teenager and the heart would eventually give in in 1988.

The rebirth of his career came in 1987 when he released an album of his re-recorded hits titled "In Dreams". He and K.D. Lang also released a single of "Crying' which won a Grammy.

Orbison was also inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 87.

In 1988 he became part of the "Traveling Wilbury's" in which he teamed up with George Harrison, Bob Dylan and Tom Petty. The four recorded an album and used the term Traveling Wilbury's to present themselves a s half brothers with the same father.

The album had such great success that Orbison came back into great demand on the concert tours and with interviews. He was back on track and was happy about it. He started working with artists from the past and some newer ones that he hadn't before.

Mystery Girl was an album that was produced by Jeff Lynne a man that Orbison considered the best he ever worked with. Also working on that album was Bono of U2 fame, Elvis Costello and Roy's own son Wesley. The big hit to come out of the album was "You Got It" a GREAT song that was one of the few I liked from the 80's.

Sadly while he was having a great comeback the end came. On December 6th at his home in Hendersonville, Tennessee the heart that had survived the smoking from adolescence and a triple bypass in the 70's gave out. Orbison suffered a fatal heart attack and at the age of 52. Another instance of someone leaving us too soon.

The hit You Got It wound up climbing to #9 in the U.S. and #3 in the U.K..He also had 2 albums hit the top 5 at the same time in 1989. The first time that had happened since Elvis Presley had done it.

With his customary dark glasses and black outfit Roy Orbison simply is one of the giants of American music and certainly someone who belongs on my oldies blog. He could be described as a country artist, a rockabilly artist or a rock and roll artist. And that is what was so great about him. Despite all the tragedy he went through in his life, Roy Orbison persevered through work and simple God-given talent to become one of the greats in music history.

If you'd like to know more about this American icon check out this website: The Official Roy Orbison Site.

And to get you in the mood for some great oldies and Roy Orbison music here's his giant hit "Pretty Woman" from 64. This is a cool video because it is actually from a show called "Top of the Pops" which aired in 64. The video was posted on YouTube by "vinylsolution". Enjoy!

Oldies song lyrics at your fingertips

Ever wish you could remember the words to a song you loved years ago? You know the harmony but the exact words escape you. Well I found a page that has all the top 40 song lyrics from 1930 to 1999! That's right 1930! Now we're really talking oldies.

The site is called LYRICS WORLD and you can have some fun finding the lyrics to songs you may have forgotten. The songs and artists listed there are based on the top positions they reached according to Billboard, USA.

You'll see that there are songs that became popular in the late 50's and early 60's are actually songs from an even earlier time. For instance the song "A" YOUR ADORABLE that was a hit for the Tokens was actually a hit for Perry Como back in 1949. Here though I found that Dean Martin also sung it! I also found that Fats Domino's BLUEBERRY HILL was a hit in 1940 for........Glenn Miller!

Finding the lyrics to these songs is neat but it is also neat to see the changes in lyrics as time has gone by. The language has certainly gotten worse especially when you get to the 90's. I don't even want to try and look for anything in the 2000's. Yikes!

But without getting too down on the later stuff there are a few songs from the 90's that I do like. A few. In fact to be fair I'll probably post 1 or 2 of them.

The page is still a work in progress so if you have lyrics from some of the songs on there they have listed that don't have the lyrics you may be able to help them out.

So if your looking for lyrics from a top 40 song anywhere from 1930 to 1999 check out LYRICS WORLD and give it a look. Then you can really sing-along to your favorite oldies. That is if unlike me you can actually sing.

The Cascades-Rhythm Of the Rain

I'm thinking of simply putting up YouTube Videos on here for the next say 10 days with what I consider my top ten favorite oldies songs of all time. The problem with that is that fitting 10 songs in is going to be tough especially since I keep finding new (as far as my finding them) great songs on the net.

Between YouTube, Pandora, and Live 365 I'm finding new (old) sounds all the time so what I'll do is just put up songs that I consider popular and favorites of mine. Hopefully my visitors (you) will enjoy them also.

This song is definitely one of my favorites along with this group. Just like Petula Clark who I said previously was one of my favorite 60's artists The Cascades kept putting out great song after great song.

Rhythm of the Rain was released in 1962 and rose to #3 in the U.S. in March of 1963.

The group's first release was "There's A Reason" which was an OK song but only led the way to what they would accomplish with Rhythm of the Rain. "Rain" became a hit in over 80 countries so I'm not the only person who liked it.

The Cascades went on to make some other songs that I like such as The Last Leaf, Punch and Judy and Shy Girl. This one though was their biggie and one of my all timers. Enjoy!

Dick Dale and the Del Tones- Misirlou

Here is some real cool "surf rock" from 1962. Dick Dale went to No. 1 with this in the U.S.

Surf rock itself was doing great in the U.S. until the British invasion pretty much knocked out most of it in 64.

I first heard this on Pandora on my "Duane Eddy station" and knew I had to find a YouTube video of it to put on here. It is called Misirlou and I just love the horns in the middle of this.

Dick Dale has a website of his own right here: Dick Dale's website with all kinds of info on it.

In the meantime enjoy Misirlou!

Petula Clark I will follow him Sul mio carro (Chariot)

Oh Petula!!!

Petula Clark is probably my favorite female artist. She is definitely my favorite of the sixties.

This song is "I Will Follow Him" which was made famous by "Little" Peggy March in 1963 when she was only 14.

This version by Petula was done in Italian which I like even more since I am Italian myself. She did songs in many languages including Italian, French and German. I'll post some more in time.

In the mean time enjoy!