[Deathwatch] Bobby Hatfield, Righteous Brothers singer, 63

[Deathwatch Central <cdw@slick.org>]

Bobby Hatfield of Righteous Brothers dead at 63
Thursday, November 6, 2003 Posted: 3:00 AM EST (0800 GMT)

http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/Music/11/06/obit.hatfield.ap/index.html


KALAMAZOO, Michigan (AP) -- Bobby Hatfield, who with partner Bill
Medley pioneered "blue-eyed soul" as the Righteous Brothers with hits
like "Unchained Melody" and "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling," died
Wednesday night of undetermined causes at a hotel, his manager said. He
was 63. 

Hatfield's body was discovered in his bed at 7 p.m. EST, a half-hour
before the duo was to perform at Miller Auditorium on the Western
Michigan University campus, manager David Cohen said. 

"It's a shock, a real shock," Cohen said during a telephone interview.
Medley, who teamed with Hatfield 42 years ago, was "broken up. He's not
even coherent," Cohen said. 

Hatfield's body was taken from the hotel about 10 p.m. directly to
Lansing, where an autopsy was to be performed, Joe Hakim, an executive
with the Radisson Plaza Hotel in Kalamazoo, told the Kalamazoo Gazette.


Miller Auditorium executive director Bill Biddle told the audience at
7:05 p.m. that the 7:30 p.m. show had been canceled because of "a
personal emergency of an unspecified nature." 

Hatfield had been sleeping most of the day in his room, Hakim said.
When he didn't answer a wakeup call about 6 p.m., hotel staff and
authorities entered the room and found the singer's body. 

The Righteous Brothers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame earlier this year. 

Their signature 1964 single, "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling," has
been cited by numerous sources as the most-programmed song in radio
history. Later 1960s hits included "Soul and Inspiration" and
"Unchained Melody." 

Robert Lee Hatfield was born August 10, 1940, in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin.
His family moved to Anaheim, California, when he was 4. 

Hatfield organized singing and instrumental groups in high school while
helping his parents with their dry cleaning business. 

An avid athlete, Hatfield considered a career in professional baseball
but found his true calling in music -- a love he pursued while
attending Long Beach State University, where he formed a band and
performed at bars and proms. 

Hatfield teamed up with Medley in 1962 as part of a five-piece group
called The Paramours. According to the Righteous Brothers Web site, a
black Marine called out during one of their performances, "That was
righteous, brothers!" They renamed themselves the Righteous Brothers
before the release of their first album in 1963. 

After splitting up in 1968, they reunited in 1974 and returned to the
top of the charts with "Rock and Roll Heaven." 

"Unchained Melody" was featured in the 1990 movie "Ghost," and a
re-recorded version earned Hatfield and Medley a Grammy nomination.