The Righteous Brothers ~ Unchained Melody (1965)

The Righteous Brothers ~ Unchained Melody (1965)

"Unchained Melody" is a 1955 song with music by Alex North and lyrics by Hy Zaret. North wrote the music as a theme for the prison film Unchained (1955), hence the song title. Todd Duncan sang the vocals for the film soundtrack. It has since become a standard and one of the most recorded songs of the 20th century, most notably by the Righteous Brothers in 1965. According to the song's publishing administrator, over 1,500 recordings of "Unchained Melody" have been made by more than 670 artists, in multiple languages. The best-known version of "Unchained Melody" was recorded by the duo the Righteous Brothers for Philles Records in 1965. The lead vocal was performed solo by Bobby Hatfield, who later recorded other versions of the song credited solely to him. The 1965 original Righteous Brothers recording was reissued in 1990 by oldies-reissue label Verve Forecast under licensing from Polygram Records (which had acquired the rights years earlier). The original version received a lot of airplay and topped the U.S. adult contemporary chart for two weeks in 1990. However, sales for this version were minimal in the US since it was available as only a 45 RPM single and the song peaked at No. 13 based largely on airplay. For eight weeks, both versions were on the Billboard Hot 100 simultaneously and the Righteous Brothers became the first act to have two versions of the same song in the Top 20 at the same time. This re-released song reached number 1 in the UK where it stayed for four weeks, becoming the UK's top selling single of 1990. As of 2017, it had sold 1.17 million copies in the UK. The 1990 reissue also reached number 1 in Australia, Austria, Ireland, the Netherlands, and New Zealand. (Wikipedia) (Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. The purpose of this video is just a small tribute to my favorite artists & songs).Video courtesy of Facebook music group “20th Century Music (1900-1999)”   / 20centurymusic1999andback