May 8, 2025 • 17 mins
You know the songs "You've Lost That Loving Feelin"" "Unchained Melody", now meet the man and voice behind radio's most played songs Bill Medley. Bill is touring and has just released a country album called "Straight From The Heart"........and see the Righteous Brothers in concert. Go to RighteousBrothers.com for dates.
PS do you know what famous Icon sang background vocals on "You've Lost That Loving Feelin'"?
Listen now!
PS do you know what famous Icon sang background vocals on "You've Lost That Loving Feelin'"?
Listen now!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now listen. I know this is audio, this is in video,
but if you could see me right now, you would
see a big smile on my face because I just
got off the phone talking to Bill Medley of the
Righteous Brothers. Yeah, Bill, that righteous brother, one of my
musical heroes. Finally got a chance to talk to him.
Now the Righteous Brothers are back on the road. They're
calling the Farewell tour. Bill is also just released a
(00:22):
few months ago a great country album of well of
country songs that we all grew up with and loved.
A sweet music man, Vince Gills. Whenever you come around
the dance, please help me on following Sunday morning, coming down.
We'll talk about that in the interview, but right now,
listen to my conversation with Bill Melody of the Righteous Brothers.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Here it is.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
I'm so excited Bob picking with Bill Medley. I know
that you recognize the name the Righteous Brothers. Believe or not,
he's with us right now on the line right now.
First of all, how are you doing, sir?
Speaker 2 (00:54):
I'm doing great, Bob, Thank you very much. I'm finally
at home for a minute, and I live on the
bay and it just looks beautiful so.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
You've left southern California.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Yeah, no, I live in southern California, Newport Beach.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Okay, my dad, I was talking to my dad yesterday.
Were originally from Ventura, and my dad said, oh yeah,
back in the early sixties, your mom and I would
go up, all up and down Ventura Boulevard and we'd
see science saying the Righteous Brothers are here, the Righteous
Brothers are here. And this is before you know, you
guys had any big hits.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Yeah. No, we had a career for about three years
on the West Coast before Love and Feeling, and then
Love and Feeling just kind of made us nationally known.
And but yeah, we were around around since sixty three,
(01:51):
early sixty three.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Yeah, certainly a part of our lives. And of course,
the song that really hit me in my life when
I was teenagers, when you guys did rock and roll Heaven.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Oh yeah, Oh well good.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
I still love that song today, still love it all.
Now you guys have changed the words a little bit,
of course, keeping up with the.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Times on that. Well, we did on one record, a
kind of a quick album that we did, and I
rewrote some of the lyrics. I'm surprised that somebody hasn't
redone that rock and roll heaven, and jeez, we've lost
so many great artists, you know, but who knows, maybe
(02:33):
they will someday.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Well, of course, nobody could talk your version of it.
I'll put it that way, you know, going back, let's
go back before we talk about your country album, Let's
talk about the biggest it you've lost, that loving feeling,
the most played song in radio history, and when you
recorded it, you had no idea that it was going
to be this big. You got to have a feeling
(02:55):
that was gonna be pretty pretty substantial though, right, No.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
You know what, we didn't think it was a hit.
We loved the song, we loved we loved the record,
we loved what Phil Spector did, and it was just
a great record. But you know, it was it was
like four minutes long, and in those days you had
they had to be about two and a half minutes long,
and so nobody was going to play it, and it
(03:22):
was and I sounded like I was on the wrong speech,
you know, And so we just didn't We didn't think
it was going to be a hit at all. And
then it just became a huge shit And I think
I think everything that was wrong was that kind of
made it more special.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
But you have to see it to live on, especially
in movies like Top Gun. Yeah, it's just it's just amazing.
And there was a background singer on that song that
nobody really knew at the time, but man, she became big.
Share was really a background singer on that hit.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Yeah, and I think she's done pretty good since.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
I think she's done a lot since then. Yeah, yeah,
my goodness.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
She was. She was. I think Sunny had played tambourine
on it. I mean there was Glenn Campbell was on it,
Leon Russell was. I mean, it's like it was like
a who's who, Well it was the Wrecking Crew and yeah,
but Share, Yeah, that was the last song that she
sang vocal background on.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Unbelievable. Unbelievable. Now, you produced the song on Shane Melody,
which you didn't think was going to be a big
hit at all, did you no?
Speaker 2 (04:34):
On Shane Meldy When we signed with Phil Spector, Phil
could because I produced all the early stuff like Little
Latin Nuopulo and all that stuff, but your dad would know. Yeah,
well I know, yeah, yeah, okay, and uh so I
produced all that. So when we signed with Phil. Phil
(04:55):
said that I need He said, Bill, I need you
to produced the albums because I'll I take too long
and spend too much money on the singles. So I
said okay, and so we went in and did I
think that just once in my life album? Uh, and Bobby.
(05:19):
Bobby wanted to do Unshained Melody, and so we did it.
And Uh. Because on all of our albums, he would
do a solo and I would do a solo. There
was only so many duets we could come up with.
And for some reason, Phil put it on the B
(05:40):
side of the song that he produced, hung on You,
and the disc shock. He's just I don't, I don't.
I don't know how or how it happened, but everybody
just turned it over and started playing Unshamed Melody and
UH and and swear because the other song, hung on
(06:01):
You was a Carol Kings song that she wrote for us,
and it was a great song. So it was kind
of it was kind of odd, but we'll take it.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Yeah. Yeah, Well, all that, all the catalog material definitely
put you guys in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Congratulations for being a member.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
Rock roll real nice, real nice, and of course the
music has come back. You had a big hit in
the eighties Time of my life with the Jury Dancing.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Yeah, that was an incredible time. I mean I think
what it was maybe eighty seven when Top Gun came out. Yeah,
they put love and feeling in that, and if they
would have really re released it, it would have been
a hit all over again. And because the radio was
just playing it like crazy. And then the next year
(06:53):
I did I've had the time of my life for
Dirty Dancing. Then the next year they put put on
Shane Melody in a Ghost. So at the end of
the eighties we were bigger than we were.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
That was cool now, I think, and I swear this
is true. This is either the late eighties or the
early nineties. I want to say that I saw you
at an Elton John concert in Austin, Texas in the audus.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Yeah, you know what, I did see Elton out there.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Okaylly, I wasn't hallucinating. I did see you back there, Okay,
I knew we were like just a few rows apart.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Yeah. Yeah, I've seen him a couple of times. I
just love him and Billa. Joel is a real good
friend of mine. So they were doing a lot of
work together. And so I've seen Elton three or four times.
I'm just a huge Elton John and I think he's phenomenal.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
I thank you. So what brought you to Austin, Texas
for the concert? Is there any connection with Austin at all?
Speaker 2 (07:58):
No, maybe we were there. I was there maybe to
do a concert something. I don't know, but I've been
there a few times.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Yeah, but it was so strange. I looked around. There
you're in the audience, a few rows in front of me.
And I turned to my left and there's Governor Ann
Richards on another roll from it. I wait a minute. I
don't remember what I had to eat, but it must
have been pretty damn good.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Somebody.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
That's what I thought for a minute. Well, you have
finally recorded a country album and I listened to it today.
The song selection, the song selection excellent. What you've read done.
One of my favorite songs Vince Gills whenever you come around,
oh man, and you nailed it. You took it to
(08:43):
the next level.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Well, listen, boy, when you're doing a Vince Gills song,
and you better do it right because I'm probably gonna
bump into it.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Boy, you did bumping because you did cut. You cut
another song Vent's on the album called These Days.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Yeah, these Days we recorded that along actually a lot,
not a long time ago, a few a couple of
years ago, and uh, I just loved the song, so
I recorded it and I sent it to Vance to
see if he would just do some guitar fills, and he, uh,
he just made it a duet. He sang with me,
(09:20):
So that was a real honor. But and I just
loved it.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
Can you give him to quit the Eagles and become
a permanent member of the Righteous Brothers ah would be great?
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Yeah, yeah, please please.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
But this new album song selection is great. You've got to.
Of course we mentioned these Days sweet music man, the
Kenny Rodgers at George Jones. He stopped loving her today.
You did a song with Sean Colvin. Of course we're
proud of She's from the Austin area. Sunday Morning Coming Down.
I think that's my favorite song on the album. I
really do your version.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Yes, Sunday Morning Coming Down is like really really one
of the great songs. Chris Kossoftson wrote it, and I
think he and I wanted to do it because I
knew he wasn't in good health and he's kind of
a fan or a friend, and uh, I wanted to
(10:16):
I wanted him to hear it before he passed. I
don't know if. I don't know if I got it
to him. But it's just one of my favorite songs
lyrically and uh, you know, melodically, it's just a great song.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Well, the picture that it paints is just amazing. And
again you took that song with I think to the
next level as well. But and Michael McDonald, you got
to do a song with Michael McDonald.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Yeah, yeah, Lord, singing with Mike was a little scary.
Why was it scary because he does me and he
does me better?
Speaker 1 (10:51):
Did you tell him that?
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Yes, yeah, but he doesn't he doesn't sound like me
at all. But but I didn't. He doesn't he doesn't
sing like me. We were just raised on the same stuff,
Rach Charles and all that stuff. So, uh, it was
just so much fun singing with him. It was like effortless.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
It's a great album. Were there any songs left off
that didn't come out that you said, well, there's it's
not enough room to put on the album. It may
come out.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Later, all about a million of them. I mean really
what what it really was was kind of a tribute
to the songwriters and the and the singers. Uh so
she's if it's something were to happen with this album,
I did another one. I mean, you know, Merle Haggard
(11:41):
and she's there's a million great artists that I didn't
get in there, you know which i'd.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
Love to Well, I can tell you, being a fan,
we'd love to hear them, you know. I hope they
do surface eventually. And of course you haven't started stopped
working because you're still doing Vegas, but you're all over
right now. You beat a Clive in Austin. Yeah, yeah,
So is this really going to be the final tour?
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Well, it's it's the final, It's the final tour. I
just don't know how long is it going to go
because we have we have some contracts we have to fulfill,
and uh, there's places I want to go, like Austin.
Got to Austin City, I mean, that's that's a great music,
great music down and uh you know, so, so it's
(12:32):
gonna take a I don't know a couple of years
or you know, to unwind it and uh, probably by
the time we get there, I'm not gonna want to retire.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
Well, did the good news for US fans as we
can see you two or three times in before you
finally retire, you know. And again Righteous Brothers dot Com
is where you can find out all the dates. And
of course you're playing in Vegas Live. What is it
like working with with Bucky? And the first time you
met Bucky, Bucky was singing Journey songs? Is that right?
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Yeah? Well, he for we were in Branson, Missouri, and
he was working in uh, you know, some show that
does what is it, legends and concert and he was
doing John Belushi and we became real good friends and
I and you know, I would watch him do John Belushi,
(13:21):
but you don't have to be a great singer to
do John. And and then he then he left there
and he went down to another theater and he started
doing some Journey songs and I went in to see him,
and he just blew me away. And uh, And I
wasn't I wasn't looking to replace, you know, or even
(13:43):
try to replace Bobby Hatfield can't do it. Uh, But
I've had a lot of friends and other singers and
performers saying, you know, you got to keep the music
alive if you want to hear that music.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
Right.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
So when when I heard him, I said, man, if
I was going to do this, he would be the
guy for two reasons. He's phenomenal singer. And he was
a Bobby Hotfield fan. You really loved Bobby's voice, and
and and he was a real good friend. And I
knew he was a great guy. And that's real important,
(14:22):
you know, because it's uh joining up with somebody who's
like getting a mail order bride.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
We don't know what. Well, thank you for keeping the
music alive, h for being part of our lives obviously
with a great song, such a great catalog, and again
you you're in the rock and Roll Hall of Fame
and that speaks for itself right there. But now this
country album again, listeners, if you haven't picked it up,
get it Bill Medley, straight from the heart. It's it's
(14:51):
full of country songs. We've all grown up with it,
we all know. But your interpretation of him excellent. Truly. Yeah,
my favorites have got to be Sunday morning coming down,
and of course whenever you come around the Vince Guilty
as well, so.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Yeah, well, thank you. I'm real proud of it, and
I love it, and I think it's the best Bill
Medley album I've ever done, and it was did it
in Nashville with those great Nashville players, and and I'm
not trying to be a country singer. You can tell
that I'm being Bill Medley. So uh, I wouldn't try,
(15:28):
and I wouldn't try and sneak my way into their hood.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Have you ever thought about teaming up, maybe with Richard
Sturbin of the Oaks and doing something together?
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Oh man, man, Yeah, Richard. They've had a couple of
right Righteous Brother hits. We had a should have been
a hit. We we recorded a so Uncle dream on
that they had a big hit with Richard sang it
and but it was written for us to do and
we did it, and they also had a hit I
(15:58):
think was sole an inspiration. But h Richard's a great,
great bass singer.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Oh man, he is great. Look forward to seeing you
Aco live June the seventh. Thank you very very much
for taking the time to visit with us, and again
Righteous Brothers dot Com for all the dates, and let
me tell you, thanks for keeping the music alive and
thank you for you've lost this love and feeling, because
how many people can say that's the song of their generation.
That's great, multiple.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
Jobs, it's pretty good, it's pretty dang good.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
It's darn good.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
It's darn good, not bad.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
From going from all the clubs on until the Ventura
Boulevard right now.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
Oh, I'm telling you, even though we thought we had
died and what to have?
Speaker 1 (16:43):
Do you like that? Listen? That would to me? That
was cool to me. That's a milestone. That's one of
the top of my bucket lists right there. Finally got
to talk to Bill Meldley of the Righteous Brothers. Hope
you like the conversation. Hope you liked the podcast. We
got more surprises coming up later this year with a
podcast including a few bucket list announcements that I will
make very soon. In the meantime, follow me on Instagram
(17:06):
and X Bob Picket Radio just like the name of
the podcast you're listening to right now the YouTube channel,
It's Bob Picket Radio on YouTube, and of course you
can listen to me on iHeart Country and Classic country
stations worldwide. Hope you enjoyed the interview, the talk with
mister Bill because I enjoyed it. I cannot wait for
my wife here the interview. Anyway, have yourself a good
(17:28):
day and we'll see us soon right here back on
the Bob Picket Radio podcast.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
Thank you,
Now listen. I know this is audio, this is in video,
but if you could see me right now, you would
see a big smile on my face because I just
got off the phone talking to Bill Medley of the
Righteous Brothers. Yeah, Bill, that righteous brother, one of my
musical heroes. Finally got a chance to talk to him.
Now the Righteous Brothers are back on the road. They're
calling the Farewell tour. Bill is also just released a
(00:22):
few months ago a great country album of well of
country songs that we all grew up with and loved.
A sweet music man, Vince Gills. Whenever you come around
the dance, please help me on following Sunday morning, coming down.
We'll talk about that in the interview, but right now,
listen to my conversation with Bill Melody of the Righteous Brothers.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Here it is.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
I'm so excited Bob picking with Bill Medley. I know
that you recognize the name the Righteous Brothers. Believe or not,
he's with us right now on the line right now.
First of all, how are you doing, sir?
Speaker 2 (00:54):
I'm doing great, Bob, Thank you very much. I'm finally
at home for a minute, and I live on the
bay and it just looks beautiful so.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
You've left southern California.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Yeah, no, I live in southern California, Newport Beach.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Okay, my dad, I was talking to my dad yesterday.
Were originally from Ventura, and my dad said, oh yeah,
back in the early sixties, your mom and I would
go up, all up and down Ventura Boulevard and we'd
see science saying the Righteous Brothers are here, the Righteous
Brothers are here. And this is before you know, you
guys had any big hits.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Yeah. No, we had a career for about three years
on the West Coast before Love and Feeling, and then
Love and Feeling just kind of made us nationally known.
And but yeah, we were around around since sixty three,
(01:51):
early sixty three.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Yeah, certainly a part of our lives. And of course,
the song that really hit me in my life when
I was teenagers, when you guys did rock and roll Heaven.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Oh yeah, Oh well good.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
I still love that song today, still love it all.
Now you guys have changed the words a little bit,
of course, keeping up with the.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Times on that. Well, we did on one record, a
kind of a quick album that we did, and I
rewrote some of the lyrics. I'm surprised that somebody hasn't
redone that rock and roll heaven, and jeez, we've lost
so many great artists, you know, but who knows, maybe
(02:33):
they will someday.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Well, of course, nobody could talk your version of it.
I'll put it that way, you know, going back, let's
go back before we talk about your country album, Let's
talk about the biggest it you've lost, that loving feeling,
the most played song in radio history, and when you
recorded it, you had no idea that it was going
to be this big. You got to have a feeling
(02:55):
that was gonna be pretty pretty substantial though, right, No.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
You know what, we didn't think it was a hit.
We loved the song, we loved we loved the record,
we loved what Phil Spector did, and it was just
a great record. But you know, it was it was
like four minutes long, and in those days you had
they had to be about two and a half minutes long,
and so nobody was going to play it, and it
(03:22):
was and I sounded like I was on the wrong speech,
you know, And so we just didn't We didn't think
it was going to be a hit at all. And
then it just became a huge shit And I think
I think everything that was wrong was that kind of
made it more special.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
But you have to see it to live on, especially
in movies like Top Gun. Yeah, it's just it's just amazing.
And there was a background singer on that song that
nobody really knew at the time, but man, she became big.
Share was really a background singer on that hit.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Yeah, and I think she's done pretty good since.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
I think she's done a lot since then. Yeah, yeah,
my goodness.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
She was. She was. I think Sunny had played tambourine
on it. I mean there was Glenn Campbell was on it,
Leon Russell was. I mean, it's like it was like
a who's who, Well it was the Wrecking Crew and yeah,
but Share, Yeah, that was the last song that she
sang vocal background on.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Unbelievable. Unbelievable. Now, you produced the song on Shane Melody,
which you didn't think was going to be a big
hit at all, did you no?
Speaker 2 (04:34):
On Shane Meldy When we signed with Phil Spector, Phil
could because I produced all the early stuff like Little
Latin Nuopulo and all that stuff, but your dad would know. Yeah,
well I know, yeah, yeah, okay, and uh so I
produced all that. So when we signed with Phil. Phil
(04:55):
said that I need He said, Bill, I need you
to produced the albums because I'll I take too long
and spend too much money on the singles. So I
said okay, and so we went in and did I
think that just once in my life album? Uh, and Bobby.
(05:19):
Bobby wanted to do Unshained Melody, and so we did it.
And Uh. Because on all of our albums, he would
do a solo and I would do a solo. There
was only so many duets we could come up with.
And for some reason, Phil put it on the B
(05:40):
side of the song that he produced, hung on You,
and the disc shock. He's just I don't, I don't.
I don't know how or how it happened, but everybody
just turned it over and started playing Unshamed Melody and
UH and and swear because the other song, hung on
(06:01):
You was a Carol Kings song that she wrote for us,
and it was a great song. So it was kind
of it was kind of odd, but we'll take it.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Yeah. Yeah, Well, all that, all the catalog material definitely
put you guys in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Congratulations for being a member.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
Rock roll real nice, real nice, and of course the
music has come back. You had a big hit in
the eighties Time of my life with the Jury Dancing.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Yeah, that was an incredible time. I mean I think
what it was maybe eighty seven when Top Gun came out. Yeah,
they put love and feeling in that, and if they
would have really re released it, it would have been
a hit all over again. And because the radio was
just playing it like crazy. And then the next year
(06:53):
I did I've had the time of my life for
Dirty Dancing. Then the next year they put put on
Shane Melody in a Ghost. So at the end of
the eighties we were bigger than we were.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
That was cool now, I think, and I swear this
is true. This is either the late eighties or the
early nineties. I want to say that I saw you
at an Elton John concert in Austin, Texas in the audus.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Yeah, you know what, I did see Elton out there.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Okaylly, I wasn't hallucinating. I did see you back there, Okay,
I knew we were like just a few rows apart.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Yeah. Yeah, I've seen him a couple of times. I
just love him and Billa. Joel is a real good
friend of mine. So they were doing a lot of
work together. And so I've seen Elton three or four times.
I'm just a huge Elton John and I think he's phenomenal.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
I thank you. So what brought you to Austin, Texas
for the concert? Is there any connection with Austin at all?
Speaker 2 (07:58):
No, maybe we were there. I was there maybe to
do a concert something. I don't know, but I've been
there a few times.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Yeah, but it was so strange. I looked around. There
you're in the audience, a few rows in front of me.
And I turned to my left and there's Governor Ann
Richards on another roll from it. I wait a minute. I
don't remember what I had to eat, but it must
have been pretty damn good.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Somebody.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
That's what I thought for a minute. Well, you have
finally recorded a country album and I listened to it today.
The song selection, the song selection excellent. What you've read done.
One of my favorite songs Vince Gills whenever you come around,
oh man, and you nailed it. You took it to
(08:43):
the next level.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Well, listen, boy, when you're doing a Vince Gills song,
and you better do it right because I'm probably gonna
bump into it.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Boy, you did bumping because you did cut. You cut
another song Vent's on the album called These Days.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Yeah, these Days we recorded that along actually a lot,
not a long time ago, a few a couple of
years ago, and uh, I just loved the song, so
I recorded it and I sent it to Vance to
see if he would just do some guitar fills, and he, uh,
he just made it a duet. He sang with me,
(09:20):
So that was a real honor. But and I just
loved it.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
Can you give him to quit the Eagles and become
a permanent member of the Righteous Brothers ah would be great?
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Yeah, yeah, please please.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
But this new album song selection is great. You've got to.
Of course we mentioned these Days sweet music man, the
Kenny Rodgers at George Jones. He stopped loving her today.
You did a song with Sean Colvin. Of course we're
proud of She's from the Austin area. Sunday Morning Coming Down.
I think that's my favorite song on the album. I
really do your version.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Yes, Sunday Morning Coming Down is like really really one
of the great songs. Chris Kossoftson wrote it, and I
think he and I wanted to do it because I
knew he wasn't in good health and he's kind of
a fan or a friend, and uh, I wanted to
(10:16):
I wanted him to hear it before he passed. I
don't know if. I don't know if I got it
to him. But it's just one of my favorite songs
lyrically and uh, you know, melodically, it's just a great song.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Well, the picture that it paints is just amazing. And
again you took that song with I think to the
next level as well. But and Michael McDonald, you got
to do a song with Michael McDonald.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Yeah, yeah, Lord, singing with Mike was a little scary.
Why was it scary because he does me and he
does me better?
Speaker 1 (10:51):
Did you tell him that?
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Yes, yeah, but he doesn't he doesn't sound like me
at all. But but I didn't. He doesn't he doesn't
sing like me. We were just raised on the same stuff,
Rach Charles and all that stuff. So, uh, it was
just so much fun singing with him. It was like effortless.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
It's a great album. Were there any songs left off
that didn't come out that you said, well, there's it's
not enough room to put on the album. It may
come out.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Later, all about a million of them. I mean really
what what it really was was kind of a tribute
to the songwriters and the and the singers. Uh so
she's if it's something were to happen with this album,
I did another one. I mean, you know, Merle Haggard
(11:41):
and she's there's a million great artists that I didn't
get in there, you know which i'd.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
Love to Well, I can tell you, being a fan,
we'd love to hear them, you know. I hope they
do surface eventually. And of course you haven't started stopped
working because you're still doing Vegas, but you're all over
right now. You beat a Clive in Austin. Yeah, yeah,
So is this really going to be the final tour?
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Well, it's it's the final, It's the final tour. I
just don't know how long is it going to go
because we have we have some contracts we have to fulfill,
and uh, there's places I want to go, like Austin.
Got to Austin City, I mean, that's that's a great music,
great music down and uh you know, so, so it's
(12:32):
gonna take a I don't know a couple of years
or you know, to unwind it and uh, probably by
the time we get there, I'm not gonna want to retire.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
Well, did the good news for US fans as we
can see you two or three times in before you
finally retire, you know. And again Righteous Brothers dot Com
is where you can find out all the dates. And
of course you're playing in Vegas Live. What is it
like working with with Bucky? And the first time you
met Bucky, Bucky was singing Journey songs? Is that right?
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Yeah? Well, he for we were in Branson, Missouri, and
he was working in uh, you know, some show that
does what is it, legends and concert and he was
doing John Belushi and we became real good friends and
I and you know, I would watch him do John Belushi,
(13:21):
but you don't have to be a great singer to
do John. And and then he then he left there
and he went down to another theater and he started
doing some Journey songs and I went in to see him,
and he just blew me away. And uh, And I
wasn't I wasn't looking to replace, you know, or even
(13:43):
try to replace Bobby Hatfield can't do it. Uh, But
I've had a lot of friends and other singers and
performers saying, you know, you got to keep the music
alive if you want to hear that music.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
Right.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
So when when I heard him, I said, man, if
I was going to do this, he would be the
guy for two reasons. He's phenomenal singer. And he was
a Bobby Hotfield fan. You really loved Bobby's voice, and
and and he was a real good friend. And I
knew he was a great guy. And that's real important,
(14:22):
you know, because it's uh joining up with somebody who's
like getting a mail order bride.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
We don't know what. Well, thank you for keeping the
music alive, h for being part of our lives obviously
with a great song, such a great catalog, and again
you you're in the rock and Roll Hall of Fame
and that speaks for itself right there. But now this
country album again, listeners, if you haven't picked it up,
get it Bill Medley, straight from the heart. It's it's
(14:51):
full of country songs. We've all grown up with it,
we all know. But your interpretation of him excellent. Truly. Yeah,
my favorites have got to be Sunday morning coming down,
and of course whenever you come around the Vince Guilty
as well, so.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Yeah, well, thank you. I'm real proud of it, and
I love it, and I think it's the best Bill
Medley album I've ever done, and it was did it
in Nashville with those great Nashville players, and and I'm
not trying to be a country singer. You can tell
that I'm being Bill Medley. So uh, I wouldn't try,
(15:28):
and I wouldn't try and sneak my way into their hood.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Have you ever thought about teaming up, maybe with Richard
Sturbin of the Oaks and doing something together?
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Oh man, man, Yeah, Richard. They've had a couple of
right Righteous Brother hits. We had a should have been
a hit. We we recorded a so Uncle dream on
that they had a big hit with Richard sang it
and but it was written for us to do and
we did it, and they also had a hit I
(15:58):
think was sole an inspiration. But h Richard's a great,
great bass singer.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Oh man, he is great. Look forward to seeing you
Aco live June the seventh. Thank you very very much
for taking the time to visit with us, and again
Righteous Brothers dot Com for all the dates, and let
me tell you, thanks for keeping the music alive and
thank you for you've lost this love and feeling, because
how many people can say that's the song of their generation.
That's great, multiple.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
Jobs, it's pretty good, it's pretty dang good.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
It's darn good.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
It's darn good, not bad.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
From going from all the clubs on until the Ventura
Boulevard right now.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
Oh, I'm telling you, even though we thought we had
died and what to have?
Speaker 1 (16:43):
Do you like that? Listen? That would to me? That
was cool to me. That's a milestone. That's one of
the top of my bucket lists right there. Finally got
to talk to Bill Meldley of the Righteous Brothers. Hope
you like the conversation. Hope you liked the podcast. We
got more surprises coming up later this year with a
podcast including a few bucket list announcements that I will
make very soon. In the meantime, follow me on Instagram
(17:06):
and X Bob Picket Radio just like the name of
the podcast you're listening to right now the YouTube channel,
It's Bob Picket Radio on YouTube, and of course you
can listen to me on iHeart Country and Classic country
stations worldwide. Hope you enjoyed the interview, the talk with
mister Bill because I enjoyed it. I cannot wait for
my wife here the interview. Anyway, have yourself a good
(17:28):
day and we'll see us soon right here back on
the Bob Picket Radio podcast.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
Thank you,
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