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Revision as of 02:33, 12 August 2007
Robert Lee "Bobby" Hatfield (August 10, 1940 – November 5, 2003), was one half of the Righteous Brothers singing duo.
Hatfield was born in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, and moved with his family to Anaheim, California, when he was four. There, he played baseball and briefly considered going professional, but his passion for music led him to pursue music while attending high school. He would eventually encounter his singing partner Bill Medley while attending California State University Long Beach. Hatfield was noted for his "soaring tenor" and vocal range.
The pair began singing as a duo in 1962 in the Los Angeles area as part of a five-member group called the Paramours. Their first charted single as the Righteous Brothers was "Little Latin Lupe Lu" and their first top-ten hit was "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'," produced by Phil Spector in 1964. Follow-up hits included "(You're My) Soul and Inspiration" and "Unchained Melody." The duo broke up in 1968 but returned with another hit in 1974, "Rock and Roll Heaven." The duo was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March 2003 by one of their biggest fans, Billy Joel.
Hatfield died in a Kalamazoo, Michigan hotel, apparently in his sleep. In January 2004, a toxicology report concluded that an overdose of cocaine had precipitated a fatal heart attack. The Sun, a UK based tabloid daily newspaper caused controversy with its reporting of Hatfield's death, namely with the front page headline of: You've lost that livin' feeling.