tavis: good evening. from los angeles, i am tavis smiley. tonight, a conversation with bill medley, one half of the righteous brothers, who did "you've lost that lovin' feeli'' ," and"unchained melody the righteous brothers were front and center as music changes swept the nation. now, bill medley has written a memory, called "the time of my life." we are glad you could join us for our conversation with bill medley, coming up right now. ♪

♪ >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ their first chart topping single in 1964, the righteous brothers were something of a hit making factory. after that duo split, bill medley continued to top the charts with "i have had the time won a grammyand he

and a golden glove and an oscar, and now, he has written a memoir -- and a golden globe and an oscar, and now, he has written a memoir. hits, those iconic "you've lost that lovin' feeli'' ." ♪ you are trying hard not to say it baby, i know it feelin'ost that lovin' that lovin' feelin' feelin'ost that lovin and it is gone, gone, gone ♪ tavis: you are snapping your fingers on one and three. not the downbeat.

you guyst say that have to be -- you said "hip" -- guysf the coolest white to have ever lived. soulful. that is oxymoronic. a soulful white guy from orange county. we botht is odd that hoped up, because over the years, bobby has been passed away a little over 10 years, and it is just funny. you are from orange county, and you are thrown together in this group, and i have never find another guy who could come close to him. since we are there, let's just jump in. how did you two meet? , santay was from anaheim

ana, and we both had small rock 'n roll groups, which was kind of on in the 1960's, because rock was kind of a fad, but a mutual friend of ours came to been workingho had biggest a lot, and he wanted to put together a group that he could work constantly, so he took bobby and bobby's dr ummer and my guitar player and through us together, and we were there. the minute bobby and i started knowng together, i do not if it was magical, but it was so much fun to actually sing with somebody that was that legitimate r&b, you know? thearamoure -- so

cool, but howwas did you end up being the righteous brothers? >> there was a marine base, and the black marines heard that there were these two white guys down at the club singing rhythm and blues, because that is all bobby and i knew was rhythm and blues, so the black guys would come in, and there was a saying back in those days, the early 1960's, maybe the 1950's, "that suit," andlooking they would say, "that is a righteous suit," and if you were you would white guy,

say it was cool. i wrote a song, and a guy wanted bobby, i thinknd bobby came and said we needed a name. we did not want to be the para mours. let's use the, name that the marines have been calling us, and its stock. -- it stuck. tavis: i love it. the brothers named the brothers. >> thank god it came from the brothers. tavis: you guys were so beloved back in the 19 60's. >> well, it meant everything, because when we recorded, we were not a duo. we did not sit down and say let's do this for a living. it just happened, and so it was

for toip thing to do white guys for orange county, for them to sound black, because the black stations could not play us as we were white, and the white stations would not play us because they thought we were black, and then television really messed us up. [laughter] the first gigs we ever did as the righteous brothers was at the california club down in los angeles, and it , andn all-black club lu" waslatin lupe coming out, and they booked us, and they did not know we were white. sam cooke and a lot of great guys would go there, so we showed up, and we said, listen, we are the righteous brothers,

and we are supposed to perform here tonight. and they said, i hope you are the band. heng a little blonde guy -- said, sit down in the back and start drinking, and so we did, and, you know, clubs would close at 1:40 five, so they called us up at about 1:30, and bobby and 1:45,clubs would close at so they called us up at about 1:30, and bobby and i, we thought if they hate us, they hate us, so we went up and did "sweet little angle" by b.b. king, and the crowd went nuts, and that was like his stamp of approval. we did not know what we were doing.

we were just two guys out there singing. tavis: and what do you recall about that club when you opened one, and then you did your stuff, and they thought, oh, my god, this is the righteous brothers? i said, it was not a real commercial thing to do for was against the grain, but they just accepted us. and black us, audiences, they do not wait until the song is over. they let you know right now, right now if they like you. tavis: yeah. >> and that is the first time we brother," andt, it turned us on like you cannot imagine. tavis: i have a friend who is a offi at the largest temple

of the mississippi, and there was another who used to pastor a church here in los angeles. he is now in detroit. and every year because they are friends of mine, i would go to support them, and they would have a church swap, so on one saturday, all of the baptist members would go to the synagogue, and my friend kenny preach, and then all of the members at the synagogue would go to the baptist church, and steve loved coming to this baptist church. you can imagine the difference between a rabbi teaching at a synagogue -- dead silence, and he got in that black church, and those negroes were pushing him, "preach, rabbi." he said the greatest day of his life was a rabbi preaching in the baptist church.

he loved it. >> it is the absolute truth. i was raised presbyterian. very quiet. love.was dating darlene tavis: i was about to get to that. >> and her father was -- tavis: a minister. >> and that is when i learned about making a joyful noise before the lord. tavis: you got it figured out. >> i was so psyched, and her father said, let's get brother bill to sing. tavis: [laughs] >> holy moly. going up and singing at this black church, just on fire. that was the first time i ever sang but did not sing to an audience.

i was singing to god, and they were praising god, and it was very interesting. i will never forget it my whole life. it was kind of an out of body experience. --is: you talk in your life in your book, and i am so glad you do, about your relationship with darlene love. she sat in that spot. can only imagine what you felt about it, the success of that documentary winning, and darlene is on stage. and oprah is doing something on her. it was so wonderful to watch and such a long time coming. i know that bruce springsteen was a huge supporter of darlene's, and she has always

been one of the great, great singers in the world, and i believe she is singing as well if not better today. i just saw her a couple, three weeks ago perform in palm it is just so great in our business when you finally see something that should happen happen, and it was so right that she hit it, and she sang on the academy awards. ahead, go ahead. just said something about what happens over the years with one's career. there is a passage in your book, life," and imy highlighted a few sentences, and i love this. "passion. untilwhat separates --

myy start shovelling dirt on face. i do not work as much as when i was 25, but i still love it when i do. every time i go onstage, it is like a first date. i put on clean clothing, shave, shave, and i become the very be, bill medley that i can because i want to win my date over. that ience is my date want to impress every time. i am always looking ahead to my next first date." how cool is that? that? cool is tavis: that is a great passage. >> well, it is a lie. on,get your cute clothing and it go out on stage,

becomes that magical thing. people say, how can you still feelin'" after 50 years, and because the minute you go on and do ♪ you never they go backes ♪ to 25 years old, and i go back to 25 years, and it is my first date. tavis: let's talk about this for a second. what do you make of the enduring legacy and relevance of that track, "you've lost that lovin' feelin'"? >> it was produced by phil spector, and a good record is a great production and a great

song and a great performance from the singers, and i must say, phil spector brought that out in us, and i do not know. feelin'" wasin' probably one of the most -- probably in 1964 and 1965 one of the most dramatic love songs for these kids to grab ahold of. they had been listening to, you know, kind of cute, cute songs, feelin'" was just a strong, powerful song. avis: so fast-forward, and whole new generation gets to know you. --thatme of my life" song, i do not have the language to describe how powerful then and now the words, the lyrics of that song are. >> what a great song to be

associated with. something positive. lin'" --"lovin' fee "you've lost that lovin' good to and it was have a positive song. they would lay it at graduations, and the movie "dirty dancing," i do not know if it would have been a hit if it had not been in "dirty dancing." tavis: it could have been the other way around, with all due swayze.to patrick

performted me to go and it, and i said i could not go to california, and i said, what is the name of the movie, and based that "dirty dancing." or this was 20 years ago more, and that sounded like a porno movie. i had done a lot of songs for movies, sylvester stallone. i had just finished a duet with gladys knight. one of the other greatest singers of the world. tavis: indeed. >> and i said, who is in the movie? and they said, "patrick swayze and jennifer grey." and they would call literally every week am a because i had said my wife is going to have a baby, and i am telling my wife

-- they would call literally every week, because i had said my wife was going to have a baby, and i kept telling my wife to happy baby so i could have a hit. we basically did the song just to sing together and make this record, because obviously, the movie was not going to do anything. tavis: right. >> and i was out on the road with the righteous brothers doing a concert, and one of the jockeyskey said -- disc said, "i am playing the heck out of your record." you are singing with a girl, and i said, oh, the gladys knight song, and he said, warnes, and the

song was number one all over the world. itis: and you did not see coming? >> i have turned down several careers. i turned down "in the ghetto" by elvis presley. tavis: how do you look back on that? in this case, you did do it, so it is not like you turned it down, but i should spank your hand. you are iconic at this. you should know a hit when you hear one? you think?t if i did, i probably would have a lot more hit records. when you are hot, you get the greatest writers -- carol king -- you have got the greatest writers in -- carole king, and

you have the greatest writers in the world, and i knew -- "he ain't heavy, he's my those are great songs, but you can't spank my can spank my hand. that: i want to go back to p word, passion. passionate allen of these years, or to put it another way, what would you have done if not music? >> i do not know. i am really one of those one trick ponies.

i dropped out of school. i always sang in church choirs and school choirs, but, obviously, god said, i have got to help this kid and gave me music and give me bobby hatfield , and it has been a blessing, so i do not know what prison i would be in right now. if it were not for music. tavis: [laughs] p-r-i-s-o-n or p-r-i-s-m? prison. >> i fell in love with rhythm and blues, and these fingers stole my soul. i was obsessed with it, and there was a little radio station up here in l.a., kfwb, in orange county, you could rarely tune it

in, and it was like i had ray charles and bb king and these guys coming to my house every day and every night, not teaching me how to sing but singing along with them -- i was just -- they taught me how to sing. a couplehave just got of minutes to go, and it is not fair to ask this at this point, but how did you process the breakup with bobby? >> well, you know, bobby and i had broken up a couple of times in our career, but since 1990, we were really back together and having a ball, and bobby passed away in 2003. much realize it then, but i am a righteous brother, and when bobby passed away, the righteous brothers it took me, and so

about two years to finally figure that out, that, you know, a big part of you went when bobby passed away. tavis: what is great about this book, and i have not even scratched the surface of it, and the life is still ongoing, gratefully, but you hear the voices of his family and friends in the text, as well, so it is not just bill writing, but you hear those who love tim and supported him through the years coming through in this book, as well -- here those who loved him and supported him through the years, coming through in this book, as well. this is a memoir written by the one and only bill medley, the guy to ever come out of orange county. good to have you on this program. thanks for watching, and as always, keep the faith. ♪

so we take each other's hand 'cause we seem to understand the urgency ♪ >> ♪ just remember you are the one i just can't get enough of ♪ >> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. tavis: hi, i'm tavis smiley. join me next time for -- a conversation with the founder of c-span, brian lamb. that is next time. we will see you then. ♪

♪ >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ ♪ >> be more. pbs.

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