Righteous Brother Bobby Hatfield Dies at Age 63

Bobby Hatfield, best known for his role as one-half of the hugely popular and influential Righteous Brothers, was found dead in his hotel room on November 5, just a half-hour before he was scheduled to perform at Western Michigan University. The crowd gathered at the Miller Auditorium was informed that the show would not be taking place due to “a personal emergency of an unspecified nature.”

The singer, who earlier this year was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, was discovered by hotel staff and local authorities, who had entered his room to check on him when he failed to answer a 6 P.M. wake-up call. According to the Kalamazoo Gazette, his body was taken to Lansing so that an autopsy could be performed. The cause of death is still unknown at this time.

The Righteous Brothers, Hatfield and Bill Medley, were responsible for recording some of the most popular songs in rock & roll history, including their 1964 single “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling,” which several sources cite as the most played song in radio history. Their song “Unchained Melody” was also a tremendous success in the late ’60s, but it had even greater success more than a quarter century later in 1990, when it was nominated for a Grammy after being featured in the hit movie Ghost. The Righteous Brothers’ other hits included “Rock and Roll Heaven” and “(You’re My) Soul and Inspiration.”

Hatfield was active in raising awareness about the chronic inflammatory disease known as Lupus. In 1990 he started an annual golf tournament to raise money to fund research about the disease.