Bill Medley brings career retrospective to Old Town Temecula

Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield were not thinking about being superstars in the early days.

“The first three years of the Righteous Brothers, Bobby and I talked about what we would do when the fab was over,” said Grammy winner and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member Medley who will perform 8 p.m. June 22, at the Old Town Temecula Community Theater. “It’s been a real blessing and just a kind of magic act.”

Indeed, it has been quite a musical journey. Their version of “Unchained Melody” was voted the most popular love song of all time. Medley’s hit with Jennifer Warnes, “The Time of My Life” from the film “Dirty Dancing” was a colossal smash. And, of course, “You’ve lost that Lovin’ Feeing” is the most played song in radio history and one of the biggest songs in history. And that was the song that started it all.

“When ‘Lovin; Feeling’ hit, we were also dong a national show, Shindig! which was a huge show those days,” he said. “We were regulars on the show so we were getting nationally known from that, and we recorded that song and boy between those two things our career exploded. We started to think that maybe there is more to this than we thought.”

To this day, Medley is still excited about being on stage.

“You know it is real interesting because when you go on stage, I’ve said this a million times, I leave the 73-year-old guy in the dressing room and take the 23-year-old guy out there,” he said. “When I sing the audience lights up and it is a magical experience. It takes you back to when you heard a particular song.”

The show is a retrospective filled with stories, connected to his new book “The Time of My Life.”

“It is kind of giving them the background of the Righteous Brother, and I started doing it a little bit on stage five years ago,” he said. “And the audience would tell me they loved those stories. They liked hearing how it was to work with Phil Spector, how we met, how we got the name. We were on the first American Beatles tour and the first Rolling Stones tour. There are a lot of stories.”

There is also a local connection.

“My son lives in Temecula, and I have seen the auditorium before,” he said. “Ever since I saw it I have wanted to perform there.”

He finally will and in his words, “it is an intimate evening with Bill Medley.”