Righteous Brother memorial staged

Bill Medley led the tributes to Bobby Hatfield

Righteous Brother Bill Medley bid farewell to his singing partner Bobby Hatfield at a memorial service attended by friends and fans.

Hatfield, who started the Righteous Brothers with Medley in 1962, died on 5 November of a suspected heart attack.

At the memorial service at the Mariners Church in Irvine, California, Medley sang the gospel song Precious Lord.

"I'm going to miss looking to my right on stage and seeing my friend," Medley told the assembled crowd.

Hatfield was found dead in a hotel room in Michigan just half an hour before he was due to go on stage with Medley. He was 63.

It was a marriage with all the good and the bad Bill Medley

Hundreds attended the memorial service, where pictures of Hatfield were placed on a stage surrounded by flowers.

A video montage was played of the Righteous Brothers performing their best known songs, which included You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling and Unchained Melody.

Mentor

Speaking about their partnership, Medley said: "It was a marriage with all the good and the bad. ... It never got old, singing rock and roll, ever," said Medley.

Comedian Brad Garrett, of the sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, talked of when he opened for the Righteous Brothers in the late 1980s, and their subsequent friendship.

Hatfield (l) and Medley were conducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

"Bobby was really a mentor because he was the only one who could out-drink and out-gamble me," he joked.

The Righteous Brothers had their first British number one in 1965 with You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling, which went on to become one of the most played records on radio.

The pair split in 1968 but reformed six years later, and continued performing as a duo until Hatfield's death.

Earlier this year the Righteous Brothers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.