Although today the version most deeply fixed in public memory is the one by The Righteous Brothers, it was neither the first nor the most successful at the beginning. But their 1965 recording was the one that gave it its second, enormous, almost definitive life. There, Bobby Hatfield, who had a higher voice than Bill Medley, sang the main lead. It was his idea to record it, since Medley and Hatfield were each allowed to choose one song to sing solo on their albums. Medley has explained that Hatfield knew the song very well and was a great admirer of the Roy Hamilton and Al Hibbler versions. Bobby Hatfield died in 2003 of a heart attack at the age of 63.