Free Republic

If you’ve ever wondered what connects Frank Zappa to Frank Sinatra, Burt Bacharach to The Beach Boys, the answer is Carol Kaye. The session legend tells the story behind her career and legendary bass recordingsIf plucking a ripe plum from a tree had a sound, it would resemble Carol Kaye’s signature tone – a tone that made her a ‘first-call’ bassist in the highly competitive studio session world. It wasn’t just that, though. Kaye is arguably the first bassist to exploit the instrument in a truly melodic fashion, a nod perhaps to her early days as a jazz guitar prodigy....

Authorities say familial DNA was used to solve the 1976 killing of the ex-wife of The Righteous Brothers singer Bill Medley. Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell said Monday that investigators blame Kenneth Eugene Troyer for the slaying. Karen Klaas was strangled with her pantyhose in her home. Investigators say they collected a DNA sample from the coroner and matched it to forensic evidence from the crime scene. McDonnell says investigators ran a forensic sample collected at the crime scene through a state database and found a familial match to identify a close male relative of Troyer’s. Police in California...

Ebb Tide

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (AP) - Righteous Brothers singer Bobby Hatfield's death in November was caused by cocaine and not just heart failure, according to the official autopsy report. Dr. Richard Tooker, chief medical examiner for Kalamazoo County, told the Kalamazoo Gazette in Monday's editions that Hatfield's death was triggered by acute cocaine intoxication. Hatfield, 63, died Nov. 5 just hours before a Righteous Brothers concert. He and his partner, Bill Medley, had hits like "Unchained Melody," and "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling." An initial autopsy found Hatfield had advanced coronary disease. A heart attack due to the disease was listed on...

SANTA ANA — Bill Medley said in remarks published today he never knew the late Bobby Hatfield, his partner of four decades in the Righteous Brothers duo, was a cocaine user. Medley, a Newport Beach resident, spoke to the Orange County Register last night after it was revealed that Hatfield, who died in November from what had been believed to be a heart attack, succumbed to what a medical examiner calls "acute cocaine toxicity." Hatfield did have heart disease, with one coronary artery blocked as much as 95 percent, according to an autopsy report by the Kalamazoo County Medical Examiner's...

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (AP) Bobby Hatfield, who with partner Bill Medley pioneered "blue-eyed soul" as the Righteous Brothers with hits like "Unchained Melody" and "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling," died Wednesday night of undetermined causes at a hotel, his manager said. He was 63. Hatfield's body was discovered in his bed at 7 p.m. EST, a half-hour before the duo was to perform at Miller Auditorium on the Western Michigan University campus, manager David Cohen said. "It's a shock, a real shock," Cohen said during a telephone interview. Medley, who teamed with Hatfield 42 years ago, was "broken up. He's not...

Local news station WWMT out of Kalamazoo just reported that Bobby Hatfield of the "Righteous Brothers" has died just before their scheduled concert at Miller Auditorium in KZoo.