The song, “Unchained Melody”, was originally recorded by Todd Duncan in 1955

Hyman Zaritsky (1907-2007) and Alex North (1910-1991) wrote the song “Unchained Melody” in 1955 for the film ‘Unchained’. It was performed by American singer Todd Duncan (1903-1998) but never commercially released at the time. It was one of four versions of the song recorded in that year alone, the second of which came from fellow American singer Les Baxter (1922-1996) whose did get released and it went to No.1 in Australia and No.10 in the UK.

“Unchained Melody” was not done yet in 1955 when British broadcaster Jimmy Young (1921-2016) recorded the song and took it to the very top of the chart, the first of two number ones from him that year. Ten years later, perhaps the best known version of the song was recorded by Bobby Hatfield (1940-2003) and Bill Medley (b.1940) – The Righteous Brothers. Their version went to No.4 in America and No.14 in the UK, but following its inclusion on the soundtrack of the 1990 film ‘Ghost’, the song was re-released and became an enormous hit the world over, this time going to No.1 in the UK and also in ten further countries. It has now sold over six million copies globally.

Did you know that Elvis recorded the song? Well he did in 1977, only weeks before his death. He took the song into the top ten in Canada and The US when it saw release in March 1978. “Unchained Melody” seems to thrive on being released in years with a ‘5’ at the end and as with 1955 and 1965, 1995 was no exception when British television actors Robson Green and Jerome Flynn recorded the song having performed it in the TV series Soldier Soldier. Thanks to and eye for a hit-makers Mike Stock and Matt Aitken, their version became the most successful yet, topping the UK chart for seven weeks and selling nearly two million copies!

Although he lost to Will Young, Pop Idol finalist Gareth Gates brought the song into the 21st century when he recorded and released “Unchained Melody” in 2002 as his debut single, which once again went to number one, this time selling 1.3 million copies at home, as well as being a top ten hit across Europe and in Australia, and beginning a string of hits for him that would last for nearly two years.

But which version is the best? LES BAXTER’s first hit, JIMMY YOUNG’s number one, THE RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS classic, ROBSON and JEROME’s 90’s smash or GARETH’s 2002 chart topper?

Take a look at some of the other posts in this series and don’t forget to follow the playlist.