Unchained Melody is a 1955 song with music by Alex North and lyrics by Hy Zaret, written as the theme for the prison film Unchained. The original film version featured Todd Duncan on vocals. Over the decades it has become one of the most recorded songs of the 20th century, with more than 1,500 recordings by over 670 artists in many languages. In 1955 several versions charted in the US and the UK, including Les Baxter, Al Hibbler, and Roy Hamilton in the United States, and Jimmy Young and Liberace in Britain. The song's enduring fame rests on The Righteous Brothers' 1965 blue-eyed soul rendition, released as a single from the album Just Once in My Life and produced by Phil Spector, with Bobby Hatfield on lead vocals and a landmark final verse. The track enjoyed a revival after its use in the 1990 film Ghost, and it remains a touchstone of romantic pop balladry with a lasting legacy and countless covers.
