[4] An early influence he has cited is Little Richard, who he first heard when he was fifteen or sixteen years old, and later Ray Charles, Bobby "Blue" Bland, and B.B.

[8] Medley and Fiduccia then formed a group called The Paramours in 1960, with Sal Fasulo and Nick Tuturro, later joined by Mike Rider and Barry Rillera.

[10] In 1962 they formed a new group, but kept the name the Paramours, which included saxophonist John Wimber, who went on to found The Vineyard Church movement.

They performed at The Black Derby nightclub in Santa Ana,[10] and released the single "There She Goes (She's Walking Away)" in December 1962 through independent record label Moonglow.

[12] Medley and Hatfield adopted the name the Righteous Brothers, and their first single was the Medley-penned "Little Latin Lupe Lu", released through Moonglow Records.

[20] After a resurgence in popularity in 1990s due to the use of "Unchained Melody" in the film Ghost, they toured extensively as a duo until Hatfield's death in November 2003.

In 1969, he won second place at the Festival Internacional da Canção (FIC) in Rio de Janeiro with the song "Evie" by Jimmy Webb.

He released the album Sweet Thunder in 1980, containing a version of "Don't Know Much", which was originally written and performed by Barry Mann the same year.

One of Medley's minor entries, "All I Need to Know", was later recorded as "Don't Know Much" in a Grammy-winning duet by Linda Ronstadt and Aaron Neville; this was a long-running No.

[citation needed] In 1987, Medley's duet with Jennifer Warnes, "(I've Had) The Time of My Life", was included on the Dirty Dancing soundtrack, and the single reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100.

He also collaborated with Giorgio Moroder and scored a moderate UK hit in 1988 with a version of "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother".

In 1998 Medley, along with Jennifer Warnes, sang "Show Me the Light" over the closing credits of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Movie.

He also recorded a vocal track for the song Lullabye on Jimmy Chamberlin's (of Smashing Pumpkins fame) solo album, Life Begins Again.

In 2007, Medley released his first new album since the passing of his long-time Righteous Brothers partner Bobby Hatfield who died on November 5, 2003.

[41] Medley met his first wife, Karen O'Grady, in church; they started dating in 1963 and were married at the beginning of his music career.

On January 27, 2017, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department announced that investigators used a new DNA testing method to solve the decades-old murder.

The sheriff's department said that the case "was solved through the use of familial DNA, which identified the killer", Kenneth Troyer, a sex offender and fugitive killed by police in 1982.

[48] Medley was nominated for Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist in the 1972 Grammy Awards for his recording of "Freedom and Fear", a track from Michel Colombier's album Wings.

[29] In 1988, Medley received a Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals for his duet with Jennifer Warnes on "(I've Had) The Time of My Life".