Al Hibbler, 'Unchained Melody' and 'Daybreak'

"Mannered", "overstated", "full of idiosyncrasies" and with "bizarre vocal pyrotechnics" - that's how Wikipedia describes Al Hibbler's singing style. I can't disagree, and would add that Hibbler tended to adopt an English accent, despite hailing from Tyro, Mississippi. Also, he was clearly influenced by the histrionic Billy Daniels, whose singing I dislike.

Even so, I love Al and have most of his records. He was a compelling singer with a terrific voice.

Hibbler came to prominence in the 1940s after replacing Herb Jeffries as Duke Ellington's male vocalist. After leaving that ensemble, he began recording as a solo for several labels, achieving his greatest success with US Decca.

This present post presents his biggest hit, a vocal version of "Unchained Melody," based on Alex North's theme from the 1955 film Unchained, a prison flick improbably starring Elroy "Crazylegs" Hirsch. Todd Duncan handles the song in the movie, but his warbling apparently did not rate a single release. So Decca hustled Hibbler into the studio shortly after the film came out and quickly issued its own 45. Despite Jack Pleis' unimaginative backing, Hibbler's rendition was very popular, rising to number three on the charts. Les Baxter's version for Capitol sold even better, hitting number one. (You can find the Baxter performance on my other blog.) A decade later, "Unchained Melody" was a major success for the Righteous Brothers, with Bobby Hatfield singing and Bill Medley producing.

Al Hibbler

But today's focus is on the flip side of Hibbler's single. It is the lovely song "Daybreak", and I am featuring it here as a companion post to one on my other blog, which presents Andre Kostelanetz's LP coupling Ferde Grofé's Mississippi Suite and Jerome Kern's Mark Twain Suite. As I note there, "Daybreak" is adapted from the "Mardi Gras" section of the Mississippi Suite, with lyrics by Harold Adamson. The suite dates from 1925 and the song from 1942. It's not clear why Hibbler dusted off the "Daybreak" sheet music at that late date, but his performance is sensitive and convincing.

I am sure I have the coupling on 45, but rather than search through my almost completely disorganized singles collection, I instead pulled out the LP Hits by Hibbler and transferred the songs from that source. The sound is very good, projecting the singer's vocal quality in a lifelike manner, English accent and all.