"Unchained Melody" was written by Hy Zaret (lyrics) and Alex North (music) for the 1955 movie "Unchained," starring Elroy (Crazy Legs) Hirsch and Barbara Hale (later played Della Street on the TV series Perry Mason). According to some sources Todd Duncan, the famous baritone in Porgy and Bess, sang it in the film. However, according to other sources Al Hibbler was the singer on the "unchained" movie sound track version which was submitted for an academy award nomination (finished fith in the voting in 1955). After the movies release apparently both the Al Hibbler version and the Les Baxter instrumental version were simultaneously released, with the Hibbler version reaching #3 in the U.S. (#2 in Britain) and the Baxter version reaching #1 (#10 in Britain).

Another interesting note is that the lyrics to the song originated in 1936 (well before the song's 1955 release) as the result of a young man's love for a young girl who married someone else. The details of this interesting story can be found at http://www.biwa.ne.jp/~presley/elne.... One interesting aspect of the story is that the song's originators (Zaret and North) wanted their neighbor Bing Crosby to record the song, but after this didn't work out they took other avenues (19 years after the lyrics were written) before Duke Ellington's orchestra recorded it for a record release with Al Hibbler as the vocalist in 1955, which was apparently quickly followed by the Les Baxter version for simultaneous release.