Al Hibbler: A Singer Unchained

Jazz and pop singer Al Hibbler was the first blind entertainer to gain national prominence and was the first African American to have a radio program in Little Rock. He sang with the Duke Ellington Band for eight and a half years and made eighty-two recordings before launching a solo career. Hibbler made several Billboard pop hits—“Unchained Melody,” “He,” “After the Lights Go Down Low,” “11th Hour Melody,” and “Never Turn Back.” Hibbler’s version of “Unchained Melody” was the featured song in the movie Unchained, and he sang the title song in the movie Nightfall. Hibbler also became a prominent figure in the civil rights movement, marching with Martin Luther King Jr. and being arrested for civil disobedience in New Jersey and Birmingham, Alabama. His career waned because of his involvement in the movement, but Frank Sinatra signed Hibbler as one of his first solo artists on Sinatra’s Reprise label. Sinatra called Hibbler and Ray Charles his “two ace pilots.”

Al Hibbler: A Singer Unchained