Historical past

Household and training

Don was born in Brownie, Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, on February 1, 1937, and Phil in Chicago, Illinois, on January 19, 1939. Their mother and father had been Isaac Milford “Ike” Everly, Jr. (1908–1975), a guitar participant, and Margaret Embry Everly (1919-2021).^{[8][9][10][11]} Actor James Finest (born Jewel Man), additionally from Muhlenberg County, was the son of Ike’s sister.

Margaret was 15 when she married Ike, who was 26. Ike labored in coal mines from age 14, however his father inspired him to pursue his love of music and Ike and Margaret started singing collectively.^[12] The Everly brothers spent most of their childhood in Shenandoah, Iowa.^[13] They attended Longfellow Elementary College in Waterloo, Iowa, for a 12 months,^[14] however then moved to Shenandoah in 1944, the place they remained by early highschool.

Ike Everly had a present on KMA and KFNF in Shenandoah within the mid-Forties, first along with his spouse after which with their sons. The brothers sang on the radio as “Little Donnie and Child Boy Phil”.^[15] The household sang because the Everly Household.^[16]

The household moved to Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1953, the place the brothers attended West Excessive College (Knoxville, Tennessee).^[17] In 1955, the household moved to Madison, Tennessee, whereas the brothers moved to Nashville, Tennessee. Don had graduated from highschool in 1955, and Phil attended Peabody Demonstration College in Nashville,^[18] from which he graduated in 1957.^[19] Each might now concentrate on recording.^[20]

Nineteen Fifties

The Everly Brothers within the late Nineteen Fifties

Whereas in Knoxville the brothers discovered work acting on Cas Walker’s Farm and Dwelling Hour, a regional radio and TV selection program, earlier than the brothers caught the eye of household good friend Chet Atkins, supervisor of the RCA Victor studios in Nashville.^[21] Shortly thereafter their mom moved the household to Nashville.^[22] Regardless of affiliation with RCA Victor, Atkins by some means organized for the Everly Brothers to file for Columbia Data in early 1956. Their “Preserve a-Lovin’ Me”, which Don wrote and composed, flopped, and so they had been dropped from the Columbia label.^[23]

Atkins launched the Everly Brothers to Wesley Rose, of Acuff-Rose music publishers. Rose informed them he would safe them a recording deal in the event that they signed to Acuff-Rose as songwriters. They signed in late 1956, and in 1957 Rose launched them to Archie Bleyer,^[24] who was searching for artists for his Cadence Data. The Everlys signed and made a recording in February 1957.^[22] “Bye Bye Love” had been rejected by 30 different acts.^[22] Their file reached No. 2 on the pop charts, behind Elvis Presley’s “(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear”, and No. 1 on the nation and No. 5 on the R&B charts.^[22] The track, by Felice and Boudleaux Bryant,^[25] grew to become the Everly Brothers’ first million-seller.

Working with the Bryants, that they had hits in the US and the UK, the most important being “Wake Up Little Susie”, “All I Should Do Is Dream”, “Fowl Canine”, and “Issues”. The Everlys, although they had been largely interpretive artists, additionally succeeded as songwriters, particularly with Don’s “(Until) I Kissed You”, which hit No. 4 on the US pop charts.^[26]

The brothers toured with Buddy Holly in 1957 and 1958. In keeping with Holly’s biographer Philip Norman, they had been liable for persuading Holly and the Crickets to vary their outfits from Levi’s and T-shirts to the Everlys’ Ivy League fits. Don mentioned Holly wrote and composed “Wishing” for them. “We had been all from the South”, Phil noticed of their commonalities. “We might began in nation music.”^[27] Though some sources say Phil Everly was one among Holly’s pallbearers in February 1959, Phil mentioned in 1986 that he attended the funeral and sat with Holly’s household, however was not a pallbearer.^[18] Don didn’t attend, saying, “I could not go to the funeral. I could not go anyplace. I simply took to my mattress.”^[27]

Sixties–Nineteen Seventies

After three years on Cadence, the Everlys signed with Warner Bros. Data in 1960,^[9] the place they recorded for 10 years. Their first Warner Bros. hit, 1960’s “Cathy’s Clown”, which they wrote and composed themselves, offered eight million copies and have become the duo’s biggest-selling file.^[28] “Cathy’s Clown” was quantity WB1, the primary choice Warner Bros. Data ever launched in the UK.^[29]

We’re not Grand Ole Opry … we’re clearly not Perry Como … we’re simply pop music. However, you may name us an American skiffle group!

— NME – November of 1960^[30]

Different profitable Warner Bros. singles adopted in the US, similar to “So Unhappy (To Watch Good Love Go Unhealthy)” (1960, pop No. 7), “Stroll Proper Again” (1961, pop No. 7), “Crying within the Rain” (1962, pop No. 6), and “That is Previous Customary” (1962, pop No. 9, their final high 10 hit). From 1960 to 1962, Cadence Data launched Everly Brothers singles from the vaults, together with “When Will I Be Liked” (pop No. 8), written and composed by Phil, and “Like Strangers”.^[31]

Within the UK, that they had high 10 hits till 1965, together with “Lucille”/”So Unhappy” (1960, No. 4), “Stroll Proper Again”/”Ebony Eyes” (1961, No. 1), “Temptation” (1961, No. 1), “Cryin’ within the Rain” (1962, No. 6) and “The Worth of Love” (1965, No. 2). They’d 18 singles into the UK high 40 with Warner Bros. within the Sixties. By 1962, the Everlys had reportedly earned $35 million from file gross sales.^[32]
In 1961, the brothers had a falling out with Wesley Rose throughout the recording of “Temptation”. Rose was reportedly upset that the Everlys had been recording a track which he had not printed and, therefore, for which he wouldn’t be paid any publishing royalties. Rose made efforts to dam the file’s launch. The Everlys held agency to their place, and consequently, within the early Sixties, they had been shut off from Acuff-Rose songwriters. These included Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, who had written and composed most of their hits, in addition to the Everlys themselves, who had been nonetheless contracted to Acuff-Rose as songwriters and had written a number of of their very own hits. From 1961 by early 1964, the Everlys recorded songs by different composers to keep away from paying any royalties to Acuff-Rose. They used the pseudonym “Jimmy Howard” as author or arranger on two alternatives they wrote and recorded throughout this time. This ruse, nonetheless, was finally unsuccessful, as Acuff-Rose gained authorized possession of the copyrights as soon as the deception was found.^[33]
Round this time, the brothers additionally arrange their very own file label, Calliope Data, for solo tasks. Utilizing the pseudonym “Adrian Kimberly”, Don recorded a big-band instrumental model of Edward Elgar’s first “Pomp and Circumstance” march, which Neal Hefti organized and which charted in the US high 40 in mid-1961. Additional instrumental singles credited to Kimberly adopted, however none of these charted. Phil fashioned the Keestone Household Singers, which featured Glen Campbell and Carole King. Their lone single, “Melodrama”, did not chart, and by the top of 1962, Calliope Data had gone out of enterprise.
The Everly Brothers’ final United States high 10 hit was 1962’s “That is Previous Customary (That is The Method Love Ought to Be)”, a track recorded however unreleased by The Chordettes and given to the brothers by their previous mentor, Archie Bleyer.^[31]

In succeeding years the Everly Brothers offered fewer data in the US. Their enlistments in the US Marine Corps Reserve in October 1961 took them out of the highlight.^[34] One in every of their few performances throughout their Marine service was on The Ed Sullivan Present, on February 18, 1962, once they carried out “Jezebel” and “Crying within the Rain” whereas outfitted of their Marine Corps uniforms.^[35][36]

Following their discharges from lively obligation, the Everlys resumed their profession, however with little success in the US. Of their 27 singles on Warner Bros. from 1963 by 1970, solely three made the Scorching 100, and none peaked greater than No. 31. Album gross sales had been additionally down. The Everlys’ first two albums for Warners (in 1960 and 1961) peaked at No. 9 US, however after that, of a dozen extra LPs for Warner Bros., just one made the highest 200 – 1965’s “Beat & Soul”, which peaked at No. 141.^[37][38]

The brothers’ dispute with Acuff-Rose lasted till 1964, once they resumed writing and composing in addition to working with the Bryant spouses. By then, nonetheless, each of the Everlys had been hooked on amphetamines. Don’s situation was worse, as he was taking Ritalin; his dependancy lasted three years, till he suffered a nervous breakdown and was hospitalized to deal with his dependancy.^[39] The mainstream media didn’t report that both brother was addicted. When Don collapsed in England in mid-October 1962, reporters had been informed he had meals poisoning;^[40] when the tabloids recommended he had taken an overdose of tablets, his spouse and his brother insisted he was struggling bodily and nervous exhaustion.^[41] Don’s poor well being ended their British tour; he returned to the US, leaving Phil to hold on with Joey Web page, their bass participant, taking Don’s place.^[42]

Although their U.S. stardom had begun to wane two years earlier than the British Invasion in 1964, their enchantment was nonetheless sturdy in Canada, the UK and Australia. The Everlys remained profitable in the UK and Canada for a lot of the Sixties, reaching the highest 40 in the UK by 1968 and the highest 10 in Canada as late as 1967. The 1966 album Two Yanks in England was recorded in England with The Hollies, who additionally wrote most of the album’s songs. The Everlys’ ultimate U.S. high 40 hit, “Bowling Inexperienced”, was launched in 1967.^[43]

By the top of the Sixties, the brothers had returned to nation rock, and their 1968 album, Roots, was hailed by some critics as “one of many best early country-rock albums”.^[44] Nevertheless, by the top of the Sixties, the Everly Brothers had ceased to be hitmakers in both North America or the UK, and in 1970, following an unsuccessful stay album (The Everly Brothers Present), their contract with Warner Bros. lapsed after ten years. They had been the summer season substitute hosts for Johnny Money’s tv present in 1970; their selection program, Johnny Money Presents the Everly Brothers, was on ABC-TV and featured Linda Ronstadt and Stevie Surprise.^[45]

In 1970, Don launched his unsuccessful first solo album. The brothers resumed performing in 1971 and issued two albums for RCA Data in 1972 and 1973. Lindsey Buckingham joined and toured with them in 1972. The Everlys introduced their ultimate efficiency would happen on July 14, 1973, at Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park, California, however tensions between the 2 surfaced and Don informed a reporter he was uninterested in being an Everly Brother.^[46] Through the present, Phil smashed his guitar and walked off, leaving Don to complete the present with out him, ending their collaboration.^[47] The 2 wouldn’t reunite musically for greater than ten years.

Solo years (1973–1983)

Phil and Don pursued solo careers from 1973 to 1983. Don discovered some success on the US nation charts within the mid- to late-Nineteen Seventies, in Nashville along with his band, Useless Cowboys, and enjoying with Albert Lee. Don additionally carried out solo at an annual nation music competition in London in mid-1976. His look was effectively acquired, and he was given “thunderous applause”, despite the fact that critics famous that the efficiency was uneven.^[48]

Phil sang backup for Roy Wooden’s 1975 album Mustard and two songs for Warren Zevon’s 1976 self-titled album.^[49] Whereas Zevon was a part of Phil Everly’s back-up band, Phil additionally recommended the title and subject material for Zevon’s breakthrough hit single “Werewolves of London”.^[50]

Don recorded “Everytime You Go away” with Emmylou Harris on her 1979 album Blue Kentucky Woman.^[51]

Phil recorded extra ceaselessly, however with no chart success till the Nineteen Eighties. He wrote “Do not Say You Do not Love Me No Extra” for the 1978 Clint Eastwood comedy movie Each Which Method However Unfastened, through which he carried out it as a duet with the movie’s co-star Sondra Locke. Phil additionally wrote “One Too Many Girls In Your Life” for the 1980 sequel, Any Which Method You Can, and performed within the band which backed Locke.^[52]

In 1983, Phil had UK success as a soloist with the album Phil Everly, recorded primarily in London. Musicians on the LP included Dire Straits guitarist Mark Knopfler, Rockpile drummer Terry Williams, and keyboard participant Pete Wingfield. The observe “She Means Nothing to Me”, written and composed by John David Williams and that includes Cliff Richard as co-lead vocalist, was a UK Prime 10 hit, and “Louise”, written and composed by Ian Gomm, reached the Prime 50 in 1983.^[33][53]

Reunion, subsequent actions (1983–2006)

The brothers’ reunion live performance on the Royal Albert Corridor in London on September 23, 1983, which ended their ten-year-long solo careers, was initiated by Phil and Don alongside Terry Slater, with Wingfield as musical director. This live performance was recorded for a stay LP and video broadcast on cable tv in mid-January 1984.^[54] The brothers returned to the studio as a duo for the primary time in over a decade, recording the album EB ’84, produced by Dave Edmunds. The lead single, “On the Wings of a Nightingale”, written and composed by Paul McCartney, was successful (Prime 10 grownup up to date)^[55] and returned them to the US Scorching 100 (for his or her final look) and the UK charts.

The Everly Brothers performing in New York

Their ultimate charting single was 1986’s “Born Yesterday”, from the album of the identical identify. They collaborated with different performers, principally singing both backup vocals or duets, together with extra vocals on the title observe of Paul Simon’s 1986 album Graceland. In 1990, Phil recorded a duet with Dutch singer René Shuman ^[nl]. “On Prime of the World” was written and composed by Phil, who appeared within the music video they recorded in Los Angeles. The choice appeared on Shuman’s album Set the Clock on Rock. A 1981 stay BBC recording of “All I Should Do Is Dream”, which featured Cliff Richard and Phil sharing vocals, was a UK Prime 20 hit in 1994.^[56]

In 1998, the brothers recorded “Chilly” for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s and Jim Steinman’s musical Whistle Down the Wind, and the recording was utilized in stage variations as supply music. This may be the ultimate authentic recording the Everly Brothers would ever make as a duo.^[57]

The brothers joined Simon & Garfunkel of their “Previous Mates” reunion tour of 2003 and 2004. As a tribute to the Everly Brothers, Simon & Garfunkel opened their very own present and had the Everlys come out in the course of it. The stay album Previous Mates: Reside on Stage comprises Simon & Garfunkel discussing the Everlys’ affect on their profession and options all 4 on “Bye Bye Love”; the following DVD options two further solo performances by the Everlys. This was not the primary time Paul Simon had carried out along with his heroes; in 1986, the Everlys had sung background vocals on the title observe of Simon’s album Graceland. Simon & Garfunkel’s 1981 Live performance in Central Park featured their interpretation of the Everlys’ “Wake Up, Little Susie”.^[58]

Phil Everly sang “Candy Little Corrina” with nation singer Vince Gill on his 2006 album These Days.^[59] Everly had beforehand equipped concord vocals on J. D. Souther’s “White Rhythm and Blues” on his (Souther’s) 1979 album You are Solely Lonely.

Later developments

Don Everly attended the Annual Music Masters because the Rock and Roll Corridor of Fame paid homage to the Everly Brothers on October 25, 2014. Don took the State Theater stage and carried out the Everlys’ basic hit “Bye Bye Love”.^[60] His ultimate efficiency was a visitor look with Paul Simon on Simon’s 2018 farewell tour in Nashville. Don and Simon carried out “Bye Bye Love”, with Simon on Phil Everly’s authentic tenor concord.^[61]

Don Everly publicly endorsed Hillary Clinton for the 2016 presidential election in January of that 12 months.^[62] This marked the primary time he had ever publicly supported a politician. Don said that after his brother Phil’s dying, he felt free to specific his views extra overtly, noting that the brothers’ opposing views had made it inconceivable for them to lend lively help to political candidates.

The Everly Brothers had been amongst a whole lot of artists whose materials was destroyed within the 2008 Common fireplace.^[63]

Deaths

Phil Everly died at Windfall Saint Joseph Medical Heart in Burbank, California, on January 3, 2014,^[64] 16 days earlier than his seventy fifth birthday, of lung illness.^[65][66][67] Phil’s widow Patti blamed her husband’s dying on his smoking behavior, which triggered him to develop persistent obstructive pulmonary illness, and recounted Phil’s spending his ultimate years having to hold oxygen tanks with him wherever he went and taking 20 various kinds of drugs per day.^[68]

Don Everly claimed in a 2014 interview with the Los Angeles Instances that he had given up smoking within the late Sixties and that Phil had stopped too, however began once more throughout their breakup and had continued till 2001. Don mentioned that weak lungs ran within the household, as their father, Ike, had died of black lung illness. He admitted that he had lived “a really troublesome life” along with his brother and that he and Phil had change into estranged as soon as once more in later years, one thing that was primarily attributed to “their vastly completely different views on politics and life”, with the music being the one factor they shared intently, saying, “it is nearly like we might learn one another’s minds once we sang.” Nevertheless, Don additionally said he had not gotten over Phil’s dying, saying, “I all the time considered him day by day, even once we weren’t talking to one another. It nonetheless simply shocks me that he is gone.” Don added that he had all the time firmly believed he would die earlier than his brother, as a result of he was older.^[69] In a 2016 interview Don mentioned he was nonetheless dealing with the lack of Phil and that he had saved a few of his brother’s ashes in his house. He added that he would decide up the ashes each morning and say “good morning”, whereas admitting that it was a peculiar ritual.^[70]

On August 21, 2021, Don Everly died at his house in Nashville, aged 84.^[71]

Model and influences

The Everly Brothers’ music fused parts of rock and roll, nation and pop.^[5] This type cemented the duo as pioneers of nation rock.^[1][3] Don and Phil, each guitarists, used vocal concord principally primarily based on diatonic thirds. On most recordings, Don sang the baritone half and Phil the tenor concord.^[72][73] One notable exception is “Since You Broke My Coronary heart” (1958). Though Don was primarily low, and Phil was primarily excessive, their voices overlap in a really intricate and nearly delicate vogue. One other notable instance is “I will See Your Mild” (1977), which is likely one of the few songs through which Phil constantly has the low concord whereas Don is constantly excessive. Don often sang the solo traces (for instance, the verses of “Bye Bye Love”); among the many few exceptions is the 1965 single “It is All Over”, on which Phil sang the track’s solo traces.^[74]

Within the late Nineteen Fifties, the Everly Brothers had been the rock and roll youth motion’s addition to shut concord vocal teams, lots of which had been household bands. They influenced rock teams of the Sixties. The Beatles,^[75] The Seashore Boys,^[76] and Simon & Garfunkel^[77] developed their early types by performing Everly songs.

Legacy

The music of the Everly Brothers influenced The Beatles, who referred to themselves as “the British Everly Brothers”^[66] when Paul McCartney and John Lennon went hitchhiking south to win a expertise competitors.^[78] They primarily based the vocal association of “Please Please Me” on “Cathy’s Clown”.^[79] McCartney additionally referred to ‘Phil and Don’ within the lyrics to Let ‘Em In from the 1976 album Wings on the Pace of Sound.

Keith Richards referred to as Don Everly “one of many best rhythm [guitar] gamers”.^[80]

Paul Simon, who labored with the pair on the track “Graceland”, mentioned on the day after Phil’s dying, “Phil and Don had been probably the most stunning sounding duo I ever heard. Each voices pristine and soulful. The Everlys had been there on the crossroads of nation and R&B. They witnessed and had been a part of the delivery of rock and roll.”^[15]

Achievements and honors

The Everly Brothers had 35 Billboard Prime 100 singles, 26 within the high 40. They maintain the file for probably the most Prime 100 singles by any duo and path solely Corridor & Oates for probably the most Prime 40 singles by a duo. Within the UK, that they had 30 chart singles, 29 within the Prime 40, 13 Prime 10, and 4 at No. 1 between 1957 and 1984. They’d 12 Prime 40 albums between 1960 and 2009.^[81]

The Everly Brothers had been among the many first 10 artists inducted into the Rock and Roll Corridor of Fame in 1986. They had been launched by Neil Younger, who noticed that each musical group he had ever belonged to had tried, and failed, to repeat the Everly Brothers’ harmonies. On July 5, 1986, the Everlys returned to Shenandoah, Iowa, for a live performance, parade, avenue dedication, class reunion, and different actions. Live performance charges had been donated to the Everly Household Scholarship Fund, which provides scholarships to center college and highschool college students in Shenandoah. The brothers had been inducted into the Iowa Rock ‘n’ Roll Corridor of Fame in 2003.^[82]

In 1997, the brothers had been awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. They had been inducted into the Nation Music Corridor of Fame in 2001 and the Vocal Group Corridor of Fame in 2004.^[83] Their contribution to music has been acknowledged by the Rockabilly Corridor of Fame. On October 2, 1986, The Everly Brothers acquired a star on the Hollywood Stroll of Fame for his or her work within the music trade, situated at 7000 Hollywood Blvd.^[84][85] In 2004, Rolling Stone journal ranked the Everly Brothers No. 33 on its record of the “100 biggest artists of all time”.^[86] They’re additionally No. 43 on the record of UK Finest promoting singles artists of all time.^[87]

Tributes and interpretations by different artists

The Everlys, as famous above, wrote and composed “Until I Kissed You” (Don), “When Will I Be Liked” (Phil), “Born Yesterday” (Don), and “Cathy’s Clown” (Don, or presumably Don and Phil). The authorship of “Cathy’s Clown” has been the topic of a 2017 lawsuit and has been in another way adjudicated by completely different courts, most lately in 2021.^[88] “Cathy’s Clown” and “When Will I Be Liked” grew to become hits for Reba McEntire and Linda Ronstadt, respectively. “Cathy’s Clown” was additionally lined by the Tarney/Spencer Band and launched as a single in 1979. Band member Alan Tarney (a former member of the Shadows) went on to be a producer for Cliff Richard and a-ha, the Norwegian band who, in flip, lined “Crying within the Rain” in 1990 for its fourth album, East of the Solar, West of the Moon.^[89][90]

On Labor Day weekend 1988, Central Metropolis, Kentucky, started the Everly Brothers Homecoming occasion to boost cash for a scholarship fund for Muhlenberg County college students. Don and Phil toured the UK within the Nineteen Eighties and as lately as 2005, and Phil appeared in 2007 on recordings with Vince Gill and Invoice Medley. Additionally in 2007, Alison Krauss and former Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant launched Elevating Sand, which included a canopy of the Everlys’ 1964 hit “Gone, Gone, Gone”, produced by T-Bone Burnett.^[91]

4 Everly Brothers tribute data had been launched in 2013: Billie Joe Armstrong’s and Norah Jones’ Foreverly,^[92] the Chapin Sisters’ A Date with the Everly Brothers,^[93] Bonnie Prince Billy’s and Daybreak McCarthy’s What the Brothers Sang,^[94] and the Wieners’ Fowl Canines.^[95]

The album Marvin, Welch & Farrar (1971), by the British-Australian band of the identical identify, comprises a observe named after Don’s fatherland, “Brownie Kentucky”.^[96]

Deerhunter’s “Basement Scene” “deliberately nods to the Everly Brothers’ ‘All I Have To Do Is Dream'”.^[97]

Discography

See additionally

• Gibson Everly Brothers Flattop
• Record of songs recorded by the Everly Brothers