Don Everly, the oldest and surviving member of the influential rock ‘n’ roll duo The Everly Brothers, died Saturday at his home in Nashville. He was 84 years old.
Don and Phil Everly, better known as The Everly Brothers, were one of the most influential and groundbreaking groups in early rock ‘n’ roll. With her professional career beginning a few years after the genre’s founding, the heavenly harmonies of the Everlys, as heard on hits such as “Bye Bye Love” and “Wake Up Little Susie,” found fans in The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Simon & Garfunkel, as well as millions of fans worldwide. In addition to rock, his music helped popularize folk-rock and country-rock on the national stage.
Been born the 1 from February of 1937 a Brownie, Kentucky, Issac Donald Everly grew up surrounded by music. After the family moved to Shenandoah, Iowa, their father, Ike, a former miner turned country musician, took the boys to sing on your local radio show. Billed as “Little Donnie” and “Baby Boy Phil,” the Everly Brothers debuted singing at 8 and 6 years old.
In the 1950s, the group went from local radio singers to one of the most important acts in the United States. They signed to New York independent label Cadence Records in 1957, the same year they released their first single “Bye Bye Love”, which reached number two on the chart. Billboard Pop Graphics. By 1960 they had already signed with Warner Bros. and they were in full swing. Between 1957 and 1962, the Everly had 15 major hits, including “Bird Dog”, “Problems” and the first issue “Cathy’s Clown”.
Their meteoric rise was not without its struggles and the 1960s proved the group’s success. Although the Everly Brothers achieved five first 100 hits, the band would only return to the charts twice as much over the decade. As the group’s popularity declined in an increasingly competitive field, both Don and Phil dealt with it. substance abuse problems. At the end of the decade, the band would send another fundamental album: those of 1968 Roots. Roots he stood among other country-rock and folk-rock touchstones of The Byrds, Gram Parsons and The Grateful Dead, a testament to the Everlys ’endurance and versatility. However, Warners left the group in 1970.
The group broke up on the stage of Knott’s Berry Farm in 1973 when Phil broke the guitar on stage, leaving Don to tell the audience:The Everly brothers died ten years ago“. However, they would return a decade later with the album EB ’84, which was successful “On the wings of a nightingale”Written by Paul McCartney. Two years later, they joined Chuck Berry, James Brown, Elvis Presley, Sam Cooke, Jerry Lee Lewis and more as members of the inaugural class of the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame. Other recognitions soon followed the Everlys, for example, winning a Grammy in 1997.
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By the early 2000s, the Everly had just recorded music together. They toured with Simon & Garfunkel in 2003, but the Brothers program slowed down significantly later, recording independently and sporadically over the decade.
On January 3, 2014, Phil Everly died of lung disease at the age of 74 years. Months after his death, Don said LA Times, “I didn’t finish it. I really feel sad. I think about him every day. I always thought about him every day, even when we weren’t talking.”
But the impact of the Everlys was already set. Keith Richards called Don “one of the best rhythm guitarists in the worldPaul McCartney said, “When Joan and first I started writing songs, I was Phil and he was Don. ”