PHIL EVERLY

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10 years 2 months ago #1 by riada
PHIL EVERLY was created by riada
Phil Everly of the Everly Brothers has died
January 4, 2014

Musician Phil Everly, the younger half of the Everly Brothers, died Jan. 3, 2014, in Burbank, Calif.

Another Boomer icon is gone

Phil Everly, one half of the brother vocal duo whose sibling harmonies sweetened '50s and '60s rock music, has died. He was 74.

He died Friday in Burbank of complications from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, after a lifetime of smoking, his wife, Patti Everly, told the Los Angeles Times.

The Associated Press confirmed the news with his son, Jason Everly.

"We are absolutely heartbroken," Patti Everly told the newspaper. "He fought long and hard."

The Everly Brothers, Phil and Don, whose tight harmonies were unmistakable and unforgettable, profoundly influenced everyone from The Beatles and The Byrds to the Beach Boys and Simon & Garfunkel, as well as countless other rock, folk and country singers, starting in the late 1950s.

A generation of teens grew up with their high, clarion voices blasting from car radios on Wake Up Little Susie, Bye Bye Love, Cathy's Clown and All I Have to Do Is Dream.

Singer Linda Ronstadt, who had a big hit in 1975 with When Will I Be Loved, which Phil wrote, and who herself grew up in Tucson singing with her siblings, told the L.A. Times there's nothing like vocals produced by family.

"The information of your DNA is carried in your voice, and you can get a sound (with family) that you never get with someone who's not blood-related to you," she said. "And they were both such good singers — they were one of the foundations, one of the cornerstones of the new rock 'n' roll sound."

In October, Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong and jazz-pop singer Norah Jones released a tribute album, Foreverly. Armstrong was full of admiration for the brothers.

The Everly harmonies "are so immaculate," Armstrong told USA TODAY. "And that record (the duo's second album, Songs Our Daddy Taught Us) was pretty daring at the time. A lot of other rock guys were trying to go pop. Chuck Berry had a string of big hits, and the same with Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis. And here the Everlys were playing these torch songs and murder ballads. For them to do something so dark and angelic was appealing to me."

The duo was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986.

On Twitter, boomers mourned, or at least boomers with Twitter accounts. Presidential historian Michael Beschloss tweeted a concert poster from 50 years ago in England where the Everly Brothers got top billing over the Rolling Stones.

Phillip Everly was born on Jan. 19, 1939, in Chicago, the son of two country musicians, Ike and Margaret Everly. The family was a traveling act, and the brothers started performing together on the family radio show.

Bye Bye Love was their breakthrough hit, in 1957, and their first million-seller. Also in 1957, Wake Up Little Susie, about two teenagers falling asleep at the drive-in theater and waking after curfew, was banned in Boston for its slightly suggestive lyrics. It went to No. 1.

Legacy
The Everly Brothers had 35 Billboard Top 100 singles, 26 in the top 40. They hold the record for the most Top 100 singles by any duo, and trail only Hall & Oates for the most Top 40 singles by a duo.

In the UK, the Everly Brothers had 30 chart singles, 29 in the top 40, 13 top 10 and 4 at No. 1 between 1957 and 1984. They have had 12 top 40 albums, between 1960 and 2009.

In 1986, the Everlys were among the first 10 artists inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. During the ceremony, they were introduced by Neil Young, who observed that every musical group he belonged to had tried and failed to copy the Everly Brothers' harmonies. That year on July 5, the Everlys returned to their boyhood home of Shenandoah to a crowd of 8,500 for a concert, parade, street dedication, class reunion and other activities. Concert fees were donated to the Everly Family Scholarship Fund which gives scholarships to middle and high school students in Shenandoah every year.

In 1997 the brothers were awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In addition, they were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2001 and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2004. Their pioneering contribution to the genre has been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. The Everly Brothers have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7000 Hollywood Blvd. In 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked The Everly Brothers No. 33 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Times. They are also No. 43 on the list of UK Best selling singles artists of all time.

They were also songwriters, penning "Till I Kissed You" (Don), "Cathy's Clown" (Don and Phil), and "When Will I Be Loved" (Phil). "Cathy's Clown" and "When Will I Be Loved" later became hits for Reba McEntire and Linda Ronstadt, respectively; (for the latter, the Everly Brothers sang the chorus). Also, the Norwegian band a-ha covered "Crying In The Rain" in 1990 for their fourth album, East of The Sun, West of The Moon.

Paul McCartney paid tribute by mentioning "Phil and Don" in his 1976 million-seller, "Let 'Em In."

They joined Simon & Garfunkel as the featured act in Simon and Garfunkel's Old Friends reunion tour of 2003 and 2004. As a tribute to the Everly Brothers, Simon and Garfunkel opened their own show and had the Everlys come out in the middle. The live album of the tour Old Friends: Live on Stage contains Simon and Garfunkel discussing the Everlys' influence on their career, and features all four performers joining in on "Bye Bye Love" (The subsequent DVD features two extra solo performances by the Everlys). For Paul Simon, it was not the first time he had performed with his heroes. In 1986, the Everlys sang background vocals on the title track of Simon's album Graceland.

On Labor Day Weekend 1988, Central City Kentucky began the Everly Brothers Homecoming event to raise money for a scholarship fund for Muhlenberg County students. The Homecoming became a popular annual event for fourteen years, ending in 2002. Don and Phil toured the United Kingdom in 2005 and Phil appeared in 2007 on recordings with Vince Gill and Bill Medley. Also in 2007, country singer Alison Krauss and former Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant released "Raising Sand" which included a cover of the 1964 hit single, "Gone, Gone, Gone" produced by T-Bone Burnett.

Red Hot Chili Peppers frontman Anthony Kiedis named his son Everly after the members of the band.

Throughout the 1950s, the Everly Brothers used Gibson J-200 guitars, some with dual white pickguards. In 1962, Gibson Guitar Corporation collaborated with the brothers to produce the Gibson Everly Brothers Flattop, a signature acoustic guitar.

Phil Everly was involved with his own musical instrument accessories company. Everly Music Company produces products designed by Phil and Jason Everly, Phil's eldest son, for guitar and bass.

The late singer and songwriter Elliott Smith made reference to the song "Cathy's Clown" in his "Waltz No. 2":

The Beatles based the vocal arrangement of "Please Please Me" upon "Cathy's Clown".

Keith Richards called Don Everly "one of the finest rhythm players."

Jack White and The Raconteurs featuring Ricky Skaggs and Ashley Monroe, in their acoustic version of "Old Enough," reference "Wake Up Little Susie" in a portion of the bridge.


In addition to his wife, Everly is survived by his brother, who will be 77 in February; their mother, Margaret; sons Jason and Chris; and two granddaughters.


Nor but in sleep findeth a cure for care.
Incertainty that once gave scope to dream
Of laughing enterprise and glory untold,
Is now a blackness that no stars redeem.

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