The Everly Brothers

The Everly Brothers was a rock, pop, and country duo featuring Don Everly (born February 1, 1937) and Phil Everly (born January 19, 1939). The brothers developed a yearning harmony singing style - based on the old country act the Louvin Brothers - that gave them a series of huge international hits and defined the pop sound of the late 1950s and early 1960s. The duo’s vocal harmonies were especially influential on young British bands including the Beatles. Their father Ike was a musician with his own radio show in Shenandoah, Iowa in the 1940s and Don and Phil's first experience in the entertainment industry came as the two youngest members of the Everly Family group. Chet Atkins, a family friend, arranged the brothers' first recording, a single called “Keep A'Loving Me”. It flopped but the brothers were signed as songwriters to a publishing company, which led to their first hit single, “Bye Bye Love”, in 1957. It became a million seller and launched an amazingly successful career that saw them notch up hit after hit such as “Wake Up Little Susie”, “All I Have to Do Is Dream” and, biggest of all, “Cathy's Clown”. While their singles gained the duo more attention, they released a series of albums including The Everly Brothers (1957), Songs Our Daddy Taught Us (1958), A Date with the Everly Brothers (1960), Instant Party! (1962), and The Everly Brothers Sing Great Country Hits (1963). Their star faded with the arrival of the Beatles and mid-1960s beat boom, though they remained a successful touring act until a bitter split in 1973. The brothers barely spoke to each other for the next 10 years when both pursued solo careers. They reunited in 1983, returning to the charts with “On the Wings of a Nightingale”, written by longtime fan Paul McCartney. The albums EB 84 and Born Yesterday (1986) were their highest charting albums since 1960. They release their final studio album, Some Hearts, in 1988. The duo continued to tour sporadically until Phil Everly’s death on January 3, 2014. Don Everly died on August 21, 2021.