The Everly Brothers
The Everly Brothers in their early days. Their unique close harmonies were a great influence on John Lennon and Paul McCartney.The Everly Brothers unique style of close harmonies and great songs influenced a generation!
The brothers, known for their steel-string acoustic guitar playing and close harmony singing, consist of brothers Isaac Donald "Don" Everly (born February 1, 1937) and Phillip "Phil" Jason Everly (January 19, 1939 – January 3, 2014). The duo was raised in a musical family, first appearing on radio singing along with their father Ike Everly and mother Margaret Everly as "The Everly Family" in the 1940s. When the brothers were still in high school, they gained the attention of prominent Nashville musicians like Chet Atkins, who began to groom them for national attention.
In 1956, the brothers signed with Columbia records, but nothing happened there, so they soon departed the label.
Then, fortunately, Wesley Rose singed them to a management agreement and they joined Cadence records in Nashville.
Cadence recognized a good thing when they saw it, and beefed up the guitar sound with a pronounced beat emphasizing the close harmonies.
The Everly Brothers First Hits
With Chet Atkins producing, their first hit song came in 1957, with "Bye Bye Love", written by Felice and Boudleaux Bryant. The song hit No. 1 in the spring of 1957, followed by "Wake Up Little Suzie".
The Everly's rapidly became national stars, appearing on TV and touring.
Additional hits would follow through 1958, many of them written by the Bryants, including "Wake Up Little Susie", "All I Have to Do Is Dream", and "Problems", and "Bird Dog"
The Everly Brothers toured the UK in 1958,, with great success.
In 1960, they signed with the major label Warner Bros. Records and recorded "Cathy's Clown", written by the brothers themselves,(which was their biggest selling single)"Walk Right Back" and "Ebony Eyeds"
T he brothers then enlisted in the United States Marine Corps Reserve in 1961, and their output dropped off, though additional hit singles continued through 1962, with "That's Old Fashioned (That's the Way Love Should Be)" being their last top-10 hit. But some momentum was lost.
On the boys 1963 England tour, Don had a nervous breakdown, with Phil performing alone.
From then on, problems and disagreements surfaced. A further No. 1, "The Price of Love" came in 1965, but the original magic was gone.
In the late '60's, The Brothers made a partial come back when they put together "Roots" produced by Lenny Waronker. A good album, it did not do as well as hoped, or deserved.
With RCA records from the 1971, the Everly Brothers intended to make albums together, and individually. But the quarrels continued and on July 14, 1973 gave their last concert together.
With post Beatle haircuts, the Everly Brothers in 1965.The Everly Brothers Legacy
The group was highly influential on the music of the generation that followed it. Many of the top acts of the 1960s were heavily influenced by the close-harmony singing and acoustic guitar playing of the Everly Brothers, including the Beatles, the Beach Boys, the Bee Gees, and Simon & Garfunkel. Rolling Stone ranked the Everly Brothers No. 1 on its list of the 20 Greatest Duos of All Time. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as part of the inaugural class of 1986, and into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2001. Don was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in 2019, earning the organization's first Iconic Riff Award for his distinctive rhythm guitar intro to the Everly's' massive 1957 hit “Wake Up Little Susie”
The Everly Brothers on Vinyl
"The Very Best of the Everly Brothers" is an excellent collection of the Everly's hits, " Not sure if some of the Early Cadence stuff has been re-recorded, but still has a good selection. Tracks include "Love Hurts", "Walk Right Back", "Bye Bye Love" and "Till I Kissed you". There are 31 tracks in all, so it is good value.
Tracklist
Side 1
1 Bye Bye Love
2 Wake Up Little Susie
3 Love Hurts
4 Walk Right Back
5 Cathy's Clown
6 All I Have To Do Is Dream
7 Bird Dog
8 Devoted To You
Side 2
1 Problems
2 ('Til) I Kissed You
3 Let It Be Me
4 When Will I Be Loved
5 So Sad (To Watch Good Love Go Bad)
6 Lucille
7 Like Strangers
Side 3
1 Sleepless Nights
2 Ebony Eyes
3 Temptation
4 Muskrat
5 Crying In The Rain
6 No One Can Make My Sunshine Smile
7 (So It Was...So It Is) So It Always Will Be
8 That's Old Fashioned (That's The Way Love Should Be)
Side 4
1 The Ferris Wheel
2 Gone, Gone, Gone
3 The Price Of Love
4 Love Is Strange
5 Man With Money
6 Bowling Green
7 Love Of The Common People
8 Stick With Me Baby
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The Everly's "All I Have To Do is Dream
This is from the brothers 1960mU.K. tour with Buddy Holly's band The Crickets, backing them.
