The Everly Brothers

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About The Everly Brothers

With their close-harmony vocals and indelible hooks, rock ’n’ roll duo The Everly Brothers were hugely popular and influential in the late 1950s and early ’60s, when they amassed 15 Top 10 hits, including three that topped the charts. • Don and Phil Everly grew up in a musical family and were writing and singing as a duo by the time they were teenagers. Their first hit, “Bye Bye Love,” reached No. 2 on the Billboard pop chart in 1957. • “Wake Up Little Susie,” also released in 1957, went to No. 1, as did the brothers’ 1958 single “All I Have to Do Is Dream.” • All 13 singles The Everly Brothers released from 1958 to 1959 reached the Top 40, and they returned to the top spot in 1960 with “Cathy’s Clown.” • In 1961, the brothers enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve, which short-circuited their career. The Everly Brothers’ last Top 10 hits came in 1962 with “Crying in the Rain” (No. 6) and “That’s Old Fashioned” (No. 9). • After their discharge from the Marines, the duo continued releasing singles at a rapid pace, though only two would make the Top 40: “Gone, Gone, Gone” in 1963 and “Bowling Green” in 1967. • In 1968, The Everly Brothers mined their formative country influences for the album Roots. • Long-simmering creative tension between the brothers erupted onstage in 1973 in California when Phil smashed his guitar and walked off, leaving Don to finish the show alone. They wouldn’t collaborate again for 10 years. • After a decade of solo efforts, The Everly Brothers reunited in 1983 for a concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London. They recorded three more albums together before parting again after Some Hearts in 1988. • In 1986, The Everly Brothers were among the inaugural class of inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They received a Lifetime Achievement Grammy in 1997. • The Everly Brothers’ final recording together came in 1998 on “Cold,” for the Andrew Lloyd Webber-Jim Steinman musical Whistle Down the Wind. • Phil Everly died of lung disease in 2014, 16 days shy of his 75th birthday.

ORIGIN
Knoxville, TN, United States
FORMED
1957
GENRE
Pop

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