Phil Everly, one half of The Everly Brothers, passed away on Friday of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. He was 74.
Along with older brother Don, The Everly Brothers ruled both the rock and country charts in the late 1950s and early 1960s with songs such as “Bye Bye Love”, “Wake Up Little Susie”, “All I Have to Do is Dream”, “Bird Dog”, “(Till) I Kissed You”, “Cathy’s Clown”, “When Will I Be Loved”, “Crying in the Rain” and “Walk Right Back”.
Their harmonies influenced the likes of The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, The Beach Boys, The Byrds, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and Harry Nilsson. You can even hear them with more contemporary acts such as Jake Bugg on a song like “Simple As This”.
The Everly Brothers broke up in the early ‘70s, but would reunite in the early ‘80s. They continued to perform steadily up until about a decade ago. Unfortunately, I can now add them to the list of artists I wished I had seen in concert.
