• 1957-73, 1983-2014

  Don Everly1937-2021

  Phil Everly1939-2014
• Don and Phil's father, Ike, and mother, Margaret, were musicians and the brothers cut their performing teeth alongside their parents in a combo called the Everly Family. The band had a radio show on KMA and KFNF in Shenandoah, Iowa in the 1940s, while touring in the south and the midwest.
• The Everlys' cousin, James Best, is an American actor, best known for his starring role as Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane in the CBS television series The Dukes of Hazzard.
• Family friend Chet Atkins helped the Everly Brothers secure their first recording contract with Columbia Records. However their first single, "Keep A' Lovin' Me," flopped and the label dropped them.
• Atkins continued to encourage the brothers, and helped them get a deal with Acuff/Rose as songwriters. Soon afterwards, Wesley Rose introduced them to Archie Bleyer, who was looking for artists for his Cadence Records label. The Everlys signed to Cadence and their first single, "Bye Bye Love," topped the Country charts, and reached #2 on the Pop charts.
• The Everly brothers toured extensively with Buddy Holly during 1957 and 1958. Phil Everly was one of Holly's pallbearers at his funeral, although Don did not attend.
• The Everlys switched from the Cadence label to Warner Brothers in 1960, for a deal which was reputed to be the first million-dollar contract in music history.
• The Everly Brothers charted 31 singles on the Hot 100, including three #1s: "Wake Up Little Susie," "All I Have to Do Is Dream," and "Cathy's Clown." The latter was the first single to top the US and UK charts simultaneously.
• Phil and Don enlisted in the United States Marine Corps Reserve in November 1961 for six months as an alternative to being drafted separately for two-year periods in the army.
• The Everly Brothers' career slumped in their home country in the wake of the British Invasion in 1964. However they retained a faithful following in countries including Canada, Australia and Britain. They scored nine Top 40 hits in the UK between 1963 and 1965, including the self-penned "The Price Of Love" and a cover of Mickey and Sylvia's "Love Is Strange."
• The Everly Brothers ended their partnership in 1973 after a gig on July 14, 1973, at Knotts Berry Farm in California, at which Phil smashed his guitar and stormed off the stage.
• Embarking on a solo career, Phil charted three times as a solo artist with the #37 peaking "Who's Gonna Keep Me Warm" being his biggest hit. He also had a Top Ten entry in 1983 on the UK singles chart with "She Means Nothing To Me," a duet with Cliff Richard.
• The brothers reunited in 1983, when they appeared at the Royal Albert Hall, London. The concert spawned a well-received live LP and video.
• Don Everly's daughter, Erin, was married for a short time to Axl Rose of Guns N' Roses. He wrote the song "Sweet Child O' Mine" for her.
• The Everly Brothers were part of the first group of ten artists inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986.
• "Wake Up Little Susie" and "Bye Bye Love" were both covered by Simon & Garfunkel, who took the Everlys out as special guests on their 2003-04 reunion tour.
• In November 2013, Norah Jones and Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong teamed up for a tribute album, Foreverly, a track-by-track recreation of the Everly Brothers' 1958 LP Songs Our Daddy Taught Us.
• Phil Everly passed away aged 74 of complications from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. According to Phil's wife Patti, his ailment was an effect of a lifetime of smoking cigarettes.
• Don Everly's last live performance was during a Paul Simon show in Nashville in 2018. He died at his home in Nashville, aged 84, on August 21, 2021.

Comments: 1

• Keely from FlAccording to Don, his and Phil's relationship, even before their breakup, was often stormy, and he described himself politically as a "leftist" and a Democrat as opposed to Phil, who was very conservative and a diehard Republican.

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