Music's Influence On Everly Brothers
Everly_Brothers
I was only seven years old when I first heard the Everly Brothers singing Bye Bye Love, a million selling hit by a harmonising duo that even then I found delightful, and so I became a fan. That may be why I found it so tragic hearing that Phil Everly of the has died at the age of 74. That close-harmony singing by Phil and older brother Don, made the Everly Brothers one of the biggest star acts of the day. The iconic singer died of complications from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, in the Los Angeles suburb of Burbank, having fought long and hard for life. It is an undoubted fact that this duo profoundly influenced musicians of those times - so much so that Beatles John Lennon and Paul McCartney started out calling themselves …show more content…
the Foreverly Brothers.
Simon and Garfunkel, the Beach Boys, the Byrds and the Hollies were all influenced by the Everly Brothers, who had seamlessly merged country music with the new rock & roll sound that was then making itself felt.
Bye Bye Love was released in1957, reaching No 2 on the US charts, followed fairly quickly by such iconic hits All I Have to Do Is Dream and Wake Up Little Susie, most hit tunes composed by Boudleaux and Felice Bryant.
Rolling Stone magazine placed the Everly Brothers at 33rd on their list of the 100 greatest artists of all time. Phillip was born in Chicago on 19 January 1939 - son of country musicians, guitarist Ike and Margaret Everly - and the family was, in fact, a travelling music act, as well as having their own radio show in which Phil and Don performed between commercials. They were much admired by legendary Nashville guitarist Chet Atkins, who thought them to have unlimited potential.
They first reached number one in 1957 with Wake Up little Susie - the tune banned in Boston for its ever-so-slightly suggestive lyrics - the song being centred around two teenagers, who fall asleep at a drive-in movie and wake up long after he should have taken her home. The Everly were inducted to the country music Hall of Fame in 1961, having only 12 months before signed a ten-year $1 million deal with Warner brothers. They had released the memorable Cathy's Clown, but their fortunes were already in decline, as the Beatles appeared on the
scene.
They never repeated the earlier successes, but their songs lived on, covered innumerable times by major artists like Simon and Garfunkel - Bye Bye Love was a track on their 1970 hit album, Bridge over Troubled Water - and Art Garfunkel famously said Rolling Stone that he had learned, through the brothers' harmonising, that those Kentucky guys, with their beautiful, perfect-pitch harmonies and great diction made syllable shine, something he wanted so much to emulate. The Beatles, too, covered some of their songs.
Sadly, back in 1973 both brothers suffering health and stress problems from years of touring, the Everlys broke up - Phil Everly stormed off the stage during Cathy's Clown - during a concert at Knott's Berry Farm amusement park in Buena Park, California, leaving Don to tell the stunned audience the group was finished. They were such an iconic singing sensation in their day, leaving behind an enormous legacy and influence, and Phil will, I am quite certain, be sadly missed the music world, which has suffered a grievous loss.
Image via http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Everly_Brothers.jpg
I was only seven years old when I first heard the Everly Brothers singing Bye Bye Love, a million selling hit by a harmonising duo that even then I found delightful, and so I became a fan. That may be why I found it so tragic hearing that Phil Everly of the has died at the age of 74. That close-harmony singing by Phil and older brother Don, made the Everly Brothers one of the biggest star acts of the day. The iconic singer died of complications from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, in the Los Angeles suburb of Burbank, having fought long and hard for life. It is an undoubted fact that this duo profoundly influenced musicians of those times - so much so that Beatles John Lennon and Paul McCartney started out calling themselves …show more content…
the Foreverly Brothers.
Simon and Garfunkel, the Beach Boys, the Byrds and the Hollies were all influenced by the Everly Brothers, who had seamlessly merged country music with the new rock & roll sound that was then making itself felt.
Bye Bye Love was released in1957, reaching No 2 on the US charts, followed fairly quickly by such iconic hits All I Have to Do Is Dream and Wake Up Little Susie, most hit tunes composed by Boudleaux and Felice Bryant.
Rolling Stone magazine placed the Everly Brothers at 33rd on their list of the 100 greatest artists of all time. Phillip was born in Chicago on 19 January 1939 - son of country musicians, guitarist Ike and Margaret Everly - and the family was, in fact, a travelling music act, as well as having their own radio show in which Phil and Don performed between commercials. They were much admired by legendary Nashville guitarist Chet Atkins, who thought them to have unlimited potential.
They first reached number one in 1957 with Wake Up little Susie - the tune banned in Boston for its ever-so-slightly suggestive lyrics - the song being centred around two teenagers, who fall asleep at a drive-in movie and wake up long after he should have taken her home. The Everly were inducted to the country music Hall of Fame in 1961, having only 12 months before signed a ten-year $1 million deal with Warner brothers. They had released the memorable Cathy's Clown, but their fortunes were already in decline, as the Beatles appeared on the
scene.
They never repeated the earlier successes, but their songs lived on, covered innumerable times by major artists like Simon and Garfunkel - Bye Bye Love was a track on their 1970 hit album, Bridge over Troubled Water - and Art Garfunkel famously said Rolling Stone that he had learned, through the brothers' harmonising, that those Kentucky guys, with their beautiful, perfect-pitch harmonies and great diction made syllable shine, something he wanted so much to emulate. The Beatles, too, covered some of their songs.
Sadly, back in 1973 both brothers suffering health and stress problems from years of touring, the Everlys broke up - Phil Everly stormed off the stage during Cathy's Clown - during a concert at Knott's Berry Farm amusement park in Buena Park, California, leaving Don to tell the stunned audience the group was finished. They were such an iconic singing sensation in their day, leaving behind an enormous legacy and influence, and Phil will, I am quite certain, be sadly missed the music world, which has suffered a grievous loss.
Image via http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Everly_Brothers.jpg