Bye Bye Phil

I guess I've always taken the Everly Brothers for granted, but ever since Phil Everly's death on January 3, 2014, I am beginning to realize how important Don and Phil were to rock and roll. One eye opener was a series of quotes from Paul McCartney about the impact the Everlys had on McCartney and John Lennon when it came to vocal harmonies, but that fact was trumped by Paul Simon revealing that he and Art Garfunkel modeled themselves after Phil and Don as well. Their influence has also been acknowledged by artists from Linda Ronstadt to Crosby, Stills and Nash and the Beach Boys to Vince Gill.  Some commentators have pointed definitively to the Everly Brothers as the originators of so-called country rock.

The Everly brothers started harmonizing growing up in Iowa singing on their father Ike Everly's radio show and touring as the Everly family. It was after they moved to Nashville that the brothers formed a duo with the encouragement of legendary guitarist Chet Atkins, who got them an audition with Columbia, which resulted in a single that quickly tanked. In 1957, the Everly Brothers signed with Cadence Records, and recorded their first million selling single - "Bye,Bye Love". They toured with Buddy Holly in the early days, forming a lifelong friendship to the extent that Phil was a pallbearer at Holly's funeral in 1959.

The brothers quickly racked up a string of hits in the US and the UK, including: "Wake Up Little Susie," and "All I Have To Do is Dream". The Everly's biggest seller was "Cathy's Clown", which sold 8 million copies on when they recorded it for Warner Brothers in 1960, one of my favorites as well. The same era saw "When Will I Be Loved?" - immortalized in later years for the Baby Boomers by Linda Ronstadt - hit number 8 on the charts.Their stats are off the wall -36 Billboard Top 100 singles, the record for any duo in rock and roll history. The Everly Brothers were among the first 10 artists inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

When Phil Everly died in California - the cause attributed to lifelong smoking -he was just shy of his 75 birthday. He and his brother have a legacy that blended rthymn & blues, country and rockabilly, not to mention the unforgettable harmonies which trickled down to the Hollies , the BeeGees, and many many others.