Don Everly, Who Set the Standard for Pop Harmony as Half of the Everly Brothers, Dies at 84

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Variety

By Chris Morris

Don Everly, who with his late younger sibling Phil established the template for close harmony vocalizing in the chart-topping duo the Everly Brothers, died Saturday at age 84 in Nashville. NO cause of death was immediately disclosed.

The Los Angeles Times confirmed the death through a family spokesman, even as tributes were already accumulating on social media Saturday night as word circulated about his passing.

Everly (pictured below, right) – an inaugural inductee in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986 who also joined the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2001 – grew up singing the high, fluid harmonies that would make him famous in his family’s country act. Beginning in 1957, he and his brother cut a groundbreaking series of hit ballads and rockers for the Cadence and Warner Bros. labels.

The Everlys left a bold impression on the rock musicians who succeeded them. The Beatles and Simon & Garfunkel – whose early pairing as Tom & Jerry essentially cloned the brothers’ sound – were only the best known acts to adapt their achingly beautiful harmony sound.



AP

Read more: https://variety.com/2021/music/obituaries-people-news/don-everly-dead-everly-brothers-harmony-1235046396/

[abqtommy]

1. RIP Don. You and yours brought me a great deal of pleasure.

[CurtEastPoint]

3. Me, too. So many wonderful songs that appealed to a wide range of ages

[MerryHolidays]

2. RIP

[MissMillie]

4. Such a beautiful sound

and you can certainly hear their influence in Simon & Garfunkel and the Beatles.

RIP. Thank you for sharing your gift with us.

[hlthe2b]

10. Yes, indeed. Their music goes on and on.

RIP, Don

[niyad]

5. Thank you for so many lovely memories, Don.

[burrowowl]

6. RIP

I really liked their songs especially Tom Dudley and M T A.

[RobertDevereaux]

7. My older brother's favorites.

[raccoon]

8. Their sound was heavenly. Nt

[luvs2sing]

9. The Everlys are woven throughout my life.

Apparently, a distant cousin was married to an Everly, but I haven’t traced yet to see if it was the same family. It’s kinda like another distant cousin was married to Lawrence Welk, something I learned doing research on my family.

I grew up listening to either Everlys records or my mother playing guitar and singing their songs. I think they were her favorites, after Johnny Cash.

I saw them at the Ohio State Fair in the late 80s. They were still wonderful. They sang Dire Straits’ “Why Worry” which they said was influenced by them.

In 2014, one of our best friends got married, and he asked Hubster and me to come up with something to sing at the wedding. We settled on “Let It Be Me”. We had no freakin idea how hard it would be to tease out which harmony part was which in some spots, though it was easier for me to isolate the subtle differences in their voices because I had listened to them all my life.

It was a real challenge, with lots of arguing and Hubster having difficulty with some of the guitar chords. In the end, it worked out beautifully because the bride’s brother, who is a session musician in Nashville, stepped in and played piano, and his daughter played violin. No need for guitar. We nailed the vocals. When we finished singing, it was totally silent, then the groom says, “Wooooooooowwwww”, and the church broke into applause.

Here is my favorite Everlys song..and the flip side which rocks a little harder.

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[JohnSJ]

11. ......................

[BigBearJohn]

12. My favorite group of all time. R.I.P. Thank you for the joy Don & Phil

[turbinetree]

13. This is really sad...

[Tommymac]

14. Godspeed Don

[japple]

15. They were just about perfect, right down to their hair!

My favorite:

[xxqqqzme]

16. Awwww,

Got to see them in Las Vegas. What a stellar night that was. I loved their music the first time I heard them. I was there with the love of my life. It was perfect in every way.
Thanks Don.
Thanks Phil for a beautiful memory.

[calimary]

17. "Wake up, little Susie, wake up... "

Great stuff. So much of both of them will live on, even as they themselves pass.

[Martin68]

18. Simon & Garfunkel emulated the Everly Bros before they develop their own style.

Following their early gig as "Tom and Jerry," they produced their first album, Wednesday Morning 3:00 AM, in their Everly Bros mode. The album included an unplugged version of The Sounds of Silence. The album, which did so poorly the duo had disbanded, was re-released after a single featuring an electrified Sounds of Silence made it to the pop charts.

[Faux pas]

19. RIP

and thank you for all the musical memories.

[JohnnyRingo]

20. But the music lives on.

Sad, but we can console ourselves in his legacy.
RIP

[oasis]

21. Good memories.

Rest in Peace.

[JimWis]

22. My favorites.

My teen years being in the late 50's and 60's, I was a huge fan. Loved their music. Still do.

[OldBaldy1701E]

23. The school where I worked in Nashville

Had a grandson attending. I never got to meet his grandfather. They were part and parcel of music history. R.I.P. Mr. Everly.

[JenniferJuniper]

24. CNN and other major outlets are still not reporting this,

even though he's reportedly been dead for more than a day.

[elleng]

25. 1957 their first big hit, "Bye Bye Love,"

which was quickly followed with their first #1 song, "Wake Up Little Susie," which topped the Billboard pop chart on October 14, 1957.

[stuffmatters]

28. My first 45!

[elleng]

30. Oh GEE!

MIGHT have been MINE!!!

[yellowdogintexas]

26. They grew up in Powderly Kentucky about 30 miles

north of my hometown. Powderly was very proud of them!

*Powderly happens to be in Muhlenberg County which we all know from "Paradise"

Maybe they are jammin' with John Prine now

[JenniferJuniper]

27. Don was born in Kentucky, but the family left before he was 2,

they moved to Chicago where Phil was born. The grew up in Shenandoah, Iowa where they joined their father's radio show.

[Rhiannon12866]

29. End of an era...

The Everly Brothers - Bye Bye Love (Shindig, Nov 18, 1964)

From 2016: Don (b. Isaac Donald Everly, 1 February 1937, Brownie, Kentucky, USA) and Phil (b. Phillip Everly, 19 January 1939, Chicago, Illinois, USA), the world's most famous rock 'n' roll duo, had already experienced a full career before their first record, "Bye Bye Love', was released. As sons of popular country artists Ike and Margaret, they were pushed into the limelight from an early age. They regularly appeared on their parents" radio shows throughout the 40s and accompanied them on many tours. In the mid-50s, as rockabilly was evolving into rock 'n' roll, the boys moved to Nashville, the mecca for such music. In 1957 they were given a Felice and Boudleaux Bryant song that was finding difficulty being placed. They took "Bye Bye Love' and made it their own; it narrowly missed the US number 1 position and reached number 6 in the UK. The brothers then embarked on a career that made them second only to Elvis Presley in the rock 'n' roll popularity stakes.

They quickly followed this initial success with more irresistible Bryant songs, "Wake Up Little Susie", "All I Have To Do Is Dream", "Bird Dog", "Problems", "So Sad" and the beautiful "Devoted To You". The brothers were supremely confident live performers, both with their trademark Gibson Dove and later, black J50 guitars. By the end of the 50s they were the world's number 1 vocal group. Amazingly, their career gained further momentum when, after signing with the newly formed Warner Brothers Records for $1 million, they delivered a song that was catalogued WB1. This historical debut was the superlative "Cathy's Clown", written by Don. No Everly record had sounded like this before; the echo-laden production and the treble-loaded harmonies ensured that it stayed at number 1 in the USA for five weeks. The brothers continued to release immaculate records; many of them reached the US Top 10, although in England their success was even greater, with two further number 1 hits during 1961. Again the echo and treble dominated in two more classics, "Walk Right Back" and a fast-paced reworking of the former Bing Crosby hit "Temptation." Don became dependent on drugs, and the pressures from constant touring and recording began to show; during one historic night at London's East Ham Granada, England, a nervous Phil performed solo. The standard "food poisoning/exhaustion" excuse was used. What was not known by the doting fans was that Don had attempted a suicidal drug overdose twice in 48 hours. Phil completed the tour solo. Don's addiction continued for another three years, although they were able to work during part of this time.

The advent of the beat boom pushed the brothers out of the spotlight and while they continued to make hit records, none approached their previous achievements. The decline was briefly halted in 1965 with two excellent major UK hits, "The Price Of Love" and "Love Is Strange". The former, a striking chart-topper, recalled their early Warner sound, while the latter harked back even earlier, with a naïve but infectious call-and-answer spoken segment. In 1966 they released Two Yanks In England, a strong album that contained eight songs by Nash/Clarke/Hicks of the Hollies; surprisingly, the album failed to chart. The duo were recognized only for their superb singles, and many of their albums were less well-received. Stories We Could Tell, recorded with an array of guest players, threatened to extend their market into the rock mainstream, but it was not to be. After a few years of declining fortunes and arrival at the supper-club circuit, the brothers parted acrimoniously. Following a show at Knotts Berry Farm, California, in 1973, during which a drunken Don had insulted Phil, the latter walked off, smashed one of his beloved Gibsons and vowed, "I will never get on a stage with that man again". The only time they met over the next 10 years was at their father's funeral.

In 1986 they were inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame and the following year Phil gave Don a pound of gold and a handmade guitar for his 50th birthday. The Everly Brothers" influence on a generation of pop and rock artists is inestimable; they set a standard for close harmony singing that has rarely been bettered and is still used as a blueprint for many of today's harmony vocalists. They were elected into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2001.

[elleng]

31. Thanks for the great summary/obit.