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 Everly, whose hits with his
brother included "Wake Up Little Susie" and "Bye
Bye Love," died on Saturday at his home in
Nashville, Tennessee, a family spokesperson told
the newspaper. His brother died in 2014 at age
74.
The New York Times once described the brothers'
voices as "dipped in country sugar," and it was
said that "if they sing country in heaven, then
there's a good chance the angels sound like the
Everly Brothers."
"Perhaps even more powerfully than Elvis
Presley, the Everly Brothers melded country with
the emerging sound of Fifties rock & roll," said
Rolling Stone magazine in putting the brothers
at No. 33 on its list of the "100 Greatest
Artists."
The Everlys' success faded in the 1960s amid the
advent of guitar-driven rock, tension between
the brothers and drug problems. They split up
for 10 years but their harmonies proved
timeless.
Isaac Donald "Don" Everly was born on Feb. 1,
1937, in Brownie, Kentucky, the son of two
country musicians, Ike and Margaret Everly. Phil
was born two years later and they were still
boys when their musical careers began.
With Ike Everly on guitar, the family was a
traveling act and had its own radio show, on
which Don and his younger brother would sing
between commercials for XIP rat poison and
Foster's 30-minute Wonder Corn and Callus
Remover.
In the mid-'50s the brothers set out on their
own and their breakthrough hit, "Bye Bye Love,"
came in 1957, rising to No. 2 on the U.S.
Billboard pop charts. It was the first of many
Everly tunes written by Boudleaux Bryant and his
wife, Felice, including "All I Have to Do Is
Dream," "Wake Up Little Susie" and "Devoted to
You."
"The new Everlys sound kept the high, keening
harmonies, but backed them with robust acoustic
guitars and a rock 'n' roll beat that owed
something to Bo Didley," the Rough Guide to Rock
said. "The new sound - precisely arranged,
whiny, compelling - was perfect for teenagers'
portable radios."
"Wake Up Little Susie," also released in 1957,
was their first No. 1 hit. A song about two
teenagers falling asleep at the drive-in theater
and waking up long after curfew, it was banned
from Boston radio stations for its sexually
suggestive content.
In 2000 then-presidential candidate George W.
Bush told talk show host Oprah Winfrey that his
favorite song was "Wake Up Little Susie," but he
got the artist wrong, attributing the song to
Buddy Holly, according to Rolling Stone.
'EVERY SYLLABLE CAN SHINE'
In 1960 the brothers signed with a new record
label, Warner Bros., agreeing to a 10-year, $1
million contract and making their debut with
their own song, "Cathy's Clown."
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 As the 1960s advanced, the
brothers grew increasingly out of step with the
tumultuous era. Their squeaky-clean image and
innocent lyrics marked them as dated even as
their sound carried on through The Beatles and
Simon and Garfunkel, in particular, who recorded
"Bye Bye Love" on their 1970 hit album, "Bridge
Over Troubled Water." Art
Garfunkel told Rolling Stone that the brothers'
harmonizing had taught him that "every syllable
can shine."
"They were Kentucky guys with beautiful,
perfect-pitch harmonies and great diction," he
said. "All those vowels and consonants, those
S's and T's, every one of them killed me."
Personal problems took their toll as their
popularity waned, with both brothers becoming
addicted to speed and Don suffering a nervous
breakdown and attempting suicide, according to
Rolling Stone.
 In 1973 the
Everlys finally broke up during a concert - Don
had taken the stage drunk - at Knott's Berry
Farm theme park in Buena Park, California.
"Phil Everly threw his guitar down and stormed
off the stage during a performance of 'Cathy's
Clown,' leaving Don to tell the stunned audience
the group was finished," Rolling Stone said.
The brothers reportedly did not speak for almost
a decade and pursued solo careers.
In September 1983, they reunited at a concert at
London's Royal Albert Hall. Their performance
was critically acclaimed and produced an album
and a DVD.
"We had been singing together and hadn't really
been apart since we were around 6 years old,"
Don told the New York Times. "It kept us
immature, in a way, kept us from developing any
individuality. But we took enough time, and we
finally worked things out. Now it's difficult to
remember what we were fighting about."
Their unmistakable sound continued to resonate
in the 1980s and beyond. In 1984 they reappeared
on U.S. charts with the song "On the Wings of a
Nightingale," written for them by Paul
McCartney.
Two years later, Paul Simon released his hit
album, "Graceland," on which the title track
featured the brothers singing harmony.
In 1997 the Everlys received a Lifetime
Achievement Award at the Grammy Awards. They
were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame in 1986 and elected to the Country Music
Hall of Fame in 2001.
(Writing by Xavier Briand; Editing by
Christopher Wilson and Daniel Wallis)
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