Don Everly, one-half of the influential country rock-and-roll duo, The Everly Brothers. passed away on Saturday in Nashville. Deadline has reported this morning that a cause of death has yet to be confirmed. He was 84 years of age.
Don Everly’s Early Life
Isaac Donald Everly was born February 1, 1937, in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky to a music duo in their own right, Isaac Milford Everly, Jr. and Margaret Embry Everly. Don’s brother, Phil, was born Philip Everly only a couple of years later in Chicago, Illinois. The duo would spend most of their time growing up in Iowa, hopping from town to town. Eventually, the two teens joined their parents in the family business and they became The Everly Family, with the boys now going by Little Donnie and Baby Boy Phil. By the early 1950s, the family had packed up and moved to Tennessee where the brothers would finish their school careers and would then shift their focus to music, their own brand of music.
The Everly Brothers
Chet Atkins, a family friend with ties to the music industry, found a way for Don and Phil to record their very first song, Keep a-Lovin’ Me for Columbia Records, which flopped; they were subsequently dropped by the label. But were redeemed when they got to sing with ACuff-Rose, only if they signed as songwriters, and in 1957, Bye Bye Love reached number 2 on the pop charts. Even with follow-ups like All I Have to Do Is Dream, Bird Dog, and Cathy’s Clown, the brothers would split up in the early 70s and continue to make musicindependentlyn. Rolling Stone had them as the number one ranked musical duo of all time in 2015. It is easy to hear why The Everly Brothers were inspirations to bands like all-time bangers, The Beatles; all the way to more modern-day, up-and-coming takes on the rockabilly-country sound, The Ruen Brothers.
Our condolences go to the Everly family at this difficult time.
