A Brief from NAL publisher Doug Draper
Those of you who have been visiting Niagara At Large for the past couple of years may already know that I cannot resist, as a frustrated musician, posting the odd bit news on the music world.
The Everly Brothers, with Phil at left, in action on blending those trademark voices.
And this time it is sad news.
Phil Everly, one half of the legendary Everly Brothers who influenced everyone from The Beatles to the Beach Boys and beyond with their magical vocal harmonies, died this 2014 New Year at age 74.
In the mid-to-late 1950s and into the 60s, Phil Everly and his brother Don cast the dye when it came to mixing vocal harmonies into what was then a young rock revolution that, at the time, celebrated solo vocalists like Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly and Little Richard.Think about every Beatle harmony performance from She Loves You and This Boy to Beause off the final Abby Road album, to the Beach Boys Good Vibrations and virtually anything that Simon and Garfunkel and the Bee Gees sang, and there were the Everly Brothers singing Bye, Bye Love, Wake Up Little Susie or Cathy’s Clown.
Any group in music that, to this day, mixes vocal harmonies into their performance may bow to these two guys because they were there doing at the beginning of rock music revolution.
So you may want to hum a little Bye, Bye Love prayer to Phil and to his brother Don. Together, their music and their influence on so many musical groups ever since have enriched our lives in ways that can never be measured.
(Niagara At Large invites you to share your views on this post. A reminder that we only post comments by individuals who share their first and last name with them.)
Niagara At Large 
Thanks for this Doug! As an old-time rock ‘n’ roller (I became a disc jockey in 1964) and it was always a pleasure to play stuff from the original greats — the ones you mentioned above. The Beatles etc were “Johnny-come-latelies” to my way of thinking!
LikeLike
Without the Everly Brothers, would the Beatles have even BEEN? Probably, yes, but they surely wouldn’t have sounded quite as wonderful as they did, as they readily acknowledged. The brothers music, despite this passing, continues to provide a pair of shoulders for all musicians who come after to stand on.
LikeLike
I’m a major Beatles fan but prior to that I was also a major fan of Buddy Holly, Little Richard, Fats Domino and The Everly Brothers through my brother’s records. The Everly’s harmonies were always perfect and they were definitely a major influence on many performers since. They, with Holly, were really the first crossover acts from country to rockabilly and rock. Many of the Beatle’s songs were very much influenced by all of these artists. George Harrison’s early riffs were often in the countrified style of the Everlys while Lennon and McCartney’s vocal harmonies owe much to them. George seldom gets his due, but his harmonies were often the most difficult and again the Everlys influence was there.
They have left a wonderful legacy and helped connect the dots from older traditional American music styles of bluegrass, country and folk to much of the GOOD music we have today. In addition to their harmonic influences, they were a bridge from “then” to “now”.
LikeLike