21 August 2021
Don Everly (pictured above left), one half of the rock’n’roll duo the Everly Brothers, has died at his home in Nashville at the age of 84. A spokesperson for the family confirmed Everly’s death to the Los Angeles Times but did not disclose a cause.
Isaac Donald Everly was born on 1 February 1937 in Brownie, Kentucky, the son of coalminer Ike and Margaret Everly. A gifted guitar player, Ike moved the family to Chicago in the late 1930s to pursue a career in music, where the two brothers played alongside their parents in a band called the Everly Family. The group dissolved in 1953 after their fortunes faded as the live radio market died, but Don and Phil went on as a duo.
Considered one of pop music’s greatest vocal partnerships, Phil and Don Everly had worldwide hits in the late 1950s and early 1960s, including Bye Bye Love and All I Have to Do Is Dream. Their unique vocal harmonies had a revolutionary impact on The Beatles, The Hollies, Simon and Garfunkel, The Beach Boys, The Byrds, and Crosby, Stills and Nash.
The duo were described as “the most important vocal duo in rock” by Rolling Stone magazine.
Two years younger than Don, Phil Everly died of pulmonary disease in 2014, aged 74.
