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Artist News Obituaries
Phil Everly 1939-2014
By Chris Cooke | Published on Tuesday 7 January 2014
Phil Everly, one half of country rock duo The Everly Brothers, died last week aged 74. His widow Patti confirmed her husband died of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease on Friday.
Best known for songs such as ‘All I Have To Do Is Dream’, ‘Bye Bye Love’ and ‘Wake Up Little Susie’, Phil and his older brother Don performed from an early age, the sons of country and western singers Ike and Margaret Everly. By the age of six, Phil was singing country songs with his brother on their family’s radio show in Iowa, and while the duo would become influential players within the emerging rock n roll genre in the decades to come, those country roots were usually present in their music.
As a duo, they rose to fame in the late 1950s, scoring successes after signing to Cadence Records in 1957. Although respected songwriters themselves, and indeed it was through their publisher that they secured the Cadence deal, many of the early hits came through an alliance with husband/wife songwriting team Felice and Boudleaux Bryant. In the years that followed they enjoyed chart success in both the US and the UK, and toured extensively with Buddy Holly in the years before his untimely death.
They moved over to Warner Bros in 1960 and another series of hits followed, with the brothers, if anything, enjoying more success in the UK than in their home country. Though the early years of the 60s were marred by a falling out with their manager and publisher Wesley Rose, cutting them off from the Bryants, and leading to the brothers often performing songs other than their Bryant and self-penned hits, in a bid to ensure Rose didn’t earn royalties from their work.
Although the Rose dispute was resolved by the mid-sixties, allowing them to perform their own work and to collaborate with the Bryants again, their success started to wane as the decade proceeded, with solo projects and a label venture not really taking off. And while their 1968 album ‘Roots’, which heightened the country element of their work, was critically acclaimed, it wasn’t a huge commercial success. Meanwhile drug addiction for both brothers caused personal problems, leading to a famous on-stage bust-up in 1973.
Don and Phil hardly spoke in the following decade as both brothers pursued solo careers, with Don initially having more success, though Phil’s eponymous album from 1983 being the real stand-out of this era. A reunion followed soon after, with a live and subsequent studio album both enjoying some success.
The two brothers’ final studio album as a duo was 1988’s ‘Some Hearts’, though they continued to perform together and apart, and collaborated on numerous projects with other musicians, Phil in particular. Both men also continued songwriting, penning a number of hits for other artists over the years.
Phil is survived by Patti and his two sons Jason and Chris, as well as Don and their mother Margaret.
