Last month, two legendary Rock & Roll Hall of Famers died within days of each other: Charlie Watts and Don Everly. Of the two, Watts, drummer and backbone of the Rolling Stones since the early 1960s, received much greater coverage. Watts was unquestionably a talented and reliable drummer. Like Ringo Starr, he was the perfect man for his band — a model of stability among mercurial musical geniuses.
But despite receiving less attention upon his death, Don Everly was far more influential in the history of popular music. He and his younger brother, Phil, performed as the Everly Brothers, and while their music is not as popular today as that of the Rolling Stones, they established the bench mark for vocal harmony in rock ‘n’ roll by which all others would be measured — unquestionably the greatest harmony duo in rock ‘n’ roll, possibly in any musical genre.
Bob Dylan said: “We owe these guys everything. They started it all.”
Linda Ronstadt, who covered their 1960 classic “When Will I Be Loved,” explained the uniqueness of their sound: “They had that sibling sound. The information of your DNA is carried in your voice, and you can get a sound (with family) that you never get with someone who’s not blood-related to you. And they were both such good singers — they were one of the foundations, one of the cornerstones of the new rock ‘n’ roll sound.”
The sound they created in the 1950s was a seminal inspiration to many, including Simon and Garfunkel and the Beatles. As high school students, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel started a duo modeled on the Everly Brothers, calling themselves Tom and Jerry. Long before changing their name and recording “Sounds of Silence,” their one minor hit was a knockoff of the Everlys’ “Wake Up Little Susie.” Simon said, “Phil and Don were the most beautiful sounding duo I ever heard. Both voices pristine and soulful. The Everlys were there at the crossroads of country and R&B. They witnessed and were part of the birth of rock ‘n’ roll.” On “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” the Simon and Garfunkel album that won top honors at the 13th annual Grammy Awards, Simon acknowledged his debt to the Everlys by including a cover of their celebrated song “Bye Bye Love.”
Around the same time Simon and Garfunkel were doing their high school imitation, John Lennon and Paul McCartney were listening intently to the Everly Brothers while creating their own Liverpool sound. They briefly considered calling themselves the Foreverly Brothers, and in their early days in Germany they often impersonated the Everlys’ style. The vocal arrangement for the song “Please Please Me” was taken from the Everlys’ 1960 smash hit “Cathy’s Clown.” After the Beatles’ breakup, George Harrison recorded his own wistful solo version of “Bye Bye Love.”
Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones also held them in high regard. Asked to list the 15 formative songs of his career, one he listed was the Everlys’ “All I Have To Do is Dream,” and he called Don Everly one of the finest rhythm players he had ever heard. In Richards’ unforgettable opening riff to “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” you can hear distinct echoes of the guitar intro Don played on “Bye Bye Love.”
With their ducktail haircuts and guitars, the Everly Brothers were not simply teen idols. They were groundbreakers, fusing the music of Appalachia with Black music. They studied contemporaries such as Bo Diddley, Ray Charles and Sonny Terry — listen to their superb cover of Little Richard’s “Lucille.” To this they added elements of Tex-Mex — Buddy Holly was a close friend — and classic country music. They are a tribute to the blending of musical styles, and an indictment of the current fatuity of those who condemn cultural appropriation in music.
The Everlys also helped save Warner Bros. Records, which in 1960 was a fledgling label struggling financially, not yet the conglomerate it was destined to become. Executives were threatening to pull the plug on the label, but they took a chance and signed the Everly Brothers to an unprecedented million-dollar contract. The duo recorded a song Don wrote, “Cathy’s Clown,” based on Andre Kostelanetz’s Grand Canyon Suite. Its novel sound made it an international hit — 8 million in record sales — and brought the company into the black, on its way to becoming a musical powerhouse. (The other lifesaver for Warner Bros. was the 1960 comedy album, “The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart”). The original recording of “Cathy’s Clown” by the Everly Brothers has been added to the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry for its enduring impact on popular music.
With both brothers gone (Phil died in 2014), their ethereal sound is now a memory and a series of recordings, but in Knoxville, Tennessee, where the brothers first performed as a duo, there is a tribute park to the Everly Brothers, where the thoughts of numerous rock ‘n’ roll greats are carved in stone.
In her inscription, singer Carole King, who co-wrote one of their best songs, “Crying in the Rain,” says: “I know I’m not the only one who sang the missing harmony in the triad and thought of herself as the third Everly brother. Thanks to Phil and Don for inspiring me.”
Dr. Cory Franklin is a retired intensive care physician.
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