According to Bob Dylan, The Everly Brothers ‘started it all’.

Known for their close harmony singing, The Everly Brothers were an American country-influenced rock and roll duo who influenced the music of the next generation, including the Beatles, Beach Boys, and Simon and Garfunkel. In fact, according to Bob Dylan, when commenting on the influence The Everly Brothers had to rock and roll, he said “We owe these guys everything. They started it all”.

Born in the late 1930s, brothers Don and Phil were raised in a musical family, and made their first appearance on radio signing with their mother, Margaret, and father, Ike, as ‘The Everly Family’.

Don and Phil began writing and recording their own music in the 1950s. Their first hit song came in 1957 with ‘Bye Bye Love’, a song written by Felice and Boudleaux Bryant who also wrote further hits performed by The Everly Brothers including ‘Wake Up Little Susie”, ‘All I Have To Do Is Dream’, and ‘Problems’.

In 1960, The Everly Brothers signed with Warner Bros. They went on to record a song the brothers wrote themselves, ‘Cathy’s Clown’, which went on to become their biggest selling single.

After enlisting in the US Marine Corps in 1961, their song writing and performing dropped off, although a 1962 release did become their last top-10 hit. Overall, the duo had 31 singles on the Billboard Hot 100, including 12 top-10 hits.

In reflecting on the impact their music had, Kevin Rutherford of Billboard said, “They sang dark songs hidden behind deceptively pleasing harmonies and were perfect interpreters of the twitchy hearts of millions of baby boomer teens coming of age in the 1950s and `60s looking to express themselves beyond the simple platitudes of the pop music of the day.

“The Everlys dealt in the entire emotional spectrum with an authenticity that appealed to proto rockers like the Beatles and Bob Dylan, who gladly pass the credit for the sea changes they made in rock to the ruggedly handsome brothers. The Beatles, the quartet whose pitch-perfect harmonies set the pop music world aflame, once referred to themselves as "the English Everly Brothers”, he continues.

The brothers went on to have an on-and-off-again musical career throughout the following few decades including as solo performers, reunion tours, as well as providing background vocals to Paul Simon’s peerless ‘Graceland’ in 1986.

The duo was inducted into the inaugural class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986, and was added to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2001.

Source:
Billboard.com here and here
Wikipedia


The Everly Brothers image copyright Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images via Billboard.

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