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"All I have to do is
dream..." |
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It
was a dream come true for Phil and Don Everly, who grew up performing in
their parents’ regional country band, when their first two hits went to
the top of both the country and pop charts.
And fans had no "Problems" either, snapping up copies of
"Bye Bye Love," "Wake Up Little Suzie," "Bird
Dog" and a gang of other hits up through their move from Cadence to
Warner Brothers where they recorded their last number one hit, "Cathy’s
Clown." Their background and their basic sound was country, and the duo who
wrote many of their hits, Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, had scored big
success with country songs in the past. But the boys were teenagers of the
mid 1950’s and rock & roll was in the air. It was inevitable that
they would punch up their sound with a stronger beat, and the combination
of brotherly harmonies and a rockin’ country instrumental backing made
them a smash success. The brothers had an acrimonious split in the late 1960’s, but
reunited for a sparkling TV special and a few albums in the mid-1980’s. Of their early albums, the least commercial was Songs Our Daddy
Taught Us—a collection of traditional songs that is one of my
favorites. Thankfully this album was reissued on CD a few years ago. In 2001, Warner Brothers
reissued their
original albums on CD, two per CD. These appear to be no longer available
as of 2021. Both CDs from the first one are available individually on
Amazon: It's Everly
Time,
one of the best albums of all time,
The Everly Brothers top ten hits:* "Bye Bye Love" (2), "Wake Up Little Susie" (3), "All I Have to Do Is Dream" (1), "Bird Dog" (1), "Devoted to You" (10), "Problems" (2), "(‘Til) I Kissed You" (4), "Let it Be Me" (7), "Cathy’s Clown" (1), "When Will I Be Loved" (8), "So Sad to Watch Good Love Go Bad" (7), "Walk Right Back" (7), "Ebony Eyes" (8), "Crying in the Rain" (6), "That’s Old Fashioned" (9). --Dick Estel, updated August 2006 and August 2021 RIP Phil - January 19, 1939 - January 3, 2014 RIP Don - February 1, 1937 - August 21, 2021 Odd fact: Their mother was stil alive when Don died, either 101 or 102 depending on which web site you read. *Billboard pop singles chart, as reported in the book Top 40 Hits, copyright 1992 by Joel Whitburn. |
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Click on the photo for a larger image. Photos open in a new window. |
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| Phil & Don with dad Ike | EP Songs Our Daddy Taught Us | The Everly Family | Everlys in the 60s |
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| Their second smash hit | Everlys in the 80s | Everly Time - one of the top 20 albums of all time |
Everlys in the 50s |
