Don Everly passes away at 84

Sunday, August 22, 2021 – Don Everly, half of The Everly Brothers duo with his brother Phil, died Saturday in Nashville at age 84.

The Everly Brothers are Country Music Hall of Fame members, inducted in 2001, and helped shape rock and roll with such classics as "Bye Bye Love," "Wake Up, Little Susie" and "All I Have To Do Is Dream." The Everly Brothers were also members of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the Grand Ole Opry.

Consisting of Isaac Donald Everly (Feb. 1, 1937 – Aug. 21, 2021) and Phillip Everly (Jan. 19, 1939 – Jan. 3, 2014), the duo was raised in a musical family, first appearing on radio singing along with their father, Ike Everly, and mother, Margaret Everly, as "The Everly Family" in the 1940s. When the brothers were still in high school, they gained the attention of Chet Atkins, who began to promote them.

The Everly brothers spent most of their childhood in Shenandoah, Ia. They attended Longfellow Elementary School in Waterloo, Ia. for a year, but then moved to Shenandoah in 1944, where they remained through early high school.

Ike Everly had a show on KMA and KFNF in Shenandoah in the mid-1940s, first with his wife and then with their sons. The brothers sang on the radio as "Little Donnie and Baby Boy Phil". The family sang as the Everly Family.

The family moved to Knoxville, Tenn., in 1953, where the brothers attended West High School.

In Knoxville, the Everlys performed on Cas Walker's Farm and Home Hour, a regional radio and TV variety program. They also caught the attention of family friend Chet Atkins, manager of the RCA Victor studios in Nashville where the family moved. Despite affiliation with RCA Victor, Atkins arranged for the Everly Brothers to record for Columbia Records in early 1956. Their "Keep a-Lovin' Me", which Don wrote and composed, failed. They were dropped from Columbia.

Atkins introduced the Everly Brothers to Wesley Rose of Acuff-Rose music publishers.Rose told them he would get Everlys a record deal if they signed with him as songwriters. They do so in 1956. The next year, the Everlys met Archie Bleyer, who was looking for artists for his Cadence Records.

The Everlys signed and released "Bye Bye Love" in February 1957. The song from Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, reached number two on the pop charts and became the Everly Brothers' first million-seller.

The Bryant connection continued. The Everlys had hits in the U.S. and the United Kingdom with"Wake Up Little Susie", "All I Have to Do Is Dream", "Bird Dog" and "Problems."

The Everlys signed with Warner Bros. Records in 1960, their home for the next 10 years. They released their biggest selling record - "Cathy's Clown" - in 1960. The song would go on to sell 8 million copies.

They had hits with "So Sad (To Watch Good Love Go Bad)" (1960, pop number 7), "Walk Right Back" (1961, pop number 7), "Crying in the Rain" (1962, pop number 6), and "That's Old Fashioned" (1962, pop number 9, their last top 10 hit).

At one point, the brothers formed their own record label, Caliope Records. Recording under the moniker "Adrian Kimberly", Don recorded a big-band instrumental version of Edward Elgar's first "Pomp and Circumstance" march in 1961. The label closed the next year.

The hits stopped coming for the Everlys. They also were engaged in a legal dispute with Rose, which they lost.

By 1964, both Everlys were addicted to amphetamines. Don's addiction lasted three years, until he suffered a nervous breakdown and was hospitalized to treat his addiction. When Don collapsed in England in mid-October 1962, reporters were told he had food poisoning.

They continued releasing songs on Warner, but few charted with the highest coming in at 31.

In 1970, Don released his unsuccessful first solo album. The brothers signed with RCA Records, releasing albums in 1972 and 1973. Lindsey

The Everlys announced their final performance would be on July 14, 1973, at Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, Cal. The brothers had a tense relationship by this point. During the concert, Phil smashed his guitar and walked off stage, leaving Don to finish without him. The two did not reunited for 10 years.

Don continued with a solo career from 1973-83. The brothers reunited for a concert at Royal Albert Hall in London in 1983, which was recorded and released.