Sad news to start 2014: Phil Everly has passed away at the age of 74 from complications due to COPD. As one half of the seminal early rock duo The Everly Brothers, Phil and his brother Don, who survives him, infused country sweetness and peerless harmonies into the fabric of Rock ‘n Roll and arguably helped keep the flame burning for, as well as inspiring, the Beatles and that other great harmonizing duo, Simon and Garfunkel, in that tenuous period between the death of Buddy Holly, Elvis’s induction into the armed forces and the fall of Jerry Lee Lewis. The full NY Times obit is here.

Here are the Everly Brothers singing their first breakout hit for Cadence records, “Bye Bye Love”, at a 1983 reunion concert, showing they had lost nothing in the over 25 years since its original release. As was their custom, as we watch them Phil is on the left and Don on the right:

Here is my personal favorite from their Warner Brothers period, 1960’s “Cathy’s Clown”, from the outstanding Walk Right Back compilation:

And another great smash hit from their Warner’s period, “Crying in the Rain” , performed here when the boys were fulfilling their military service in the Marine Corps Reserve:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdaX7LG67to

Many have tried but none have succeeded in reproducing the Everlys’ supernatural harmonies. Despite their personal ups and downs through the years, the closeness that Phil and Don displayed on their many hit tracks, that unique quality of two voices remaining distinct and yet becoming one, will never fade away.