Not so squeaky clean: the extraordinary story of the Everly Brothers

Gorgeous vocal harmonies and songs that jangled with heartache were among the Everly Brothers lasting gifts to rock ’n roll. But Don and Phil Everly’s legacy went far beyond the sweetly-spun love ballads that influenced everyone from The Beatles to Simon and Garfunkel and The Smiths.

Don, who has died at the age of 84, and his late brother Phil, were also the original of the feuding brother species. And when Phil smashed his guitar and stormed into the wings at a 1973 concert in California's Knotts Berry Farm , the duo were helping create the stereotype of the tempestuous rock siblings – a cliche that would live on through bands from the Bee Gees to Oasis.

Don and Phil were, in a way then, the original Liam and Noel Gallagher – squabbling family members who created heavenly music on stage and squared off like bruisers off it.

And “heavenly” is the only word for classics such as Bye Bye Love, Wake Up Little Susie and All I Have To Do is Dream. One of their biggest hits, 1960’s Cathy’s Clown, was a direct influence on The Beatles, who modelled the close harmonies of their formative chart-topper, Please, Please Me, on the Everly Brothers’ vocal arrangements.

Such was their devotion to Don and Phil that Lennon and McCartney briefly considered calling themselves the Foreverly Brothers. And where The Beatles had gone, all of rock would soon follow. Simon and Garfunkel covered Bye Bye Love and Wake Up Little Susie. Linda Ronstadt scored a hit with a version of their sublime When Will I Be Loved –and was in little doubt as to the source of the alchemy in Everlys’s music.

“They had that sibling sound,” she said. “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.

Their music would go on to resonate through the decades. Johnny Marr, guitarist with The Smiths, said his love of rock’n roll was forged listening to the Everly Brothers as a child. And their ability cross over from country music into rock has provided a guiding light for artists as far-flung as Wilco and Taylor Swift.

“There were no barriers between country and rock, you know?,” Don would tell Rolling Stone. “Nobody thought about it.”

The huge irony of course is that, while the acts who borrowed from The Everlys, helped forge the archetype of the wild-living rocker, Don and Phil were never able to shake off their squeaky clean image. Yet behind their boy-scout personas lurked a more complex reality. Don struggled with the pressures of success and in 1962 attempted suicide.

They were largely raised in Knoxville, Tennessee and coached for stardom by father Ike. Phil had made his live debut as a six-year-old. And at school the brothers were encouraged to practice their harmonies with the promise that, if they did well, each would receive a bike. Soon, they were touring local radio stations in Tennessee, where their angelic style created a sensation.

Bye-Bye Love, their 1957 breakthrough single, was itself an unlikely success. The song was written by husband and wife Felice and Boudleaux Bryant and had been rejected by some 40 other artists.

Hit after hit followed and they were sent out on the early rock circuit, touring with the likes of Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly and Bill Haley. Alas, all of that time together took a toll and, on that fateful evening at Knotts Berry Farm, Phil had enough and off he stormed.

The following night, Don went on stage alone and, visibly drunk, told the crowd “The Everly Brothers died 10 years ago.” They didn’t speak for a decade, aside from when attending their father’s funeral.

“We had been working our buns off for years,” Don would say of their break-up. “We were just strapped together like a team of horses.”

They did eventually reconcile and continued to play together until Phil’s death of pulmonary disease in 2014 aged 74. But though Don has now also passed on, their music will live forever. For as long as singers are harmonising or splicing heartache and bittersweet guitar melodies, they are assured of their place among rock’s greats.