Post by erik on Aug 28, 2021 12:22:57 GMT -5
The final Hot 100 hit for arguably the most influential vocal duo in rock and roll history is in this week's Pop Music Hits Spotlight.
ON THE WINGS OF A NIGHTINGALE (The Everly Brothers; Mercury; 1984)—Don and Phil Everly, the Everly Brothers, virtually defined how vocal harmonies usually associated with the traditional country music and bluegrass of their native state of Kentucky would play a part in the development of rock and roll. Though they recorded primarily in Nashville during the height of their careers, from 1957 to 1964, the Everlys’ popularity during that time, on the basis of massive triple-crossover (pop; C&W; R&B) hits like “Bye Bye Love”, “Wake Up Little Susie”, “All I Have to Do Is Dream”, and “Bird Dog”, to name just a few, was every bit as universal as Elvis’. By the early 1960’s, however, changing times caused their popularity to fall, with their last Top Ten hits being “Crying In The Rain” and “That’s Old Fashioned” in 1962. Meanwhile, they, with the vast majority of other early rockers (Elvis excepted, mostly), were all but swept totally under the rug by the British Invasion, including the Beatles, whose vocal harmonies were closely modeled off of the Everlys. Thus it was ironic that more than two decades later, after having had their last Top 40 hit with 1967’s “Bowling Green”, a slice of late 1960’s folk-country-rock, it was former Beatle Paul McCartney who gave the Everlys their biggest taste of what could pass for a success in a pop music world of the mid-1980’s. Sir Paul’s “On The Wings Of A Nightingale” was recorded by the Everlys for their 1984 album EB 84, which was produced by McCartney’s fellow Brit, and long-time 1950’s rock and roll revivalist, Dave Edmunds, and recorded in London. It would have been a Herculean task for the brothers to have much of an impact on the radio anymore, with the pop charts being so dominated by Michael Jackson, Madonna, Prince, and others; but “Nightingale”, although not all that big a hit, still performed respectably, peaking at #41 in England, #50 on the Billboard Hot 100, and #49 on Billboard’s C&W singles chart in late August 1984. It was a remarkable re-demonstration, after all the hassles and brotherly infighting of the previous fifteen years (a period that saw them kept in the minds of music listeners when their 1960 hit “When Will I Be Loved?” became a big pop/country crossover hit for Linda Ronstadt), the Everlys were still the masters of close rock and roll harmonies. But though they would continue to perform on and off for the next three decades, Father Time eventually caught up to both of them. Phil would pass away from lung cancer in Burbank, California on January 3, 2014;, at age 77; and Don would pass away in Nashville on August 21, 2021.
ON THE WINGS OF A NIGHTINGALE (The Everly Brothers; Mercury; 1984)—Don and Phil Everly, the Everly Brothers, virtually defined how vocal harmonies usually associated with the traditional country music and bluegrass of their native state of Kentucky would play a part in the development of rock and roll. Though they recorded primarily in Nashville during the height of their careers, from 1957 to 1964, the Everlys’ popularity during that time, on the basis of massive triple-crossover (pop; C&W; R&B) hits like “Bye Bye Love”, “Wake Up Little Susie”, “All I Have to Do Is Dream”, and “Bird Dog”, to name just a few, was every bit as universal as Elvis’. By the early 1960’s, however, changing times caused their popularity to fall, with their last Top Ten hits being “Crying In The Rain” and “That’s Old Fashioned” in 1962. Meanwhile, they, with the vast majority of other early rockers (Elvis excepted, mostly), were all but swept totally under the rug by the British Invasion, including the Beatles, whose vocal harmonies were closely modeled off of the Everlys. Thus it was ironic that more than two decades later, after having had their last Top 40 hit with 1967’s “Bowling Green”, a slice of late 1960’s folk-country-rock, it was former Beatle Paul McCartney who gave the Everlys their biggest taste of what could pass for a success in a pop music world of the mid-1980’s. Sir Paul’s “On The Wings Of A Nightingale” was recorded by the Everlys for their 1984 album EB 84, which was produced by McCartney’s fellow Brit, and long-time 1950’s rock and roll revivalist, Dave Edmunds, and recorded in London. It would have been a Herculean task for the brothers to have much of an impact on the radio anymore, with the pop charts being so dominated by Michael Jackson, Madonna, Prince, and others; but “Nightingale”, although not all that big a hit, still performed respectably, peaking at #41 in England, #50 on the Billboard Hot 100, and #49 on Billboard’s C&W singles chart in late August 1984. It was a remarkable re-demonstration, after all the hassles and brotherly infighting of the previous fifteen years (a period that saw them kept in the minds of music listeners when their 1960 hit “When Will I Be Loved?” became a big pop/country crossover hit for Linda Ronstadt), the Everlys were still the masters of close rock and roll harmonies. But though they would continue to perform on and off for the next three decades, Father Time eventually caught up to both of them. Phil would pass away from lung cancer in Burbank, California on January 3, 2014;, at age 77; and Don would pass away in Nashville on August 21, 2021.