YEAR
1986
INDUCTED BY
Neil Young (Buffalo Springfield)
CATEGORY
Performers
The Everly Brothers reign supreme among music’s great vocal partnerships.
Their blend of folk, bluegrass and country music sung in close harmony was enormously influential on such acts as Simon and Garfunkel and the Beatles.
HALL OF FAME
ESSAY
By Michael Hill
In The Everly Brothers’ Rock and Roll Odyssey, a video documentary made around the time of the duo’s London reunion concert in 1983 — ten years after their breakup on a Southern California stage — Don and Phil narrate their own story. They still seem a little in awe of their vocal talent, looking upon it as a sort of genetic gift. The modesty lends them an ingenuous quality that belies their years. The sons of a traveling country-and-western team, Ike and Margaret Everly, the brothers first performed with their family on the road and on the radio. Then, as angelic-looking teenagers, they transformed the sounds of their Kentucky country roots into a bittersweet form of rock and roll.