Today’s Interview: A telephone conversation from June 18, 1984 with Phil Everly of the Everly Brothers.
Today on Mr. Media, a very special interview from my archives: Phil Everly, who with his brother Don formed the legendary 1960s singing duo, the Everly Brothers.
This telephone conversation was recorded on June 18, 1984 for a St. Petersburg Times story I wrote in advance of the brothers’ first appearance at the then-new Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater, Florida. They returned again a year later and I’m proud to say I saw both extraordinary performances.
PHIL EVERLY excerpt: “The great wheels of fate had turned and reached the right time for an Everly Brothers reunion. It was the right time for both of us. Not a year went by that there wasn’t a large offer. But if the money had been that big a part of it , we never would have stopped in the first place. We just had to get our own selves to the point where we wanted to do it again.”
As is often the case with these old telephone recordings, the quality is not the best and I was a long way from being a confident interviewer.
But this surviving Phil Everly interview is one of which I’m still proud. I’m just sorry it took his passing earlier today , January 3, 2014 — at the age of 74 — to remind me that I even had this.
Here’s an excerpt from the Los Angeles Times‘ obituary of Phil Everly, written by Randy Lewis (read it in its entirety here):
During the height of their popularity in the late 1950s and early 1960s, they charted nearly three dozen hits on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, among them “Cathy’s Clown,” “Wake Up Little Susie,” “Bye Bye Love,” “When Will I Be Loved” and “All I Have to Do Is Dream.” The Everly Brothers were among the first 10 performers inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame when it got off the ground in 1986.
“They had that sibling sound,” said Linda Ronstadt, who scored one of the biggest hits of her career in 1975 with her recording of “When Will I Be Loved,” which Phil Everly wrote. “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. And they were both such good singers–they were one of the foundations, one of the cornerstones of the new rock ‘n’ roll sound.”
I hope you’ll enjoy hearing this very special episode of Mr. Media Interviews.
Phil Everly Official Everly Family Fansite • The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame • Wikipedia
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