Phil Everly, from the country-rock group the Everly Brothers who influenced the like of the Beatles, died Friday in a Los Angeles suburb at the age of 74 due to complications from chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Phil and Don, two brothers, comprised one of, if not the most influential rock and country group in the 1950s and 60s, according to the Times.
Phil, who had been suffering from health related issues since the early 1970s, passed in his home in the Burbank neighborhood in Los Angeles, the Times reported.
"We are absolutely heartbroken," Patti Everly, Phil's wife, told the Times. "He fought long and hard."
Besides John Lennon and Paul McCartney from the Beatles, the Everly Brothers had a major musical impact on the Hollies, the Beach Boys and even Simon and Garfunkel, according to the Times.
"Perhaps even more powerfully than Elvis Presley, the Everly Brothers melded country with the emerging sound of Fifties rock & roll," according to Rolling Stone magazine, the Times reported.
The duos number one hit was "Wake Up Little Susie," released in 1957 and was initially banned in Boston due to its suggestive lyrics for the times; "Bye Bye Love" was their breakthrough track and it made second place on the U.S. charts, the Times reported.
By 1973, both members were suffering from stress-related health issues from all the touring. That same year the brothers split on stage during a concert in Buena Park, California, and they only spoke again ten years later, the Times reported.
According to Rolling Stone, "Phil Everly threw his guitar down and stormed off the stage during a performance of 'Cathy's Clown,' leaving Don to tell the stunned audience the group was finished," the Times reported.
"Don and I are infamous for our split," Phil said, according to the Times, "but we're closer than most brothers. Harmony singing requires that you enlarge yourself, not use any kind of suppression. Harmony is the ultimate love."
