RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Phil Everly, half of the whole that was the Everly Brothers, died on Friday at the age of 74. The brothers were rock pioneers and their style, including those close, unmistakable vocal harmonies, influenced a generation of musicians.
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MARTIN: We spoke with two musicians profoundly shaped by the Everlys: Linda Ronstadt, and Graham Nash of CSN and the Hollies. Nash and fellow singer Allan Clarke formed the Hollies in the mid-'60s, and they were often compared with the Everly Brothers. Graham Nash is a masterful vocal harmonist himself, but he says Phil and Don Everly were unique.
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GRAHAM NASH: When the Everly Brothers sang together, there was something in their voice that made two voices into one voice that created a sound that I don't think is possible with unrelated singers.
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NASH: I have many, many favorite Everly Brothers songs. But I think the most important one to me was "Bye Bye Love."
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NASH: That was the song that Allan Clarke and I, as teenagers, heard one Saturday night at a Catholic school girls' dance in the north of England; walking across the ballroom to go and talk to some friends, getting halfway across and "Bye Bye Love" blasting out of the speakers.
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NASH: It stopped Allan Clarke and I in our tracks. We had never heard anything like that. I mean, we were two teenagers that were singing together, but we didn't sound like that.
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MARTIN: Linda Ronstadt grew up in a musical family, and knows firsthand about that special sibling sound.
LINDA RONSTADT: You know, the idea that they were raised using the same accent - the accent of the English that you sing in affects phrasing; it affects intonation. So they had that genetic match. And then their voices - one was seated high, one was seated low - you know, that's like lightning striking. You just don't get that very much. (Laughter)
MARTIN: In the mid-'70s, Ronstadt had a huge hit with her remake of "When Will I Be Loved?" written by Phil Everly.
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MARTIN: And that's what made you think, yeah, that's a song I want to take a crack at?
RONSTADT: I mean, I had heard the Blue Sky Boys, and I'd heard the Louvin Brothers. But they had the audacity to put - you know, it was this very traditional duet sound that came down out of this traditional music from Kentucky. And then they added, you know, rock 'n' roll drums and electric guitar and bass, and they made it into something totally different. They opened the door for those of us who later followed, for folk rock. And so Bob Dylan, The Birds, the Eagles, Peter and Gordon, the Beatles, you know, they all went streaming through this gate that the Everly Brothers opened.
MARTIN: Linda Ronstadt remembering Phil Everly, who died Friday at the age of 74. We also heard remembrances from Graham Nash. This is WEEKEND EDITION, from NPR News. B.J. Leiderman wrote our theme music. I'm Rachel Martin.
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: ...I need you so, that I could die. I love you so...