OT. RIP Phil Everly.

Phil Everly, left, with his brother Don in the 1960s. Photograph: David Redfern/Redferns/Getty

Phil Everly of the Everly Brothers has died at the age of 74, the Los Angeles Times has reported.

Everly's high, close-harmony singing with his older brother, Don, made the Everly Brothers one of the biggest rock and country acts of the 1950s and early 1960s.

Everly died in the Los Angeles suburb of Burbank of complications from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, his wife Patti told the Times.

"We are absolutely heartbroken," Patti Everly told the paper. "He fought long and hard."

Representatives for Phil Everly could not immediately be reached for comment.

The Everly Brothers profoundly influenced 1960s-era artists ranging from Beatles John Lennon and Paul McCartney, who early in their careers called themselves the Foreverly Brothers, to Simon and Garfunkel, the Byrds, the Hollies and the Beach Boys.

"Perhaps even more powerfully than Elvis Presley, the Everly Brothers melded country with the emerging sound of 50s rock & roll," Rolling Stone magazine said in placing the duo at No 33 on its list of the 100 greatest artists."

Phil and Don had an onstage breakup in 1973 that led to a decade-long estrangement, but Phil later told Time magazine their relationship had endured.

"Don and I are infamous for our split," Phil said, "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."

Phillip Everly was born on 19 January 1939, in Chicago, the son of two country musicians, Ike and Margaret Everly.

 

Very popular in their day and appeared in Newcastle.