Music

Phil Everly of the Everly Brothers dead at 74

Phil Everly, who with his brother Don influenced the Beatles, Byrds and Beach Boys while performing as the sweetly harmonizing Everly Brothers, died Friday at the age of 74.

His wife, Patti Everly, told the Los Angeles Times that her husband died in Burbank after a long battle with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

“We are absolutely heartbroken,” she said, blaming the disease on his lifetime of cigarette smoking. “He fought long and hard.”

In the late ’50s and early ’60s, the brothers recorded about three dozen hit rec¬ords that made the Billboard Hot 100 chart, including “Cathy’s Clown,” “Wake Up Little Susie,” “Bye Bye Love” and “All I Have to Do Is Dream.”

The Everlys were among the first performers inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

“They had that sibling sound,” Linda Ronstadt, who covered their hit “When Will I Be Loved” in 1975, told the paper.