Phil Everly of the Everly Brothers dies at 74

One half of the influential brothers whose harmonies left their mark on the Beatles, the Byrds and many others

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."