Rock and Roll heaven got a lot more harmonious today as Don Everly, one half of the Everly Brothers, passed away at age 84.

The Everly Brothers (Don and Phil) were masters of harmony and were part of the early Rock and Roll fabric.  The Everlys signed their first major contract in 1956, and a year later, they had their first major hit, with “Bye Bye Love”.  Success continued for the pair, with “Wake Up Little Susie”, “All I Have to Do is Dream”, “Bird Dog”, “(Till) I Kissed You” and “Cathy’s Clown”.   

The Everly Brothers were part of the inaugural Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Class in 1986, and would also be inducted to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2001.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to extend our condolences to the fans, friends, and family of Don Everly.

We don’t often discuss the Musicians Hall of Fame, and with all due respect, there is a good reason for it. Since its inception in 2007, the Nashville based Hall has only had six classes, including the one we are about to discuss.  After their third class in 2009, the city of Nashville took over their property to make room for the Music City Center and they would reopen in 2013 on the first floor of the Nashville Municipal Auditorium.  They would induct their fourth class in 2014 and fifth in 2016, thus bringing us to the sixth class announced yesterday.

Before we get to that class, let’s look at what the Musicians Hall of Fame is first.  Their mandate is to recognize the contributions of performers, producers in rock and roll, country music and beyond.  As it is based in Nashville, it is not surprising that there has been more of a country flavor to the inductees, but nevertheless, we love the idea of this Hall of Fame, so let’s look at the Class of 2019.

Alabama:  The headliners of this class can make a claim as the most successful country music band of all-time.  Coming into prominence in the 1980s, Alabama would sell over 75 million records and had 40 number one hits.  

Steve Wariner:  Wariner has charted on the Country Music Charts 50 times and has written number 1 hits for Clint Black and Garth Brooks.

Don Everly:  Don Everly was one-half of the Everly Brothers, who are Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees.  Everly enters specifically winning the “Iconic Riff Award” for the intro to their hit, “Wake Up Little Susie”.

Felix Cavaliere:  A member of the Rascals and Joey Dee and the Starliters, Felix Cavaliere is a successful keyboardist.  He is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the Rascals.

Owen Bradley:  Bradley enters posthumously in the Musicians Hall of Fame Producer category.  He was a large part of developing the “Nashville Sound” and bringing Country Music sound to the modern era.  He entered the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1974.

Billy Sherrill:  Sherrill enters by receiving the Musicians Hall of Fame Engineer Award. He led recording sessions for George Jones and Tammy Wynette among others.

The Surfaris:  The California surf music group enters by earning the inaugural Musicians Hall of Fame Instrumental Song Award for their 1963 hit, “Wipe Out”.

Three groups of sessions musicians are also being inducted.  They are the modern “A-Team” (Eddie Bayers, Paul Franklin, John Hobbs, Brent Mason, Michael Rhodes), The Original Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section(David Briggs, Jerry Carrigan, Norbert Putnam, Terry Thompson, Earl “Peanut” Montgomery, Joe South and Reggie Young) and The Muscle Shoals Horn Section(Aaron Brown, Harrison Calloway, Ronnie Eades, Charlie Rose and Harvey Thompson). 

The ceremony will take place on October 22.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate the newest members of the Musicians Hall of Fame and we are hopeful that there will be annual inductions in the future.