This Day In Music History: The Everly Brothers and Wake Up Little Susie

I am proud to say that on this day in music history, October 14, 1957, two men from my home state of Kentucky, the Everly Brothers had the #1 hit in the country on the Billboard Charts with Wake Up Little Susie. Their beautiful harmonies inspired and influenced a generation of singers like the Beach Boys, Simon and Garfunkel and even the Beatles.
The boys, Don and Phil, actually come from a show business family. Their Dad, Ike Everly, was part of the first singing Everly Brothers act with his two brothers. When they lived in Iowa Don and Phil had their own early morning radio show on KMA before they went to school. Don even had his own Saturday morning show called "The Little Donnie Show." Later, when the family moved to Knoxville, Tennessee, live radio was on the way out. So the family act left show business. Dad got a job in construction and Mom became a beautician.
However, Don wrote a song called "Thou Shalt Not Steal" and sold it to Kitty Wells. Later he and Phil made a demo tape. At the end of the session they told the studio owner they were broke and couldn't pay for the tape. When they left the studio they saw that their car had been towed. They had to go back in and ask the studio owner if they could borrow money to get their car out of impound.
The took their tape to many record companies but most of them turned them down. Columbia Records did like it and signed them to record four songs. One of them was "The Sun Keeps Shining" and it was released as their first single. It didn't sell as well as Columbia hoped.
A friend of their Dad's, Chet Atkins, introduced them to publisher Wesley Rose. He signed them to a contract. When Columbia didn't renew them Mr. Rose got Archie Bleyer to hear their demo tape. Mr. Bleyer had heard it before and turned them down. This time he was looking for a new country group for his Cadence label. After hearing the tape again he knew the Everly Brothers was the group to sign.
He had a song that was written by Felice Bryant and Boudleaux Bryant but everyone turned it down. He offered Don and Phil $64 each to record it. So they recorded "Bye Bye Love." They went on tour in the South. When they came back the song had reached #2 on the national charts. The next song they recorded was "Wake Up Little Susie." Many stations banned the song from their airwaves. Why? The times were more tame in broadcasting back then. It was thought that the lyrics were "suggesting" that Susie and her date had slept together. The song went to the top of the charts anyway and became the first #1 single for the soon to be legends in music.

If you click on the title above it will take you to the Everly Brothers Fan Club-The Beehive.