Born in London, Everist was educated at Clifton College (Bristol) and studied at Dartington College of Arts (BA 1979), King's College London (MMus 1980), and Keble College, Oxford (DPhil 1985).
After taking up his first post as lecturer, then reader, in musicology at King's College London in 1982, he accepted a position at the University of Southampton in 1996 and was promoted to professor.