Backstage with The Bee Gees
No Lies Radio Music – By Teri Perticone – Sun Jan 02, 2022
The Bee Gees were a pop music group formed in 1958. Their lineup consisted of brothers Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio were successful for most of their decades of recording music, but they had two distinct periods of exceptional success: as a popular music act in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and as prominent performers of the disco music era in the mid-to-late 1970s.
Bee Gees – Stayin’ Alive (1977)
Born on the Isle of Man to English parents, the Gibb brothers lived in Chorlton, Manchester, England, until the late 1950s. There, in 1955, they formed the Rattlesnakes. The family then moved to Redcliffe, in Queensland, Australia, and then to Cribb Island. After achieving their first chart success in Australia as the Bee Gees with “Spicks and Specks” (their 12th single), they returned to the UK in January 1967, when producer Robert Stigwood began promoting them to a worldwide audience.
As of July 2013, the Bee Gees have sold more than 220 million records worldwide, placing them among the world’s best-selling music artists of all time.[3][4] They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997;[5] the presenter of the award to “Britain’s first family of harmony” was Brian Wilson, historical leader of The Beach Boys, another “family act” featuring three harmonising brothers.[6] The Bee Gees’ Hall of Fame citation says, “Only Elvis Presley, the Beatles, Michael Jackson, Garth Brooks and Paul McCartney have outsold the Bee Gees.”[7]
Following Maurice’s death in January 2003, at the age of 53, Barry and Robin retired the group’s name after 45 years of activity. In 2009, Robin announced that he and Barry had agreed the Bee Gees would re-form and perform again.[8] Robin died in May 2012, aged 62, after a prolonged struggle with cancer and other health problems, leaving Barry as the only surviving member of the group’s final line-up.[9]
The parent album, Bee Gees 1st (their first internationally), peaked at No. 7 in the US and No. 8 in the UK. Bill Shepherd was credited as the arranger. After recording that album, the group recorded their first BBC session at the Playhouse Theatre, Northumberland Avenue, in London, with Bill Bebb as the producer, and they performed three songs. That session is included on BBC Sessions: 1967–1973 (2008).[23]
On 27 February 1968, the band, backed by the 17-piece Massachusetts String Orchestra, began their first tour of Germany with two concerts at Hamburg Musikhalle. In March 1968, the band was supported by Procol Harum (who had a well-known hit “A Whiter Shade of Pale”) on their German tour.[27]
Two more singles followed in early 1968: the ballad “Words” (No. 8 UK, No. 15 US).
Further Bee Gees chart singles followed: “I’ve Gotta Get a Message to You”, their second UK No. 1 (No. 8 US), and “I Started a Joke” (No. 6 US), both culled from the band’s third album Idea.[26] Idea reached No. 4 in the UK and was another top 20 album in the US (No. 17).[26]
Bee Gees (10/16) – I’ve gotta get a message to you – Live by request on 17 April 2001
1970–1974: Reformation
Their ninth album, Trafalgar, was released in late 1971. The single “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart” was the first to hit No 1 on the US Charts, while “Israel” reached No. 22 in the Netherlands. “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart” also brought the Bee Gees their first Grammy Award nomination for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. Later that year, the group’s songs were included in the soundtrack for the film Melody.
Bee Gees (9/16) – How can you mend a broken heart
1975–1979: Turning to disco
The first single from the album was “You Should Be Dancing” (which features percussion work by musician Stephen Stills[48]). The song pushed the Bee Gees to a level of stardom they had not previously achieved in the US, though their new R&B/disco sound was not as popular with some die hard fans. The pop ballad “Love So Right” reached No. 3 in the US, and “Boogie Child” reached US No. 12 in January 1977.[49] The album peaked at No. 8 in the US.[50]
Bee Gees – You Should Be Dancing – With scene’s from the movie ‘Saturday Night Fever’
A compilation Bee Gees Gold was released in November, containing the group’s hits from 1967 to 1972.
Bill Oakes, who supervised the soundtrack, asserts that Saturday Night Fever did not begin the disco craze; rather, it prolonged it: “Disco had run its course. These days, Fever is credited with kicking off the whole disco thing—it really didn’t. Truth is, it breathed new life into a genre that was actually dying.”[51]
Three Bee Gees singles – “How Deep Is Your Love” (US No. 1, UK No. 3), “Stayin’ Alive” (US No. 1, UK No. 4) and “Night Fever” (US No. 1, UK No. 1) – charted high in many countries around the world, launching the most popular period of the disco era.[26] They also penned the song “If I Can’t Have You”, which became a US No. 1 hit for Yvonne Elliman, while the Bee Gees’ own version was the B-Side of “Stayin’ Alive”. Such was the popularity of Saturday Night Fever that two different versions of the song “More Than a Woman” received airplay, one by the Bee Gees, which was relegated to album track, and another by Tavares, which was the hit.
The Gibb sound was inescapable. During a nine-month period beginning in the Christmas season of 1977, seven songs written by the brothers held the No. 1 position on the US charts for 27 of 37 consecutive weeks: three of their own releases, two for brother Andy Gibb, the Yvonne Elliman single, and “Grease”, performed by Frankie Valli.
Bee Gees – Night Fever (1977)
Fuelled by the film’s success, the soundtrack broke multiple industry records, becoming the highest-selling album in recording history to that point. With more than 40 million copies sold, Saturday Night Fever is among music’s top five best selling soundtrack albums. As of 2010, it is calculated as the 4th highest-selling album worldwide.[53]
Bee Gees – more than a woman (Dancing Saturday Night Fever)
2000–2008: This is Where I Came In and Maurice’s death
Maurice, who had been the musical director of the Bee Gees during their final years as a group, died unexpectedly on 12 January 2003, at age 53, from a heart attack, while awaiting emergency surgery to repair a strangulated intestine.[67] Initially, his surviving brothers announced that they intended to carry on the name “Bee Gees” in his memory, but as time passed they decided to retire the group’s name, leaving it to represent the three brothers together.[68]
2009–2012: Return to performing and Robin’s death
On 20 November 2011 it was announced that Robin Gibb, at 61 years old, had been diagnosed with liver cancer, a condition he had become aware of several months earlier. He had become noticeably thinner in previous months and had to cancel several appearances due to issues with severe abdominal pain.[79]
On 13 February 2012, Robin joined British military trio the Soldiers for the Coming Home charity concert at the London Palladium, in support of injured servicemen. It was his first public appearance for almost five months and his final.[80]
On 14 April 2012, it was reported that Robin had contracted pneumonia[81] in a Chelsea hospital and was in a coma.[82] Although he came out of his coma on 20 April 2012, his condition deteriorated rapidly,[83] and he died on 20 May 2012 of liver and kidney failure.[84] With Robin’s death, Barry became the last surviving Gibb brother, and the Bee Gees dissolved as a musical group.
Video source: www.youtube.com
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