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The Bee Gees were a United Kingdom|British and
Australian band, originally a pop
singer-songwriter combination, reborn as funk and
rhythm and blues. The brothers Gibb, consisting of
frequent lead vocalist Barry Gibb|Barry, and the
twins, co-lead vocalist Robin Gibb|Robin, and
keyboardist/guitarist Maurice Gibb|Maurice, were
born in the Isle of Man in the 1940s.

==Early history==

The Gibb brothers were born on the Isle of Man to
English parents in 1946 (Barry) and 1949 (twins
Robin and Maurice).  The family returned to father
Hugh Gibb's home town of Manchester in the early
1950s where the boys began to sing in harmony,
debuting in public on one memorable occasion at a
local cinema.

In 1958, the Gibb family, including infant brother
Andy Gibb|Andy, moved to Redcliffe,
Queensland|Redcliffe, Australia and the still very
young Brothers Gibb began performing where they
could to raise pocket change.  They gained the
attention of a radio DJ named Bill Gates and
gradually made a name for themselves for their
harmony singing and Barry's songwriting.  By 1960
they were featured on television shows and in the
next few years began working regularly (despite
child labour laws) at resorts on the Queensland
coast.  At length Barry drew the attention of
Australian star Col Joye for his songwriting, and
he helped the boys get a record deal with 
Festival Records in 1963 under the name "Bee
Gees".  The three released two or three singles a
year, while Barry supplied additional songs to
other Australian artists.  A minor hit in 1965,
"Wine and Women", led to the group's first LP
"Barry Gibb and the Bee Gees Sing and Play 14
Barry Gibb Songs", but real commercial success
eluded them.  In 1966 they moved to a new label,
Spin, run by Nat Kipner, and were finally allowed
enough studio time to develop as artists.  In six
months the three wrote and recorded enough
material for two albums, including a single called
"Spicks and Specks" that would become their first
major hit in Australia at the end of 1966.  But
despite that success and the release of their
second LP also called "Spicks and Specks", by that
time the family had decided to return to England
and seek their fortunes there.

== 1960s in England ==

Very soon after their arrival in January 1967, the
Bee Gees were signed by Robert Stigwood, and added
Australian musicians Vince Melouney (guitar) and
former child actor Colin Petersen (drums).  Their
first English single was "Spicks and Specks",
issued under a deal between Festival and Polydor
that had been made known to them around the time
they left Australia.  But their first single
recorded in England soon followed,  "New York
Mining Disaster 1941" (1967), a surreal, haunting
and macabre song that made the Top 20 on both
sides of the Atlantic.  Their third album, "Bee
Gees' First" scored well with critics and the
public, offering an innovative blend of rock and
orchestral ballads such as  the classics "To Love
Somebody" and "I Can't See Nobody".

The next big single was "Massachusetts", which
launched the trio into superstardom, followed
shortly by the classic "Words".  1968 saw the
release of two albums, the relatively
heavy-sounding "Horizontal" and the lighter pop
"Idea"  The latter contained two more hits, "I've
Gotta Get a Message to You" and "I Started a
Joke".  To many music critics, these are the
band's golden years, well before any of their
unforgettable disco hits. The Bee Gees at the time
were a freakbeat rock and roll band, with strong
soul music|soul influences and a belief, like the
Beatles had, that all styles of music should be
combined to create something new.   This period
ended after releasing Odessa (album)|Odessa
(1969), a dense and complex prog rock album with
orchestral accompaniment.

By this time Barry and Robin were increasingly at
odds about the direction of the group, but once
Robert Stigwood made clear his favouring of Barry
as leader, Robin left.  Barry and Maurice released
an LP as a duo, Cucumber Castle (the soundtrack to
a television special), while Robin released a solo
album, Robin's Reign that included his big debut
solo single "Saved by the Bell".  None of this
made any impact in the USA, and when Barry and
Maurice split at the  end of 1969 it looked like
the end.  All three recorded solo albums in 1970
that were never released.

The three brothers reunited in the later part of
1970, their feelings about the split evident in
many songs about heartache and loneliness.  They
worked in a new pop-progressive rock sound,
hitting the American charts with "Lonely Days"
(from the reunion LP 2 Years On) and "How Can You
Mend a Broken Heart" (from Trafalgar
(album)|Trafalgar.  These albums did well and they
continued the success with top ten hits "My World"
and  "Run To Me", the latter from the less
successful LP To Whom It May Concern.

Recognizing that they were in a rut, the brothers
broke their string of recordings at IBC Studios
London with musical director Bill Shepherd.  They
relocated to Los Angeles where they recorded two
albums almost at once late in 1972, in a
collective version of the sensitive
singer-songwriter style then popular, with much
acoustic guitar and piano.  When the first one,
Life in a Tin Can, and its lead-off single was
ignored by the public, Stigwood recommended a
halt.  Fans who have heard the second unreleased
album "The Bee Gees Album" (also known as "A Kick
in the Head") consider it the better of the two
and have called for its release ever since.

At the advice of Ahmet Ertegun of Atlantic
Records, their US label, Stigwood arranged for the
group to record with famed soul music producer
Arif Mardin.  The first resulting LP, the
often-overlooked "Mr Natural", is the
hardest-rocking album they have ever done.  But
when it too failed to attract much interest,
Mardin encouraged them to work with the soul music
styles they had always loved but had shied from
fully performing.  

The brothers attempted to put together a band that
could perform live as well as they did in the
studio.  Alan Kendall, lead guitar, had come on
board in 1971 but had not had much to do until "Mr
Natural".  For that album they added drummer
Dennis Bryon, and after it they added ex-Strawbs
keyboard player Blue Weaver, completing the
classic late 1970s "Bee Gees Band".  Maurice,
previously all over their recordings on piano,
guitar, organ, mellotron, bass guitar, and exotica
like mandolin and Moog, now confined himself to
bass.

Eric Clapton suggested recording at Criteria
Studios, where he had just recorded 461 Ocean
Boulevard, and there they went early in 1975. 
Still starting off with ballads, after a week or
so they finally heeded the urging of Mardin and
Stigwood and created more rhythmic songs like
"Jive Talkin'" and "Nights on Broadway", the
latter featuring Barry's first attempts at singing
falsetto in the backing vocals toward the end. 
The band liked the resulting new sound, and
apparently the public agreed, sending the LP Main
Course up the charts.

The follow-up "Children of the World" was drenched
in Barry's newfound falsetto and Blue's
synthesizer dance licks.  Led off by the single
"You should be dancing", it pushed the Bee Gees to
a level of stardom they had not previously
achieved in the USA, but the new sound was not as
popular with some fans from the 1960s.  Compared
to the stereotype of disco however this is still
closer to a rock band, with rhythm guitar and real
drums behind the falsetto.

==1970s: Saturday Night Fever==





After a live album, the Bee Gees agreed to
participate in the creation to the soundtrack for
Saturday Night Fever, a forthcoming movie. The
album broke multiple records for soundtrack sales,
and four Bee Gees hits ("Stayin' Alive", "How Deep
Is Your Love?", "More Than a Woman", and "Night
Fever") reached #1, launching the most popular age
of disco.  They also penned the song "If I Can't
Have You" which became a #1 hit for Yvonne
Elliman.  Such was the popularity of Saturday
Night Fever, that two different versions of the
song "More Than A Woman (song) |More Than A
Woman", one by the Bee Gees and another by
Tavares,  charted simultaneously.  This album has
since sold over 30 million copies worldwide,
making it the best selling soundtrack album of all
time. The Bee Gees became bigger than ever before,
even outselling The Beatles.  During this era,
Barry and Robin wrote "Emotion" for an old friend,
Samantha Sang, who made it a Top Ten hit (the Bee
Gees sang back-up vocals). A year later, Barry
wrote the title song to the movie version of the
Broadway musical Grease (musical)|Grease for
Frankie Valli to perform. The three Bee Gees also
starred in the disastrous Sgt. Pepper's Lonely
Hearts Club Band (movie)|Sgt. Pepper's Lonely
Hearts Club Band, based on the classic Beatles
album published in 1967; the accompanying movie
soundtrack was a legendary underperformer in
stores.

A fourth Gibb, younger brother Andy Gibb, also
managed to enjoy massive success releasing dance
music|dance albums. However, disco was rapidly
declining in popularity and viability, and a large
anti-Bee Gees faction of music listeners had
erupted as the 1970s ended. Even so, the Bee Gees
had one more multi-platinum success following
"Saturday Night Fever," with their Spirits Having
Flown album. Turning away from disco rhythms, it
yielded three more Top Ten hits: "Tragedy," "Too
Much Heaven" (originally written for, but not used
in, the John Travolta movie "Moment By Moment"),
and "Love You Inside Out."  During the "Spirits"
sessions, the Bee Gees recorded "Desire" with
brother Andy on guest lead vocals; the single
peaked at #4 as an Andy Gibb release.

The Bee Gees' overwhelming good fortune rose and
sank with the disco bubble.  The backlash against
disco largely sank the Bee Gees' American career;
after the spring of 1979, the group would only
have two minor Top 40 singles, plus the Top Ten
1989 comeback "One."  However, their international
popularity sustained less damage; for example, the
group would notch five more Top Five hits in the
United Kingdom between 1987 and 1998.

==1980s and 1990s==

As the decade turned to the 1980s, the Bee Gees'
career took a turn towards solo work. Barry
released a solo project called Now Voyager. This
project failed to produce any hits. The first
single, "Shine", faded. Robin's attempts at a solo
career began with How Old Are You. With "Juliet"
and "Another Lonely Night in New York" it spawned
two European hits, but was met with disappointment
in the U.S. Robin then tried his luck again with
Walls Have Eyes. It too was a disappointment. The
Brothers then did some production work for Barbra
Streisand, Diana Ross and Dionne Warwick, who each
covered Bee Gees songs. The group sang backing
vocals on several tracks. The brothers also worked
with Kenny Rogers. They wrote and produced Rogers'
album Eyes that See in the Dark. This produced the
huge hit "Islands In The Stream" - a duet between
Rogers and Dolly Parton. Counting all these which
were written for other artists, Barry Gibb had now
written and produced fourteen number one hits. The
Bee Gees were successful at writing songs for
other artists, but in this period, their own
recordings were not as successful.

The Bee Gees released E.S.P. in 1987 as a comeback
album. With the number one song "You Win Again",
it was well received and reached number one in the
UK and Europe, but failed to impress the United
States. On March 10th 1988, the fourth brother
Andy Gibb died from heart disease. The Bee Gees'
following album, One (1989), was popular in the US
again for once, and the title track was a hit. To
remember Andy, they put another song on the One
album called "Wish You Were Here". After the
release, they went on a U.S. tour. Following the
next album, "High Civilization", the Bee Gees went
on to a European tour. After the Europe tour,
Barry Gibb began to battle a serious back problem.
In the early 90s, Barry Gibb wasn't the only Bee
Gee living in serious pain. Maurice had a serious
drinking problem, which he had battled for many
years, but finally conquered with the help of
Alcoholics Anonymous in 1992.  Two other things
happened in 1992: their father Hugh died, and
Barry had a baby girl named Alexandra. The Bee
Gees released several singles, including "Paying
the Price of Love", which achieved little success.
In 1993, they released an album called Size Isn't
Everything. In 1997 they released Still Waters,
which went double platinum, and a new single
"Alone", was a new hit for the Bee Gees.

On November 14, 1997, The Bee Gees performed a
live concert in Las Vegas called "One Night Only".
The CD One Night Only, released a year later, sold
5 million copies worldwide.

==Later years==

In 2000, they released what turned out to be their
final album as a group, This Is Where I Came In. 
The album gave each member a chance to write in
their own way, as well as composing songs
together.  For example, Maurice's compositions and
leads are the Beatles-inspired "Man In The Middle"
and "Walking On Air", while Robin contributed
"Deja Vu", "Promise The Earth", and "Embrace", and
Barry contributed "Loose Talk Costs Lives",
"Technicolour Dreams" and "Voice In The
Wilderness". The other songs are collaborative in
writing and vocals. Their last public live show
together was called "Live By Request", a special
shown on A&E.
Maurice Gibb, who had been the instrumental leader
of the Bee Gees during their final years as a
group, died on January 12, 2003 from complications
of a twisted intestine. Shortly afterwards, his
remaining brothers announced that, they intended
to go on writing and performing, but there are
still doubts if they would use the title, "The Bee
Gees".

==Current News==

During January 2005, Barry and Robin along with
several legendary Rock artists recorded
"Grief Never Grows Old", the official Tsunami
relief record for the Disasters Emergency
Committee.

==Awards and success==

With The Beatles, Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson,
and Paul McCartney, the Bee Gees are in the top
five of the most successful recording artists of
all time, achieving world-wide record sales in
excess of 110 million. Their songs have been
covered by numerous singers including Elvis
Presley|Elvis, Otis Redding, and newer acts like
Steps and Destiny's Child. Songs written by the
Gibbs but better known in versions by other
artists include, "If I Can't Have You" by Yvonne
Elliman and by Kim Wilde, "Buried Treasure" by
Kenny Rogers, "Love Me" by Yvonne Elliman, "Chain
Reaction"  by Diana Ross and by Steps
(band)|Steps, "Emotion" by Samantha Sang, "Guilty"
by Barbra Streisand (later covered by Human Nature
and Guy Sebastian as "Guilty (One In A Million) in
2004), "Heartbreaker" by Dionne Warwick and
"Islands in the Stream" by Kenny Rogers and Dolly
Parton. Also, Wyclef Jean adapted the Gibbs'
"Stayin' Alive" into the hit rap single "We Trying
To Stay Alive". Take That covered "How Deep is
Your Love?" and Steps also covered "Tragedy."

The Bee Gees had nine #1 singles on the U.S.
Billboard magazine|Billboard charts between 1971
and 1979.  The peak of their chart success in the
United States came in March 1978, when four of the
top 5 songs were written by the Gibbs: their own
"Night Fever" and "Stayin' Alive" at #1 and #2,
Samantha Sang's "Emotion" at #3, and brother Andy
Gibb's "Love is Thicker Than Water" at #5.  This
was the closest anyone came to the achievement of
the Beatles, who held all five of the top singles
spots on an April 1964 chart -- with five
different songs by the band themselves (four
self-penned, along with a cover of the Isley
Brothers' "Twist and Shout").  
From the last week of 1977 through August of 1978,
Gibb-written songs held the #1 position for 25 of
32 weeks, including 4 consecutive chart-toppers in
"Stayin' Alive," "Love is Thicker Than Water,"
"Night Fever," and "If I Can't Have You."

Over their career, the Bee Gees earned five Grammy
Awards and in 1994 all three were individually
inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In
1997, the Bee Gees were inducted into the Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame.

The group was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall
of Fame in 2001.
In 2002, the Bee Gees were made CBEs (Commander of
the British Empire) United Kingdom's New Year
Honours list. Robin and Barry collected their
awards in May 2004, Maurice's son Adam collected
for his late father.

==Albums==
* Bee Gees 1st - 1967
* Horizontal (album)|Horizontal - 1968
* Idea (album)|Idea - 1968
* Odessa (album)|Odessa - 1969
* Best of Bee Gees - 1969
* Cucumber Castle - 1970
* 2 Years On - 1970
* Trafalgar (album)|Trafalgar - 1971
* To Whom It May Concern (album)|To Whom It May
Concern - 1972
* Life In a Tin Can - 1973
* Best of Bee Gees Volume 2 - 1973
* Mr. Natural (album)|Mr. Natural - 1974
* Main Course (album)|Main Course - 1975
* Children of the World - 1976
* Saturday Night Fever (soundtrack) - 1977
* Spirits Having Flown - 1979
* Bee Gees Greatest - 1979
* Living Eyes - 1981
* Staying Alive (soundtrack) - 1983
* E.S.P. (Bee Gees album)|E.S.P. - 1987
* One (album)|One - 1989
* High Civilization - 1991
* Size Isn't Everything - 1993
* Still Waters - 1997
* This Is Where I Came In - 2001
* The Record (album)|The Record - 2001
* Number Ones - 2004

== Band ==
In addition to Barry, Robin, and Maurice, here are
some of the muscians who backed up the Bee Gees
live and in the studio.

* Carlos Alomar - guitar
* Reb Beach - guitar
* Tony Beard - drums
* Michael Bennett - keyboards
* Matt Bonelli - bass guitar
* Dennis Byron - drums
* Tim Cansfield - guitar
* David Foster - keyboards
* Stephen Gibb - guitar
* Reggie Griffin - guitar
* Steve Jordan - drums
* Manu Katche - drums
* Alan Kendall - lead guitar
* Robbie Kondor - keyboards
* Mike McEvoy - keyboards/guitar
* Vince Melouney - guitar
* John Merchant - engineer
* Marcus Miller - bass guitar
* Tim Moore - keyboards
* Nick Moroch - electric guitar
* Pino Palladino - bass guitar
* George "Chocolate" Perry - bass guitar
* Colin Petersen - drums
* Greg Phillinganes - keyboards
* Steve Rucker - drums
* Raphael Saadiq - bass guitar|bass, guitar, drum
programming, vocals
* Marc Schulman - guitar
* Steve Skinner - synthesizer
* Ben Stivers - keyboards
* Michael Thompson - guitar
* Peter John Vettese - keyboards, engineering,
backing vocals
* Waddy Wachtel - guitar
* Blue Weaver - keyboards

==Parodies of the Bee Gees==

In their heyday the Bee Gees were often parodied,
sometimes affectionately. A sketch by Kenny
Everett, in which he played all three Gibbs as
well as an interviewer, had the Bee Gees answering
all of his questions with song quotes. For
example:

Interviewer: Now, if I might mention your, what
shall we call them, teeth...

Bee Gees (sing): "Mass-a-chu-ssetts"

Interviewer: Ah, yes, I see..."Mass-o'-chew-sets".
It's a joke.

Bee Gees (sing): "It's a tragedy!"


They were also parodied by Philip Pope as The Hee
Bee Gee Bees, singing "Meaningless Songs (in Very
High Voices)", as well as by David Walliams and
Matt Lucas in the Rock Profile television show in
2000.

Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake have parodied
the Bee Gees on Saturday Night Live in the "Barry
Gibb Talk Show" sketch.

==See also==
*Best selling music artists
*List of number-one hits (United States)
*List of artists who reached number one on the Hot
100 (US)
*List of Number 1 Dance Hits (United States)
*List of artists who reached number one on the US
Dance chart

== External links ==

*http://www.beegeesfanclub.org Bee Gees and
Brothers Gibb Fan Club Home
*http://www.brothersgibb.com Words & Music, Fans
Of The Brothers Gibb
*http://www.vghf.com/Inductees/bee_gees.htm Vocal
Group Hall of Fame page on The Bee Gees
*http://www.photofeatures.com/beegees/index.html
Photo archive of The Bee Gees by Rock Photographer
Chris Walter.
*http://beegees.lyrics.info/ Bee Gees Lyrics
*http://lyrics.activelyrics.com/B/bee%20gees/index
.html Bee Gees Lyrics Here!
*http://www.beegees.co.uk/ Online Bee Gees Store

	Web Quotableonline.com Frasescelebres.org Greatbookscollection.org

The Bee Gees were a United Kingdom|British and
Australian band, originally a pop
singer-songwriter combination, reborn as funk and
rhythm and blues. The brothers Gibb, consisting of
frequent lead vocalist Barry Gibb|Barry, and the
twins, co-lead vocalist Robin Gibb|Robin, and
keyboardist/guitarist Maurice Gibb|Maurice, were
born in the Isle of Man in the 1940s.

==Early history==

The Gibb brothers were born on the Isle of Man to
English parents in 1946 (Barry) and 1949 (twins
Robin and Maurice).  The family returned to father
Hugh Gibb's home town of Manchester in the early
1950s where the boys began to sing in harmony,
debuting in public on one memorable occasion at a
local cinema.

In 1958, the Gibb family, including infant brother
Andy Gibb|Andy, moved to Redcliffe,
Queensland|Redcliffe, Australia and the still very
young Brothers Gibb began performing where they
could to raise pocket change.  They gained the
attention of a radio DJ named Bill Gates and
gradually made a name for themselves for their
harmony singing and Barry's songwriting.  By 1960
they were featured on television shows and in the
next few years began working regularly (despite
child labour laws) at resorts on the Queensland
coast.  At length Barry drew the attention of
Australian star Col Joye for his songwriting, and
he helped the boys get a record deal with 
Festival Records in 1963 under the name "Bee
Gees".  The three released two or three singles a
year, while Barry supplied additional songs to
other Australian artists.  A minor hit in 1965,
"Wine and Women", led to the group's first LP
"Barry Gibb and the Bee Gees Sing and Play 14
Barry Gibb Songs", but real commercial success
eluded them.  In 1966 they moved to a new label,
Spin, run by Nat Kipner, and were finally allowed
enough studio time to develop as artists.  In six
months the three wrote and recorded enough
material for two albums, including a single called
"Spicks and Specks" that would become their first
major hit in Australia at the end of 1966.  But
despite that success and the release of their
second LP also called "Spicks and Specks", by that
time the family had decided to return to England
and seek their fortunes there.

== 1960s in England ==

Very soon after their arrival in January 1967, the
Bee Gees were signed by Robert Stigwood, and added
Australian musicians Vince Melouney (guitar) and
former child actor Colin Petersen (drums).  Their
first English single was "Spicks and Specks",
issued under a deal between Festival and Polydor
that had been made known to them around the time
they left Australia.  But their first single
recorded in England soon followed,  "New York
Mining Disaster 1941" (1967), a surreal, haunting
and macabre song that made the Top 20 on both
sides of the Atlantic.  Their third album, "Bee
Gees' First" scored well with critics and the
public, offering an innovative blend of rock and
orchestral ballads such as  the classics "To Love
Somebody" and "I Can't See Nobody".

The next big single was "Massachusetts", which
launched the trio into superstardom, followed
shortly by the classic "Words".  1968 saw the
release of two albums, the relatively
heavy-sounding "Horizontal" and the lighter pop
"Idea"  The latter contained two more hits, "I've
Gotta Get a Message to You" and "I Started a
Joke".  To many music critics, these are the
band's golden years, well before any of their
unforgettable disco hits. The Bee Gees at the time
were a freakbeat rock and roll band, with strong
soul music|soul influences and a belief, like the
Beatles had, that all styles of music should be
combined to create something new.   This period
ended after releasing Odessa (album)|Odessa
(1969), a dense and complex prog rock album with
orchestral accompaniment.

By this time Barry and Robin were increasingly at
odds about the direction of the group, but once
Robert Stigwood made clear his favouring of Barry
as leader, Robin left.  Barry and Maurice released
an LP as a duo, Cucumber Castle (the soundtrack to
a television special), while Robin released a solo
album, Robin's Reign that included his big debut
solo single "Saved by the Bell".  None of this
made any impact in the USA, and when Barry and
Maurice split at the  end of 1969 it looked like
the end.  All three recorded solo albums in 1970
that were never released.

The three brothers reunited in the later part of
1970, their feelings about the split evident in
many songs about heartache and loneliness.  They
worked in a new pop-progressive rock sound,
hitting the American charts with "Lonely Days"
(from the reunion LP 2 Years On) and "How Can You
Mend a Broken Heart" (from Trafalgar
(album)|Trafalgar.  These albums did well and they
continued the success with top ten hits "My World"
and  "Run To Me", the latter from the less
successful LP To Whom It May Concern.

Recognizing that they were in a rut, the brothers
broke their string of recordings at IBC Studios
London with musical director Bill Shepherd.  They
relocated to Los Angeles where they recorded two
albums almost at once late in 1972, in a
collective version of the sensitive
singer-songwriter style then popular, with much
acoustic guitar and piano.  When the first one,
Life in a Tin Can, and its lead-off single was
ignored by the public, Stigwood recommended a
halt.  Fans who have heard the second unreleased
album "The Bee Gees Album" (also known as "A Kick
in the Head") consider it the better of the two
and have called for its release ever since.

At the advice of Ahmet Ertegun of Atlantic
Records, their US label, Stigwood arranged for the
group to record with famed soul music producer
Arif Mardin.  The first resulting LP, the
often-overlooked "Mr Natural", is the
hardest-rocking album they have ever done.  But
when it too failed to attract much interest,
Mardin encouraged them to work with the soul music
styles they had always loved but had shied from
fully performing.  

The brothers attempted to put together a band that
could perform live as well as they did in the
studio.  Alan Kendall, lead guitar, had come on
board in 1971 but had not had much to do until "Mr
Natural".  For that album they added drummer
Dennis Bryon, and after it they added ex-Strawbs
keyboard player Blue Weaver, completing the
classic late 1970s "Bee Gees Band".  Maurice,
previously all over their recordings on piano,
guitar, organ, mellotron, bass guitar, and exotica
like mandolin and Moog, now confined himself to
bass.

Eric Clapton suggested recording at Criteria
Studios, where he had just recorded 461 Ocean
Boulevard, and there they went early in 1975. 
Still starting off with ballads, after a week or
so they finally heeded the urging of Mardin and
Stigwood and created more rhythmic songs like
"Jive Talkin'" and "Nights on Broadway", the
latter featuring Barry's first attempts at singing
falsetto in the backing vocals toward the end. 
The band liked the resulting new sound, and
apparently the public agreed, sending the LP Main
Course up the charts.

The follow-up "Children of the World" was drenched
in Barry's newfound falsetto and Blue's
synthesizer dance licks.  Led off by the single
"You should be dancing", it pushed the Bee Gees to
a level of stardom they had not previously
achieved in the USA, but the new sound was not as
popular with some fans from the 1960s.  Compared
to the stereotype of disco however this is still
closer to a rock band, with rhythm guitar and real
drums behind the falsetto.

==1970s: Saturday Night Fever==





After a live album, the Bee Gees agreed to
participate in the creation to the soundtrack for
Saturday Night Fever, a forthcoming movie. The
album broke multiple records for soundtrack sales,
and four Bee Gees hits ("Stayin' Alive", "How Deep
Is Your Love?", "More Than a Woman", and "Night
Fever") reached #1, launching the most popular age
of disco.  They also penned the song "If I Can't
Have You" which became a #1 hit for Yvonne
Elliman.  Such was the popularity of Saturday
Night Fever, that two different versions of the
song "More Than A Woman (song) |More Than A
Woman", one by the Bee Gees and another by
Tavares,  charted simultaneously.  This album has
since sold over 30 million copies worldwide,
making it the best selling soundtrack album of all
time. The Bee Gees became bigger than ever before,
even outselling The Beatles.  During this era,
Barry and Robin wrote "Emotion" for an old friend,
Samantha Sang, who made it a Top Ten hit (the Bee
Gees sang back-up vocals). A year later, Barry
wrote the title song to the movie version of the
Broadway musical Grease (musical)|Grease for
Frankie Valli to perform. The three Bee Gees also
starred in the disastrous Sgt. Pepper's Lonely
Hearts Club Band (movie)|Sgt. Pepper's Lonely
Hearts Club Band, based on the classic Beatles
album published in 1967; the accompanying movie
soundtrack was a legendary underperformer in
stores.

A fourth Gibb, younger brother Andy Gibb, also
managed to enjoy massive success releasing dance
music|dance albums. However, disco was rapidly
declining in popularity and viability, and a large
anti-Bee Gees faction of music listeners had
erupted as the 1970s ended. Even so, the Bee Gees
had one more multi-platinum success following
"Saturday Night Fever," with their Spirits Having
Flown album. Turning away from disco rhythms, it
yielded three more Top Ten hits: "Tragedy," "Too
Much Heaven" (originally written for, but not used
in, the John Travolta movie "Moment By Moment"),
and "Love You Inside Out."  During the "Spirits"
sessions, the Bee Gees recorded "Desire" with
brother Andy on guest lead vocals; the single
peaked at #4 as an Andy Gibb release.

The Bee Gees' overwhelming good fortune rose and
sank with the disco bubble.  The backlash against
disco largely sank the Bee Gees' American career;
after the spring of 1979, the group would only
have two minor Top 40 singles, plus the Top Ten
1989 comeback "One."  However, their international
popularity sustained less damage; for example, the
group would notch five more Top Five hits in the
United Kingdom between 1987 and 1998.

==1980s and 1990s==

As the decade turned to the 1980s, the Bee Gees'
career took a turn towards solo work. Barry
released a solo project called Now Voyager. This
project failed to produce any hits. The first
single, "Shine", faded. Robin's attempts at a solo
career began with How Old Are You. With "Juliet"
and "Another Lonely Night in New York" it spawned
two European hits, but was met with disappointment
in the U.S. Robin then tried his luck again with
Walls Have Eyes. It too was a disappointment. The
Brothers then did some production work for Barbra
Streisand, Diana Ross and Dionne Warwick, who each
covered Bee Gees songs. The group sang backing
vocals on several tracks. The brothers also worked
with Kenny Rogers. They wrote and produced Rogers'
album Eyes that See in the Dark. This produced the
huge hit "Islands In The Stream" - a duet between
Rogers and Dolly Parton. Counting all these which
were written for other artists, Barry Gibb had now
written and produced fourteen number one hits. The
Bee Gees were successful at writing songs for
other artists, but in this period, their own
recordings were not as successful.

The Bee Gees released E.S.P. in 1987 as a comeback
album. With the number one song "You Win Again",
it was well received and reached number one in the
UK and Europe, but failed to impress the United
States. On March 10th 1988, the fourth brother
Andy Gibb died from heart disease. The Bee Gees'
following album, One (1989), was popular in the US
again for once, and the title track was a hit. To
remember Andy, they put another song on the One
album called "Wish You Were Here". After the
release, they went on a U.S. tour. Following the
next album, "High Civilization", the Bee Gees went
on to a European tour. After the Europe tour,
Barry Gibb began to battle a serious back problem.
In the early 90s, Barry Gibb wasn't the only Bee
Gee living in serious pain. Maurice had a serious
drinking problem, which he had battled for many
years, but finally conquered with the help of
Alcoholics Anonymous in 1992.  Two other things
happened in 1992: their father Hugh died, and
Barry had a baby girl named Alexandra. The Bee
Gees released several singles, including "Paying
the Price of Love", which achieved little success.
In 1993, they released an album called Size Isn't
Everything. In 1997 they released Still Waters,
which went double platinum, and a new single
"Alone", was a new hit for the Bee Gees.

On November 14, 1997, The Bee Gees performed a
live concert in Las Vegas called "One Night Only".
The CD One Night Only, released a year later, sold
5 million copies worldwide.

==Later years==

In 2000, they released what turned out to be their
final album as a group, This Is Where I Came In. 
The album gave each member a chance to write in
their own way, as well as composing songs
together.  For example, Maurice's compositions and
leads are the Beatles-inspired "Man In The Middle"
and "Walking On Air", while Robin contributed
"Deja Vu", "Promise The Earth", and "Embrace", and
Barry contributed "Loose Talk Costs Lives",
"Technicolour Dreams" and "Voice In The
Wilderness". The other songs are collaborative in
writing and vocals. Their last public live show
together was called "Live By Request", a special
shown on A&E.
Maurice Gibb, who had been the instrumental leader
of the Bee Gees during their final years as a
group, died on January 12, 2003 from complications
of a twisted intestine. Shortly afterwards, his
remaining brothers announced that, they intended
to go on writing and performing, but there are
still doubts if they would use the title, "The Bee
Gees".

==Current News==

During January 2005, Barry and Robin along with
several legendary Rock artists recorded
"Grief Never Grows Old", the official Tsunami
relief record for the Disasters Emergency
Committee.

==Awards and success==

With The Beatles, Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson,
and Paul McCartney, the Bee Gees are in the top
five of the most successful recording artists of
all time, achieving world-wide record sales in
excess of 110 million. Their songs have been
covered by numerous singers including Elvis
Presley|Elvis, Otis Redding, and newer acts like
Steps and Destiny's Child. Songs written by the
Gibbs but better known in versions by other
artists include, "If I Can't Have You" by Yvonne
Elliman and by Kim Wilde, "Buried Treasure" by
Kenny Rogers, "Love Me" by Yvonne Elliman, "Chain
Reaction"  by Diana Ross and by Steps
(band)|Steps, "Emotion" by Samantha Sang, "Guilty"
by Barbra Streisand (later covered by Human Nature
and Guy Sebastian as "Guilty (One In A Million) in
2004), "Heartbreaker" by Dionne Warwick and
"Islands in the Stream" by Kenny Rogers and Dolly
Parton. Also, Wyclef Jean adapted the Gibbs'
"Stayin' Alive" into the hit rap single "We Trying
To Stay Alive". Take That covered "How Deep is
Your Love?" and Steps also covered "Tragedy."

The Bee Gees had nine #1 singles on the U.S.
Billboard magazine|Billboard charts between 1971
and 1979.  The peak of their chart success in the
United States came in March 1978, when four of the
top 5 songs were written by the Gibbs: their own
"Night Fever" and "Stayin' Alive" at #1 and #2,
Samantha Sang's "Emotion" at #3, and brother Andy
Gibb's "Love is Thicker Than Water" at #5.  This
was the closest anyone came to the achievement of
the Beatles, who held all five of the top singles
spots on an April 1964 chart -- with five
different songs by the band themselves (four
self-penned, along with a cover of the Isley
Brothers' "Twist and Shout").  
From the last week of 1977 through August of 1978,
Gibb-written songs held the #1 position for 25 of
32 weeks, including 4 consecutive chart-toppers in
"Stayin' Alive," "Love is Thicker Than Water,"
"Night Fever," and "If I Can't Have You."

Over their career, the Bee Gees earned five Grammy
Awards and in 1994 all three were individually
inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In
1997, the Bee Gees were inducted into the Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame.

The group was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall
of Fame in 2001.
In 2002, the Bee Gees were made CBEs (Commander of
the British Empire) United Kingdom's New Year
Honours list. Robin and Barry collected their
awards in May 2004, Maurice's son Adam collected
for his late father.

==Albums==
* Bee Gees 1st - 1967
* Horizontal (album)|Horizontal - 1968
* Idea (album)|Idea - 1968
* Odessa (album)|Odessa - 1969
* Best of Bee Gees - 1969
* Cucumber Castle - 1970
* 2 Years On - 1970
* Trafalgar (album)|Trafalgar - 1971
* To Whom It May Concern (album)|To Whom It May
Concern - 1972
* Life In a Tin Can - 1973
* Best of Bee Gees Volume 2 - 1973
* Mr. Natural (album)|Mr. Natural - 1974
* Main Course (album)|Main Course - 1975
* Children of the World - 1976
* Saturday Night Fever (soundtrack) - 1977
* Spirits Having Flown - 1979
* Bee Gees Greatest - 1979
* Living Eyes - 1981
* Staying Alive (soundtrack) - 1983
* E.S.P. (Bee Gees album)|E.S.P. - 1987
* One (album)|One - 1989
* High Civilization - 1991
* Size Isn't Everything - 1993
* Still Waters - 1997
* This Is Where I Came In - 2001
* The Record (album)|The Record - 2001
* Number Ones - 2004

== Band ==
In addition to Barry, Robin, and Maurice, here are
some of the muscians who backed up the Bee Gees
live and in the studio.

* Carlos Alomar - guitar
* Reb Beach - guitar
* Tony Beard - drums
* Michael Bennett - keyboards
* Matt Bonelli - bass guitar
* Dennis Byron - drums
* Tim Cansfield - guitar
* David Foster - keyboards
* Stephen Gibb - guitar
* Reggie Griffin - guitar
* Steve Jordan - drums
* Manu Katche - drums
* Alan Kendall - lead guitar
* Robbie Kondor - keyboards
* Mike McEvoy - keyboards/guitar
* Vince Melouney - guitar
* John Merchant - engineer
* Marcus Miller - bass guitar
* Tim Moore - keyboards
* Nick Moroch - electric guitar
* Pino Palladino - bass guitar
* George "Chocolate" Perry - bass guitar
* Colin Petersen - drums
* Greg Phillinganes - keyboards
* Steve Rucker - drums
* Raphael Saadiq - bass guitar|bass, guitar, drum
programming, vocals
* Marc Schulman - guitar
* Steve Skinner - synthesizer
* Ben Stivers - keyboards
* Michael Thompson - guitar
* Peter John Vettese - keyboards, engineering,
backing vocals
* Waddy Wachtel - guitar
* Blue Weaver - keyboards

==Parodies of the Bee Gees==

In their heyday the Bee Gees were often parodied,
sometimes affectionately. A sketch by Kenny
Everett, in which he played all three Gibbs as
well as an interviewer, had the Bee Gees answering
all of his questions with song quotes. For
example:

Interviewer: Now, if I might mention your, what
shall we call them, teeth...

Bee Gees (sing): "Mass-a-chu-ssetts"

Interviewer: Ah, yes, I see..."Mass-o'-chew-sets".
It's a joke.

Bee Gees (sing): "It's a tragedy!"


They were also parodied by Philip Pope as The Hee
Bee Gee Bees, singing "Meaningless Songs (in Very
High Voices)", as well as by David Walliams and
Matt Lucas in the Rock Profile television show in
2000.

Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake have parodied
the Bee Gees on Saturday Night Live in the "Barry
Gibb Talk Show" sketch.

==See also==
*Best selling music artists
*List of number-one hits (United States)
*List of artists who reached number one on the Hot
100 (US)
*List of Number 1 Dance Hits (United States)
*List of artists who reached number one on the US
Dance chart

== External links ==

*http://www.beegeesfanclub.org Bee Gees and
Brothers Gibb Fan Club Home
*http://www.brothersgibb.com Words & Music, Fans
Of The Brothers Gibb
*http://www.vghf.com/Inductees/bee_gees.htm Vocal
Group Hall of Fame page on The Bee Gees
*http://www.photofeatures.com/beegees/index.html
Photo archive of The Bee Gees by Rock Photographer
Chris Walter.
*http://beegees.lyrics.info/ Bee Gees Lyrics
*http://lyrics.activelyrics.com/B/bee%20gees/index
.html Bee Gees Lyrics Here!
*http://www.beegees.co.uk/ Online Bee Gees Store