The brothers Barry and the twins Robin and Maurice Gibb made up the Bee Gees group. They first performed when Barry was eight and Robin and Maurice were six, in 1955.
When the family moved to Australia in 1958, they performed as The Rattlesnakes, Wee Johnny Hayes and the Bluecats, The Gibbs, The BG’s and finally the Bee Gees. Despite popular belief, his name is not short for Brothers Gibb. It was actually created by DJ Bill Gates by taking Barry’s initials and Barbara’s initials, the mother of racing promoter Bill Goode. Goode was responsible for introducing the Gibbses to Gates.
His father, Hugh Gibb, sent demo tapes to the Beatles’ manager, Brian Epstein, who passed them on to Robert Stigwood. Stigwood signed the Bee Gees to a five-year contract with Polydor Records in 1967.
The first single to be released, “New York Mining Disaster 1941”, reached the top 20 on the Billboard weekly charts. His second single, “To Love Somebody”, was originally written for Otis Redding and has since been covered by artists such as Rod Stewart, Janis Joplin and Michael Bolton, also in the top twenty; as was their third single “Holiday”.
The Bee Gees are said to have had two separate musical hits; their soft rock period of the late ’60s and early ’70s and the leaders of a rejuvenated disco era in the late ’70s.
The Bee Gees composed the soundtracks for “Saturday Night Fever” and “Staying Alive” and even starred in the 1978 movie “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.”
On the charts, the Bee Gees traveled to the Billboard Top 40 weekly charts nearly 30 times, peaking at No. 1 nine times. Here’s a look at the Bee Gees’ 20 biggest hits, according to the Billboard charts:
- Night Fever – 1978 – one of three number one singles from the album “Saturday Night Fever”.
- Stayin’ Alive – 1978 – His three number one singles from the album “Saturday Night Fever” held the number one position for 15 weeks.
- How can you mend a broken heart? – 1971 – his first number one single.
- How Deep Is Your Love? – 1977
- Too Much Heaven – 1979 – used as his contribution to the Music for UNICEF Concert and all royalties from this song were donated to charity.
- Tragedy – the fifth of six consecutive number-one singles between 1977 and 1979; a record only broken by Whitney Houston.
- Jive Talkin’ – 1975 – from the album “Main Course”.
- Love You Inside Out – 1979 – their last #1 single.
- You Should Be Dancing – 1976 – a number 1 single from the album “Children of the World”.
- Love So Right – 1976
- Lonely Days – 1971
- I Started A Joke – 1969 – from their third album, “Idea”.
- Nights On Broadway – 1975 – features Barry Gibb’s early attempts at falsetto singing.
- One – 1989 – her last top 10 single.
- I’ve Got To Send You A Message – 1968 – their first top 10 single.
- (The Lights Went Out In) Massachusetts – 1967 – from their second album, “Horizontal”.
- Fanny (Be Tender to My Love) – 1976
- Boogie Boy – 1977
- New York Mining Disaster 1941 (Have You Seen My Wife, Mr. Jones) – 1967 – their first US top 20 single.
- Words – 1968
The Bee Gees were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997.
His younger brother, Andy, was a successful solo artist with three consecutive number 1 singles. Andy died in 1988 at the age of 30.
With the sudden death of Bee Gees member Maurice in 2003, it seemed the Bee Gees would never record or perform again. In 2009, Robin and Barry agreed to reform the Bee Gees and that year they appeared on ABC TV’s “Dancing With The Stars” and in 2010, they made a surprise appearance on the season finale of “American Idol.”
