The first big Bee Gees disco song was Jive Talkin’ this was followed by You Should Be Dancing. So the Bee Gees began recording disco songs, and they enlisted the services of producers Albhy Galuten and Karl Richardson. It was here that the boys had an epiphany.īarry Gibb discovered that he could sing falsetto really, really well. In 1975, Eric Clapton suggested that the band re-locate to Miami, where Clapton was then recording.
However, one year later the brothers again hooked up and released a couple of successful albums.īut by 1973 the hits had again ceased and the group’s fortunes seriously declined. Later in the group’s career, Maurice became the musical director for the Bee Gees.īy 1970, the Bee Gees had disbanded, and it looked as though they might never re-form. However, Maurice was by far the most versatile musician of the three: he playedīass guitar, acoustic guitar, lead guitar, harmonica, piano, organ, mellotron, keyboard, synthesizer and drums. In the Bee Gees, Barry and Robin were the most prolific songwriters, and Robin and Barry took most of the lead vocals. As time went by, Barry became more frequently the lead vocalist, and Robin believed that producer/manager Robert Stigwood was favoring Barry. Initially, Robin Gibb’s beautiful high tenor voice had frequently been the lead in Bee Gees’ songs.
However, in 1969 tensions surfaced in the band. They developed a fan base heavily loaded with young teeny-boppers, and their songs and albums generally landed in the Billboard Top 20. The Bee Gees were a fine ensemble – all of them wrote their own songs, their work was sophisticated and memorable, they had lovely voices and impressive harmonies – but they were not the Beatles.įor the next three years The Bee Gees enjoyed a successful run as a pop group. This was unfortunate, as no group could live up to such standards. The negative result was that the Bee Gees were constantly compared to the Beatles.
On the plus side, the song received considerably more airplay than it would have from a new, unknown group. This had both positive and negative consequences. That song was marketed using a bit of trickery: the record label was blank except for the title of the song.Īs a result, a number of DJs assumed that the song was by the Beatles. The Bee Gees’ first big hit was New York Mining Disaster 1941. Stigwood would become the group’s manager and promoter over the next several decades. Epstein’s family owned a major record store, so Epstein passed the tape along to one of the record store employees, Robert Stigwood. They mailed a demo tape to the Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein. Back row from L: Vince Melouney, Maurice Gibb, Barry Gibb front row Robin Gibb, Colin Petersen. in early 1967 because of their inability to land a major record contract in Australia.īelow is a photo of the Bee Gees circa 1968. Although the band developed a loyal following in Australia, they returned to the U.K. The group subsequently changed their name to The Bee Gees, and added lead guitarist Vince Melouney and drummer Colin Petersen to the ensemble.
A Brisbane DJ re-named the boys “The BGs.” Although legend has it that The Bee Gees name stands for “The Brothers Gibb,” the initial name referred to the fact that the DJ Bill Gates, race-car driver Bill Goode (the boys used to perform at the Redcliffe Speedway in Brisbane) and Barry Gibb all had initials “BG.” In Australia, the Gibb boys again performed as a trio. The Gibb family then moved to Queensland, Australia. Similar to The Beatles, this was initially a skiffle group that morphed into a rock and roll band. While they were in England, the brothers Barry, Robin and Maurice started a music group called The Rattlesnakes. They had five children the oldest was a girl, Lesley, then four brothers including Barry, fraternal twins Robin and Maurice, and Andy. The Gibb family lived in Manchester, England. Over their long career, there were arguably three distinctly different manifestations of this trio of brothers. The Bee Gees were an extraordinary pop group. We will then wrap up with two covers of this song, one by Bruce Springsteen and the second by NSYNC.
We will then discuss the movie Saturday Night Fever, with an emphasis on the importance of music in the film, and in particular the song Stayin’ Alive. We will start with a brief review of the career of The Bee Gees. It was featured in the 1977 movie Saturday Night Fever, directed by John Badham and starring John Travolta. This is one of the most memorable disco songs written by the Gibb brothers.
Our second song in this series is Stayin’ Alive. Hello there! This is a continuation of our new feature: “Tim’s Cover Story Goes To The Movies.” In this series, we discuss a famous song that makes an important contribution to a major movie.