The Bee Gees

Induction Year: 1997

Induction Category: Performer

"Inductees: Barry Gibb (vocals, guitar; born September 1, 1946), Maurice Gibb (vocals, bass, keyboards, guitar, percussion; born December 22, 1949, died January 12, 2003), Robin Gibb (vocals; born December 22, 1949)

Barry, Maurice and Robin Gibb-better known as -are among the most successful vocal groups in rock and roll history. They rank sixth on the all-time top-sellers list, having sold 64 million albums to date. Only , , , Garth Brooks and have outsold . The trio’s contributions to 1977’s Saturday Night Fever pushed that soundtrack album past the 40 million mark. It reigned as the top-selling album in history until ’s Thriller-an album that Jackson has acknowledged was inspired by Saturday Night Fever-surpassed it in the Eighties. Saturday Night Fever and 1979’s Spirits Having Flown combined to yield six #1 hits, making the only group in pop history to write, produce and record that many consecutive chart-topping singles.

Britain’s first family of harmony, might be pop’s ultimate chameleons. They took wing as a Beatles-inspired, vocal-oriented pop band, cutting the exemplary Bee Gees 1st, Horizontal and Idea in a two-year span during the late Sixties. Thereafter they made side forays into conceptual works (the double-LP Odessa) and even took a country-flavored turn (1973’s Life in a Tin Can). The mid-Seventies found them working in a more R&B-influenced groove-a fortuitous move that paid dividends within the growing dance culture taking shape at urban discotheques. With Main Course and Children of the World, blossomed as architects of high-quality, song-oriented disco. Their career as pioneers of dance-oriented pop was forever sealed with the remarkable success of Saturday Night Fever and Spirits Having Flown. When their prolonged era of superstardom inevitably cooled, re-emerged in the late-Eighties as a mature band of survivors.

Regardless of trends, have demonstrated a unique ability to adapt to the changeable pop scene in an instinctive and organic way. While the various styles they’ve have undertaken may superficially seem unrelated, the introspective British pop and danceable American R&B that served as dual influences have remained consistent throughout a professional career that’s approaching its fortieth year.

Barry Gibb and twin brothers Maurice and Robin were born in Douglas, Isle of Man (an island off the British coast). Their father, Hughie Gibb, was a big-band leader and drummer. In 1958, the family moved to Australia, where they lived for eight years. Calling themselves the B.G.’s-short for “Brothers Gibb” and later amended to Bee Gees-the brothers began performing Down Under. Their first Australian hit came in 1966 ("Spicks and Specks"), and its success subsidized the family’s return to England in 1967. Over the next two years, the group launched a string of hit singles executed in a brooding, distinctively British pop style. From this period came such well-crafted, harmony-rich songs as “New York Mining Disaster 1941,” “To Love Somebody,” “Massachusetts,” “Words,” “I’ve Got to Get a Message to You” and “I Started a Joke.”

Following a temporary breakup, promisingly kicked off the Seventies with another round of pop hits: “Lonely Days” (#3, 1970) and “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart (#1, 1971). But the group thereupon foundered commercially and creatively until 1975’s Main Course, which found them taking a breezy, rhythm & blues oriented approach. Recording for the second time with producer Arif Mardin (who’d previously produced 1974’s Mr. Natural), the trio exploited their upper registers on such danceable mid-decade smashes as “Jive Talkin’ (#1, 1975) and “Nights On Broadway (#7, 1975), which established them as key architects of the emerging disco movement.

On the heels of this breakthrough, were distressed to learn they could no longer work with Mardin since manager Robert Stigwood had shifted distribution of his RSO label from Atlantic (where Mardin was house producer) to Polydor. Nonetheless, the brothers proved resilient, teaming with engineer-producers Albhy Galuten and Karl Richardson-who worked at Miami’s Criteria Studios, where Main Course had been recorded-for Children of the World. As it turned out, Main Course was just an appetizer compared to the awesome run of #1 hits that followed from 1976 to 1979: “You Should Be Dancing,” “How Deep Is Your Love,” “Stayin’ Alive,” “Night Fever,” “Too Much Heaven,” “Tragedy” and “Love You Inside Out.”

During the late Seventies, ’ dominated dance floors and airwaves. With their matching white suits, soaring high harmonies and polished, radio-friendly records, they remain one of the essential touchstones to that ultra-commercial era. Their pinnacle came with the 1979 release of Spirits Having Flown, which launched three #1 singles and sold 20 million copies worldwide. In the midst of all this came a low point, too: their starring roles (with Peter Frampton) in a 1978 musical film inspired by ’ album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, an embarrassment that bordered on debacle.

’ success hasn’t been limited to recordings issued under their own name. Individually and together they’ve written and produced major hits for such artists as Barbra Streisand ("Woman in Love,” Guilty,” “What Kind of Fool"), Diana Ross ("Chain Reaction"), Dionne Warwick ("Heartbreaker"), Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers ("Islands in the Stream"), Frankie Valli ("Grease"), Yvonne Elliman ("If I Can’t Have You") and their younger brother, the late Andy Gibb ("I Just Want to Be Your Everything,” “[Love Is] Thicker Than Water,” “Shadow Dancing"). In 1977, they became the first and only songwriters to place five songs in the Top Ten at the same time.

While their phenomenal hit streak of the late Seventies inevitably ended, have remained intermittently active on the recording and performing fronts. In 1989, the title track from the album One returned them to the Top Ten. A comprehensive box set-Tales from the Brothers Gibb: A History in Song, 1967-1990-was released in 1990.

TIMELINE

September 1, 1946: Barry Gibb was born.

December 22, 1949: Maurice Gibb was born.

December 22, 1949: Robin Gibb was born.

1963: ’ first single—"The Three Kisses of Love” b/w “The Blue and the Grey"—"is released in Australia.

July 1, 1966: signs the English group . Atlantic will become a major force in British rock, releasing albums by such artists as , Mott the Hoople, Yes, Genesis, Derek and the Dominos, Emerson, Lake and Palmer and .

January 9, 1967: The Gibb family moves from Australia to London, England. Within months, enjoy their first international hit: “New York Mining Disaster 1941” (#14 U.S., #12 U.K.).

August 9, 1967: debut album, ‘Bee Gees 1st’, is issued in America. At this point, the group is a quintet: the three Gibb brothers, plus guitarist Vince Melouney and drummer Colin Peterson.

December 9, 1969: The group’s brotherly bonds are temporarily broken as Robin departs for a short-lived solo career that yields the album ‘Robin’s Reign’ (1970). , pared down to the duo of Barry and Maurice, release ‘Cucumber Castle’.

August 7, 1971: hit #1 for the first time with “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart,” a mellow ballad from ‘Trafalgar’.

August 9, 1975: “Jive Talkin’” reaches #1 for the first of two weeks. Marking a change in direction, it finds moving from “dreary ballads” (their term) to a more uptempo, R&B sound, thanks in large part to Atlantic Records staff producer Arif Mardin.

September 4, 1976: “You Should Be Dancing” from the album ‘Children of the World’ becomes the latest Bee Gees single to top the charts. It is the third single to go to #1.

December 24, 1977: “How Deep Is Your Love,” ’ first single from the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, hits #1 for the first of three weeks. Remaining in the Top Ten for 17 consecutive weeks, it sets a ‘Billboard’ chart record for longevity.

February 4, 1978: “Stayin’ Alive,” whose thunderous disco beat plays in the opening scene of ‘Saturday Night Fever’, reaches #1 for the first of four weeks.

March 12, 1978: Night Fever () was a hit.

December 31, 1978: Too Much Heaven () was a hit.

June 5, 1979: “Love You Inside Out” becomes ’ ninth #1 single, sixth consecutive #1 single (tying ), and fifth to sell over two million copies. It is also, to date, their last #1 single.

July 9, 1983: The soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever’s less successful sequel, ‘Stayin’ Alive’, is released. Again, contribute, notching one Top Forty single, “The Woman in You” (#24).

August 19, 1989: ’ 25th charting album, ‘One’, is released. The title track reaches #7 and the band tours for the first time in nearly a decade.

April 22, 1997: A new album by , ‘Still Waters’, is released as the group celebrates the 30th anniversary of its first hit. They undertake an 18-month world tour.

May 6, 1997: are inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the twelfth annual induction dinner. Brian Wilson is their presenter.

January 12, 2003: Maurice Gibb of died.

Essential Songs

Stayin’ Alive
To Love Somebody
Words
How Can You Mend a Broken Heart
Jive Talkin’
How Deep is Your Love
New York Mining Disaster 1941
I’ve Got to Get a Message to You
Massachusetts
Too Much Heaven

Recommended Reading

Bee Gees: The Authorized Biography
Robin Gibb, Barry Gibb and Maurice Gibb, with David Leaf. New York: Pinnacle Books, 1980.

Tales from the Brothers Gibb: A History in Song, 1967-1990
The Bee Gees. Polydor Records, 1990. (This booklet enclosed with this box set contains biographical and discographical information.)

The Bee Gees: Tales of the Brothers Gibb
Cook Hector, Melinda Bilyeu and Andrew Mon Hughes. London: Omnibus Press, 2000.