Bee Gees

2009 marked the golden anniversary of the Bee Gees’ musical beginnings. Since then, the trio has been inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Songwriters Hall of Fame, won both the Lifetime Achievement (2000) and Legend Awards (2003) from the Recording Academy, seven Grammy® Awards, BMI Icon Award, and a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 1997 BRIT Awards.

The most successful trio in pop history, brothers Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb – were born on the Isle of Man. Moving to Manchester in 1953 and again in 1958 to Australia, the Gibb brothers had by 1959 adopted the name by which the trio would become world-famous, The Bee Gees. With 1966’s self-penned single “Spicks And Specks,” the Bee Gees had their first no.1 record in Australia.

Returning to England soon after, they signed with influential impresario Robert Stigwood and found quick success with 1967’s “New York Mining Disaster 1941,” the group’s first international charting single. Bee Gees 1st, a Top 10 album in both the U.S. and U.K., included such hits as “To Love Somebody” and “Holiday.” With “Massachusetts,” the group scored their first international chart-topper - no. 1 in England, Germany, The Netherlands, and elsewhere around the globe. Follow-up albums Horizontal and Idea, both from 1968, enjoyed similar success.

The three brothers reunited in 1970, with 2 Years On, producing the hit “Lonely Days,” while Trafalgar, the follow-up, contained the stateside chart-topper “How Can You Mend A Broken Heart?” The 1972 album To Whom It May Concern included the worldwide hit single “Run to Me.”

A hallmark of the greatest artists is their ability to periodically reinvent themselves, and the Bee Gees did this in the mid-1970s, working with noted R&B producer Arif Mardin to incorporate dance rhythms into their sound. Mr. Natural was released in 1974, and its follow-up, Main Course (1975), produced another U.S. no.1, “Jive Talkin’,” and the Top 10 “Nights On Broadway.” Children Of The World (1976) was another smash, with the much-loved “You Should Be Dancing” among its singles.

While the Bee Gees were already very successful, 1977 launched them into a pop stratosphere that few artists ever reach. It was the year of Saturday Night Fever, the Stigwood-produced film that became a global phenomenon. Its soundtrack album dominated the sales charts, spending months at no.1 and producing three massive singles -- “How Deep Is Your Love,” “Stayin’ Alive” and “Night Fever” -- along with a raft of Grammy Awards. Spirits Having Flown, the follow-up to Fever, logged three more hits (giving the group six consecutive chart-topping singles in the U.S.): “Tragedy,” “Love You Inside Out,” and “Too Much Heaven,” the last of which has earned millions of dollars for UNICEF as the Bee Gees donated all royalties from that song to the charity.

Often overlooked in the post-Fever fever surrounding the Bee Gees as performers were their talents as songwriters and producers. In fact, SNF soundtrack hits from Yvonne Elliman and Tavares were both Gibb-penned, and in 1978, Barry’s title song to the movie version of Grease went to no.1 for Frankie Valli. Through the ‘80s, they continued to have success as writers for artists such as Barbra Streisand, Dionne Warwick, Diana Ross and Kenny Rogers (duet with Dolly Parton) “Islands in the Stream.”

With the 1988 death of their younger brother Andy Gibb at the age of 30, the band dedicated the song “Wish You Were Here,” on their One album, to him. The title track was a Top 10 U.S. hit. High Civilization, released in 1991, had a Top 5 U.K. hit in “Secret Love,” followed by ‘93’s Size Isn’t Everything, which scored a Top 5 British hit with “For Whom the Bell Tolls.”

In 1997, The Bee Gees hit another peak in their popularity, releasing Still Waters, which reached no.2 in Britain, with the first single, “Alone,” going Top 5 in the U.K. That same year they were elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and performed a live concert in Las Vegas recorded for the One Night Only CD, which sold over 5 million copies and led to a world tour. In 2001 they released This Is Where I Came In, their last album of new material as a trio – Maurice died in January 2003. Though Barry and Robin have since put the Bee Gees on hiatus, each continues making music.

Click here to visit the official Bees Web site.