BEE GEES : THE TRENDSETTERS

We Love The Bee Gees is the latest tribute to the famous threesome who make up the Bee Gees, formerly known as the Brothers Gibb. This compilation is made up of cover versions of some of the greatest hits of the Bee Gees, performed by groups like Take That (How deep is your love), Captain Jack (You win again) and Ex-it (Night fever). In fact, many groups in the recent past, such as Take That, have cashed in on the success of cover versions of Bee Gees’ songs.

More than 30 years after their heydays, the songs of the Bee Gees continue to be popular and inspire new musicians. Over the past 30 years, Barry Gibb and his brothers Robin and Maurice have churned out countless hits and have sold more than 130 million albums. And the result is that today, the Bee Gees, like the Beatles, are an integral part of pop history, and trendsetters in the truest sense of the word.

The three brothers were born on the Isle of Man, and grew up in Manchester, UK, in the early 1950s. The three shared many similar interests, especially a fascination with cinema and showbiz. So when the idea of forming a musical group emerged, they boldly went down to the local cinema theatre and talked the manager into letting them go up on stage and sing. He agreed, and they were paid a shilling for their efforts, remembers Barry Gibb with a laugh, who has still kept that first precious shilling as a memoir.

In 1958 the Gibb family emigrated to Australia where they began their musical career in earnest. Interestingly, though they had initially named themselves The Brothers Gibb, they adopted the name the Bee Gees when an announcer introduced them at an event as the B.G’s, as a short form.

Over a period of ten years, the Bee Gees achieved nation-wide fame in Australia, including the award for Australia’s ‘best group’. Realising that it would be too difficult to achieve international fame by operating from Australia, the three brothers decided to move back to England. In England their manager built up a formidable reputation for the Bee Gees, tirelessly organising shows, tours and huge advertising campaigns. And, of course, the Bee Gees lived up to this image by churning out hit after hit.

It was the song Massachussets, from their second album, Horizontal, that catapulted the Bee Gees to fame all over Europe in 1966. Songs like Words, Gotta get a message to you and I started a joke followed and consolidated their position by the end of the 60s.

The 70s saw a change in the sound of the Bee Gees. The age of disco had arrived and the disco-based Jive talking became all the rage. The Bee Gees followed this up with the soundtrack of the movie Saturday Night Fever, starring John Travolta, which created a mini revolution of sorts. Their songs Night fever and Staying alive are popular to this day, with the soundtrack album staying on the number one position of the US charts for 24 consecutive weeks after its release, making it the best-selling album world-wide.

Till the end of the 70s, the Bee Gees continued full steam ahead with hits like Tragedy and Too much heaven. Then, till the mid-80s, there was a lull. Robin and Barry released successful solo albums, but nothing was heard from the Bee Gees as a group. Instead, the trio turned to writing songs for other artistes like Barbra Streisand and Diana Ross. Having taken this much needed breather, the Bee Gees made a triumphant comeback in 1987 with the album ESP and the hit You win again. Four more albums and two tours followed. Their most recent album, Still Waters, was released in 1997, a year which has been full of awards and recognition for the group, including their induction into the American “Rock ’n’ Roll Hall of Fame”.

We Love The Bee Gees; BMG-Crescendo; Rs. 125