The Bee Gees: career, music, and cultural impact

¶ … Bee Gees

The Bees were a British and Australian band that was originally a pop singer-songwriter combinations and then reborn as funk and disco (Bee pp). The brothers Gibb were born in the Isle of Man during the 1940's and consisted of lead vocalist Barry, and twins, co-lead vocalist Robin and keyboardist-guitarist Maurice (Bee pp). The Bee Gees have found their way into every corner of popular music around the world (Taylor pp.)

The Gibb family moved to Brisbane, Australia in 1958 where the Brothers Gibb began performing at local clubs and eventually made their way to a local television show (Bee pp). It was their father taught them how to work an audience once he realized how good they were and threw his support behind them (How 1977). In the beginning, they performed under several names, including the Blue Cats and the Rattlesnakes, however, in 1962, they signed their first record deal with Festival Records under the name the 'Bee Gees' and released 'Three Kisses of Love' (Bee pp). Although popular from the beginning mass commercial success eluded them until 1967, after they had moved back to England and discovered that 'Spicks and Specks' had topped the Australian charts (Bee pp). They were then signed by Robert Stigwood and added Vince Melouney on guitar and Colin Petersen on drums, leading to their first British single, 'New York Mining Disaster 1941' which made the Top 20 charts on both sides of the Atlantic (Bee pp). The quality of this single with its haunting lyrics and striking harmony made it a success (Larkin 449). Their next big single, 'Massachusetts' launched the brothers into super-stardom (Bee pp).

Their first British LP, 'Bee Gees 1st' was critically acclaimed and considered innovation for its time (Bee pp). In 1968, two major hits, 'World' and 'I Gotta Get a Message to You' are still regarded as many critics as the band's golden years (Bee pp). Robin left the band in 1969 but returned in 1970 for the release of 'Lonely Days' and 'How Can You Mend a Broken Heart' (Bee pp). With no successful album, however, the group hit rock bottom and were generally believed to be finished (Bee pp). The band finally found the new sound they had been developing with their following album, 'Main Course,' which included 'Jive Talkin,' followed by 'You Should Be Dancing' and 'Love So Right' (Bee pp).

During the 1970's the band agreed to participate in the creation to the soundtrack for the movie, 'Saturday Night Fever' and the album broke multiple records for soundtrack sales, and three hits, 'Stayin' Alive,' 'How Deep is Your Love?,' and 'Night Fever,' reached number one on the charts, launching the most popular age of disco (Bee pp). The album became the biggest selling soundtrack album ever (Stuessy 352). They also wrote the number one hit, 'If I Can't Have You' for Yvonne Elliman, and two versions of 'More Than a Woman,' one by the Bee Gees and the other by Tavares, charted simultaneously (Bee pp).

A fourth Gibb, Andy, managed to enjoy massive success as well by releasing dance albums, however as the 1970's came to a close, the group's popularity began to decline as listeners began to be drawn to heavy metal and punk music (Bee pp).

After Barry and Robin both went solo with disappointing results, the brothers then did production work for Barbra Streisand, Diana Ross and Dionne Warwick, worked with Kenny Rogers and produced the hit 'Islands in the Stream' for Rogers and Dolly Parton (Bee pp). In 1987 they released 'E.S.P.' And in 1989, 'One' and in 1997, 'Still Waters' went double platinum and a new single, 'Alone' was a new hit for the group (Bee pp). In November 1997, the Bee Gees performed a live concert in Las Vegas, which was shown on Pay-Per-View cable and later shown on HBO, and released the following year on CD as 'One Night Only' (Bee pp).