The Bee Gees, The #6 Artist of the Rock Era, Part One

"These brothers created timeless music."

"Pure talent.  What a gift."

"An absolutely brilliant group"

"The Bee Gees are legends!"

"Best falsetto voices in music history with the perfect harmony of three voices.  Music and lyrics blend perfectly.  Bee Gees are one of a kind."

"A sensational vocal technique to make it look so easy to sing with that falsetto and vibrato and a fantastic vocal chord closure.  That must be very difficult, which is why the Bee Gees passed to immortality!"

"These guys were musical geniuses."

"Great music never dies."

"Musical perfection!  They did so many great songs.  Their vocals were impeccable."

"Unforgettable & immortal ❤" "Beautiful harmonies.  The Bee Gees are timeless!"

"Not one of the greatest but THE Greatest group on the planet. They will always be my idols.

"Their music speaks to my soul."

"The Bee Gees' music will live on forever."

"They were pure magic.  Oh what joy their music brings."

"Their body of work is unmatched by all but a handful of artists."

"Stunning harmonies."

"Real music, pure talent.  The godfathers of harmony.  There will never be another group like the Bee Gees."

"Great song. Barry, Robin and Mo were so talented, humble and such fantastic songwriters." 

"MY FAVORITE MUSIC GROUP BEEGEES FOREVER 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏" 

"simple .....beautiful......sublime.....modern...that's the Gibb brothers."

"A group that could sing Rock, R&B, Country, Gospel & Folk. No group was A versatile as the Bee Gees and their vocals are the hardest to duplicate. a timeless group we shall never see the likes ever again."

"The Gibb brothers are so gifted and I thank God everyday for their wonderful music!" 

"Fantastic Bee Gees the best group ever forever 👍❤️👏" 

"This group of brothers have so much talent such a blessing to have this great music in my life." 

"Very few songwriters could quite capture the essence of just how important and powerful love is, quite like the brothers Gibb." 

"They are the greatest singer/ songwriting group ever..." 

"Their harmony is unmatched! Long live the music of this incredible trio.❤️" 

"The Bee Gee's contributions to music for over 30 years cannot be ignored. The GREATEST among the Greatest." 

"The Bee Gees should serve as a lesson in perseverance....these guys never gave up and just kept swinging. I love their indomitable spirit!!" 

"I will listen as long as I can hear. No one comes even close. Their creativity continued for decades . Just incredible. !!!!! Quality Extraordinaire!!!!! YES, this is how real talent sings. !!!!! Thank you Bee Gees." 

"Three Musical Geniuses that brought us their talents for close to 50 years - true Legends whose songs will be "rediscovered" by upcoming generations, and played into infinity...💖💖💖" 

"The Bee Gees always will be magic." 

"Amazing best band ever--real music...so meaningful." 

"There is not any band in the history of the music staying near the top for forth years. Incredible, and they played many styles of music." 

"Unbeatable Bee Gees...their songs are really great!" 

"There will never be another group that can take you this high.. it's almost a religious experience... electrifying..." 

"Their songs and performances were just the best of the best on so many levels!!!....Glad to have been part of this era of genius music and musicians...."

"Tremendous group, no one can compare. Timeless class & Style. Thank you Bee Gees." 

"How marvelously harmonious their voices were... They will live forever in our hearts."

"Simply legends."

No one else in the Top 100* can be described as having nearly two separate careers quite like this legendary trio.  Their talent, songwriting, and the kind of harmony a group can only get from being in the same family propelled them to a string of hits in the 60's and early 70's.  But a prolonged dry spell led them to change their style; to reinvent themselves.  As popular as they were originally, they were on top of the world in the late 70's, an amazing run nearly unsurpassed in music history.

(the Rattlesnakes:  Frost, Kenny, Maurice, Barry and Robin)

The Brothers Gibb (Barry and twins Maurice and Robin) were born on the Isle of Man in the 1940's and moved to Hardy, Manchester, England in 1955.  They began a group known as the Rattlesnakes with Paul Frost on drums and Kenny Horrocks on tea-chest bass.   When the Rattlesnakes disbanded in 1958, the Gibb brothers formed the act Wee Johnny Hayes and the Blue Cats. 

Later that year, the family moved to Redcliffe, Queensland, Australia and the boys quickly found places to perform.  Speedway promoter Bill Goode, who hired the brothers to sing at the Redcliffe Speedway in 1960, introduced them to Brisbane disc jockey Bill Gates.  Gates dubbed them the "BGs", after his, Goode's and Barry Gibb's initials.

Soon, the Bee Gees began performing on television shows and worked at resorts in the area.  Australian star Col Joye heard the group and helped them get a recording contract in 1963 with Leedon Records.  The group released a few singles each year and Barry also wrote songs for other artists.  The Bee Gees got a big break when they were chosen to open for Chubby Checker at Sydney Stadium in 1962.

The Gibb family moved to Sydney in 1963 and they recorded their first album, The Bee Gees Sing and Play 14 Barry Gibb Songs in 1966.  Soon after, songwriter and producer Nat Kipner, who had just become the A&R manager of Spin Records, negotiated to get the Bee Gees on his label.  Engineer Ossie Byrne, who produced many of their songs in the next few years, allowed the brothers access to St. Clair Studio whenever they needed it in 1966.  

The Bee Gees utilized their time wisely and recorded many songs during this time, including "Spicks And Specks", the title of their 1966 album release.   It rose to #1 in Australia as well as New Zealand and hit #2 in the Netherlands. 

But the brothers were not happy with their level of success.  Father Hugh Gibb sent demos of his sons to Brian Epstein, famous manager of the Beatles and director of NEMS, a record store in England.  Epstein gave the tapes to Robert Stigwood, who had recently begun with NEMS.  The family moved to England in 1967.  While in transit, Go-Set, a popular Australian newspaper, named "Spicks And Specks" the Best Single of the Year.

The Bee Gees auditioned before Stigwood in one of the most important moments of the Rock Era and signed a five-year contract with Polydor in the U.K. and Atco in the U.S.  It takes more than talent to make it as a recording artist; one also has to have someone believe in them enough to take a chance on them.  In Robert Stigwood, the Bee Gees found one of their greatest fans and cheerleaders, but also someone with the genius to make it happen.

 

From the beginning, Stigwood set out the make the Bee Gees superstars, calling them "the most significant new musical talent of 1967".  The group hired Colin Petersen and Vince Melouney to complete their lineup and record the single "New York Mining Disaster 1941".  Through shrewd marketing by Stigwood, the Bee Gees released the single with a blank label listing only the song title.  Upon listening to it, DJ's thought it to be the new single by the Beatles and began playing the song heavily.

The Bee Gees wrote this song while sitting in the dark on studio stairs at IBC studio in London.  They imagined they were stuck in a mining accident and placed the song in New York, far from Wales where the Aberfan accident had occurred so as not to offend those hurt by that tragedy.  The second verse has one less line than the first, an example of the trio's songwriting abilities in their early days.

"New York Mining Disaster 1941" reached #3 in New Zealand, #4 in the Netherlands, and #10 in Germany, but with a peak of 14 in the U.S., is one of The Top Unknown/Underrated Songs of the Rock Era*.

 

The album Bee Gees 1st rose to #4 in Germany, #7 in the United States, #8 in the U.K. and #10 in Australia  The group originally wrote this song for Otis Redding, but tragically Redding died in a plane crash before he could record it.  The Bee Gees released the single "To Love Somebody", which became a big hit in Canada (#5), Australia (#6), and Belgium (#8).

The trio recorded at the Playhouse Theatre in London for their first session with the BBC.  That recording is included on BBC Sessions:  1967-1973 in 2008.  "Holiday" roared to #3 in Canada and the Netherlands.

 

Barry and Robin wrote this song in 1966 near the end of the family's time living in Australia.  "I Can't See Nobody" was first issued as the B-side to "New York Mining Disaster 1941".

Bee Gees 1st featured extensive use of the Mellotron, an instrument the Beatles brought to the forefront most notably on "Strawberry Fields Forever".   Enjoy "Every Christian Lion-Hearted Man Will Show You".

Horizontal went to #1 in Germany and #8 in Australia.  The group made a promotional tour to the United States, helping the album reach #12 there.  The Bee Gees also toured Scandinavia and Germany.  

Robin explained that a melody must dictate the song--"We are very conscious that melody is extremely important," he said.  "You've got seven notes to work with, everybody in the world has:  it's the order in which you use them," he continued.  "But melody is the most important thing about writing a song, and then you approach the lyrics and you must work them into it."

 

The band performed "Words" on The Ed Sullivan Show and gave a performance at the esteemed Royal Albert Hall in London.  It was a huge hit everywhere (#1 in Canada, Germany, New Zealand and the Netherlands, #3 in Belgium, #4 in Austria, and #8 in the U.K.) except the U.S., where it stalled at #15. In concerts in their prime, the other members of the group would exit for a break while Barry gave other-worldly performances of the song a cappella.  "Words" is easily one of The Top Unknown/Underrated Songs of the Rock Era*.

 

The Bee Gees also made their first appearance on the popular British television show Top of the Pops.  Horizontal included "Massachusetts".  The single was a killer smash in every country in the world except the one which contains the state.  "Massachusetts" hit #1 in the U.K., Germany, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Austria, and Belgium, #2 in Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland, and #3 in Canada...but #11 in the United States, another highly underrated song.

In the liner notes to the reissue of Idea in 2006, Barry said that the harmonies in the song were a last-minute addition of Stigwood.  "Now that was a memorable night," Barry said about how the harmonies in the song were a last-minute addition by Stigwood.  "I think that night, I know for a fact, we didn't sing the choruses in harmony," Gibb said.  "Robert called us back into the studio at 11 o'clock at night and said, 'I want the choruses in harmony, I don't want them in just melody'" Gibb continued.  "So we went in and attempted that 'round about midnight.  Everyone drove back to the studio, and that's what we did."

"I've Gotta' Get A Message To You" gave the Bee Gees their second career #1 in the U.K., also #1 in Ireland, #2 in New Zealand, #3 in Canada, Australia, and Germany, #6 in Switzerland, and #8 in the United States.

Although "World" was a big hit in Europe, it was not released as a single in the United States because three singles had already been released there.

 

In the liner notes to Horizontal, Barry told the story of how this song came to be.

          "And The Sun Will Shine" was

          a one-day event, I remember 

          very well the engineer in that  

          studio had a trap door in the   

          ceiling where the soundproof

          room was! They must have

          decided that the engineer

          needed to be safe. You could 

          make as much music as

          possible, but you couldn't get 

          up into that soundproof room.

          "And The Sun Will Shine" 

          definitely had the potential to

          be something and, in fact,

          that's what we ended up with,

          the song on the spot. We

          never re-recorded it.

Robin added:

      That's one of my favorites                 too, It was a very  emotional              song, but a lot of the words              just came ad-libbed. 

      The song actually wasn't                   planned. We just played                    the record down and sang it              as we felt it. We kept the                  original demo the way it was            and [later] just added the                  orchestra. It's got a great                  feeling to it, a great                          atmosphere, sometimes                    you know you can't                            recapture that feeling if you              keep recording something.

 

The album Idea peaked at #3 in Germany and #4 in the U.K.  This gem was written next to St. Paul's Cathedral in a penthouse apartment the group rented when they first arrived in England.  Barry had just fallen in love with a woman who would go on to be his wife, Linda, and that was the mood he was in when he wrote "Let There Be Love".

 

The Bee Gees toured to support the album, but Melouney left the group afterwards.  This song is a lot more complex than most people think.  "This is a very spiritual song," Robin told The Mail On Sunday in 2009.  "The listeners have to interpret it themselves--trying to explain it would detract from the song."  "I Started A Joke" was another smash, #1 in Australia, Canada and New Zealand, #3 in the Netherlands, #5 in Switzerland, and #6 in the U.S.

(From left to right:  Melouney, Peterson, Barry, Maurice and Robin)

This incredibly talented trio has much more--catch Part Two on Inside The Rock Era!