Bee Gees Connection

©Bernie Quayle and the  Bee Gees Connection

I first became aware of the Bee Gees connection with the Isle of Man  in 1968.  Chris Musk presented a series of 'Star' interviews for  Manx Radio and it was in his conversation with the brothers that they revealed the Island was their place of birth. It wasn't until 1997 that I decided to do something about the                  misinformationin all the reference books and record sleeves.  All of them referred to the brothers as being natives of Manchester, some even said they were Australian.  On the Late Show one night in August 1997, I mentioned that the boys were born here and that started people calling to say it was a myth, they had lived here in the early 70s - purely as tax dodgers and that was the only connection, but I knew that was untrue as I'd heard them saying it themselves so I decided to do something about it. I managed to obtain the phone number of their manager Dick Ashby in Florida, called him in the hopes of doing a telephone                  hook up with the boys. Dick said they would all be in London the following week to promote their new album and would try and make time for me to meet and record the brothers.  To do the job properly I needed at least a                  couple of hoursof their time, it proved to be impossible to squeeze me  in to their very tight schedule.  Dick Ashby then revealed that the whole family would be together in Florida in the month of December and they would love to record                  interviews about their time in the Isle of Man and to set the record straight.  Manx Radio told me there was no way they could afford to fund my trip, I tried other sources to sponsor my flight - no one could see the  potential so I paid for the trip myself.  The first week of December 1997 was spent in Miami Beach and one  of my first appointments was lunch with Barbara Gibb who was able  to give me a lot of background about her very famous sons.   Dick Ashby then arranged for me to record the boys individually.   In his words, "put them all together and all you'll get is a Goon Show"   So to get serious stuff, I spent an afternoon with each brother at their  Middle Ear studio, and on the fourth afternoon,we brought everyone  together, including their mother - it was uproar - hilarious and a lot of fun.  In all, I returned home with four hours  of recorded conversations. I certainly burned the midnight oil, mixing and editing those interviews  to produce a two hour documentary for broadcast on Christmas day.   This included a selection of songs from their very earliest days, probably never heard on the radio before. Below, I have included the individual interviews as recorded,  without the music or my biographical narrative for the programme.    The final session with all of them together is included as it was r ecorded - warts and all, it will give you some idea of the mammoth task I faced in lifting the relevant bits out for the final programme. To hear the interviews go to    http://www.berniequayle.com/Beegees.htm