Barry Gibb has cancelled his tour of Australia and New Zealand, including his Monday-night headline slot at the Byron Bay Bluesfest.
Touring company Live Nation said the former Bee Gee's tour Down Under, set for next April, would not go ahead "due to a change in international commitments".
Gibb, who found fame in the 1970s alongside his brothers Maurice and Robin in The Bee Gees, is the last surviving member of the band.
He recently released In The Now, his first solo album in 32 years, written with his sons Stephen and Ashley, and he appeared on stage with Coldplay at this year's Glastonbury music festival.
Bluesfest is offering a refund for Byron Bay patrons who bought Monday Single Day tickets, from today until seven days after the new artist announcement for Easter Monday has been made.
Tickets bought for Gibb's solo shows will be refunded in full to all credit and debit card holders and Ticketek will be in touch to all those who bought tickets to advise how to process their refund, with information provided below
.
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Tuesday, December 20, 2016
Thursday, December 8, 2016
The Great Songwriters - Barry Gibb
The Great Songwriters - Barry Gibb (part 1 of 2) door Maripinky
The Great Songwriters - Barry Gibb (part 2 of 2) door Maripinky http://beegeesfanfever.blogspot.nl/
Tuesday, November 29, 2016
Capitol Records Signs The Bee Gees To Long-Term Worldwide Agreement Encompassing Entire Catalogue Of Recorded Music
LOS ANGELES, Nov. 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
The Bee Gees, one of the world's most commercially successful and acclaimed bands in the history of popular music, has signed a long-term worldwide agreement with Capitol Records that encompasses the legendary trio's entire catalogue of recorded music, it was announced today by Capitol Music Group (CMG) Chairman and CEO Steve Barnett and Bee Gees founding member Barry Gibb.
In addition to 22 studio albums and several soundtracks, including the mega-selling Saturday Night Fever, the agreement includes the rights to numerous compilation albums, unreleased recordings and long-form audiovisual projects.
Capitol, in conjunction with Universal Music Enterprises (UMe), Barry Gibb and the estates of co-founding members Robin Gibb and Maurice Gibb – will spearhead an array of comprehensive and forward-thinking sales and marketing campaigns designed to reinvigorate The Bee Gees' illustrious catalogue. As Steve Barnett explained, "The Bee Gees catalogue is one of the most esteemed and important bodies of work in the history of recorded music, and we are brimming with ideas that will remind fans of its brilliance and further the band's legacy by introducing their music to new audiences. All of us at the company are honored that The Bee Gees have chosen Capitol as their new home."
The Entire Bee Gees Catalogue at Capitol Records!!
Barry Gibb, "The whole family is overwhelmed by this new agreement. To be surrounded by the greatest record people and artists of all time is a very humbling experience. Wish my brothers were here to share it."
Barry Gibb, "The whole family is overwhelmed by this new agreement. To be surrounded by the greatest record people and artists of all time is a very humbling experience. Wish my brothers were here to share it."
Thursday, November 24, 2016
Catching Up With Barry Gibb By Tom Lanham | June 5, 2014
You can practically feel it in the air. There’s a huge tidal wave of a Barry Gibb Renaissance coursing through pop culture these days. And deservedly so—at 67, the founder of legendary singing-sibling trio The Bee Gees is a survivor, both figuratively—he managed to outlast the disco craze his band helped create via its 1977 Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, which sold 15 million copies but stranded him creatively for years afterward—and literally, as his brothers passed away, one by one, Andy in 1988, Maurice in 2003 and Robin in 2012.
Undaunted, he ‘s launched a globe-trotting Mythology the Tour Live, featuring his son Stephen on guitar and Maurice’s daughter Samantha on vocals. He’s also overseen a great box-set reissue Bee Gees – The Warner Bros. Years 1987-1991, featuring the underappreciated efforts “E.S.P.,” “One,” “High Civilization” and “One For All Concert.” He announced the juggernaut on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon this January and harmonized on Everly Brothers chestnuts with the show’s giddy host, with whom he’d good-naturedly appeared a month before on the recurring Saturday Night Live skit “The Barry Gibb Talk Show”—wherein a shag-wigged, leisure-suited Fallon plays the singer as a volatile egotist with a halting falsetto, opposite Justin Timberlake as his conversely mousy brother Robin. In his all-analog home studio in Miami, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer is also piecing together a new solo album, which he hopes to pepper with top-flight cameos. The project properly coalesced with “The End of the Rainbow,” an elegy he composed for Robin. Add it all up and it spells comeback.
Paste : So you’re phoning from your digs in Miami. But your mom is actually there?
Barry Gibb: Yeah! She lives nearby and she visits, like, every week or two. So she’s here today. And it’s absolutely beautiful here today.
Paste : And you’re an American citizen now, right?
Gibb: Oh yeah. I think it’s what you call a jewel situation, where you still hold on to your English passport. But my domicile is in America.
Paste : You seem to have a really good sense of humor.
Gibb: Oh, I hope so. I think you sort of have to. I don’t feel you can really survive, or last as a pop artist—or even as an actor—if you don’t see the funny side of everything. I started out with Mad magazine and Cracked magazine growing up in Australia—that’s about all I could get my hands on, plus the Saturday Evening Post. I grew up laughing at the irony of life, and I still am, I guess. I hope!
Paste : Have you ever thought about doing standup comedy?
Gibb: Well, I wouldn’t call it that. But I did a seminar at Middle Tennessee University, and it was fantastic. There were 500 people, and I just sat and played the guitar and talked about songs for two hours. And it was great fun, great fun. Because the people that like our music also have a sense of humor. And there have been soldiers who proposed to their wives over our songs, and all these examples of how our songs have affected different people’s lives. But I loved doing that performance. So I guess I’m more sit-down than standup. I’ll need a chair. Or a couch.
Paste : When and how did you hear that Saturday Night Live was spoofing you with “The Barry Gibb Talk Show”?
Gibb: I wish I had a talk show! It’d be great! But we’ll work on that. But I first noticed them doing it a few years back, and I didn’t know what to think when I saw it for the first time. I thought “Well, hang on! I don’t behave like that!” And Robin was the opposite of Justin’s portrayal, the absolute opposite. So I eventually thought “Yeah, that’s okay. That’s funny.” My own daughter thought it was hysterical, and I was like “Hey—support me here!” But then it started becoming something I wanted to see every time it was on. You’ve gotta laugh at yourself, man. You’ve gotta laugh at yourself.
Paste : Who contacted who about you finally appearing on SNL?
Gibb: It came from them, obviously, because Mr. Michaels doesn’t have anyone on if he doesn’t want them on. And at first, I had no high concept as to what I was going to do. When they said “Will you do it?” I said “Of course I’ll do it! But what am I doing?” And they said “Unh-unh—will you do it?” And the next thing that came was a request for my measurements, so I sort of knew where it was going. But it was wonderful. I love Justin, and Jimmy is probably my favorite comedian in the world. He can apply himself to anything.
Paste : And you got to see your immortal 1980s hairstyle, up close again.
Gibb: It was like talking to yourself, 35 years ago. Jimmy promised to give me the wig afterwards, but he didn’t. But the hairstyle isn’t as immortal as I’d like it to be. And what’s happening now is, my ankles are going. Just lately, my left ankle has actually told me off, like “I’m not gonna support you anymore!” So I’ve got my ankle strapped up, I’m ready to do shows, but I get this image of myself hopping around onstage.
Paste : Again, you could get a chair. Or a couch.
Gibb: No! That’s a sign of defeat!
Paste : When you look back, you have to marvel at the fact that the Bee Gees were one of the few outfits to successfully jump genres.
Gibb: I don’t know how. And I can’t explain it. But there was something that stayed. I mean, if you listen to some of those songs today, they still ring out somehow. Even the Fever songs. You put on a Fever song in a restaurant today? People start dancing.
Paste: It’s sad that you guys had to contend with that whole stupid “Disco Sucks!” backlash.
Gibb: Yeah, but it put food on the table, it was creative magic, and we were having a ball. And you know, you could look at both sides of that and think that there’s a pile of that that we ought to be unhappy about. But we were raising kids and there were so many things going on in our lives, that it was okay, we didn’t really mind. And we’d been up and down before. I remember Telly Savalas saying when Kojak was really big “You know, this bubble’s gotta burst.” And he was right. Every bubble has got to burst. And Fever had its burst, as well. And we had to follow that up by writing for other people—we couldn’t get on the radio at that point, really.
Paste : But “Main Course” was your definitive statement. And you could hear Saturday Night Fever coming on it, pretty clearly.
Gibb: I love Main Course. And you know my wife wrote every lyric down on that album, and I lost the booklet with all the lyrics written down. But “Jive Talking” was on Main Course, and Children of the World had “You Should Be Dancing” on it. So these songs were taken from earlier albums and then placed on the Fever album. So that’s how it came about—it was all accidental. Even [RSO label impresario] Robert Stigwood didn’t know what it was gonna do. He was chasing some kind of vision, and we just decided to go along with it.
Paste : The Warner Years box set has some really great songs on it that folks might have forgotten, like “One” and “You Win Again.”
Gibb: Yeah. And “Tokyo Nights” is on there, too. My favorite is still “Wedding Song.” I know people who have used that song for their weddings. And once again, it’s really nice to see how people were influenced by even the songs that weren’t hits, you know?
Paste : Has your old duets partner Barbra Streisand requested VIP passes for your tour yet?
Gibb: I’m not so sure that she’ll go. She’s been very…what’s the word? Introverted. She doesn’t like leaving her house, and I don’t blame her. If you saw the house, you wouldn’t want to leave it, either. It’s a wonderful environment, and she loves it. But we did two albums together, we still speak to each other now and again, but I can’t tell you for sure whether she’ll come to a show. She’s that way inclined.
Paste : But just think of the roster of guest stars you could assemble for your next album…
Gibb: I hope so. Because I’m gonna ask ‘em! I’m a bluegrass freak, and I want Ricky Skaggs on that album. I love him, and I love that music, because it’s immigrant music. It’s Bill Monroe, it’s the Stanley brothers. And I also really love Lorde and Bruno Mars. So is there a Renaissance? It’s hard to figure from where I’m sitting; it’s hard to be objective. But I can say this—I’m gonna get as many guests as I can and have a great time!
http://beegeesfanfever.blogspot.nl/
Undaunted, he ‘s launched a globe-trotting Mythology the Tour Live, featuring his son Stephen on guitar and Maurice’s daughter Samantha on vocals. He’s also overseen a great box-set reissue Bee Gees – The Warner Bros. Years 1987-1991, featuring the underappreciated efforts “E.S.P.,” “One,” “High Civilization” and “One For All Concert.” He announced the juggernaut on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon this January and harmonized on Everly Brothers chestnuts with the show’s giddy host, with whom he’d good-naturedly appeared a month before on the recurring Saturday Night Live skit “The Barry Gibb Talk Show”—wherein a shag-wigged, leisure-suited Fallon plays the singer as a volatile egotist with a halting falsetto, opposite Justin Timberlake as his conversely mousy brother Robin. In his all-analog home studio in Miami, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer is also piecing together a new solo album, which he hopes to pepper with top-flight cameos. The project properly coalesced with “The End of the Rainbow,” an elegy he composed for Robin. Add it all up and it spells comeback.
Paste : So you’re phoning from your digs in Miami. But your mom is actually there?
Barry Gibb: Yeah! She lives nearby and she visits, like, every week or two. So she’s here today. And it’s absolutely beautiful here today.
Paste : And you’re an American citizen now, right?
Gibb: Oh yeah. I think it’s what you call a jewel situation, where you still hold on to your English passport. But my domicile is in America.
Paste : You seem to have a really good sense of humor.
Gibb: Oh, I hope so. I think you sort of have to. I don’t feel you can really survive, or last as a pop artist—or even as an actor—if you don’t see the funny side of everything. I started out with Mad magazine and Cracked magazine growing up in Australia—that’s about all I could get my hands on, plus the Saturday Evening Post. I grew up laughing at the irony of life, and I still am, I guess. I hope!
Paste : Have you ever thought about doing standup comedy?
Gibb: Well, I wouldn’t call it that. But I did a seminar at Middle Tennessee University, and it was fantastic. There were 500 people, and I just sat and played the guitar and talked about songs for two hours. And it was great fun, great fun. Because the people that like our music also have a sense of humor. And there have been soldiers who proposed to their wives over our songs, and all these examples of how our songs have affected different people’s lives. But I loved doing that performance. So I guess I’m more sit-down than standup. I’ll need a chair. Or a couch.
Paste : When and how did you hear that Saturday Night Live was spoofing you with “The Barry Gibb Talk Show”?
Gibb: I wish I had a talk show! It’d be great! But we’ll work on that. But I first noticed them doing it a few years back, and I didn’t know what to think when I saw it for the first time. I thought “Well, hang on! I don’t behave like that!” And Robin was the opposite of Justin’s portrayal, the absolute opposite. So I eventually thought “Yeah, that’s okay. That’s funny.” My own daughter thought it was hysterical, and I was like “Hey—support me here!” But then it started becoming something I wanted to see every time it was on. You’ve gotta laugh at yourself, man. You’ve gotta laugh at yourself.
Paste : Who contacted who about you finally appearing on SNL?
Gibb: It came from them, obviously, because Mr. Michaels doesn’t have anyone on if he doesn’t want them on. And at first, I had no high concept as to what I was going to do. When they said “Will you do it?” I said “Of course I’ll do it! But what am I doing?” And they said “Unh-unh—will you do it?” And the next thing that came was a request for my measurements, so I sort of knew where it was going. But it was wonderful. I love Justin, and Jimmy is probably my favorite comedian in the world. He can apply himself to anything.
Paste : And you got to see your immortal 1980s hairstyle, up close again.
Gibb: It was like talking to yourself, 35 years ago. Jimmy promised to give me the wig afterwards, but he didn’t. But the hairstyle isn’t as immortal as I’d like it to be. And what’s happening now is, my ankles are going. Just lately, my left ankle has actually told me off, like “I’m not gonna support you anymore!” So I’ve got my ankle strapped up, I’m ready to do shows, but I get this image of myself hopping around onstage.
Paste : Again, you could get a chair. Or a couch.
Gibb: No! That’s a sign of defeat!
Paste : When you look back, you have to marvel at the fact that the Bee Gees were one of the few outfits to successfully jump genres.
Gibb: I don’t know how. And I can’t explain it. But there was something that stayed. I mean, if you listen to some of those songs today, they still ring out somehow. Even the Fever songs. You put on a Fever song in a restaurant today? People start dancing.
Paste: It’s sad that you guys had to contend with that whole stupid “Disco Sucks!” backlash.
Gibb: Yeah, but it put food on the table, it was creative magic, and we were having a ball. And you know, you could look at both sides of that and think that there’s a pile of that that we ought to be unhappy about. But we were raising kids and there were so many things going on in our lives, that it was okay, we didn’t really mind. And we’d been up and down before. I remember Telly Savalas saying when Kojak was really big “You know, this bubble’s gotta burst.” And he was right. Every bubble has got to burst. And Fever had its burst, as well. And we had to follow that up by writing for other people—we couldn’t get on the radio at that point, really.
Paste : But “Main Course” was your definitive statement. And you could hear Saturday Night Fever coming on it, pretty clearly.
Gibb: I love Main Course. And you know my wife wrote every lyric down on that album, and I lost the booklet with all the lyrics written down. But “Jive Talking” was on Main Course, and Children of the World had “You Should Be Dancing” on it. So these songs were taken from earlier albums and then placed on the Fever album. So that’s how it came about—it was all accidental. Even [RSO label impresario] Robert Stigwood didn’t know what it was gonna do. He was chasing some kind of vision, and we just decided to go along with it.
Paste : The Warner Years box set has some really great songs on it that folks might have forgotten, like “One” and “You Win Again.”
Gibb: Yeah. And “Tokyo Nights” is on there, too. My favorite is still “Wedding Song.” I know people who have used that song for their weddings. And once again, it’s really nice to see how people were influenced by even the songs that weren’t hits, you know?
Paste : Has your old duets partner Barbra Streisand requested VIP passes for your tour yet?
Gibb: I’m not so sure that she’ll go. She’s been very…what’s the word? Introverted. She doesn’t like leaving her house, and I don’t blame her. If you saw the house, you wouldn’t want to leave it, either. It’s a wonderful environment, and she loves it. But we did two albums together, we still speak to each other now and again, but I can’t tell you for sure whether she’ll come to a show. She’s that way inclined.
Paste : But just think of the roster of guest stars you could assemble for your next album…
Gibb: I hope so. Because I’m gonna ask ‘em! I’m a bluegrass freak, and I want Ricky Skaggs on that album. I love him, and I love that music, because it’s immigrant music. It’s Bill Monroe, it’s the Stanley brothers. And I also really love Lorde and Bruno Mars. So is there a Renaissance? It’s hard to figure from where I’m sitting; it’s hard to be objective. But I can say this—I’m gonna get as many guests as I can and have a great time!
http://beegeesfanfever.blogspot.nl/
Monday, November 21, 2016
Sunday, November 20, 2016
Bee Gees Tribute: Carolina Dijkhuizen live At the Margriet Winter Festival NL
http://beegeesfanfever.blogspot.nl/
Bee Gees Radio interview 1993
Radio interview with Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb probably from September or October 1993 to promote the Bee Gees album SIZE ISN'T EVERYTHING and the first single PAYING THE PRICE OF LOVE.
http://beegeesfanfever.blogspot.nl/
Thursday, November 17, 2016
Barry Gibb’s Backstage Dilemma
November 16, 2016
Barry Gibb and John Merchant at the In the Now album launch, Miami, October 2016
As the Bee Gees icon releases his new album, longtime producer and friend John Merchant takes us behind the scenes of his set at Later with Jools Holland.
Barry Gibb has written, arranged, produced and performed on dozens of pop classics, as part of the Bee Gees and as a solo artist. In September 2016 he entered London’s BBC2 studios for an appearance on Jools Holland’s popular music show – where he was facing a rare dilemma. John Merchant, his producer and close friend for 28 years, was there: read his personal reflections.
September 27, 2016, 3:15 pm
It’s the afternoon sound check on the set of Jools Holland’s Later, and we have a problem: the show’s producers and Barry1 can’t agree on what the final song of the night should be. For most artists, this wouldn’t be an issue: they’ve already played their new song “In the Now,”2 and now they have to play their hit, end of discussion. That’s not the case here.
Gibb and Merchant with Coldplay backstage at Glastonbury Festival, June 2016
But today is different: as a solo artist later in his career, Barry is ready for a new approach to music, something more subdued and subtle, less flashy and more thoughtful.14
Of course, the producers are not the first to consider Barry’s considerable collection of songs:
“In terms of bands, there are five extraordinary catalogs that make me feel ill with envy. It doesn't have to be said the Bee Gees are up there with the Beatles.” (U2’s Bono)
"You can easily speak about the Bee Gees in the same breath as Lennon and McCartney and Elton John and Bernie Taupin. In a way, unusually for most pop singers, they actually got better as they went on.” (Sir Tim Rice)
“I think there's an affinity between the Bee Gees and the Beatles, particularly with their earlier material, in the linking of very good hooks, very good melodies which stick in the mind. That within itself is an extraordinarily difficult thing to do." (Sir George Martin)
As I write this backstage, I have no idea which song they’re going to choose tonight. But if I had to guess, I’d bet it’s going to be great.
September 27, 2016, Later
And it was!
In the end, the second song after “In the Now” was “Jive Talkin’.” So, win-win really. The show’s producers said they had never had an audience reaction like that before. But don’t trust me on this one either:
Monday, November 14, 2016
Friday, November 11, 2016
Teenage Bee Gees backing Johnny O’Keefe in a January 1964 episode of SING SING SING!
The Bee Gees backing up Johnny O'Keefe on SING SING SING, epis...
Video: Courtesy Seven Network
Teenage Bee Gees backing Johnny O’Keefe in a January 1964 episode of SING SING SING!
These images have not been seen since they were broadcast 52 years ago on ATN 7. The song is Dave Clark Five's 'Glad All Over'.
This month we're celebrating 60 years of TV with a special event! Come along to see newly discovered treasures such as this clip. We'll be joined by Gold Logie award winning actress Lorrae Desmond, and SALE OF THE CENTURY announcer Pete Smith.
It's on Wed 23 Nov at 6.30pm. The event is free but bookings essential
These images have not been seen since they were broadcast 52 years ago on ATN 7. The song is Dave Clark Five's 'Glad All Over'.
This month we're celebrating 60 years of TV with a special event! Come along to see newly discovered treasures such as this clip. We'll be joined by Gold Logie award winning actress Lorrae Desmond, and SALE OF THE CENTURY announcer Pete Smith.
It's on Wed 23 Nov at 6.30pm. The event is free but bookings essential
Video: Courtesy Seven Network
http://beegeesfanfever.blogspot.nl/
Sunday, November 6, 2016
Barry Gibb elaborates on songwriting through bereavement
Tresa Patterson| Nov 5, 2016
CBS- This morning
Barry Gibb has been writing songs since he was eight years old, and he distinctly affirms that “never stopped writing songs” through any of the 62 years since. There has been a three-decade span since the composer’s last solo effort, with good reason. Barry Gibb has come to know what true grief is, losing brothers, Maurice and Robin to cancer, and suffering not just the closest possible kindred connection, but his most reliable, ever present, collaborators, who always provided the honest sounding board , along with unmatched harmonies. As remarkable as the brothers Gibb were and remain in artistry, as a family, they bore the same hurts, scars, and secrets as millions of other families, and part of the process, and the needed lapse, in creating In The Now was to allow room for saying what needed to be said, hurting the hurts, and moving to forgiveness and release. Barry reflected on that heartfelt journey with Anthony Mason on “CBS This Morning” for November 5, and gave a sampling from the most personal album possible.
Just as playful as he was in participating with “twin,”Jimmy Fallon, for Silhouette Singing, Barry played along with his interviewer about having a microphone by his bed and a “spotlight shining,” just in case the urge to belt out some hits arises in the wee hours. Fun aside, the past decade and a half have hardly been cause for levity for Barry Gibb. Just as he and Robin began to talk about creating together after Maurice’s passing in 2003, which prompted Barry to say “it's over” for the Bee Gees, it turned out that their last performance would be one for the CBS “Sunday Morning” archives of 2009, because Robin was secretly battling colon cancer, not sharing a word with his brother. Hard as it is to comprehend, the surviving Gibb displays remarkable awareness and empathy, asking to himself, “How would I have responded? I would have been another doctor,” and the last thing his brother needed. Robin succumbed in his cancer battle in 2012, and not without a loving last few moments with his brother singing “End of the Rainbow” by his bedside, “hearing all the beeps and the oxygen mask, and all the things you don't really want to remember” as his brother faded in a coma. “I don't know if he heard me or not, but I needed to sing it,” Barry confronts.
Music still means family for Barry Gibb, who has been performing with sons, Stephen and Ashley, since 2004, and the proud papa enlisted his boys as co-writers on the new album. The title track is an uplifting ode of rising out of the ashes of loss, insisting “I may be lonely, but I’m not alone,” and taking hold of love “in my heart, in my soul, in the now.” This was no stripped-down, acoustic-only morning set. The consummate performer, Gibb brought his full complement of the family band, and backup singers besides, supporting the same infectious songwriting knack that he has always possessed. “Grand Ilusion” is a groove-driven composition about facing truths and choices through life, and staying prepared for the “slings and arrows” bound to fly. Closing out the morning selections was “A Home Truth Song” that marks a declaration from the artist to go “where I should not go,” in his own quest of artistic and personal truth, “all or nothing,” with an easy, California feel.
Barry Gibb gushes that “All of the feelings that I've ever had in life are all in this album.” He clearly has much still waiting within to allow “me to explode on my own now,” and it won’t be just from his bedroom.
http://beegeesfanfever.blogspot.nl/
CBS- This morning
Barry Gibb has been writing songs since he was eight years old, and he distinctly affirms that “never stopped writing songs” through any of the 62 years since. There has been a three-decade span since the composer’s last solo effort, with good reason. Barry Gibb has come to know what true grief is, losing brothers, Maurice and Robin to cancer, and suffering not just the closest possible kindred connection, but his most reliable, ever present, collaborators, who always provided the honest sounding board , along with unmatched harmonies. As remarkable as the brothers Gibb were and remain in artistry, as a family, they bore the same hurts, scars, and secrets as millions of other families, and part of the process, and the needed lapse, in creating In The Now was to allow room for saying what needed to be said, hurting the hurts, and moving to forgiveness and release. Barry reflected on that heartfelt journey with Anthony Mason on “CBS This Morning” for November 5, and gave a sampling from the most personal album possible.
Just as playful as he was in participating with “twin,”Jimmy Fallon, for Silhouette Singing, Barry played along with his interviewer about having a microphone by his bed and a “spotlight shining,” just in case the urge to belt out some hits arises in the wee hours. Fun aside, the past decade and a half have hardly been cause for levity for Barry Gibb. Just as he and Robin began to talk about creating together after Maurice’s passing in 2003, which prompted Barry to say “it's over” for the Bee Gees, it turned out that their last performance would be one for the CBS “Sunday Morning” archives of 2009, because Robin was secretly battling colon cancer, not sharing a word with his brother. Hard as it is to comprehend, the surviving Gibb displays remarkable awareness and empathy, asking to himself, “How would I have responded? I would have been another doctor,” and the last thing his brother needed. Robin succumbed in his cancer battle in 2012, and not without a loving last few moments with his brother singing “End of the Rainbow” by his bedside, “hearing all the beeps and the oxygen mask, and all the things you don't really want to remember” as his brother faded in a coma. “I don't know if he heard me or not, but I needed to sing it,” Barry confronts.
Music still means family for Barry Gibb, who has been performing with sons, Stephen and Ashley, since 2004, and the proud papa enlisted his boys as co-writers on the new album. The title track is an uplifting ode of rising out of the ashes of loss, insisting “I may be lonely, but I’m not alone,” and taking hold of love “in my heart, in my soul, in the now.” This was no stripped-down, acoustic-only morning set. The consummate performer, Gibb brought his full complement of the family band, and backup singers besides, supporting the same infectious songwriting knack that he has always possessed. “Grand Ilusion” is a groove-driven composition about facing truths and choices through life, and staying prepared for the “slings and arrows” bound to fly. Closing out the morning selections was “A Home Truth Song” that marks a declaration from the artist to go “where I should not go,” in his own quest of artistic and personal truth, “all or nothing,” with an easy, California feel.
Barry Gibb gushes that “All of the feelings that I've ever had in life are all in this album.” He clearly has much still waiting within to allow “me to explode on my own now,” and it won’t be just from his bedroom.
http://beegeesfanfever.blogspot.nl/
Friday, November 4, 2016
Barry Gibb & the Band - Royal Variety Event - London 06.12. 2016
David Williams has been announced as presenter of The Royal Variety Performance 2016.
The Comedian, actor and children’s author David Walliams is to host The Royal Variety Performance 2016 in the presence of Their Royal Highnesses The Prince Of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall, from one of the most iconic and well loved live venues in the UK, the Eventim Apollo in Hammersmith.
David will introduce the legendary Barry Gibb and Sting, superstarsGary Barlow and Robbie Williams, the award winning Sheridan Smith and Emeli Sandé, plus this years magical Britain’s Got Talent winner Lance Corporal Richard Jones.
The cast of The Beatles Cirque Du Soleil’s LOVE show will be flying in from Las Vegas for a special anniversary performance, there will also be sneak previews from the casts of Gershwin’s classic musical An American In Paris and Gary Barlow’s The Girls which both open in the West End early next year.
Diversity return to the stage where they first auditioned for BGT and there is comedy from Joe Lycett, Alan Davies and Rob Beckett.
Wednesday, November 2, 2016
Dutch cd review barry-gibb-in-the-now
Barry Gibb is inmiddels 70 en heeft een staat van dienst waar je u tegen kunt zeggen. Onder de vlag van de Bee Gees stond hij met zijn twee broers Maurice en Robin in de jaren ’60 en ’70 aan de absolute top en de jaren daarna was de band ook nog productief. In de jaren ’80 scoorde Barry met Barbra Streisand wellicht zijn grootste succes met de plaat ‘Guilty’. ‘In the Now’ is pas zijn tweede solo album. Noodgedwongen, want zijn broers zijn inmiddels niet meer in leven, maar het muzikale bloed van Barry stroomt nog steeds.
De plaat begint met ‘Amy in Colour’, rockend met gitaren en met rustige intermezzo’s waarbij je eerst wel moet wennen en goed moet luisteren, is dit Barry wel? Het zorgt er direct voor dat je aandachtig luistert. De plaat hinkt op twee gedachten. Er staan veel rockende nummers op met een hoog tempo zoals ‘Grand Illusion’ en ‘Home truth song’. Het zijn uiteindelijk de rustige nummers die het beste zijn op de plaat. Zijn stem die nog steeds goed is komt daar het best naar voren zoals in ‘Cross to Bear’. In ‘End of the Rainbow’ spat de kwaliteit eraf en krijg je de indruk dat hij live voor je neus staat te zingen, zo goed komt dat nummer binnen.
De titeltrack ‘In the Now’ is een mooie compositie, geheel in de Bee Gees stijl zoals we die uit duizenden herkennen. Het is een prima nummer maar toch mis je de stemmen van Maurice en Robin. ‘End of the rainbow’ gaat naar verluidt ook over het missen van zijn broers en is ook opgedragen aan Robin. In ‘Meaning of the world’ ligt het tempo laag en de stem van Barry komt weer volledig tot zijn recht, gecombineerd met mooie strijkers. Zo ook in ‘Shadows’ die nu fraai wordt ingekleurd met Mexicaans trompetten. ‘Star crossed lover’ zit ook in de groep met rustige nummers die gelukkig de overhand hebben op deze plaat.
In het begin denk je met de rockende nummers, dit is het net niet maar na alle 12 nummers op de standaard editie (de deluxe versie heeft er 15 met hopelijk nog 3 niet rockende nummers) te hebben gehoord is het merendeel toch vertrouwd en past zijn stem – mede gelet op zijn leeftijd en kracht -ook meer bij de softere nummers waarbij we kunnen stellen dat Barry Gibb nog steeds een herkenbare en prachtige stem heeft en daar zijn er in de muziekbusiness maar weinig van. (7,5/10).maxazine.nl/2016/11/01/ http://beegeesfanfever.blogspot.nl/
De plaat begint met ‘Amy in Colour’, rockend met gitaren en met rustige intermezzo’s waarbij je eerst wel moet wennen en goed moet luisteren, is dit Barry wel? Het zorgt er direct voor dat je aandachtig luistert. De plaat hinkt op twee gedachten. Er staan veel rockende nummers op met een hoog tempo zoals ‘Grand Illusion’ en ‘Home truth song’. Het zijn uiteindelijk de rustige nummers die het beste zijn op de plaat. Zijn stem die nog steeds goed is komt daar het best naar voren zoals in ‘Cross to Bear’. In ‘End of the Rainbow’ spat de kwaliteit eraf en krijg je de indruk dat hij live voor je neus staat te zingen, zo goed komt dat nummer binnen.
De titeltrack ‘In the Now’ is een mooie compositie, geheel in de Bee Gees stijl zoals we die uit duizenden herkennen. Het is een prima nummer maar toch mis je de stemmen van Maurice en Robin. ‘End of the rainbow’ gaat naar verluidt ook over het missen van zijn broers en is ook opgedragen aan Robin. In ‘Meaning of the world’ ligt het tempo laag en de stem van Barry komt weer volledig tot zijn recht, gecombineerd met mooie strijkers. Zo ook in ‘Shadows’ die nu fraai wordt ingekleurd met Mexicaans trompetten. ‘Star crossed lover’ zit ook in de groep met rustige nummers die gelukkig de overhand hebben op deze plaat.
In het begin denk je met de rockende nummers, dit is het net niet maar na alle 12 nummers op de standaard editie (de deluxe versie heeft er 15 met hopelijk nog 3 niet rockende nummers) te hebben gehoord is het merendeel toch vertrouwd en past zijn stem – mede gelet op zijn leeftijd en kracht -ook meer bij de softere nummers waarbij we kunnen stellen dat Barry Gibb nog steeds een herkenbare en prachtige stem heeft en daar zijn er in de muziekbusiness maar weinig van. (7,5/10).maxazine.nl/2016/11/01/ http://beegeesfanfever.blogspot.nl/
Monday, October 31, 2016
Interview Spencer Gibb oct 30 2016
His accent comes from British roots, makes its way to New York and travels down south to make its stay in Austin, Texas. He sounds identical to his father, Robin Gibb, looks similar to Robin, and to his two uncles Maurice and Barry Gibb.
All three were in the famous band The Bee Gees.
The coffee pot is on and whistling, like a train that could be heard from a bedroom window on a dreary summer night. “What is your first and last name and can you spell it,” the writer asks.
The coffee pot comes to a screeching halt as a small grin begins to rise over Spencer Gibbs face. “Am I at a police department?” Spencer jokingly asks. The writer laughs and gently asks why he is at the University of Northern Colorado of all places to be. Spencer adds, “I am here working with my long-time production partner, Ludck Drizhal, who is a professor at UNC running the film composition program.”
Spencer Gibb has musical roots dating back to his father and uncles of The Bee Gee’swho together formed a songwriting trio that would last for decades. Spencer began writing music at the age of 12 and is a self-taught piano and keyboard player, along with playing the keys and piano he is an experienced guitar player and sings.
At the age of only 14, Spencer dropped out of St. Paul’s public school in Barnes, London, to pursue his dream of becoming a professional musician. He soon began playing gigs throughout England with a few bands and worked as a solo artist for a while after that. Spencer then moved to New York City where he began playing guitar and not soon after traveled down to Miami, Florida in the early 1990’s.
During his stay in Miami, Spencer learned how to shred on the guitar while making a name for himself playing in clubs throughout the Miami area. He would then move to Austin, Texas to form the band 54 seconds in 1998. The band recorded two singles, “Ben’s Letter” and “World Stood Still”.
“Do you have to be sad to write a sad song or in love to write a love song? Like the song “Ben’s Letter” who is that about? And what inspired you to write it?”
“The answer to those questions are kind of true. I’ll write you a better sad song if I’m sad and I’ll write you a better love song if I’m actually in love with you. But most of my love songs I’ve ever written have always been kind of dark and bitter anyway, I mean if I’m telling you I love you in a certain song there is kind of a melancholy feel to it because otherwise it just too damn happy right?” Spencer replied,
“Ben’s Letter” was written for a friend of Spencer’s, who he felt deserved better. “She was completely dicked over by this guy called Ben, he had written her a letter that broke her heart.”
Oddly enough during the time, Spencer was going through a writing block and this song helped him break past it. Spencer wrote the song as a one-off on the acoustic guitar and brought it to the program director down at KGSR, a radio station in Austin, Texas. They loved the song and started spinning it and soon after Spencer had himself a hit single. Although the station was quite taken by the song, Spencer talked about what 54 seconds thought of it the first time they heard it, “I took it to the guys in the band and every time I took it, whenever 54 seconds shifted the guys were like this doesn’t sound like us, I was like ‘just play the fucking song guys, give it a try cause it’s like I’m diggin this maybe there is something we can do with it.’ Then we recorded it and we were all like oh yeah this is actually really cool and we ended up getting a record deal with “Warner Brothers” because of it.” Spencer calls “Ben’s Letter” one of the “hookiest” songs they had ever done and the song helped them record a full length record which also included one of Spencer’s favorites “Dirty Little Secret.”
His mom, and first wife of Robin Gibb, Molly Hullis, was Brian Epstein’s personal assistant, who was The Beatles manager until his early death on Aug 27, 1967 at the age of only 32. Molly had a great relationship with The Beatles, and ran into John Lennon only a week before he passed away on Dec 8, 1980, in New York City, NY. Molly also worked with Eric Clapton when he was together with the power trio Cream.Along with Spencer’s Mother and Father, his godfather Robert Stigwood was also in the music business. Stigwood managed The Bee Gees and Cream.
Although Spencer did not personally meet every member of The Beatles, they have all made an impact on his life one way or another.
Spencer’s uncle, Maurice Gibb, was very close with drummer, Ringo Starr, who Spencer met numerous times. John Lennon was Spencer’s greatest political influence, in which Spencer goes on to say, “I couldn’t have wrote the song ‘Hey World’ without being inspired by John Lennon.”
The title track is Spencer’s take on the effects of politics not only in the United States but in our world. George Harrison was Spencer’s greatest musical influence and said the album, “All Things Must Pass”, “changed his life”. Spencer has met Paul McCartney a few times most notably when he was flying to New York as a kid with his mother in the 70s. During that time Paul was currently in the band, Wings.
“Out of all the famous musicians you have met who influenced you the most?”
Spencer explained, Michael Jackson and Eric Clapton were among the top two artists who had a major influence on him musically.
Along with being a professional musician Spencer has also starred in a number of cinemas, his most notable film would include “The King” which also starred the famous William Hurt. The movie is based upon a former Navyman who sets out to seek the father he never met.
He was here helping Drizhal complete a movie that had been in the “works” for a very long time. Which involved some of “The Bee Gees” music that Spencer had covered. Drizhal thought it was very important to involve the UNC orchestra since the movie also called for some big band tunes, like strings and horns. Drizhal also wanted to include the students in their recordings because it gave them great experience and helped them get some exposure outside of UNC.
Spencer described the UNC band as, “insane, like such a good band, oh it was nuts they just did every little thing that they were asked to do, just so intuitive, I mean I’ve worked with so many great people and these guys kicked my ass it was really impressive.”
Spencer and Drizhal had been working together for nearly eight years, they previously worked together with the Czech National Symphony in Prague. Drizhal is not only the composer of the Symphony but also the conductor. Together Drizhal and Spencer formed a comfortable duo that has succeeded in not only the music industry but film as well.
Spencer loved his time spent at UNC and is planning on returning next semester
Sunday, October 23, 2016
Wednesday, October 19, 2016
Barry Gibb on the Bee Gee's shifting fortunes
October 18th 2016
At the age of 70, Barry Gibb is finally striking out on his own.
"The truth is that my brothers really didn't ever want me to make a solo album," admits Gibb, the last Bee Gee standing. "And I probably felt the same about them. We wanted to be close and we wanted to be individually recognised and we all felt threatened by each other's success. That's how it was, deep down inside – a mixture of feelings all the time."
Gibb was the eldest of four brothers, all gone now. The youngest, Andy, died at 30 in 1988, struggling with drug addiction after a pop career in which Barry wrote and produced his biggest hits. Barry's other two brothers shared the stage with him for most of his life as the Bee Gees, one of the most successful groups of all time.
Maurice died aged 53 in 2003, and Robin died aged 62 in 2012. "Your world turns upside down," says Gibb. "But somehow you get through."
Gibb has a very warm, genial, relaxed presence, exuding a humility you might not expect from an undisputed superstar.
You've made my day, man," he says, when I praise his new album, Into the Now, a luxurious collection of rich melodies, stirring grooves and meaningful lyrics. Drawing on rock, pop, folk, disco and country, peppered with sparkling Bee Gee harmonies and focused on Gibb's distinctive vibrato vocals, it is an absolute joy from start to finish, a masterclass from one of the world's greatest songwriters. "Every song had to count, because I knew I might not do this again," he says.
His mother died in August this year, aged 92, and Gibb has dedicated the album to her memory, and the closing track, End of the Rainbow, to his brothers.
He explains: "You can say things in music; things you can't say in real life. It's like an emptying out."
Gibb wrote End of the Rainbow while Robin was nearing the end.
"He was on his deathbed, and that song just came up. It's about the dream coming true; whatever you were searching for. I sang it to him in hospital." After Robin's death, Barry thought his career might be over.
"There was a period where I just didn't want to do anything. I began to really just watch television. I thought, well, maybe that's it. I gave up for a long time."
Slowly, however, the songwriting impulse was rekindled. "I was restless. It was something I was particularly good at."
Born in Manchester, raised in Australia, the Bee Gees formed as a family group in 1958, going on to sell more than 220 million records worldwide, with nine No. 1 hits in the US (five in the UK, where they notched up 26 Top 20 singles between 1966 and 2001).
He admits: "I was aggressive about making records. There was a time when I would spend 18 hours a day in the studio, with my brothers or not."
Barry wrote and produced massive hits for brother Andy, Frankie Valli (Grease), Dionne Warwick (Heartbreaker), Barbra Streisand (Woman In Love), Diana Ross (Chain Reaction) and Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton (Islands in the Stream).
"There was a time when it wasn't cool to even be seen with the Bee Gees," he notes, pointing out how their status as "poster boys for disco" left them stranded when fashion changed.
"At the Grammys (in 1981), Barbra and I won Best Duet. We were standing in the wings and they didn't present it to us. She was so pissed off. We never got the award.
"And at the party afterwards, she's still a bit pissed off and Meat Loaf is standing nearby. He was at his peak then, and the photographer says, 'Can I take a picture of you together?' and Meat Loaf goes, 'Oh, no way, man'. It was like we were tainted."
These days, Gibb is viewed with a little more respect. Coldplay invited him to perform To Love Somebody and Stayin' Alive at Glastonbury.
"I was a nervous wreck... but it was nice that people knew the songs."
He seems genuinely touched by recognition from new generations.
"Noel Gallagher told me he always listened to my music. That to me is staggering. Because in the period when Oasis became big, we were gone. That was not our time."
He has arranged to meet Noel again. "We're going to go for a curry. We can talk about what it's like to be in a band with brothers."
Like the Gallaghers, Gibb doesn't hide the fact that there were always tensions in the Bee Gees. "I remember lots of intense arguments, not speaking to each other for weeks and then coming back together again... it doesn't stop you being brothers. We broke up in 1969 and yet my brothers came to my wedding (in 1970) and we started talking again – and suddenly we were back in the studio."
Although they worked closely, Barry was perceived as leader. "I was the eldest, but everything had to be unanimous. If one of us was unhappy about anything, we wouldn't do it."
He ponders whether he misses that conflict and compromise in the studio. "It is easier to be selfish and have your own way. It was never easy back then."
He has collaborated on his new album with his two eldest sons, Stephen (43) and Ashley (39) as co-writers and musicians. "They have to be happy too. So I am not really free. I'm still working as a member of a team and I think that will always be the case. I don't like being on my own."
He has been married for 46 years, to former model Linda Gray, and they have five children and seven grandchildren, with homes in Buckinghamshire and Miami.
Gibb has, by most reckonings, been through a rough time. "You turn around and everyone's gone." There are a lot of songs on the album about losing people close to you. Yet the overall mood is vigorous and almost defiantly optimistic. "I'm doing what I've been doing since I was 10 years old. I'm chasing my little dreams."
For someone who has been rich and famous for as long as Barry Gibb, he really does come across as extraordinarily well-balanced and genuinely nice. "I am sort of devoid of ego," he shrugs. "Over the past few years, because of all the loss in my family, I've read a lot of great spiritual books, and I knew it was time to let it go. I turned 70 this year. And I'm happy about that. I'm in the zone where anything can happen to me. I could get sick tomorrow. I can't afford the time to get distracted by who I think I am. I'm past it. I really am."
In the Now is out now. Gibb will perform at Auckland's Vector Arena on April 11. Spark customers are able to access pre-sale tickets until midday Wednesday, October 19, with the general sale beginning at 2pm on Thursday. For more tour information, see Livenation.co.nz.
At the age of 70, Barry Gibb is finally striking out on his own.
"The truth is that my brothers really didn't ever want me to make a solo album," admits Gibb, the last Bee Gee standing. "And I probably felt the same about them. We wanted to be close and we wanted to be individually recognised and we all felt threatened by each other's success. That's how it was, deep down inside – a mixture of feelings all the time."
Gibb was the eldest of four brothers, all gone now. The youngest, Andy, died at 30 in 1988, struggling with drug addiction after a pop career in which Barry wrote and produced his biggest hits. Barry's other two brothers shared the stage with him for most of his life as the Bee Gees, one of the most successful groups of all time.
Maurice died aged 53 in 2003, and Robin died aged 62 in 2012. "Your world turns upside down," says Gibb. "But somehow you get through."
Gibb has a very warm, genial, relaxed presence, exuding a humility you might not expect from an undisputed superstar.
You've made my day, man," he says, when I praise his new album, Into the Now, a luxurious collection of rich melodies, stirring grooves and meaningful lyrics. Drawing on rock, pop, folk, disco and country, peppered with sparkling Bee Gee harmonies and focused on Gibb's distinctive vibrato vocals, it is an absolute joy from start to finish, a masterclass from one of the world's greatest songwriters. "Every song had to count, because I knew I might not do this again," he says.
His mother died in August this year, aged 92, and Gibb has dedicated the album to her memory, and the closing track, End of the Rainbow, to his brothers.
He explains: "You can say things in music; things you can't say in real life. It's like an emptying out."
Gibb wrote End of the Rainbow while Robin was nearing the end.
"He was on his deathbed, and that song just came up. It's about the dream coming true; whatever you were searching for. I sang it to him in hospital." After Robin's death, Barry thought his career might be over.
"There was a period where I just didn't want to do anything. I began to really just watch television. I thought, well, maybe that's it. I gave up for a long time."
Slowly, however, the songwriting impulse was rekindled. "I was restless. It was something I was particularly good at."
Born in Manchester, raised in Australia, the Bee Gees formed as a family group in 1958, going on to sell more than 220 million records worldwide, with nine No. 1 hits in the US (five in the UK, where they notched up 26 Top 20 singles between 1966 and 2001).
He admits: "I was aggressive about making records. There was a time when I would spend 18 hours a day in the studio, with my brothers or not."
Barry wrote and produced massive hits for brother Andy, Frankie Valli (Grease), Dionne Warwick (Heartbreaker), Barbra Streisand (Woman In Love), Diana Ross (Chain Reaction) and Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton (Islands in the Stream).
"There was a time when it wasn't cool to even be seen with the Bee Gees," he notes, pointing out how their status as "poster boys for disco" left them stranded when fashion changed.
"At the Grammys (in 1981), Barbra and I won Best Duet. We were standing in the wings and they didn't present it to us. She was so pissed off. We never got the award.
"And at the party afterwards, she's still a bit pissed off and Meat Loaf is standing nearby. He was at his peak then, and the photographer says, 'Can I take a picture of you together?' and Meat Loaf goes, 'Oh, no way, man'. It was like we were tainted."
These days, Gibb is viewed with a little more respect. Coldplay invited him to perform To Love Somebody and Stayin' Alive at Glastonbury.
"I was a nervous wreck... but it was nice that people knew the songs."
He seems genuinely touched by recognition from new generations.
"Noel Gallagher told me he always listened to my music. That to me is staggering. Because in the period when Oasis became big, we were gone. That was not our time."
He has arranged to meet Noel again. "We're going to go for a curry. We can talk about what it's like to be in a band with brothers."
Like the Gallaghers, Gibb doesn't hide the fact that there were always tensions in the Bee Gees. "I remember lots of intense arguments, not speaking to each other for weeks and then coming back together again... it doesn't stop you being brothers. We broke up in 1969 and yet my brothers came to my wedding (in 1970) and we started talking again – and suddenly we were back in the studio."
Although they worked closely, Barry was perceived as leader. "I was the eldest, but everything had to be unanimous. If one of us was unhappy about anything, we wouldn't do it."
He ponders whether he misses that conflict and compromise in the studio. "It is easier to be selfish and have your own way. It was never easy back then."
He has collaborated on his new album with his two eldest sons, Stephen (43) and Ashley (39) as co-writers and musicians. "They have to be happy too. So I am not really free. I'm still working as a member of a team and I think that will always be the case. I don't like being on my own."
He has been married for 46 years, to former model Linda Gray, and they have five children and seven grandchildren, with homes in Buckinghamshire and Miami.
Gibb has, by most reckonings, been through a rough time. "You turn around and everyone's gone." There are a lot of songs on the album about losing people close to you. Yet the overall mood is vigorous and almost defiantly optimistic. "I'm doing what I've been doing since I was 10 years old. I'm chasing my little dreams."
For someone who has been rich and famous for as long as Barry Gibb, he really does come across as extraordinarily well-balanced and genuinely nice. "I am sort of devoid of ego," he shrugs. "Over the past few years, because of all the loss in my family, I've read a lot of great spiritual books, and I knew it was time to let it go. I turned 70 this year. And I'm happy about that. I'm in the zone where anything can happen to me. I could get sick tomorrow. I can't afford the time to get distracted by who I think I am. I'm past it. I really am."
In the Now is out now. Gibb will perform at Auckland's Vector Arena on April 11. Spark customers are able to access pre-sale tickets until midday Wednesday, October 19, with the general sale beginning at 2pm on Thursday. For more tour information, see Livenation.co.nz.
- The Telegraph, London
http://beegeesfanfever.blogspot.nl/
Thursday, October 13, 2016
Exclusive interview for Beegees Fan Fever : Carolina Dijkhuizen dutch Beegees tribute cd
Releasedate october 14 th 2016
The first time i heard of the Bee Gees was through the movies Grease and Saturday Night Fever. I have
turned both soundtracks a lot ! I was about 14 ,15 years old when I saw the two movies and after some
research, I learned that the brothers Gibb were behind all those hits.
Later I searched further and I found out that
they also wrote hits for Dionne Warwick, Barbra Streisand and Diana Ross. I
often played the music but realized only when I got older, how well these songs
were written. The apparent simplicity is also the great strength of their hits.
Timing, melody, instrumentation, everything is so brilliant but also remains accessible
to everyone.
I wanted for this album, along with the
producers Sven Figee and Roland Dirkse, to hear a mix of the repertoire of the
Bee Gees themselves and the artists which they have written for.
For the duet Guilty, we were looking for a particular sound, a warm sound that
could just give the correct 'soul' to the duet and we have found that in the voice of Ivar Vermeulen. Ivar has long been known in
the pop scene (Kraak & Smaak) but had succes through his participation in The
Voice 2015! I called him and told him about this concept and the Bee Gees and
he was immediately on board and super excited. His contribution in the song
Guilty now has the correct dose of 'soul'.
The
song Jive Talkin 'has always been my guilty pleasure !! I am so glad of this
song! Again in a more modern jacket but it remains strong. The classic Staying
Alive on this album has more of a hip hop funky feel because the number is so
groovy and Sven and Roland wanted to translate it into this time.
The
song More and More I did not know but when I heard this song, I knew
immediately that I wanted to record it for the album! Sexy soulful and simple. The
song ,More and More, is the B-side of the single Chain Reaction. One of my
favorites Heartbreaker by Dionne Warwick
is on the album and remained fairly original. Her way of interpreting is so
beautiful on this issue and therefore an absolute must on the album for me!
Then
Tragedy is the best example of a heartbreak song packed as a partysong. An absolute
must for this album with a great new mix by Sven Figee and Roland Dirkse. A
song that always makes me cheerful is Chain Reaction. Bubbly and sassy like
Diana Ross could be. I Love singing it and
I turn up the volume as soon as I hear it played.
The song You win again is truly a classic. It
seems so simple but you keep hearing it continues playing again in your head..
Big favorite on the album is definitely Woman in Love. This number is almost a
supplication and then beautifully sung by Barbara Streisand also a master at
interpreting a song.
How funky and pointed the uptempo songs by
the Bee Gees, so sweet and tender their ballads. I like a lot of Too Much
Heaven because it is such a smooth track which is also very well suitedfor my
voice.
The title song of my album More Than A
Woman. This is of all the songs on the album the most youth sentiment! The
dance scene where this number was used in Saturday Night Fever is an absolute
classic and was also for this reason the title song of the album. Again such a
beautiful ballad and a classic.
With a little twist to the now is, the song
How deep is your love.
Greetings
Carolina Dijkhuizen
Dutch text
Ik kwam voor het eerst in aanraking met de nummer van de Bee
Gees via de films Grease en Saturday Night Fever. Ik heb beiden soundtracks
grijsgedraaid! Ik was een jaar of 14,15 toen ik beide films zag en na wat
research kwam ik erachter dat de broertjes Gibb achter al die hits zaten. Later
zocht ik verder en kwam ik erachter dat zij ook de hits schreven voor oa Dionne
Warwick, Barbra Streisand en Diana Ross
. Ik heb de muziek vaak gedraaid maar
realiseerde me pas toen ik ouder werd, hoe goed deze nummers in elkaar steken.
De ogenschijnlijke eenvoud is meteen de kracht van hun hits. Timing,
melodielijnen, gebruik van instrumenten, alles zit zo geniaal in elkaar maar
blijft tegelijkertijd zo toegankelijk. Ik wilde voor dit album, samen met de
producers Sven Figee en Roland Dirkse, een mix laten horen van het repertoire
van de Bee Gees zelf en van de artiesten waarvoor zij hebben geschreven.
Voor
het duet Guilty zijn we op zoek gegaan naar een bepaalde sound, een warm geluid
die het duet net de juiste 'soul' kon geven en dat hebben we gevonden in Ivar
Vermeulen. Ivar is al jaren een bekende in de pop scene ( Kraak&Smaak) maar
kwam weer volop in the picture door zijn deelname aan The Voice 2015! Ik belde
hem en vertelde hem over dit concept en de Bee Gees en hij was meteen aan boord
en super enthousiast. Door zijn bijdrage heeft Guilty nu de juiste dosis
'soul'. Het nummer Jive Talkin is altijd al mijn guilty pleasure geweest!! Ik
word zo blij van dit nummer! Ook weer in een iets moderner jasje maar blijft
ijzersterk. De klassieker Staying Alive heeft op dit album meer een hip hop
funky feel omdat het nummer zo groovy is en Sven en Roland dat graag wilde
vertalen naar deze tijd.
Het nummer More and More kende ik nog niet maar toen ik
dit nummer hoorde wist ik meteen dat ik het voor het album wilde opnemen! Sexy
soulfull en eenvoudig. Het nummer is overigens de b-kant van de single Chain
Reaction. Één van mijn favorieten Heartbreaker van Dionne Warwick is op het
album ook redelijk origineel gebleven. Haar manier van interpreteren is zo mooi
op dit nummer en dus een absolute must op het album voor mij!
Dan Tragedy is
het beste voorbeeld van een heartbreak-song verpakt als partynummer.Een
absolute must ook voor dit album met een heerlijk nieuw sausje van Sven Figee
en Roland Dirkse. Een song waar ik altijd zo vrolijk van word is Chain
reaction. Bubbly en sassy zoals Diana Ross kon zijn. Heerlijk om te zingen en
gaat bij nog steeds op vol volume als ik 'm voorbij hoor komen.
Het nummer You
win again is echt een klassieker. Lijkt ook weer zo eenvoudig maar blijft na
één keer horen gelijk dagen in je hoofd zitten.
Grote favoriet op het album is
zeker Woman in Love. Dit nummers is bijna een smeekbede en destijds prachtig
gezongen door Barbara Streisand ook een meester in het interpreteren van een
nummer. Hoe funky en puntig de uptempo nummers van de Bee Gees zijn, zo zoet en
zacht zijn hun ballads. Ik hou heel erg van Too Much Heaven omdat het zo'n
smooth nummer is wat ook erg goed bij mijn stem paste.
De titelsong van mijn
album is More Than A Woman. Dit is van alle nummers op het album het meeste
jeugd sentiment! De dansscene waar dit nummer voor werd gebruikt in Saturday
Night Fever is een absolute klassieker en werd dus ook om die reden de titelsong
van het album. En weer zo'n prachtige ballad en een klassieker.
Met een kleine
twist naar het nu, is het nummer How deep is your love.
Carolina Dijkhuizen
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