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Sunday, December 29, 2019
The Bee Gees Rare Interview Robin Maurice Gibb In London 1979 Dutch TV
https://beegeesfanfever.blogspot.com/
Sunday, December 15, 2019
Night Fever Bee Gees Tribute -For whom the bell tolls -Eindhoven NL dec 13 2019
https://beegeesfanfever.blogspot.com/
Saturday, December 14, 2019
Thursday, December 5, 2019
JULIO HERNANDEZ - Sessions and Touring Bassist (Barbra Streisand, Luis Fonsi, Barry Gibb)
https://beegeesfanfever.blogspot.com/
Sunday, November 24, 2019
Chris Evert Pro-Celebrity Tennis Classic Gala featuring Barry Gibb
november 23 2019
Chris Evert and Barry Gibb: Seems a natural pairing.
The two icons of the 1970s — pop music’s Gibb and tennis great Chris Evert — are teaming up to raise money for several South Florida charities.
Gibb is scheduled to perform as the headliner act for the 30th annual Chris Evert Pro-Celebrity Tennis Classic gala in November at the Boca Raton Resort & Club.
“I was thrilled when Chris invited me to perform at the 30th anniversary of her gala fundraiser and I am really looking forward to it,” Gibb said Tuesday.
“I am thrilled beyond words that this iconic artist will be performing at our 30th anniversary celebration,” Evert said in a statement “This is a once-in-a-life-time opportunity to hear some of the greatest hits of all time — live!”
Both Gibb, 72, and Evert, 64, have strong South Florida ties.
Evert was born in Fort Lauderdale and lives in Boca. When she was a teen, making a name for herself as the 1967 Junior Orange Bowl Tennis Champion, with matches at Miami Beach’s Flamingo Park, Gibb was having his first wave of world fame with his brothers, Robin and Maurice. His 1967 Bee Gees hits included “To Love Somebody” and “New York Mining Disaster 1941.”
By the mid-’70s, Gibb, now living on Miami Beach, crafted hits with his brothers like “Jive Talkin,” and “You Should Be Dancing” and “Tragedy” at North Miami’s Criteria Studios that you’re almost certain to hear at the coming gala.
Images of Gibb playing tennis with his youngest brother, the late Andy Gibb, for whom Gibb wrote and produced “I Just Want to Be Your Everything and “(Love Is) Thicker Than Water” are just a Google click away. https://beegeesfanfever.blogspot.com/
Chris Evert and Barry Gibb: Seems a natural pairing.
The two icons of the 1970s — pop music’s Gibb and tennis great Chris Evert — are teaming up to raise money for several South Florida charities.
Gibb is scheduled to perform as the headliner act for the 30th annual Chris Evert Pro-Celebrity Tennis Classic gala in November at the Boca Raton Resort & Club.
“I was thrilled when Chris invited me to perform at the 30th anniversary of her gala fundraiser and I am really looking forward to it,” Gibb said Tuesday.
“I am thrilled beyond words that this iconic artist will be performing at our 30th anniversary celebration,” Evert said in a statement “This is a once-in-a-life-time opportunity to hear some of the greatest hits of all time — live!”
Evert was born in Fort Lauderdale and lives in Boca. When she was a teen, making a name for herself as the 1967 Junior Orange Bowl Tennis Champion, with matches at Miami Beach’s Flamingo Park, Gibb was having his first wave of world fame with his brothers, Robin and Maurice. His 1967 Bee Gees hits included “To Love Somebody” and “New York Mining Disaster 1941.”
By the mid-’70s, Gibb, now living on Miami Beach, crafted hits with his brothers like “Jive Talkin,” and “You Should Be Dancing” and “Tragedy” at North Miami’s Criteria Studios that you’re almost certain to hear at the coming gala.
Images of Gibb playing tennis with his youngest brother, the late Andy Gibb, for whom Gibb wrote and produced “I Just Want to Be Your Everything and “(Love Is) Thicker Than Water” are just a Google click away. https://beegeesfanfever.blogspot.com/
Monday, November 4, 2019
Sunday, November 3, 2019
Wednesday, October 23, 2019
Monday, October 7, 2019
Barry Manilow about Barry Gibb BBC radio 0ct 6th 2019
Barry marvels at the sheer output of Barry Gibb and the Bee Gees. Literally hundreds of songs! Barry tells the story of the Bee Gees' rise to fame, from their early harmonising as youngsters to their first recording hit ‘Spicks and Specks’. He traces their career through their more sophisticated writing on songs like ‘Massachusetts’, ‘I Started a Joke’ and ‘How Can You Mend A Broken Heart’ to their domination of disco with their most celebrated album ‘Saturday Night Fever’. Barry also discusses how the group survived a mauling by the rock critics and went on to write a succession of smash hits for other artists including Barbra Streisand's ‘Guilty’ and ‘A Woman in Love’, Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton's ‘Islands in the Stream’ and ‘Heartbreaker’ for Dionne Warwick.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m00093y6
https://beegeesfanfever.blogspot.com/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m00093y6
https://beegeesfanfever.blogspot.com/
Saturday, October 5, 2019
Moment culte sur TF1 les Bee Gees ambiancent le public de Sacrée Soirée
https://beegeesfanfever.blogspot.com/
Saturday, September 14, 2019
Dan Warner played guitar in Barry Gibb’s band died at 49 on Sept. 4, 2019.
South Florida guitarist Dan Warner wasn’t Latin. But when Latin music superstars like Julio Iglesias, Juanes, Marc Anthony, Ricky Martin and Sebastian Yatra needed a musician with groove — one who was in the pocket in music-speak — there was one fixture on stage with them and in the studio.
Hollywood, Florida-born Daniel Lawrence Warner.
Warner, a Grammy and four-time Latin Grammy award winner who lived in Plantation, died suddenly Wednesday of an apparent heart attack at age 49, according to friends and reports, including USA Today and from Leila Cobo, Billboard magazine’s executive director for content and programming of Latin music.
He died right after doing what he loved to do: playing music.
According to a Facebook post from his friend, Coconut Creek musician Kilmo Doome, the two had just finished jamming in a set at Fat Cats in Fort Lauderdale on Wednesday.
Warner loved playing at the venue after sessions in studios, like North Miami’s Criteria. That’s where he recorded guitar tracks for Julio Iglesias’ 1995 album, “La Carretera,” and, most recently, Marc Anthony’s May release, “Opus.”
“I was privileged to jam with one of the world’s great guitar players last night,” Doome wrote on Thursday afternoon. “We had just finished playing, and were standing at the bar talking about fat groove. His last words were, ‘groove is everything’ before he fell over on me.” When Gibb recorded his 2016 solo album, “In the Now,” at Criteria and performed concerts in support of the project, including their last gig together — Glastonbury in June 2017 — he relied on Warner, along with his son Stephen Gibb, to lay down updated licks on Bee Gees’ “Saturday Night Fever” era classics like “Stayin’ Alive,” “Jive Talkin’” and “Tragedy.”
Arguably, the hardest rocking song in Gibb’s vast catalog, “Blowin’ a Fuse,” from “In the Now,” gets its muscle from the twin guitar and surf riff grooves played by Warner and the younger Gibb.
“We are all devastated by the loss of Dan Warner,” Barry Gibb said on Facebook. “The gentle giant, the brilliant musician, and my friend. I’d like to join his wife, his family, and our gang in paying my respects. Dan wasn’t one of the best, he really was the best! We love you Dan!”
https://beegeesfanfever.blogspot.com/
Sunday, August 25, 2019
Sunday, August 18, 2019
Bee Gees star Robin Gibb's widow writes biography without mentioning his affair
Bee Gees star Robin Gibb's widow writes biography without mentioning his affair (not official confirmed yet)
Robin recorded hours of material for an autobiography on micro cassette tapes before he died, aged 62, in 2012.Now his widow Dwina is using the tapes to write the book for Robin, who had a hit with the Night Fever in 1977.
There will be anecdotes, there will be revelations, after all he had a very tough childhood and he worked with them all.”
Speaking at the launch of TV director Rosemary Reed’s new Sky show, The Power of Women, at London members’ club The Ned, 66-year-old Dwina said: “I’m quarter of the way through.
“I already have an agent. I can’t say what’s on the tapes, as that would spoil it, but it’s going to be good."
But there will be one taboo subject. In his last eight years, Robin had an affair with their housekeeper, Claire Yang, which produced a child, Snow, now aged 11.
Robin left most of his £25.8million estate to Dwina, who was his second wife.
Claire was left a £800,000 house.
Meanwhile it's been reported that the Bee Gees’ lives are set to be turned into a Hollywood film.
Movie bosses including Steven Spielberg and Richard Curtis have already tried and failed to make a biopic about the three brothers Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb.
But Dwina said: “Our film is in the bag. We want to get the right writers. We are in discussions.
"We have to get agreements from the three families – Barry, Yvonne (Maurice’s widow) and myself. It’ll be interesting.”
The film is expected to chart their rise from child performers in the 1950s, to a Beatles-inspired pop trio in the 1960s and disco kings in the 1970s.
Friday, August 16, 2019
Jason Isbell Joins Barry Gibb In The Studio
Country-rock star Jason Isbell has been busy lately. He’s been backing
up the Highwomen, his wife’s country supergroup. He’s been helping Sheryl Crow cover Bob Dylan. He’s been inspiring delightful memes
about mass shootings and feral hogs. And apparently, he’s been singing
with disco royalty. Recently, for reasons unknown, Isbell went into the
studio with one of the biggest stars of the ’70s: Barry Gibb, from the
motherfucking Bee Gees.
On Instagram yesterday, Isbell posted a picture of himself at work with Gibb. Isbell didn’t say what they might have been recording, but he did say that he and Gibb sang together — in harmony, even: “It was a great honor, and also terrifying because in order to sing with Barry Gibb, you have to sing. With Barry Gibb. At one point I had the high harmony part. He was standing right in front of me. Sir Barry Gibb.” Isbell, you may have noticed, is not a natural falsetto. It is going to be fascinating to hear what comes out of this.
On Instagram yesterday, Isbell posted a picture of himself at work with Gibb. Isbell didn’t say what they might have been recording, but he did say that he and Gibb sang together — in harmony, even: “It was a great honor, and also terrifying because in order to sing with Barry Gibb, you have to sing. With Barry Gibb. At one point I had the high harmony part. He was standing right in front of me. Sir Barry Gibb.” Isbell, you may have noticed, is not a natural falsetto. It is going to be fascinating to hear what comes out of this.
Barry Gibb teams up with William Thomas Emmanuel
What
an honor to play with Barry Gibb today! The band were superb and we
worked up the arrangements together and Barry sounded better than ever!
His songs are finely crafted, mojo soaked Pop songs that give you chills
AS you’re playing them!! Thanks to all the Gibb team today. Xx TE cgp
William Thomas Emmanuel
William Thomas Emmanuel
Tuesday, August 6, 2019
Saturday, August 3, 2019
30 years BeeGees ONE Album
Happy 30th Anniversary to the Bee Gees’ eighteenth studio album One, originally released in the U.S. July 25, 1989.
In February, I penned a lengthy retrospective on the Bee Gees’ iconic Spirits Having Flown—the 1979 studio album that galvanized the Brothers Gibb as one of the world’s most successful bands.
The story of 1989’s One includes a decade of necessary context that essentially picks up where Spirits Having Flown leaves off.
Few other artists have achieved in a lifetime what the Bee Gees amassed commercially and artistically in just 1978 and 1979 alone. The Gibbs finished out the ‘70s with both Spirits Having Flown and the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack still clinging to the Billboard album chart after 46 and 123 weeks on the list, respectively. A new compilation rife with the stunning run of hits they’d amassed over the past four years, Bee Gees Greatest, had just climbed into the top five, on its way to becoming their second consecutive number one album in less than a year. And, all fifty-three show dates on the exhaustive Spirits Having Flown Tour sold out completely.
But by 1980, their Midas touch became an unusually sharp double-edged
sword. Public and media affection for the Gibbs’ craft quickly turned to
ire as popular music experienced a turbulent sea change, and they
became the embodiment of the broad rejection of “disco” and everything
it represented. They were ridiculed and silenced to an extent that was
unprecedented, especially by the same US radio stations that had helped
to propel Saturday Night Fever and Spirits Having Flown to record-breaking heights.
For nearly ten years, the Bee Gees were effectively embargoed from the American airwaves. 1981’s Living Eyes, and their contributions to the soundtrack of the 1983 Saturday Night Fever sequel, Staying Alive, were likely more overlooked rather than spurned, as a result. But, for a band who had thrived by making records so prolifically, the calculated exclusion was damaging.
“We have taken a lot of flak over the years,” Barry Gibb told People in 1989. “This band has been around for 30 years, so it’s a little unfair to tag us with a disco label. Paul McCartney made disco records. Rod Stewart did. Even Ethel Merman, which shows you how outrageous the times were. It’s very confusing. If everybody said no, I would understand and maybe go off and buy a farm and raise pigs. On the other side, I hear people say, ‘Your music is the most beautiful I ever heard.’”
Barry, Robin, and Maurice sustained themselves in the first half of the 1980s bestowing their songwriting and production talents upon projects for other musicians—Barbra Streisand, Dionne Warwick, Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton, and Diana Ross being among the major beneficiaries. Barry and Robin also recorded solo albums in between.
In 1986, the Bee Gees reformed to record E.S.P., their first full-length album in six years. Under a new record deal with Warner Brothers, the Gibbs were also able to reunite with producer Arif Mardin—a relationship that had generated 1974’s Mr. Natural and their 1975 landmark Main Course. E.S.P. fared well outside of North America, especially with the magnificent single “You Win Again” reaching number one in several European markets in late 1987.
.S.P. and “You Win Again” were woefully underappreciated in the United States. Still, its performance elsewhere urged the Bee Gees to head back into the studio to record its follow-up.
Sessions for One began in early 1988. But less than three months in, the unthinkable happened. Younger brother Andy Gibb, who had forged a phenomenally successful recording career of his own in the thick of the Bee Gees’ late ‘70s heyday, died at the age of thirty on March 10th from myocarditis, a viral inflammation of the heart. Andy had publicly struggled for years with drug and alcohol addiction, the long-term damage from which ultimately contributed to his death.
In the months leading up to his passing, the brothers had been writing and demoing tracks with Andy in preparation for a new recording contract that had been negotiated with Island Records in the UK. At the beginning of the year, he was living on Robin’s estate in Oxfordshire, writing songs alone. He began drinking again. The pressure to revive a career that had already caused him such distress may have been too much to bear.
"We wanted to revitalize him, get his confidence back, refocus him," Robin explained to The Washington Post in 1989. "He was really young when he died. There was a hell of a lot he could have done. Maybe he never should have pursued a solo career. Maybe he should have gotten confidence without having success first; maybe it would have been better for his first four or five records to have died.”
"[It] spiritualized the whole family," Barry affirmed in the same interview. “They say it causes soul growth when you lose somebody. Before, you don't look at the metaphysical side of life much at all. After, you start to look at everything like that: 'How long have I got ... we're not immortal ... I must get back to making something happen for myself, to working hard, to being fruitful and not taking my family for granted.' The trauma of losing Andy, the idea that we were wasting what we were doing, everything compounded to make us start performing again.”
Resolute, the Bee Gees returned to the studio in November to continue working on One. As its title suggests, solidarity is the common thread that runs through its sound and messaging. The creative tensions that complicated the sessions for Living Eyes and E.S.P. were put away.
“The egos were left at the door,” Robin’s son Spencer Gibb explained to me during a recent phone interview from his home in Austin. “And that wasn’t always the case with the Bee Gees’ records. Everyone was kind of allowed to breathe, and it shows. It’s very cohesive, and there are reasons why it is. I heard all the demos, and I was in the studio with them a lot when that record was being made. It was a very formative record for me, because it happened at the time when I had chosen to leave home and leave school early to become a professional musician myself. Of course, we were all reeling from the Andy tragedy. [He] was literally my best friend at the time.”
One teamed the Gibbs with their E.S.P. co-producer Brian Tench (Ultravox, Midge Ure, Bucks Fizz, Bow Wow Wow, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark). They assembled a group of veteran session players for the project, including drummer Steve Ferrone (Average White Band, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Eric Clapton), bassist Nathan East (Michael Jackson, Peter Gabriel, Fourplay), keyboardist Peter-John Vettese (Jethro Tull, Simple Minds, Annie Lennox), and guitarist Tim Cansfield (Elton John, Terence Trent D’Arby). The Bee Gees’ former lead guitarist Alan Kendall, who had played with the band from 1971 until 1980, also joined the studio lineup.
Although there is a good mixture of styles and tempos across its track list, One largely contends with great loss and coming to terms with the void that remains. The protagonists in the Gibbs’ songs have often lingered in melancholy and have lamented heartbreak, but those themes perhaps hadn’t been expressed quite so personally or so literally as they are here.
Album opener and the first single released outside of North America, “Ordinary Lives,” has an immediately memorable verse-chorus interplay with a double-tracked lead by Barry and Robin. Originally titled “Cruel World,” the Gibbs have offered varied meanings behind the song’s lyrics, but lines like “no pity no pain tonight / whatever the cost all is lost” are fitting observations in the wake of Andy’s death.
Press surrounding the release of One was, in many cases, backhandedly complimentary—much of it waffled on whether the Gibbs might achieve their hope of staging a comeback in the US. With note-perfect timing, the Bee Gees responded with the title track and lead single in North America, which brought the Bee Gees the commercial renaissance they had been seeking for years.
In the liner notes of their 1990 box set, Tales from the Brothers Gibb – A History in Song 1967-1990, Barry commented jokingly on the track: “This song brought us back to US radio. A leading media paper recently stated regarding this song, 'The Bee Gees are capable of at least one more hit.' I don't believe that, I believe we could have at least two.”
Released in July 1989, “One” would eventually reach number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 in September—their first top ten entry on the chart since 1979’s “Love You Inside Out.” It fared even better on the magazine’s Adult Contemporary chart, where it spent two weeks at number one. It’s a well-constructed, infectious epic that fit in so neatly among its contemporaries in pop that American programmers must have had nearly no room to protest its addition to their playlists.
The mid-tempo chug of “One” is also reminiscent of their 1975 hit “Jive Talkin’”—another track that, coincidentally, had returned the Bee Gees to public consciousness after a career lull. Whether or not the similarities were intentional is speculation, but whatever equation they employed earned them vindication over any critics that had called their hit-making abilities into question.
The Bee Gees released a second single in North America, “Bodyguard,” an exquisite ballad that became somewhat mired in hullabaloo when its accompanying video was deemed too risqué to air on MTV and VH1. The song received enough airplay and sales to make it a top ten hit on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart. But its artistic merit warranted more public and critical attention than it received.
“On One, it really feels like they got back to their R&B roots again,” Spencer Gibb observes. “‘Bodyguard’ is one of the best R&B tracks of that period when you compare it to other artists who were making those kinds of records at the time. And also, the dueling vocals between Barry and my dad almost took you back to the Children of the World days a bit, where all of a sudden you had these guys doing double-duty on leads, and it actually worked. Like, ‘Love Me,’ where it’s all my dad and then Barry comes in with this crazy bridge out of nowhere. ‘Bodyguard’ is the same.”
“It’s My Neighborhood,” a guitar-driven track that explores the concept of urban survival somewhat akin to “Stayin’ Alive,” was intended for another project altogether. “It was originally written for Michael Jackson’s Bad,” Spencer Gibb confirms. “They were looking for songs, and then Michael took a turn where he essentially wanted to write more of his own songs. On Thriller, he hadn’t written the majority of the material. But on Bad, almost every one of the songs ended up being written by him because he wanted the songwriting money.
But, early on when he and Quincy Jones were soliciting songs, he’d come to the brothers because they’d just worked on Diana Ross’ Eaten Alive together. The relationship was there, and Michael said ‘give me songs for my next record,’ and ‘It’s My Neighborhood’ was what they submitted. Which makes sense, if you think about it. You can listen to that song and imagine Michael Jackson singing it. And I’m speculating about this, but I imagine after he’d written the song ‘Bad,’ which lyrically is kind of similar, someone said, ‘okay, well we’re not going to use the Bee Gees song when you’ve got your own.’”
The jazz-infused ballad “Tears” glistens with crystalline synths that emulate falling rain—a fitting backdrop for the wistful lyrics, “heaven only knows how much I’m missing you / knowing I had heaven in my hands.” The Gibbs’ harmonies waft like clouds in between the instrumentation. Their vocal work—their perpetual ace—on this track and throughout One is stellar.
Tokyo Nights” shifts gears as an effervescent tribute to the Bee Gees’ Asian fan base, while “Flesh and Blood” takes a darker turn. Both are exceptional showcases for Robin’s ethereal lead and Maurice’s keyboard arrangements.
The emotional focal point of One is the gorgeous “Wish You Were Here,” a song the brothers had written for Andy shortly after his passing. Their sadness is visceral, although the original working version of the song, according to Spencer Gibb, was overwhelmingly difficult for them to sing.
“My dad came home, and they’d cut the demo of that,” he recalls. “And he came home with his big portable DAT machine and played it for me. It was just absolutely fucking heartbreaking. I burst into tears, and he choked up. They’d written it that afternoon and they cut this little demo. Nothing will ever touch that demo. When they recorded it, everything became very, very clean.
And, of course, it’s still beautiful. But on the demo, Barry’s doing these falsetto ad libs at the end of the song, and his voice is breaking up like he can’t hold it together. I wish they’d kept some of those tracks. I really wish the demo had just stayed intact and they had remixed it and maybe added a few things, because it was so fucking fragile and so beautiful.
My gut reaction as a fifteen-year-old at the time was, ‘you killed that song!’ And, of course, they didn’t, and I look back on it now professionally and go, ‘no, it’s f***ing great and it’s beautifully produced.’ And, I understand why they did what they did, and maybe they didn’t want to show too much fragility. There’s a million things going on there. But, I just loved that demo so much, and it was fresh. The loss was so fresh. Songwriting-wise, that song is up there for me with ‘How Deep Is Your Love’ in how it strikes a chord.”
One closes with the Maurice-led rocker “House of Shame,” and the funk pulse of “Will You Ever Let Me.” Sonically, it’s sleeker than E.S.P., and especially capitalizes on the R&B resumes of Ferrone and East to provide soulful punch to the bottom end of the recordings.
Another track from the One sessions, “Wing and a Prayer,” was included as the B-side of the “One” single (except in the United Kingdom, where the B-side was "Flesh and Blood"), and as a bonus track on some versions of the album outside the US and Canada. The Gibbs produced and played it themselves, and it was not re-recorded or finished by the studio players like the others, which gave it a less polished, demo-like sound than the rest of the album. It's currently unavailable on any of the streaming platforms, but still worth seeking out.
North American pressings of One included "You Win Again" as a bonus track, likely in the hopes that it would trigger renewed interest in a song that was so undeservedly overlooked during its initial release.
The Bee Gees followed One with their first world tour in a decade—the One for All Tour—beginning April 10, 1989 in Tokyo. The European leg, which corresponded with the earlier release of the album outside of North America, kicked off on May 3rd in Dortmund, Germany, and wrapped up on July 1st in Hanover. Stateside, the Gibbs scheduled seventeen dates, starting the same week of the album’s release on July 29th in St. Paul, Minnesota, and concluding September 2nd in Mountain View, California. Two Canadian dates in Montreal and Toronto took place in mid-August.
The shows in Melbourne, Australia on November 17th and 18th were recorded and used for a full-length concert video that was released in 1991, with a remixed and digitally remastered version made available in 2018. The audio recording was issued in full as part of The Warner Bros. Years 1987-1991 box set released by Reprise Records in 2014 when the label acquired their catalog, but portions of the program have been included in various compilations since the early 1990s. One was also included in The Warner Bros. Years. package along with “Wing and a Prayer” and three variant mixes of the “One” single, but without any apparent remastering or remixing of its primary tracks.
While One did not match the commercial peak of their late ‘70s albums (it peaked at number 68 on the Billboard 200), it reinvigorated the Bee Gees’ creative fervor and determination.
"If we're going to reclaim ground we've lost, then we have to make the best album we know how to make,” Barry told Australia’s The Bert Newton Show in 1989. “Not just make an album for certain ears, or an album that's commercial. Just what we love as music."
"If we're going to reclaim ground we've lost, then we have to make the best album we know how to make,” Barry told Australia’s The Bert Newton Show in 1989. “Not just make an album for certain ears, or an album that's commercial. Just what we love as music."
But more notably, One is an album crafted with love, respect, and faith that shows the Bee Gees at their most vulnerable—and perhaps at their most harmonious.
“Emotions were high, but unity was high, as well,” Spencer Gibb reflects. “I think One is a great example of how tragedy can bring people together artistically.”
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Tuesday, July 23, 2019
Interview Maurice Gibb 1970
From the Pelham Pop Annual in 1970, an interview with Maurice Gibb of the Bee Gees on his new record company, started with his brother Barry Gibb. Their first signing was Billy Lawrie, the brother of Maurice’s new wife Lulu. This interview is mainly a call out for talent to be signed up by them, with a little look into the domestic life of Maurice and Lulu – they are trying to be a traditional couple and he even gives her housekeeping money.
He talks about the names they were thinking of for the company “Lemon” (discarded for being too similar to the Beatles’ “Apple”) or “BG” but fails to mention its chosen name – all he says is “the title you all know it as”. It took a bit of digging to find out the name, as there are very few references to this company now. It turns out it was originally called “Diamond” but changed when they realised there was a record company of that name in the US. It then became “Gee Gee” for the two Gibb brothers involved. But, unfortunately for the Pelham Pop Annual, this was already old news by 1970, with Maurice and Barry splitting up in December 1969 and the record company going by the wayside.
Interestingly, Maurice talks about their film Cucumber Castle here, except at the point of the interview it was a 13-week series. In the event, it became a one off television special. It was only released on video for a very short space of time, and was considered one of the rarest commercial releases ever. Now, though, you can see the whole thing on Youtube. It has quite a cast – as well as Maurice and Barry, there were Frankie Howerd, Vincent Price, Eleanor Bron, Ginger Baker, Lulu and Spike Milligan, to name a few. Maurice talks about the tens of thousands he’s spent on video equipment for the film, but looking at it, perhaps it needed a little more – although the songs are lovely, of course.
http://beegeesfanfever.blogspot.com/
/
He talks about the names they were thinking of for the company “Lemon” (discarded for being too similar to the Beatles’ “Apple”) or “BG” but fails to mention its chosen name – all he says is “the title you all know it as”. It took a bit of digging to find out the name, as there are very few references to this company now. It turns out it was originally called “Diamond” but changed when they realised there was a record company of that name in the US. It then became “Gee Gee” for the two Gibb brothers involved. But, unfortunately for the Pelham Pop Annual, this was already old news by 1970, with Maurice and Barry splitting up in December 1969 and the record company going by the wayside.
Interestingly, Maurice talks about their film Cucumber Castle here, except at the point of the interview it was a 13-week series. In the event, it became a one off television special. It was only released on video for a very short space of time, and was considered one of the rarest commercial releases ever. Now, though, you can see the whole thing on Youtube. It has quite a cast – as well as Maurice and Barry, there were Frankie Howerd, Vincent Price, Eleanor Bron, Ginger Baker, Lulu and Spike Milligan, to name a few. Maurice talks about the tens of thousands he’s spent on video equipment for the film, but looking at it, perhaps it needed a little more – although the songs are lovely, of course.
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Sunday, July 14, 2019
Bee Gees Children of the Worls tour 1976 Come on over part 3
Click on read more to watch video
http://beegeesfanfever.blogspot.com/
Saturday, July 13, 2019
BARRY GIBB To perform at The Chris Evert Pro-Celebrity Tennis Classic
BOCA RATON, FL (July 12, 2019) –The Chris
Evert Pro-Celebrity Tennis Classic presented by Chase Private Client is excited
to announce that one of the most successful artists of all-time, the legendary
Barry Gibb, will perform at the Black Tie Gala held on
Saturday, November 23 at the Boca Raton Resort & Club.
Barry would go on
to co/write/produce numerous hits including “I Just Want To Be Your
Everything,” “Tragedy,” “Woman In Love,” “Grease,” “Islands In The Stream” and
many more.
He
has received eight Grammy’s including the Grammy Legend Award, the Grammy Lifetime Achievement
Award, the American Music Awards Lifetime Achievement Award, the BMI Icon Award
and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Songwriters Hall of
Fame. In 2004, the Bee Gee’s received one of Britain’s highest honors when they
were made
The elegant black-tie Gala on November 23
includes dinner, dancing, cocktails, and live and silent auctions. Tickets are $750 per person and can be
purchased at www.chrisevert.org/tickets/.
The three-day Pro-Celebrity charity event
(November 22-24) also includes two days of celebrity tennis at the Delray Beach
Tennis Center. Proceeds from the event are distributed to programs funded
through the Ounce of Prevention Fund of Florida and the Drug Abuse Foundation
of Palm Beach County.
Sponsors of the Chris
Evert Pro-Celebrity Tennis Classic include Chase Private Client, Boca Raton
Resort and Club, City of Delray Beach, Clive Daniel Home, Fairfield by Marriott
Boca Raton, Hospital for Special Surgery, iheart media, IOMAXIS, ISG Graphics, Mayors
Jewelers, Printzilla, Residence Inn by Marriott Boca Raton, Swiss Airlines, Travelhost
of Palm Beach, Ultimate Software, and Wyndham Boca Raton and Wyndham Deerfield
Beach Resort.
Tickets for this year’s event are now on
sale and range in price from $20 to $900. Purchase tickets online at www.chrisevert.org/tickets/
or call 561-394-2400.
Since 1989, Chris Evert Charities has
raised more than $25 million in an ongoing campaign to provide a bright future
for Florida's most at-risk children. With the help of loyal and generous
sponsors, participating celebrities, legions of volunteers and a dedicated
staff, Chris Evert continues to raise monies to fund programs through the Ounce
of Prevention Fund of Florida and the Drug Abuse Foundation of Palm Beach
County. The event is one of South Florida's longest-running charity events
hosted by a former professional athlete. For more information, visit www.chrisevert.org.
Sunday, July 7, 2019
Bee Gees Children of the world tour 1976 part 2
Click on read more to watch video
http://beegeesfanfever.blogspot.com/
Saturday, July 6, 2019
1979 Bee Gees concert at Dodger Stadium
During their 90-minute performance, the Bee Gees included more than a dozen of their Top 20 hits. During the concert, actress Barbra Streisand borrowed photographer George Rose’s camera and 400mm lens for a close-up look.
Times pop music critic Robert Hilburn reported in the July 9, 1979, edition:
Thank goodness for the Bee Gees. I was beginning to think Dodger Stadium was jinxed. The ball club appears headed for its worst season since coming here from Brooklyn 21 years ago. The Bee Gees concert Saturday night, however, showed that the stadium can still field a winner. Maybe the team will get inspired now.
The Bee Gees – Barry, Maurice and Robin Gibb – sold out the place (56,000 tickets) and put on a classy, though conservative demonstration of why it is one of the biggest-selling record acts of the pop-rock era.
Dodger Stadium probably hasn't seen as many hits in one night since the ball club's pennant-winning drive last summer. The Bee Gees crammed all or part of 16 Top 20 singles into its 90-minute package.
It was the trio's first local appearance since the phenomenal success of "Saturday Night Fever," and the mostly young audience shrieked with the unabashed adoration normally associated with teenybop idols like the Gibbs' younger brother, Andy, who joined the group on stage for the encore. …
::
Andy Gibb died in 1988, Maurice Gibb died in 2003 and Robin Gibb died in 2012
Sunday, June 30, 2019
Bish's Biz | Tropfest 2012 | Barry Gibb
Click on read more to watch video
http://beegeesfanfever.blogspot.com/
http://beegeesfanfever.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, June 18, 2019
Robert Stigwood -The man behind the Bee Gees
Robert Stigwood was born in Port Pirie, South Australia.
In the 1950s he moved to London, with only five pounds in his pocket.
Through a mixture of talent, charm, and bravado, and many a bottle of champagne, he became renowned for his ability to pick and promote talent.
Within two decades Robert was the entertainment industry's most powerful tycoon, managing the careers of Cream and Eric Clapton and The Who.
In 1967, the Beatles manager Brian Epstein passed him a demo tape, made by three young singers from Australia - the Gibb brothers.
Stigwood loved them, signed them, and made them superstars.
Despite his many successes, there were also great crashes including a Chuck Berry tour which forced 'Stiggy' to declare bankruptcy.
Robert spent his later years living as a near-recluse on an estate on the Isle of Wight.
Further information
Mr Showbiz: the biography of Robert Stigwood published by Vintage
source: https://www.abc.net.au
Listen to the interview
https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/conversations/conversations-stephen-dando-collins-rpt/10197464
http://beegeesfanfever.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, June 11, 2019
bee gees super medley from their millennium concert
Click on read more to watch video
http://beegeesfanfever.blogspot.com/
http://beegeesfanfever.blogspot.com/
Sunday, June 9, 2019
Update Barry Gibb
UPDATE ABOUT BARRY
On request a little update about some plans and projects: GSI understands that The feature documentary will not be completed in time for release this year but for sure I imagine it should be released next year and would be available worldwide, not sure yet if Universal may plan some initial cinema showings followed by Cable / TV. Barry,
Yvonne and Dwina have completed their interviews for the documentary and continue to assist the producers with their research.
Universal are still exploring the idea of a Theatrical Stage Musical but a non - biopic concept, using Bee Gees’ songs. Also Barry is currently considering more projects for the future, but there is nothing firm to announce at this time. GSI will keep you informed as always so stay tuned!!
On request a little update about some plans and projects: GSI understands that The feature documentary will not be completed in time for release this year but for sure I imagine it should be released next year and would be available worldwide, not sure yet if Universal may plan some initial cinema showings followed by Cable / TV. Barry,
Yvonne and Dwina have completed their interviews for the documentary and continue to assist the producers with their research.
Universal are still exploring the idea of a Theatrical Stage Musical but a non - biopic concept, using Bee Gees’ songs. Also Barry is currently considering more projects for the future, but there is nothing firm to announce at this time. GSI will keep you informed as always so stay tuned!!
Sunday, June 2, 2019
Thursday, May 23, 2019
2005 G4 and Robin Gibb on This Morning
Click on read more to watch video
http://beegeesfanfever.blogspot.com/
http://beegeesfanfever.blogspot.com/
Saturday, May 4, 2019
Bee Gees Children in Need Benefit 1997 Still Waters
Click on read more to watch video
http://beegeesfanfever.blogspot.com/
Friday, April 19, 2019
Bonnie Tyler-seven waves away with lyrics (written by Barry Gibb)
Click on read more to listen to song and lyrics
<
Seven Waves (Seven Waves away)
Seven waves away
Seven Waves Away"
http://beegeesfanfever.blogspot.com/
Seven Waves Away"
There is not one moment I don't think of you
And all of our glory days
And there was a mission
The cause and the vision
We have lived upon
And no time to analyze
We were in our stride
I saw the future far and wide
And I believe that you can talk to me
I'll be seven waves away
Seven waves away
Seven waves away
I'll be seven waves away
Seven waves away
Seven waves away
Right or wrong
Even when the light is gone
Soldier of my dreams
I swear
I'll find whatever gets me through the night
I don't get to walk away so easily
There'll be no journey's end
But I got tomorrow
And always tomorrow
You can start again
And you know I will follow you
You'll be on my side
No greater love than you and I
And you know where to find me
I'll be seven waves away
Seven waves away
Seven waves away
I'll be seven waves away
Seven Waves away
Seven Waves away
Eyes shine blind
I can hear the sound of love
Now I know the meaning of
Seven waves away
Seven waves away
(Seven Waves away)
(Seven Waves away)
Seven waves away
And all of our glory days
And there was a mission
The cause and the vision
We have lived upon
And no time to analyze
We were in our stride
I saw the future far and wide
And I believe that you can talk to me
I'll be seven waves away
Seven waves away
Seven waves away
I'll be seven waves away
Seven waves away
Seven waves away
Right or wrong
Even when the light is gone
Soldier of my dreams
I swear
I'll find whatever gets me through the night
I don't get to walk away so easily
There'll be no journey's end
But I got tomorrow
And always tomorrow
You can start again
And you know I will follow you
You'll be on my side
No greater love than you and I
And you know where to find me
I'll be seven waves away
Seven waves away
Seven waves away
I'll be seven waves away
Seven Waves away
Seven Waves away
Eyes shine blind
I can hear the sound of love
Now I know the meaning of
Seven waves away
Seven waves away
(Seven Waves away)
(Seven Waves away)
Seven waves away
http://beegeesfanfever.blogspot.com/
German interview about the Bee gees with Lead singer Michel Azais coverband massachusetts (Belgium)
Cick on read more to read the article
16. April 2019
Wieso habt ihr euch nach dem Song Massachusetts benannt?
16. April 2019
Wieso habt ihr euch nach dem Song Massachusetts benannt?
AZAIS Die Bee Gees feierten 1967 mit dem Lied ihren ersten Welthit, und für mich ist das bis heute der beste und schönste Song der Band. Ich hörte ihn das erste Mal, als ich 15 war, und seitdem begleitet er mich.
Michel, du bist der Frontsänger der Band. Wie schwer ist es, so hoch wie die Gibb-Brüder zu singen?
AZAIS Als Lead-Sänger singe ich die Passagen von Robin, manchmal auch die von Barry. Wenn es höher geht, singen wir die Stellen zu zweit. Aber es steckt viel Arbeit und Energie darin, die Lieder der Bee Gees zu singen.
Wie geht ihr mit den Erwartungen der Fans um?
AZAIS Wir spielen möglichst originalgetreu, weil wir den alten Klang und die alten Lieder wie „Massachusetts“, „I started a joke“ und „Nights on Broadway“ sehr lieben. Das wird den Fans gefallen.
Welche Beziehung hast du zu den Bee Gees?
AZAIS Ich habe einmal mit Robin Gibb gesprochen, nur ganz kurz, vor dem letzten Konzert in der Arena von Amsterdam, bevor Robin gestorben ist. Ich kannte den Manager von Robin, und der rief mich vor dem Konzert an, dass ich mit Robin sprechen könnte. Ich habe die Band auch live gesehen. Ein Highlight für uns als Band war es, einmal auf der gleichen Bühne in Brüssel gestanden zu haben wie die Bee Gees fast 20 Jahre zuvor. 2013 war das, das war wirklich großartig und eine große Ehre. Die Musik hat mir aber auch sehr über den Tod meines Vaters hinweggeholfen.
Michel, du hast einmal gesagt, dass die Bee Gees für Romantiker sind. Was führt dich zu dieser Annahme?
AZAIS In den 60er Jahren gab es die Rolling Stones für die bösen Jungs und für die, die Blues und Rock ’n’ Roll mochten, gab es die Beatles. Für die Romantiker gab es die Bee Gees. Robin war ein trauriger und romantischer Mann, das hat sich auch in seinen Songs widergespiegelt. Ich weiß, dass die Fans mit einer romantischen Seite zu den Bee-Gees-Konzerten gingen. Ich bin selbst einer (lacht).
Was macht die Bee Gees heute noch so beliebt?
AZAIS Ich denke, das liegt an den auszeichneten Liedtexten. Ich komponiere und schreibe selbst Lieder und weiß, wie viel Arbeit da drin steckt. Robin und seine Brüder haben über 1000 Lieder geschrieben, eine unglaubliche Leistung. Wenn du täglich schreibst und hart arbeitest, zahlt es sich am Ende aus.
Worauf freust du dich am meisten in Merzig?
AZAIS Es ist immer eine große Freude, in Deutschland zu spielen. Die Fans haben sehr viel Spaß, und die Deutschen respektieren die Künstler und Musiker. Es ist stets ein toller Moment
http://beegeesfanfever.blogspot.com/
Michel, du bist der Frontsänger der Band. Wie schwer ist es, so hoch wie die Gibb-Brüder zu singen?
AZAIS Als Lead-Sänger singe ich die Passagen von Robin, manchmal auch die von Barry. Wenn es höher geht, singen wir die Stellen zu zweit. Aber es steckt viel Arbeit und Energie darin, die Lieder der Bee Gees zu singen.
AZAIS Wir spielen möglichst originalgetreu, weil wir den alten Klang und die alten Lieder wie „Massachusetts“, „I started a joke“ und „Nights on Broadway“ sehr lieben. Das wird den Fans gefallen.
AZAIS Ich habe einmal mit Robin Gibb gesprochen, nur ganz kurz, vor dem letzten Konzert in der Arena von Amsterdam, bevor Robin gestorben ist. Ich kannte den Manager von Robin, und der rief mich vor dem Konzert an, dass ich mit Robin sprechen könnte. Ich habe die Band auch live gesehen. Ein Highlight für uns als Band war es, einmal auf der gleichen Bühne in Brüssel gestanden zu haben wie die Bee Gees fast 20 Jahre zuvor. 2013 war das, das war wirklich großartig und eine große Ehre. Die Musik hat mir aber auch sehr über den Tod meines Vaters hinweggeholfen.
Michel, du hast einmal gesagt, dass die Bee Gees für Romantiker sind. Was führt dich zu dieser Annahme?
AZAIS In den 60er Jahren gab es die Rolling Stones für die bösen Jungs und für die, die Blues und Rock ’n’ Roll mochten, gab es die Beatles. Für die Romantiker gab es die Bee Gees. Robin war ein trauriger und romantischer Mann, das hat sich auch in seinen Songs widergespiegelt. Ich weiß, dass die Fans mit einer romantischen Seite zu den Bee-Gees-Konzerten gingen. Ich bin selbst einer (lacht).
Was macht die Bee Gees heute noch so beliebt?
AZAIS Ich denke, das liegt an den auszeichneten Liedtexten. Ich komponiere und schreibe selbst Lieder und weiß, wie viel Arbeit da drin steckt. Robin und seine Brüder haben über 1000 Lieder geschrieben, eine unglaubliche Leistung. Wenn du täglich schreibst und hart arbeitest, zahlt es sich am Ende aus.
Worauf freust du dich am meisten in Merzig?
AZAIS Es ist immer eine große Freude, in Deutschland zu spielen. Die Fans haben sehr viel Spaß, und die Deutschen respektieren die Künstler und Musiker. Es ist stets ein toller Moment
http://beegeesfanfever.blogspot.com/
TEN QUESTIONS FOR BARRY GIBB
TEN QUESTIONS FOR BARRY GIBB
Mojo Magazine
February,1998
I've heard that Jimi Hendrix was a Bee Gees fan.
Barry: I don't think it was a matter of being a fan. We were friends, and we all came out of that same late '60's syndrome, and we got to know Jimi in London. He actually came to my 21st birthday party. We never discussed music. It was just friendship. I went with Ahmet Ertegun and Robert Stigwood to see Jimi in New York, outside in the park with The Rascals, in about 1968. I was backstage with them at that particular concert. That's a great memory.
What do you recall about writing Massachusetts?
Barry: It was the first time the group went to New York. We stayed at the St. Regis Hotel, and while our luggage was being moved in we wrote it sitting on a sofa, the three of us. It came from our first exposure to America, our first thoughts of writing a song about flower power, which the song is about-or it's basically anti-flower power. Don't go to San Francisco, come home for Chrissakes, ha ha.
Noel Gallagher loves a lot of your early songs. How do you feel about Oasis?
Barry: I like their work very much. They do some good stuff, but they've yet to really grow. They need to get past, basically insecurity between each other, and how crazy it is when you become famous for the first time and what it does to your head. I think they're about to get past that. What happens next? It's like Maurice once said in an interview, to the Gallaghers, "If you want to know what happens next, give us a call" (laughs). Because we've
basically been through the whole thing-fighting, drugs, the drink, all the scenarios you can imagine. We've done all that and still survived. I've got a feeling those guys will, too.
I like the lyrics of early songs like Harry Braff and The Earnest Of Being George-they were evocative without being locked into a literal meaning.
Barry: There was a lot of that in those days-psychedelia, the idea that if you wrote something, even if it sounded ridiculous, somebody would find its meaning. People used to ask if we took LSD. And we suddenly realised that that's what it really was about. People get carried away. It's like The Beatles and songs like Strawberry Fields, where people assume that it was drugs that concocted those songs- and we all know that some of it was-but I think there's a very rare gift that existed inside John Lennon, and also
inside Paul. I think it came from more than drugs or drink.
Your vocal on Lonely Days seems almost like a tribute to Lennon.
Barry: It's possible, yeah. We were very influenced by The Beatles, no question. A manager we had about five years back heard Lonely Days in a restaurant and he said to a friend, "That's one of my favourite Beatles songs." And he was managing us!
A few years back, you expressed a desire to produce McCartney-and he got miffed about it.
Barry: He's always under the wrong impression that we'd criticised one of his albums. The fact is, we'd never heard the album he was pissed off about. I'd heard one song, Hope Of Deliverance, which I thought was going to be a Number
1. Maurice and Robin had heard in and didn't think it was going to be. Anyway, some reporter was interviewing us that week and we'd only talked about this one song; Maurice or Robin said something like, "It would be great for McCartney to work with somebody who would really push him harder than he pushes himself." I thought that was a fair comment-not a criticism as such. I think Lennon was always more muscular than McCartney. He challenged Paul. I think that now Paul is so ingrained in our lives and in our souls that he's
of the belief that no-one else can push him. I just disagree with that belief. But I think the reporter told him we'd criticized his album, and he said something like, "Oh well, they can f**ck off then." We sent a little note saying that we were in fact probably the three biggest fans he's ever had, that we would never have criticized his work and still wouldn't, and he sent another note saying, "Well, you can still f**ck off," ha ha. So I just
thought, Never mind, these things happen. But I dearly wish that he knew the truth. I'v always loved Paul. If I ever bump into him again, I'll try to tell him, but I doubt that he'll listen.
Any truth to the story of Ginger Baker setting fire to a Bee Gees mastertape?
Barry: I've never heard that, ha ha. It wouldn't surprise me, knowing Ginger. I've heard of Ginger hanging Robert Stigwood out the window by his shoes, three or four stories up, demanding his money. One good story was the [Stigwood] Sgt. Pepper album-they shipped about two million, then found about a million of them by the side of the road! Those days you could go platinum based upon your shipping. They'd shipped all those albums, but with no demand. So someone dumped a million!
Since Saturday Night Fever, you've been known for your falsetto. Do you ever feel trapped by that?
Barry: No, I do it when I love it and I don't do it when I don't feel like it. The story is that during the recording of Nights On Broadway, Arif Mardin asked if any of us could go out there and scream ad libs-R&B style. I volunteered, and in doing so, sort of discovered that this voice was hidden back there. Then I started developing it. When I look back it's actually something I ought to be proud of. Brian Wilson, Frankie Valli and even Prince-they don't make any bones about it. The first rock'n'roll record I ever heard was Little Darlin' bt The Diamonds-that was falsetto. So in a way it's been an integral part of rock'n'roll. It's nice to be a falsetto that's well known.
What's the story behind the Clive Anderson chat show?
Barry: With the greatest respect in the world, we've never commented on that story. We don't want to. It was a very upsetting experience and the guy was really out to ridicule us if he could, and every remark he made was, in a sense, created to try to ridicule us. I had just about enough of it and walked off. And Maurice and Robin followed me. It was not a nice experience. That was it. We never commented when it happened. Apart from what I've just said, I don't want to say any more. The details were not pleasant.
What's next for you all?
Barry: I want us to go on making records. We're in our prime, believe it or not. I think vocally and mentally we've managed to stay intact, somehow. Two of us, Robin and I, don't smoke any more. I think that's made an enormous
difference to the strength of our throats and our muscles. I'm the eldest at 51, and if the Stones can drag themselves around once more, then there's a few more albums in us. As long as you're having fun, that's the key. The moment it becomes a grind, it's over.
http://beegeesfanfever.blogspot.com/
Mojo Magazine
February,1998
I've heard that Jimi Hendrix was a Bee Gees fan.
Barry: I don't think it was a matter of being a fan. We were friends, and we all came out of that same late '60's syndrome, and we got to know Jimi in London. He actually came to my 21st birthday party. We never discussed music. It was just friendship. I went with Ahmet Ertegun and Robert Stigwood to see Jimi in New York, outside in the park with The Rascals, in about 1968. I was backstage with them at that particular concert. That's a great memory.
What do you recall about writing Massachusetts?
Barry: It was the first time the group went to New York. We stayed at the St. Regis Hotel, and while our luggage was being moved in we wrote it sitting on a sofa, the three of us. It came from our first exposure to America, our first thoughts of writing a song about flower power, which the song is about-or it's basically anti-flower power. Don't go to San Francisco, come home for Chrissakes, ha ha.
Noel Gallagher loves a lot of your early songs. How do you feel about Oasis?
Barry: I like their work very much. They do some good stuff, but they've yet to really grow. They need to get past, basically insecurity between each other, and how crazy it is when you become famous for the first time and what it does to your head. I think they're about to get past that. What happens next? It's like Maurice once said in an interview, to the Gallaghers, "If you want to know what happens next, give us a call" (laughs). Because we've
basically been through the whole thing-fighting, drugs, the drink, all the scenarios you can imagine. We've done all that and still survived. I've got a feeling those guys will, too.
I like the lyrics of early songs like Harry Braff and The Earnest Of Being George-they were evocative without being locked into a literal meaning.
Barry: There was a lot of that in those days-psychedelia, the idea that if you wrote something, even if it sounded ridiculous, somebody would find its meaning. People used to ask if we took LSD. And we suddenly realised that that's what it really was about. People get carried away. It's like The Beatles and songs like Strawberry Fields, where people assume that it was drugs that concocted those songs- and we all know that some of it was-but I think there's a very rare gift that existed inside John Lennon, and also
inside Paul. I think it came from more than drugs or drink.
Your vocal on Lonely Days seems almost like a tribute to Lennon.
Barry: It's possible, yeah. We were very influenced by The Beatles, no question. A manager we had about five years back heard Lonely Days in a restaurant and he said to a friend, "That's one of my favourite Beatles songs." And he was managing us!
A few years back, you expressed a desire to produce McCartney-and he got miffed about it.
Barry: He's always under the wrong impression that we'd criticised one of his albums. The fact is, we'd never heard the album he was pissed off about. I'd heard one song, Hope Of Deliverance, which I thought was going to be a Number
1. Maurice and Robin had heard in and didn't think it was going to be. Anyway, some reporter was interviewing us that week and we'd only talked about this one song; Maurice or Robin said something like, "It would be great for McCartney to work with somebody who would really push him harder than he pushes himself." I thought that was a fair comment-not a criticism as such. I think Lennon was always more muscular than McCartney. He challenged Paul. I think that now Paul is so ingrained in our lives and in our souls that he's
of the belief that no-one else can push him. I just disagree with that belief. But I think the reporter told him we'd criticized his album, and he said something like, "Oh well, they can f**ck off then." We sent a little note saying that we were in fact probably the three biggest fans he's ever had, that we would never have criticized his work and still wouldn't, and he sent another note saying, "Well, you can still f**ck off," ha ha. So I just
thought, Never mind, these things happen. But I dearly wish that he knew the truth. I'v always loved Paul. If I ever bump into him again, I'll try to tell him, but I doubt that he'll listen.
Any truth to the story of Ginger Baker setting fire to a Bee Gees mastertape?
Barry: I've never heard that, ha ha. It wouldn't surprise me, knowing Ginger. I've heard of Ginger hanging Robert Stigwood out the window by his shoes, three or four stories up, demanding his money. One good story was the [Stigwood] Sgt. Pepper album-they shipped about two million, then found about a million of them by the side of the road! Those days you could go platinum based upon your shipping. They'd shipped all those albums, but with no demand. So someone dumped a million!
Since Saturday Night Fever, you've been known for your falsetto. Do you ever feel trapped by that?
Barry: No, I do it when I love it and I don't do it when I don't feel like it. The story is that during the recording of Nights On Broadway, Arif Mardin asked if any of us could go out there and scream ad libs-R&B style. I volunteered, and in doing so, sort of discovered that this voice was hidden back there. Then I started developing it. When I look back it's actually something I ought to be proud of. Brian Wilson, Frankie Valli and even Prince-they don't make any bones about it. The first rock'n'roll record I ever heard was Little Darlin' bt The Diamonds-that was falsetto. So in a way it's been an integral part of rock'n'roll. It's nice to be a falsetto that's well known.
What's the story behind the Clive Anderson chat show?
Barry: With the greatest respect in the world, we've never commented on that story. We don't want to. It was a very upsetting experience and the guy was really out to ridicule us if he could, and every remark he made was, in a sense, created to try to ridicule us. I had just about enough of it and walked off. And Maurice and Robin followed me. It was not a nice experience. That was it. We never commented when it happened. Apart from what I've just said, I don't want to say any more. The details were not pleasant.
What's next for you all?
Barry: I want us to go on making records. We're in our prime, believe it or not. I think vocally and mentally we've managed to stay intact, somehow. Two of us, Robin and I, don't smoke any more. I think that's made an enormous
difference to the strength of our throats and our muscles. I'm the eldest at 51, and if the Stones can drag themselves around once more, then there's a few more albums in us. As long as you're having fun, that's the key. The moment it becomes a grind, it's over.
http://beegeesfanfever.blogspot.com/
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