Music

It was on the Isle of Man, in Great Britain, that the Gibb twins, Robin and Maurice, were born in 1949. The family, made up of five children (four boys and a girl), grew up in Manchester, in a resolutely musical atmosphere since their parents were part of an amateur group. 

The three older brothers quickly founded their first group with two of their neighbors and, together, they scoured the local parties. In 1958, the family moved to Australia to a deprived neighborhood. The three brothers began to commit a few crimes and it took all the authority of Barry, the eldest, to confront them with a choice that sounded like a sentence: they would either be delinquents or musicians. The decision was quickly made and the three brothers made it concrete by giving themselves a short and symbolic stage name. They knew several people whose initials were B.G (like them, the Gibb’s Brothers), so they were the B.G’s, quickly transformed into the Bee Gees.

However, they had to wait two albums, many concerts where they covered hits by Bob Dylan or the Rolling Stones as well as their return to England to finally experience their first real success with "Bee Gees 1st" and the hits "New York Mining Disaster 1941" and "To Love Somebody". The group continued on its path, releasing new albums year after year without reaching the success of their compatriots, the Beatles.

It was with the explosion of disco that the siblings finally attracted all eyes, by participating, in 1977, and at the last minute in the soundtrack of the film "Saturday Night Fever". It included their most famous hits, such as "Stayin' Alive", "Night Fever" and "How Deep Is Your Love". Disco was all the rage and the clubs were always full, like the famous Studio 54 in New York. It was the golden age of the Bee Gees, who left their mark on a whole generation of Saturday night dancers, wearing bell-bottoms and long hair as a sign of recognition. The film's soundtrack was a huge success: 40 million copies were sold!

A little anecdote: recorded in a hurry in a French studio and finalized in Miami, the soundtrack included the first loop in history. The musician who was supposed to take over the drums for "Stayin' Alive" didn't honor his appointment at the studio, so the producers decided to take two bars of drums from "Night Fever" and copy them in a loop.

The rest of the group's career was less flamboyant and was even marked by a long breakup. The group's decline was hampered by what some have called a curse. First, the youngest, Andy, died of an overdose as he was about to officially become the fourth member of the group. In 2003, Maurice died suddenly, followed by Garry in 2012, aged just 60. Today, Barry, the group's singer, remains the last guardian of the Bee Gees and the golden era of disco.

(MH with CMa - Photo: © Etienne Tordoir)
Photo: Barry Gibb with The Bee Gees in concert at the Cinquantenaire in Brussels (Belgium) on June 10, 1989