Post by Rob Durkee on May 20, 2012 21:48:54 GMT -5
LONDON (RTDP) 5/20/12 -- Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees, who along with Elton John dominated the 1970's and had a 22-year span of Top 40 hits, died Sunday (May 20, 2012) after a long battle with cancer. He was 62. He had been battling a variety of other ailments in recent weeks, including a coma, pneumonia and intestinal surgery related to stomach and colon problems.
Barry Gibb, who was born September 1, 1946, is the last surviving member of the Bee Bees. Also surviving in the immediate Gibb family, according to musicoloigst Matt Wilson, is a sister, Lesley, who was born in 1945. Wilson also believes that the Gibbs' mother is still alive. Andy Gibb, the family's little brother, died of a heart ailment five days after turning 30 years old in 1958. His father, Hugh Gibb, died shortly thereafter. Maurice Gibb was 53 when he died in early 2003 of heart failure and/or a twisted intestine. Robin and Maurice were twins born on December 22, 1949.
Robin Gibb is the third performer linked to the 1970's disco years to have died within five days. "American Top 40" collector Tom Best vividly recalled how all three were on the AT40 show of March 24, 1979. "Bustin' Loose (Part 1)" by Chuck Brown and the Soul-Searchers was at #36. "Heaven Knows" by Donna Summer and Brooklyn Dreams was at #4 and the Bee Gees were at #1 with "Tragedy." Brown died on May 16 and Summer died the next day.
The accomplishments by the Bee Gees are long and impressive. According to one web site, they wrote or co-wrote nearly a thousand songs (993). According to the Associated Press, there have been over 6000 cover versions of their songs done by others. According to Wikipedia, over 2500 artists recorded their songs...and the group sold over 220 million records worldwide. The Bee Gees were induced into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys presented the prestigious award. The group's rock hall citation said, "Only Elvis Presley, the Beatles, Michael Jackson, Garth Brooks and Paul McCartney have outsold the Bee Gees."
The Bee Gees' span of Top 40 hits began in 1967 with "New York Mining Disaster 1941 (Have You Seen My Wife, Mrs. Jones)," which reached #17 on the Cash Box chart. The span ended in 1989 with "One," which reached #9. In between, the Bee Gees battled Elton John for chart supremacy in the 1970's. Elton won all four major chart statistical battles with the Bee Gees on the Cash Box chart box but all four of those battles were close. Elton had a 28-25 edge in chart hits, led 25-19 in Top 40's and 15-13 in Top 10's. Elton had only one more #1 than the Bee Gees, 9-8.
The Bee Gees' eight #1's on the Cash Box chart were "Lonely Days" (1970), "How Can You Mend A Broken Heart" (1971), "Jive Talkin' " (1975), "You Should Be Dancing" (1976), "How Deep Is Your Love" (1977-78), "Stayin' Alive" (1978), "Night Fever" (1978) and "Tragedy" (1979). Two other big Bee Gee hits of 1979 reached #2 on the Cash Box chart: "Too Much Heaven" and "Love You Inside And Out."
It's believed the Bee Gees wrote all their hits. Plus, they wrote or co-wrote many key hits for others. Among them were "Grease" (Frankie Valli), "If I Can't Have You" (Yvonne Elliman), "Emotion" (Samantha Sang) and "Woman In Love" (Barbra Streisand). All of those hits, with the exception of Streisand's, came in 1978. Plus, 1978 was the year Robin Gibb had a Top 40 solo hit with "Oh! Darling" from the movie "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band."
The roots of the Bee Gees go back to the 1950's. According to the Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock, the brothers began singing in 1955, going by group names like the Bluecats, Wee Johnny Hays and the Rattlesnakes.
The trio worked talent shows after the family moved to Brisbane, Australia, in 1958. By that time, they were calling themselves the Bee Gees, a nickname for the Brothers Gibb. It's about this time when the Gibbs would perform by lip-synching to records. During one performance, the record they wanted go lip-synch to, "Wake Up Little Susie" by the Everly Brothers was dropped and broke. However, as Casey Kasem would tell in one of his famous "American Top 40" stories in August of 1972, the Brothers Gibb had to actually sing...and they didn't do badly. The theater's manager encouraged them to continue to practice and return to sing at a later date.
The group signed with Australia's Festival Records in 1962. Despite releasing at least a dozen singles and two albums plus having a weekly Australian TV show, the group's material received generally little exposure. Along the way, the Bee Gees were a quintet that included two Aussies, drummer Colin Peterson along with Vince Melouney. The group finally broke through in 1967 with "Spicks And Specks" which was a #1 hit in Australia. That same year, 1967, saw the Bee Gees break through in the USA with the Atco label, starting with "New York Mining Disaster 1941 (Have You Seen My Wife, Mrs. Jones)"
After hitting big in 1968 with "I've Gotta Get A Message To You" (#3) and "I Started a Joke" (#6), the group experienced the first of two hit droughts. In 1969, Peterson and Melouney left the group. Their exodus, along with in-fighting among the Gibbs, saw the Bee Gees have few hit records from roughly mid-1969 to late 1970. "Lonely Day" broke the drought by going to #1 in late 1970. Then came "How Can You Mend A Broken Heart" in the fall of 1971, another chart-topper.
The group's second drought came in 1972-74 before producer Arif Mardin helped bring them back. A squeeky sounding bridge they were driving over often led to the Bee Gees' #1 hit, "Jive Talkin'," in 1975. More hits in 1976 with "Nights On Broadway" and "Love So Right." That year, 1976, saw the group's label, RSO, break away from Atlantic Records. That meant Mardin was no longer the Bee Gees' producer, but it didn't matter. Albhy Galuten took over as producer for the group's greatest hit string ever. RSO's head, Robert Stigwood, asked the Bee Gees to provide some songs for a movie coming out starring John Travolta and all about the disco dancing craze of the time.
The rest was music history. "Saturday Night Fever" would become one of the biggest selling soundtrack albums of all time with sales of over 30 milion copies worldwide. The only soundtrack that's since been able to rival "Saturday Night Fever" has been "The Bodyguard." The "Saturday Night Fever" album would spawn three unforgettable Bee Gees classics..."How Deep Is Your Love," "Stayin' Alive" and "Night Fever." Still another #1 hit, "If I Can't Have You" by Yvonne Elliman, was also written by the Brothers Gibb. They were so successful with hits at the time that one of their songs, "More Than A Woman," was on the album but would become a Top 40 hit for the group Tavares.
The "Saturday Night Fever" two-disc set was like a Who's Who of disco music. Among the other cuts on that historic soundtrack were"Disco Inferno" (the Trammps), "Boogie Shoes" (KC and the Sunshihe Band), "Open Sesame" (Kool and the Gang) and "A Fifth Of Beethoven" (Walter Murphy and the Big Apple Band).
The success of "Saturday Night Fever" and the RSO label spilled over onto the Cash Box pop singles chart. From late 1977 to the spring of 1978, the #1 song on the Cash Box pop chart was an RSO label release for 20 of 22 weeks. Only one-week stays at #1 by "Short People" (Randy Newman) and "Emotion" (Samantha Sang) interrupted the #1 RSO string.
The year 1978 was thus by far the zenith of the Bee Gees' success. "Night Fever" and "Stayin' Alive" would be ranked 1-2 as the top songs for the calendar year. At #3 for 1978 was "Shadow Dancing" by the Gibbs' little brother, Andy. That song's ascent to #1 made Andy Gibb the first performer ever to hit #1 with his first three USA singles releases. He'd earlier had #1's with "I Just Want To Be Your Everything," and "(Love Is) Thicker Than Water."
At #8 for 1978 was "Emotion", which the Bee Gees wrote and sang background vocals on. Just outside the top 10 of 1978 at #11 was Frankie Valli's "Grease," which Barry Gibb wrote by himself.
The success of "Saturday Night Fever" carried over with the Bee Gees' next album, the chart-topping "Spirits Having Flown," That LP generated three massive top five Cash Box chart hits with "Too Much Heaven," "Tragedy" and "Love You Inside Out." After all that success, the Brothers Gibb could only muster four Top 40 hits in the 1980's. Only the #9-peaking "One" in 1989 made the Cash Box top 10.
Barry Gibb, who was born September 1, 1946, is the last surviving member of the Bee Bees. Also surviving in the immediate Gibb family, according to musicoloigst Matt Wilson, is a sister, Lesley, who was born in 1945. Wilson also believes that the Gibbs' mother is still alive. Andy Gibb, the family's little brother, died of a heart ailment five days after turning 30 years old in 1958. His father, Hugh Gibb, died shortly thereafter. Maurice Gibb was 53 when he died in early 2003 of heart failure and/or a twisted intestine. Robin and Maurice were twins born on December 22, 1949.
Robin Gibb is the third performer linked to the 1970's disco years to have died within five days. "American Top 40" collector Tom Best vividly recalled how all three were on the AT40 show of March 24, 1979. "Bustin' Loose (Part 1)" by Chuck Brown and the Soul-Searchers was at #36. "Heaven Knows" by Donna Summer and Brooklyn Dreams was at #4 and the Bee Gees were at #1 with "Tragedy." Brown died on May 16 and Summer died the next day.
The accomplishments by the Bee Gees are long and impressive. According to one web site, they wrote or co-wrote nearly a thousand songs (993). According to the Associated Press, there have been over 6000 cover versions of their songs done by others. According to Wikipedia, over 2500 artists recorded their songs...and the group sold over 220 million records worldwide. The Bee Gees were induced into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys presented the prestigious award. The group's rock hall citation said, "Only Elvis Presley, the Beatles, Michael Jackson, Garth Brooks and Paul McCartney have outsold the Bee Gees."
The Bee Gees' span of Top 40 hits began in 1967 with "New York Mining Disaster 1941 (Have You Seen My Wife, Mrs. Jones)," which reached #17 on the Cash Box chart. The span ended in 1989 with "One," which reached #9. In between, the Bee Gees battled Elton John for chart supremacy in the 1970's. Elton won all four major chart statistical battles with the Bee Gees on the Cash Box chart box but all four of those battles were close. Elton had a 28-25 edge in chart hits, led 25-19 in Top 40's and 15-13 in Top 10's. Elton had only one more #1 than the Bee Gees, 9-8.
The Bee Gees' eight #1's on the Cash Box chart were "Lonely Days" (1970), "How Can You Mend A Broken Heart" (1971), "Jive Talkin' " (1975), "You Should Be Dancing" (1976), "How Deep Is Your Love" (1977-78), "Stayin' Alive" (1978), "Night Fever" (1978) and "Tragedy" (1979). Two other big Bee Gee hits of 1979 reached #2 on the Cash Box chart: "Too Much Heaven" and "Love You Inside And Out."
It's believed the Bee Gees wrote all their hits. Plus, they wrote or co-wrote many key hits for others. Among them were "Grease" (Frankie Valli), "If I Can't Have You" (Yvonne Elliman), "Emotion" (Samantha Sang) and "Woman In Love" (Barbra Streisand). All of those hits, with the exception of Streisand's, came in 1978. Plus, 1978 was the year Robin Gibb had a Top 40 solo hit with "Oh! Darling" from the movie "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band."
The roots of the Bee Gees go back to the 1950's. According to the Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock, the brothers began singing in 1955, going by group names like the Bluecats, Wee Johnny Hays and the Rattlesnakes.
The trio worked talent shows after the family moved to Brisbane, Australia, in 1958. By that time, they were calling themselves the Bee Gees, a nickname for the Brothers Gibb. It's about this time when the Gibbs would perform by lip-synching to records. During one performance, the record they wanted go lip-synch to, "Wake Up Little Susie" by the Everly Brothers was dropped and broke. However, as Casey Kasem would tell in one of his famous "American Top 40" stories in August of 1972, the Brothers Gibb had to actually sing...and they didn't do badly. The theater's manager encouraged them to continue to practice and return to sing at a later date.
The group signed with Australia's Festival Records in 1962. Despite releasing at least a dozen singles and two albums plus having a weekly Australian TV show, the group's material received generally little exposure. Along the way, the Bee Gees were a quintet that included two Aussies, drummer Colin Peterson along with Vince Melouney. The group finally broke through in 1967 with "Spicks And Specks" which was a #1 hit in Australia. That same year, 1967, saw the Bee Gees break through in the USA with the Atco label, starting with "New York Mining Disaster 1941 (Have You Seen My Wife, Mrs. Jones)"
After hitting big in 1968 with "I've Gotta Get A Message To You" (#3) and "I Started a Joke" (#6), the group experienced the first of two hit droughts. In 1969, Peterson and Melouney left the group. Their exodus, along with in-fighting among the Gibbs, saw the Bee Gees have few hit records from roughly mid-1969 to late 1970. "Lonely Day" broke the drought by going to #1 in late 1970. Then came "How Can You Mend A Broken Heart" in the fall of 1971, another chart-topper.
The group's second drought came in 1972-74 before producer Arif Mardin helped bring them back. A squeeky sounding bridge they were driving over often led to the Bee Gees' #1 hit, "Jive Talkin'," in 1975. More hits in 1976 with "Nights On Broadway" and "Love So Right." That year, 1976, saw the group's label, RSO, break away from Atlantic Records. That meant Mardin was no longer the Bee Gees' producer, but it didn't matter. Albhy Galuten took over as producer for the group's greatest hit string ever. RSO's head, Robert Stigwood, asked the Bee Gees to provide some songs for a movie coming out starring John Travolta and all about the disco dancing craze of the time.
The rest was music history. "Saturday Night Fever" would become one of the biggest selling soundtrack albums of all time with sales of over 30 milion copies worldwide. The only soundtrack that's since been able to rival "Saturday Night Fever" has been "The Bodyguard." The "Saturday Night Fever" album would spawn three unforgettable Bee Gees classics..."How Deep Is Your Love," "Stayin' Alive" and "Night Fever." Still another #1 hit, "If I Can't Have You" by Yvonne Elliman, was also written by the Brothers Gibb. They were so successful with hits at the time that one of their songs, "More Than A Woman," was on the album but would become a Top 40 hit for the group Tavares.
The "Saturday Night Fever" two-disc set was like a Who's Who of disco music. Among the other cuts on that historic soundtrack were"Disco Inferno" (the Trammps), "Boogie Shoes" (KC and the Sunshihe Band), "Open Sesame" (Kool and the Gang) and "A Fifth Of Beethoven" (Walter Murphy and the Big Apple Band).
The success of "Saturday Night Fever" and the RSO label spilled over onto the Cash Box pop singles chart. From late 1977 to the spring of 1978, the #1 song on the Cash Box pop chart was an RSO label release for 20 of 22 weeks. Only one-week stays at #1 by "Short People" (Randy Newman) and "Emotion" (Samantha Sang) interrupted the #1 RSO string.
The year 1978 was thus by far the zenith of the Bee Gees' success. "Night Fever" and "Stayin' Alive" would be ranked 1-2 as the top songs for the calendar year. At #3 for 1978 was "Shadow Dancing" by the Gibbs' little brother, Andy. That song's ascent to #1 made Andy Gibb the first performer ever to hit #1 with his first three USA singles releases. He'd earlier had #1's with "I Just Want To Be Your Everything," and "(Love Is) Thicker Than Water."
At #8 for 1978 was "Emotion", which the Bee Gees wrote and sang background vocals on. Just outside the top 10 of 1978 at #11 was Frankie Valli's "Grease," which Barry Gibb wrote by himself.
The success of "Saturday Night Fever" carried over with the Bee Gees' next album, the chart-topping "Spirits Having Flown," That LP generated three massive top five Cash Box chart hits with "Too Much Heaven," "Tragedy" and "Love You Inside Out." After all that success, the Brothers Gibb could only muster four Top 40 hits in the 1980's. Only the #9-peaking "One" in 1989 made the Cash Box top 10.
Remember their other late 1981 top 40 hit?