But it was in 1978 that Donna Summer became a true megastar: she acted in the movie "Thank God It's Friday", and Paul Jabara's "Last Dance" became a huge hit. At New York's most exclusive disco club, Studio 54, this song drove people crazy. When the DJ played the song people on the dance floor started crying. In the same year, the album "Live And More" brought "MacArthur Park", another major hit. 1979 was the best year for Donna Summer with several number one songs topping the charts."Hot Stuff" was number one and her biggest hit in the USA. The "Bad Girls" album and song were a huge success. Also, the first compilation of her biggest hits, with new recordings were released: "On the Radio" and "Enough Is Enough" with Barbra Streisand offered fans a very special disco duet. When the 80's arrived, the critics declared that Donna summer was finished, along with the disco era. However, she showed she was still "alive" when her smash hit "She Works Hard For The Money" hit the charts. This song was the last major one in a brilliant career, although in 1994, Donna celebrated 20 years of her unique sound with her compilation "Endless Summer" which combined her hits with a new single, "Melody Of Love".
DONNA'S BIOBorn Adrian Donna Gains on December 31, 1948 in Boston, Donna grew up wanting to sing. As a young girl in her local church she remembered being blown away one day by the powerful voice coming from her little soul. As soon as she heard it she knew God had spoken to her telling her that "this is power and that you must never abuse this power." Little Adrian Donna Gains never forgot that. Just prior to her high school graduation, Donna quit to join the German production of the stage musical Hair. There in Germany she met fellow performer Helumt Sommer. The two had a brief marriage that produced nothing more than the beautiful child Mimi Sommer. While seeking extra money doing background vocals on demo recordings, Donna met Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte. The trio struck up a friendship and immediately set to work writting songs together. Several singles were released before they released Donna's first debut album for Europe entitled "Lady Of The Night." But what would happen next would be nothing less than a revolution. While listening to a then controversial, but none-the-less very popular track at the time called "Je T'Aime (Moi Non Plus)," the trio decided to try to improve on the track's racy subtexture. What ended up being recorded was the orgasmic "Love To Love You Baby." A sexually charged, low beat per minute dance track that would turn the music world on its ear. Liscened to Casablanca Records in America, label President Neil Bogart phoned Giorgio after playing the song at one of his dinner parties. Neil suggested the song be stretched to 20 minutes to fill an entire side of an album. The song ended up timing out about 17 minutes and set in motion the birth of the twelve-inch dance single. Summer, as it turned out, had a sturdiness quite different from Birkin's short bursts of this and that, and a flair for kitschy show tunes and overproduced slickness, both of which ideally complimented the transparent impersonality of Moroder's electronic rhythms. She and Moroder created entire sub-genres of disco, and there was no stopping them until Summer stopped herself. Beginning with 1980's The Wanderer (except for the title song) she began to sing exactly the kind of pop/rock material her daring impressionism had fought against. She tried to become a pop singer; and when, as in She Works Hard for the Money, she drew upon gospel styles, she was listened to. But during the '70s, she wasn't merely listened to, she was a leader. Today Summer tries to catch up, sadly, with a generation whose greatest aesthetic achievement was to catch up with her. In 1973, Benny Anderson, Bjorn Ulvaeus, Agnetha Faltskog (Anna), Anni Frid Lyngstad (Frida),formed a group called ABBA. Both couples (Frida/Benny and Anna/Bjorn) had been musicians before this in Sweden. Their first single "Waterloo", in 1974, was number six on the U.S. charts. Their next album, 'ABBA' (75), had the single "Mamma Mia" go number one in England. Their next seven albums were #1 in England. In 1976, ABBA was #1 for the first (and last) time in USA charts with "Dancing Queen", from the album "Arrival". "The Album (77) brought the hit "Take A Chance On Me". "The Winner Takes It All" was their last hit in the USA.The album "Visitors" stayed in the top 30 in 1981, in the same year that both couples got divorced. In 1983, the album "Thank You For The Music" came accompanied with bad news for fans: the group had broken up. ABBA was one of the most important groups in the world of disco music, and represented Sweden in world-wide pop music in general for the first time. ABBA influenced many groups, including Ace of Base and the group still has many fans all over the world.ABBA: THE BIOGRAPHY "Waterloo" was the song performed by ABBA at a contest to decide which song should be Sweden's 1974 Eurovision entry, and with over 60% of the votes, ABBA had easily accomplished their task. ABBA's first album "RING RING" was not released in the UK until some years later. Apart from the title track and "WATCH OUT" the B-side of the "WATERLOO" single, the "WATERLOO" LP included a number of worthy tracks, especially "HASTA MAÑANA," the song which had been a Eurovision possible, and "HONEY HONEY" which was written by Benny, Björn and Stig, but became a UK Top 10 hit for a British boy and girl duo known as Sweet Dreams. However, the ABBA version of "HONEY HONEY" was a US Top 30 hit, the follow up to "WATERLOO," ABBA's first American hit single, which peaked in the Top 10 of the Billboard chart. The first ABBA single of 1975 was "I DO, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do". Its B side, was the raunchy "ROCK ME". "I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do", became the first of ABBA's six Number One singles in New Zealand and reached the Top 3 in Australia. The LP simply titled "ABBA", was released in June 1975, included on the LP was "SOS" and "MAMMA MIA", also the two previous ABBA singles. The LP had been released a full three months before "SOS" was released as the single which relaunched the group as serious chart contenders. ABBA was being talked about again as potential stars. Voted the pop song of the year in Germany, "SOS" also won an award as one of the most played singles on American radio, but it was a somewhat different story in Britain, where Mamma Mia restored ABBA to the Number One position in the singles charts. The place where ABBA first became superstars in the English speaking world was Australia, where "MAMMA MIA" was their breakthrough single. At one point there were five ABBA singles in the Australian Top 10, while a compilation LP "THE BEST OF ABBA" sold nearly a million copies in a country with a population of only 14 million people at the time. Seven months after it was first released the "ABBA" LP finally reached the UK album charts. As bonus items on the re-mastered series are two tracks which were recorded during the sessions for the album, but were not included on the LP, "CRAZY WORLD" was released in late 1976 as the B side of the "MONEY, MONEY, MONEY" single, while the folk medley of "PICK A BALE OF COTTON / ON TOP OF OLD SMOKEY and MIDNIGHT SPECIAL" appeared in September 1978 as the B side of the "SUMMER NIGHT CITY" single. By late 1976 ABBA had made it absolutely clear that they were much more that a five minute wonder with the release of three consecutive Number One singles, "MAMMA MIA, FERNANDO and DANCING QUEEN, while their "GREATEST HITS" LP stayed in the album charts for 11 weeks. "ARRIVAL" was an album which was clearly destined for success, over 300,000 copies of the LP were ordered before it was released made it the biggest advance order ever placed at that time in Britain for any album. Worldwide advance orders for the LP were worth over $10,000,000 when it was released simultaneously in 34 countries in November 1976. The LP included "DANCING QUEEN", one of ABBA's biggest selling singles. "DANCING QUEEN" not only topped the charts in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Holland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and West Germany as well as in the UK, but also became ABBA's biggest hit in the USA. After the huge success of the "ARRIVAL" album and almost continuous chart topping status in the singles chart, 1977 was the year of the first of ABBA's two world tours, when they played live in Britain and Australia for the first time as well as in Europe, where they had previously toured. The demand for tickets at London's Royal Albert Hall was incredible: three and a half million applications were made for tickets, and ABBA was persuaded to play two shows there on St. Valentine's Day 1977. Among the new songs they performed in that show were three excerpts from an incomplete work-in-progress by Benny and Björn, which they termed a "MINI-MUSICAL", it was called "THE GIRL WITH THE GOLDEN HAIR", the mini-musical also became the climax of the ABBA stage show, and as such, was featured in the movie about ABBA, and was titled "ABBA - THE MOVIE", and was filmed in Australia. ABBA's next LP was "VOULEZ-VOUS", "CHIQUITITA" was the first single from this album, and as had become routine now it went straight to Number One. Other singles released from the "VOULEZ-VOUS" album were "DOES YOUR MOTHER KNOW" and "VOULEZ-VOUS. After their successful world tour of 1979/80, the members of ABBA spent time apart, with Benny and Björn preparing some new songs, while Agnetha and Frida were kept busy in the recording studio. SUPER TROUPER was ABBA's last really massive original album as one of the biggest acts in the world. It was ABBA's first LP of the 1980's, the decade when the members of ABBA finally went their separate ways, both professionally and sadly in their personal lives. After the release of the "SUPER TROUPER" album at the end of 1980, ABBA as a group did little until the end of 1981, although for the individual group members, several important events took place: Björn remarried at the start of the year, and a month later, Benny and Frida announced they were divorcing after less than two and a half years of marriage. The biggest acts in the world have paid tributes by performing ABBA material in their concerts. Roxette, the Swedish duo Per Gessle and Marie Fredriksson were joined onstage by Frida for an encore of "Money, Money, Money" when they played in Zurich in January 1992. The Irish Superstars U2 played in Stockholm in July 1992, Benny and Björn joined them onstage for an encore of "Dancing Queen", which U2 performed many times on their world tour. ABBA's music has continually been played in movie soundtracks and there is no question that this unique foursome will be remembered for all the great sounds they shared with the world. Th e Bee Gees was formed in the 60's by the Australan brothers Barry, Maurice and Robin Gibb. The group career was irregular at this time, with good moments as for example, the great ballad "Words". But it was with the 1975 album that they started to become a star group, with the great hit "Jive Talkin'". Two years later, the soundtrack from the movie "Saturday Night Fever" was the album that sold millions of copies and became the most important album in disco history. The year 1976 was a big one for the group with "Jive Talkin", "You Should Be Dancing" that was a huge hit in "Night Fever", "More than a Woman", and their greatest ballad, "How Deep Is Your Love", which was re-recorded many times, and stands as one of Disco's signature songs, "Stayin' Alive". The movie was important, further popularizing the disco craze and sellig millions of soundtrack albums. The Bee Gees enjoyed further success with their '79 album called "Spirits Having Flown", with the hit "Tragedy". But in the 80's, they did not repeat the same success, with their second release of "Saturday Night Fever" in 1983, nor with other neglected albums. Nonetheless, the group continues to record occasionally and are still popular when on tour. In the 1980's, they recorded "You Win Again" and in the 90's, the ballad called "For Whom The Bell Tolls" and the album "Still Waters" with its ballad, "Alone", reveal that The Bee Gees still have the sound. THE BEE GEES: A Biography In Brief by Terri Bridge Barry, Maurice, and Robin Gibb---together as brothers all their lives, and as a singing group nearly as long. Their career began when the three gathered in a bedroom in their home in Manchester, England, and began working out the natural harmonies which today are one of the hallmarks of the Bee Gees' sound. They worked these out so well that their mom believed her sons' harmonizing was actually a radio playing in the next room. Father Hugh Gibb, a bandleader in his own right, and mother Barbara Gibb, a former professional singer, knew their sons possessed special talents. Maurice has said that their dad envisioned them as a children's version of the Mills Brothers, an American family quartet extremely popular in England and the US from the thirties through the sixties.Young Bee Gees in concert! The Mills Brothers were known for their tight, beautiful harmonies. So it was then that the Rattlesnakes (Barry, age 9, and Robin and Maurice, age 6) began performing at the local Manchester, England, cinemas between films.Fast forward to January, 1967 - the Gibb family sailed to Great Britain. While on this journey, the Bee Gees finally got their first #1 in Australia with "Spicks and Specks". They had sent ahead to England demo tapes of most of their Australian material, including "Spicks and Specks", to NEMS Enterprises, headed by the Beatles' manager, Brian Epstein. Unbeknownst to the Brothers, Epstein and his associate, Robert Stigwood, listened to the tapes, and Stigwood was more than interested. Nearly as soon as they were off the ship in England, Stigwood was calling on them. In short order, the Brothers were signed to a five-year management contract with Stigwood. After adding Vince Melouney (guitar) and Colin Petersen (drums) to the group, the Bee Gees headed for the studio to record "Bee Gees First", which was released in mid-1967. Their first single, "New York Mining Disaster 1941", and the follow-ups "Holiday" and "To Love Somebody", quickly gained them the beginnings of the international recognition they'd been seeking so long. In May of 1967, they appeared on "Top of the Pops", Britain's most important rock and roll showcase. The Bee Gees became the hottest new group in London. By late '67, the Bee Gees' second album, "Horizontal", had been recorded and released. From this album came the UK chart-topping "Massachusetts". In 1968 came the "Idea" album, with the hit singles "I Started A Joke" and "Gotta Get A Message To You". In the space of a little more than one year, the Brothers Gibb had released three albums, had six hit singles, had made their American TV debut, and were the toast of London. They began putting together what became "Two Years On", the next Bee Gees album. That album contained "Lonely Days", which became the Brothers first #1 single in the US, and their first gold US single. The release of the album "Trafalgar" later in 1971 further solidified the Brothers. That album contained "How Can You Mend A Broken Heart", a song about the breakup and reconciliation, which also quickly went gold and shot to #1 in the US. In 1975, the Brothers returned to join Arif Mardin, this time at Criteria. Out of this collaboration came the major shift in direction of "Main Course". The album brought the Barry on stageBrothers closer to the R & B influences they'd always loved and felt, just when the music world was focusing on R & B dance music. "Main Course" was just that---a tremendous serving of Bee Gees rock and soul, including the "bridge to Criteria"-inspired "Jive Talkin'", "Nights on Broadway (during the recording of this Barry discovered his ability to sing in falsetto)", "Fanny (Be Tender With My Love)", "Wind of Change", and "Edge of the Universe". The Brothers Gibb were back on top, commercially and creatively, as "Main Course" went gold and platinum, both "Nights on Broadway" and "Jive Talkin'" shot to #1, and "Jive Talkin'" was a gold single. A change of record label in the US in 1976 meant Arif Mardin wasn't available to them for their next album, but the Brothers had learned well from him. 1976's "Children of the World" went gold and platinum, both "You Should Be Dancing" and "Love So Right" were gold singles, and "You Should Be Dancing" went to #1 as well. The album also included such songs as "Boogie Child", "Lovers", and "Can't Keep A Good Man Down". Yet amazingly the true heights were still to come. For their next studio album, the Bee Gees chose to record at the Chateau D' Herouville (immortalized by Elton John as the "Honky Chateau"). At the same time, Robert Stigwood was developing his movie about the dance culture in New York City, based on the article "Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night". He needed music for the movie, and knew just where to find it. Thus the Bee Gees gave up the entirety of their studio album to that point---"More Than A Woman", "If I Can't Have You", "How Deep Is Your Love", "Night Fever", and, of course, "Stayin' Alive"---and "Saturday Night Fever" gained the music which propelled it into the stratosphere. The soundtrack to "SNF" became the best-selling album ever (a title it held until Michael Jackson's "Thriller" took over), and it remains the best-selling soundtrack album to this day. While their songs from "SNF" climbed the charts, the Brothers mixed and readied what was their first live album (and their next release), "Here At Last...Bee Gees Live!". "How Deep Is Your Love", their next single, went to #1 and went gold before the "SNF" movie was even released. "Night Fever" and "Stayin' Alive" both were #1 hits, and both went gold and platinum. "If I Can't Have You", written by the Brothers and as recorded by Yvonne Elliman, also was a #1 gold single. The "Saturday Night Fever" soundtrack album itself was #1 for 24 weeks, and at the time went gold and platinum 14 times over. "Saturday Night Fever" took the Bee Gees from being merely chart-topping stars for the second time in their careers to absolute superstardom. It was in 1978 that the Bee Gees had the #1 single, the #1 album, and 5 songs (as artist and/or songwriter) in the Top 10 at the same time in Billboard, Cashbox, and Record World magazines. It was around this same time that the Brothers became based in Miami Beach, Florida, and began looking for a place for their studio to call home. They had already begun helping brother Andy achieve his own stardom, as "I Just Want To Be Your Everything" hit #1 in 1976. "Here At Last...Bee Gees Live!" went gold and platinum. The Brothers began work on the movie "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" with Peter Frampton. The Bee Gees, or their music, were everywhere: movies, radio, TV, belt buckles, necklaces, school lunch boxes, notebooks, and more. < The Brothers went back to the studio, and from there emerged with "Spirits Having Flown", their critically-acclaimed 1979 classic. Filled with many musical styles, the Brothers showed the versatility of their songwriting. "Spirits" stayed at #1 for six weeks, produced the hits "Tragedy", "Too Much Heaven", and "Love You Inside Out", and pushed their 1979 stadium tour of the world to sold-out status. However, out in the pop music world, there were the beginning grumblings of those who said that disco music was "lightweight" and "insignificant". Anything which becomes extraordinarily popular, at least in the US, soon becomes a whipping boy for critics. 1983 brought the release of "Stayin' Alive", the movie sequel to "Saturday Night Fever". The movie flopped badly, but it brought another couple of hits to the Bee Gees: "Someone Belonging to Someone", and the much more successful "The Woman In You". The music video made for "The Woman In You" is, certainly arguably, one of their best concept videos, and it featured (besides them) Cynthia Rhodes from the "Stayin' Alive" movie (and later, Penny in the movie "Dirty Dancing"). March of 1988 brought to the Brothers the tragedy of youngest brother Andy's death in England. On a brighter note, in September, 1996 it was announced that the Bee Gees would be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. Finally, the Bee Gees were acknowledged for all their incredible contributions to rock and roll. In October, 1996, the Brothers opened the 1996 VH-1 Fashion Awards with a well-received live performance of "Stayin' Alive". They continue to perform and their place in music history is assured for The Bee Gees have made lifelong fans of millions all over the world.
While seeking extra money doing background vocals on demo recordings, Donna met Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte. The trio struck up a friendship and immediately set to work writting songs together. Several singles were released before they released Donna's first debut album for Europe entitled "Lady Of The Night." But what would happen next would be nothing less than a revolution. While listening to a then controversial, but none-the-less very popular track at the time called "Je T'Aime (Moi Non Plus)," the trio decided to try to improve on the track's racy subtexture. What ended up being recorded was the orgasmic "Love To Love You Baby." A sexually charged, low beat per minute dance track that would turn the music world on its ear. Liscened to Casablanca Records in America, label President Neil Bogart phoned Giorgio after playing the song at one of his dinner parties. Neil suggested the song be stretched to 20 minutes to fill an entire side of an album. The song ended up timing out about 17 minutes and set in motion the birth of the twelve-inch dance single.
Summer, as it turned out, had a sturdiness quite different from Birkin's short bursts of this and that, and a flair for kitschy show tunes and overproduced slickness, both of which ideally complimented the transparent impersonality of Moroder's electronic rhythms. She and Moroder created entire sub-genres of disco, and there was no stopping them until Summer stopped herself.
Beginning with 1980's The Wanderer (except for the title song) she began to sing exactly the kind of pop/rock material her daring impressionism had fought against. She tried to become a pop singer; and when, as in She Works Hard for the Money, she drew upon gospel styles, she was listened to. But during the '70s, she wasn't merely listened to, she was a leader. Today Summer tries to catch up, sadly, with a generation whose greatest aesthetic achievement was to catch up with her.
ABBA: THE BIOGRAPHY
"Waterloo" was the song performed by ABBA at a contest to decide which song should be Sweden's 1974 Eurovision entry, and with over 60% of the votes, ABBA had easily accomplished their task. ABBA's first album "RING RING" was not released in the UK until some years later. Apart from the title track and "WATCH OUT" the B-side of the "WATERLOO" single, the "WATERLOO" LP included a number of worthy tracks, especially "HASTA MAÑANA," the song which had been a Eurovision possible, and "HONEY HONEY" which was written by Benny, Björn and Stig, but became a UK Top 10 hit for a British boy and girl duo known as Sweet Dreams. However, the ABBA version of "HONEY HONEY" was a US Top 30 hit, the follow up to "WATERLOO," ABBA's first American hit single, which peaked in the Top 10 of the Billboard chart.
The first ABBA single of 1975 was "I DO, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do". Its B side, was the raunchy "ROCK ME". "I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do", became the first of ABBA's six Number One singles in New Zealand and reached the Top 3 in Australia. The LP simply titled "ABBA", was released in June 1975, included on the LP was "SOS" and "MAMMA MIA", also the two previous ABBA singles. The LP had been released a full three months before "SOS" was released as the single which relaunched the group as serious chart contenders.
ABBA was being talked about again as potential stars. Voted the pop song of the year in Germany, "SOS" also won an award as one of the most played singles on American radio, but it was a somewhat different story in Britain, where Mamma Mia restored ABBA to the Number One position in the singles charts. The place where ABBA first became superstars in the English speaking world was Australia, where "MAMMA MIA" was their breakthrough single. At one point there were five ABBA singles in the Australian Top 10, while a compilation LP "THE BEST OF ABBA" sold nearly a million copies in a country with a population of only 14 million people at the time. Seven months after it was first released the "ABBA" LP finally reached the UK album charts. As bonus items on the re-mastered series are two tracks which were recorded during the sessions for the album, but were not included on the LP, "CRAZY WORLD" was released in late 1976 as the B side of the "MONEY, MONEY, MONEY" single, while the folk medley of "PICK A BALE OF COTTON / ON TOP OF OLD SMOKEY and MIDNIGHT SPECIAL" appeared in September 1978 as the B side of the "SUMMER NIGHT CITY" single. By late 1976 ABBA had made it absolutely clear that they were much more that a five minute wonder with the release of three consecutive Number One singles, "MAMMA MIA, FERNANDO and DANCING QUEEN, while their "GREATEST HITS" LP stayed in the album charts for 11 weeks.
"ARRIVAL" was an album which was clearly destined for success, over 300,000 copies of the LP were ordered before it was released made it the biggest advance order ever placed at that time in Britain for any album. Worldwide advance orders for the LP were worth over $10,000,000 when it was released simultaneously in 34 countries in November 1976. The LP included "DANCING QUEEN", one of ABBA's biggest selling singles. "DANCING QUEEN" not only topped the charts in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Holland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and West Germany as well as in the UK, but also became ABBA's biggest hit in the USA.
After the huge success of the "ARRIVAL" album and almost continuous chart topping status in the singles chart, 1977 was the year of the first of ABBA's two world tours, when they played live in Britain and Australia for the first time as well as in Europe, where they had previously toured. The demand for tickets at London's Royal Albert Hall was incredible: three and a half million applications were made for tickets, and ABBA was persuaded to play two shows there on St. Valentine's Day 1977. Among the new songs they performed in that show were three excerpts from an incomplete work-in-progress by Benny and Björn, which they termed a "MINI-MUSICAL", it was called "THE GIRL WITH THE GOLDEN HAIR", the mini-musical also became the climax of the ABBA stage show, and as such, was featured in the movie about ABBA, and was titled "ABBA - THE MOVIE", and was filmed in Australia.
ABBA's next LP was "VOULEZ-VOUS", "CHIQUITITA" was the first single from this album, and as had become routine now it went straight to Number One. Other singles released from the "VOULEZ-VOUS" album were "DOES YOUR MOTHER KNOW" and "VOULEZ-VOUS. After their successful world tour of 1979/80, the members of ABBA spent time apart, with Benny and Björn preparing some new songs, while Agnetha and Frida were kept busy in the recording studio.
SUPER TROUPER was ABBA's last really massive original album as one of the biggest acts in the world. It was ABBA's first LP of the 1980's, the decade when the members of ABBA finally went their separate ways, both professionally and sadly in their personal lives. After the release of the "SUPER TROUPER" album at the end of 1980, ABBA as a group did little until the end of 1981, although for the individual group members, several important events took place: Björn remarried at the start of the year, and a month later, Benny and Frida announced they were divorcing after less than two and a half years of marriage.
The biggest acts in the world have paid tributes by performing ABBA material in their concerts. Roxette, the Swedish duo Per Gessle and Marie Fredriksson were joined onstage by Frida for an encore of "Money, Money, Money" when they played in Zurich in January 1992. The Irish Superstars U2 played in Stockholm in July 1992, Benny and Björn joined them onstage for an encore of "Dancing Queen", which U2 performed many times on their world tour. ABBA's music has continually been played in movie soundtracks and there is no question that this unique foursome will be remembered for all the great sounds they shared with the world.
Barry, Maurice, and Robin Gibb---together as brothers all their lives, and as a singing group nearly as long. Their career began when the three gathered in a bedroom in their home in Manchester, England, and began working out the natural harmonies which today are one of the hallmarks of the Bee Gees' sound. They worked these out so well that their mom believed her sons' harmonizing was actually a radio playing in the next room. Father Hugh Gibb, a bandleader in his own right, and mother Barbara Gibb, a former professional singer, knew their sons possessed special talents. Maurice has said that their dad envisioned them as a children's version of the Mills Brothers, an American family quartet extremely popular in England and the US from the thirties through the sixties.Young Bee Gees in concert! The Mills Brothers were known for their tight, beautiful harmonies. So it was then that the Rattlesnakes (Barry, age 9, and Robin and Maurice, age 6) began performing at the local Manchester, England, cinemas between films.Fast forward to January, 1967 - the Gibb family sailed to Great Britain. While on this journey, the Bee Gees finally got their first #1 in Australia with "Spicks and Specks". They had sent ahead to England demo tapes of most of their Australian material, including "Spicks and Specks", to NEMS Enterprises, headed by the Beatles' manager, Brian Epstein. Unbeknownst to the Brothers, Epstein and his associate, Robert Stigwood, listened to the tapes, and Stigwood was more than interested. Nearly as soon as they were off the ship in England, Stigwood was calling on them. In short order, the Brothers were signed to a five-year management contract with Stigwood. After adding Vince Melouney (guitar) and Colin Petersen (drums) to the group, the Bee Gees headed for the studio to record "Bee Gees First", which was released in mid-1967. Their first single, "New York Mining Disaster 1941", and the follow-ups "Holiday" and "To Love Somebody", quickly gained them the beginnings of the international recognition they'd been seeking so long. In May of 1967, they appeared on "Top of the Pops", Britain's most important rock and roll showcase. The Bee Gees became the hottest new group in London. By late '67, the Bee Gees' second album, "Horizontal", had been recorded and released. From this album came the UK chart-topping "Massachusetts". In 1968 came the "Idea" album, with the hit singles "I Started A Joke" and "Gotta Get A Message To You". In the space of a little more than one year, the Brothers Gibb had released three albums, had six hit singles, had made their American TV debut, and were the toast of London. They began putting together what became "Two Years On", the next Bee Gees album. That album contained "Lonely Days", which became the Brothers first #1 single in the US, and their first gold US single. The release of the album "Trafalgar" later in 1971 further solidified the Brothers. That album contained "How Can You Mend A Broken Heart", a song about the breakup and reconciliation, which also quickly went gold and shot to #1 in the US. In 1975, the Brothers returned to join Arif Mardin, this time at Criteria. Out of this collaboration came the major shift in direction of "Main Course". The album brought the Barry on stageBrothers closer to the R & B influences they'd always loved and felt, just when the music world was focusing on R & B dance music. "Main Course" was just that---a tremendous serving of Bee Gees rock and soul, including the "bridge to Criteria"-inspired "Jive Talkin'", "Nights on Broadway (during the recording of this Barry discovered his ability to sing in falsetto)", "Fanny (Be Tender With My Love)", "Wind of Change", and "Edge of the Universe". The Brothers Gibb were back on top, commercially and creatively, as "Main Course" went gold and platinum, both "Nights on Broadway" and "Jive Talkin'" shot to #1, and "Jive Talkin'" was a gold single. A change of record label in the US in 1976 meant Arif Mardin wasn't available to them for their next album, but the Brothers had learned well from him. 1976's "Children of the World" went gold and platinum, both "You Should Be Dancing" and "Love So Right" were gold singles, and "You Should Be Dancing" went to #1 as well. The album also included such songs as "Boogie Child", "Lovers", and "Can't Keep A Good Man Down". Yet amazingly the true heights were still to come. For their next studio album, the Bee Gees chose to record at the Chateau D' Herouville (immortalized by Elton John as the "Honky Chateau"). At the same time, Robert Stigwood was developing his movie about the dance culture in New York City, based on the article "Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night". He needed music for the movie, and knew just where to find it. Thus the Bee Gees gave up the entirety of their studio album to that point---"More Than A Woman", "If I Can't Have You", "How Deep Is Your Love", "Night Fever", and, of course, "Stayin' Alive"---and "Saturday Night Fever" gained the music which propelled it into the stratosphere. The soundtrack to "SNF" became the best-selling album ever (a title it held until Michael Jackson's "Thriller" took over), and it remains the best-selling soundtrack album to this day. While their songs from "SNF" climbed the charts, the Brothers mixed and readied what was their first live album (and their next release), "Here At Last...Bee Gees Live!". "How Deep Is Your Love", their next single, went to #1 and went gold before the "SNF" movie was even released. "Night Fever" and "Stayin' Alive" both were #1 hits, and both went gold and platinum. "If I Can't Have You", written by the Brothers and as recorded by Yvonne Elliman, also was a #1 gold single. The "Saturday Night Fever" soundtrack album itself was #1 for 24 weeks, and at the time went gold and platinum 14 times over. "Saturday Night Fever" took the Bee Gees from being merely chart-topping stars for the second time in their careers to absolute superstardom. It was in 1978 that the Bee Gees had the #1 single, the #1 album, and 5 songs (as artist and/or songwriter) in the Top 10 at the same time in Billboard, Cashbox, and Record World magazines. It was around this same time that the Brothers became based in Miami Beach, Florida, and began looking for a place for their studio to call home. They had already begun helping brother Andy achieve his own stardom, as "I Just Want To Be Your Everything" hit #1 in 1976. "Here At Last...Bee Gees Live!" went gold and platinum. The Brothers began work on the movie "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" with Peter Frampton. The Bee Gees, or their music, were everywhere: movies, radio, TV, belt buckles, necklaces, school lunch boxes, notebooks, and more. < The Brothers went back to the studio, and from there emerged with "Spirits Having Flown", their critically-acclaimed 1979 classic. Filled with many musical styles, the Brothers showed the versatility of their songwriting. "Spirits" stayed at #1 for six weeks, produced the hits "Tragedy", "Too Much Heaven", and "Love You Inside Out", and pushed their 1979 stadium tour of the world to sold-out status. However, out in the pop music world, there were the beginning grumblings of those who said that disco music was "lightweight" and "insignificant". Anything which becomes extraordinarily popular, at least in the US, soon becomes a whipping boy for critics. 1983 brought the release of "Stayin' Alive", the movie sequel to "Saturday Night Fever". The movie flopped badly, but it brought another couple of hits to the Bee Gees: "Someone Belonging to Someone", and the much more successful "The Woman In You". The music video made for "The Woman In You" is, certainly arguably, one of their best concept videos, and it featured (besides them) Cynthia Rhodes from the "Stayin' Alive" movie (and later, Penny in the movie "Dirty Dancing"). March of 1988 brought to the Brothers the tragedy of youngest brother Andy's death in England. On a brighter note, in September, 1996 it was announced that the Bee Gees would be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. Finally, the Bee Gees were acknowledged for all their incredible contributions to rock and roll. In October, 1996, the Brothers opened the 1996 VH-1 Fashion Awards with a well-received live performance of "Stayin' Alive". They continue to perform and their place in music history is assured for The Bee Gees have made lifelong fans of millions all over the world.
Maurice has said that their dad envisioned them as a children's version of the Mills Brothers, an American family quartet extremely popular in England and the US from the thirties through the sixties.Young Bee Gees in concert!
The Mills Brothers were known for their tight, beautiful harmonies. So it was then that the Rattlesnakes (Barry, age 9, and Robin and Maurice, age 6) began performing at the local Manchester, England, cinemas between films.
Fast forward to January, 1967 - the Gibb family sailed to Great Britain. While on this journey, the Bee Gees finally got their first #1 in Australia with "Spicks and Specks". They had sent ahead to England demo tapes of most of their Australian material, including "Spicks and Specks", to NEMS Enterprises, headed by the Beatles' manager, Brian Epstein. Unbeknownst to the Brothers, Epstein and his associate, Robert Stigwood, listened to the tapes, and Stigwood was more than interested. Nearly as soon as they were off the ship in England, Stigwood was calling on them.
In short order, the Brothers were signed to a five-year management contract with Stigwood. After adding Vince Melouney (guitar) and Colin Petersen (drums) to the group, the Bee Gees headed for the studio to record "Bee Gees First", which was released in mid-1967. Their first single, "New York Mining Disaster 1941", and the follow-ups "Holiday" and "To Love Somebody", quickly gained them the beginnings of the international recognition they'd been seeking so long. In May of 1967, they appeared on "Top of the Pops", Britain's most important rock and roll showcase. The Bee Gees became the hottest new group in London.
By late '67, the Bee Gees' second album, "Horizontal", had been recorded and released. From this album came the UK chart-topping "Massachusetts". In 1968 came the "Idea" album, with the hit singles "I Started A Joke" and "Gotta Get A Message To You". In the space of a little more than one year, the Brothers Gibb had released three albums, had six hit singles, had made their American TV debut, and were the toast of London.
They began putting together what became "Two Years On", the next Bee Gees album. That album contained "Lonely Days", which became the Brothers first #1 single in the US, and their first gold US single. The release of the album "Trafalgar" later in 1971 further solidified the Brothers. That album contained "How Can You Mend A Broken Heart", a song about the breakup and reconciliation, which also quickly went gold and shot to #1 in the US.
In 1975, the Brothers returned to join Arif Mardin, this time at Criteria. Out of this collaboration came the major shift in direction of "Main Course". The album brought the Barry on stage
Brothers closer to the R & B influences they'd always loved and felt, just when the music world was focusing on R & B dance music. "Main Course" was just that---a tremendous serving of Bee Gees rock and soul, including the "bridge to Criteria"-inspired "Jive Talkin'", "Nights on Broadway (during the recording of this Barry discovered his ability to sing in falsetto)", "Fanny (Be Tender With My Love)", "Wind of Change", and "Edge of the Universe". The Brothers Gibb were back on top, commercially and creatively, as "Main Course" went gold and platinum, both "Nights on Broadway" and "Jive Talkin'" shot to #1, and "Jive Talkin'" was a gold single. A change of record label in the US in 1976 meant Arif Mardin wasn't available to them for their next album, but the Brothers had learned well from him. 1976's "Children of the World" went gold and platinum, both "You Should Be Dancing" and "Love So Right" were gold singles, and "You Should Be Dancing" went to #1 as well. The album also included such songs as "Boogie Child", "Lovers", and "Can't Keep A Good Man Down". Yet amazingly the true heights were still to come. For their next studio album, the Bee Gees chose to record at the Chateau D' Herouville (immortalized by Elton John as the "Honky Chateau"). At the same time, Robert Stigwood was developing his movie about the dance culture in New York City, based on the article "Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night". He needed music for the movie, and knew just where to find it. Thus the Bee Gees gave up the entirety of their studio album to that point---"More Than A Woman", "If I Can't Have You", "How Deep Is Your Love", "Night Fever", and, of course, "Stayin' Alive"---and "Saturday Night Fever" gained the music which propelled it into the stratosphere. The soundtrack to "SNF" became the best-selling album ever (a title it held until Michael Jackson's "Thriller" took over), and it remains the best-selling soundtrack album to this day. While their songs from "SNF" climbed the charts, the Brothers mixed and readied what was their first live album (and their next release), "Here At Last...Bee Gees Live!". "How Deep Is Your Love", their next single, went to #1 and went gold before the "SNF" movie was even released. "Night Fever" and "Stayin' Alive" both were #1 hits, and both went gold and platinum. "If I Can't Have You", written by the Brothers and as recorded by Yvonne Elliman, also was a #1 gold single. The "Saturday Night Fever" soundtrack album itself was #1 for 24 weeks, and at the time went gold and platinum 14 times over. "Saturday Night Fever" took the Bee Gees from being merely chart-topping stars for the second time in their careers to absolute superstardom. It was in 1978 that the Bee Gees had the #1 single, the #1 album, and 5 songs (as artist and/or songwriter) in the Top 10 at the same time in Billboard, Cashbox, and Record World magazines. It was around this same time that the Brothers became based in Miami Beach, Florida, and began looking for a place for their studio to call home. They had already begun helping brother Andy achieve his own stardom, as "I Just Want To Be Your Everything" hit #1 in 1976. "Here At Last...Bee Gees Live!" went gold and platinum. The Brothers began work on the movie "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" with Peter Frampton. The Bee Gees, or their music, were everywhere: movies, radio, TV, belt buckles, necklaces, school lunch boxes, notebooks, and more. < The Brothers went back to the studio, and from there emerged with "Spirits Having Flown", their critically-acclaimed 1979 classic. Filled with many musical styles, the Brothers showed the versatility of their songwriting. "Spirits" stayed at #1 for six weeks, produced the hits "Tragedy", "Too Much Heaven", and "Love You Inside Out", and pushed their 1979 stadium tour of the world to sold-out status. However, out in the pop music world, there were the beginning grumblings of those who said that disco music was "lightweight" and "insignificant". Anything which becomes extraordinarily popular, at least in the US, soon becomes a whipping boy for critics. 1983 brought the release of "Stayin' Alive", the movie sequel to "Saturday Night Fever". The movie flopped badly, but it brought another couple of hits to the Bee Gees: "Someone Belonging to Someone", and the much more successful "The Woman In You". The music video made for "The Woman In You" is, certainly arguably, one of their best concept videos, and it featured (besides them) Cynthia Rhodes from the "Stayin' Alive" movie (and later, Penny in the movie "Dirty Dancing"). March of 1988 brought to the Brothers the tragedy of youngest brother Andy's death in England. On a brighter note, in September, 1996 it was announced that the Bee Gees would be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. Finally, the Bee Gees were acknowledged for all their incredible contributions to rock and roll. In October, 1996, the Brothers opened the 1996 VH-1 Fashion Awards with a well-received live performance of "Stayin' Alive". They continue to perform and their place in music history is assured for The Bee Gees have made lifelong fans of millions all over the world.
A change of record label in the US in 1976 meant Arif Mardin wasn't available to them for their next album, but the Brothers had learned well from him. 1976's "Children of the World" went gold and platinum, both "You Should Be Dancing" and "Love So Right" were gold singles, and "You Should Be Dancing" went to #1 as well. The album also included such songs as "Boogie Child", "Lovers", and "Can't Keep A Good Man Down". Yet amazingly the true heights were still to come.
For their next studio album, the Bee Gees chose to record at the Chateau D' Herouville (immortalized by Elton John as the "Honky Chateau"). At the same time, Robert Stigwood was developing his movie about the dance culture in New York City, based on the article "Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night". He needed music for the movie, and knew just where to find it. Thus the Bee Gees gave up the entirety of their studio album to that point---"More Than A Woman", "If I Can't Have You", "How Deep Is Your Love", "Night Fever", and, of course, "Stayin' Alive"---and "Saturday Night Fever" gained the music which propelled it into the stratosphere. The soundtrack to "SNF" became the best-selling album ever (a title it held until Michael Jackson's "Thriller" took over), and it remains the best-selling soundtrack album to this day. While their songs from "SNF" climbed the charts, the Brothers mixed and readied what was their first live album (and their next release), "Here At Last...Bee Gees Live!".
"How Deep Is Your Love", their next single, went to #1 and went gold before the "SNF" movie was even released. "Night Fever" and "Stayin' Alive" both were #1 hits, and both went gold and platinum. "If I Can't Have You", written by the Brothers and as recorded by Yvonne Elliman, also was a #1 gold single. The "Saturday Night Fever" soundtrack album itself was #1 for 24 weeks, and at the time went gold and platinum 14 times over.
"Saturday Night Fever" took the Bee Gees from being merely chart-topping stars for the second time in their careers to absolute superstardom. It was in 1978 that the Bee Gees had the #1 single, the #1 album, and 5 songs (as artist and/or songwriter) in the Top 10 at the same time in Billboard, Cashbox, and Record World magazines. It was around this same time that the Brothers became based in Miami Beach, Florida, and began looking for a place for their studio to call home. They had already begun helping brother Andy achieve his own stardom, as "I Just Want To Be Your Everything" hit #1 in 1976. "Here At Last...Bee Gees Live!" went gold and platinum. The Brothers began work on the movie "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" with Peter Frampton. The Bee Gees, or their music, were everywhere: movies, radio, TV, belt buckles, necklaces, school lunch boxes, notebooks, and more. <
The Brothers went back to the studio, and from there emerged with "Spirits Having Flown", their critically-acclaimed 1979 classic. Filled with many musical styles, the Brothers showed the versatility of their songwriting. "Spirits" stayed at #1 for six weeks, produced the hits "Tragedy", "Too Much Heaven", and "Love You Inside Out", and pushed their 1979 stadium tour of the world to sold-out status.
However, out in the pop music world, there were the beginning grumblings of those who said that disco music was "lightweight" and "insignificant". Anything which becomes extraordinarily popular, at least in the US, soon becomes a whipping boy for critics.
1983 brought the release of "Stayin' Alive", the movie sequel to "Saturday Night Fever". The movie flopped badly, but it brought another couple of hits to the Bee Gees: "Someone Belonging to Someone", and the much more successful "The Woman In You". The music video made for "The Woman In You" is, certainly arguably, one of their best concept videos, and it featured (besides them) Cynthia Rhodes from the "Stayin' Alive" movie (and later, Penny in the movie "Dirty Dancing").
March of 1988 brought to the Brothers the tragedy of youngest brother Andy's death in England. On a brighter note, in September, 1996 it was announced that the Bee Gees would be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. Finally, the Bee Gees were acknowledged for all their incredible contributions to rock and roll. In October, 1996, the Brothers opened the 1996 VH-1 Fashion Awards with a well-received live performance of "Stayin' Alive". They continue to perform and their place in music history is assured for The Bee Gees have made lifelong fans of millions all over the world.
