Bee Gees

The Bee Gees were a British and Australian band, originally a pop singer-songwriter combination, reborn as funk and rhythm and blues. The brothers Gibb, consisting of frequent lead vocalist Barry, and the twins, co-lead vocalist Robin, and keyboardist/guitarist Maurice, were born in the Isle of Man in the 1940s.

1970s: Saturday Night Fever

After a live album, the Bee Gees agreed to participate in the creation to the soundtrack for Saturday Night Fever, a forthcoming movie. The album broke multiple records for soundtrack sales, and four Bee Gees hits ("Stayin' Alive", "How Deep Is Your Love?", "More Than a Woman", and "Night Fever") reached #1, launching the most popular age of disco. They also penned the song "If I Can't Have You" which became a #1 hit for Yvonne Elliman. Such was the popularity of Saturday Night Fever, that two different versions of the song "More Than A Woman", one by the Bee Gees and another by Tavares, charted simultaneously. This album has since sold over 30 million copies worldwide, making it the second best selling soundtrack album of all time (behind only Whitney Houston's 1992 album The Bodyguard.) The Bee Gees became bigger than ever before, even outselling The Beatles. During this era, Barry and Robin wrote "Emotion" for an old friend, Samantha Sang, who made it a Top Ten hit (the Bee Gees sang back-up vocals). A year later, Barry wrote the title song to the movie version of the Broadway musical Grease for Frankie Valli to perform. The three Bee Gees also starred in the disastrous Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, based on the classic Beatles album published in 1967; the accompanying movie soundtrack was a legendary under-performer in stores.

Related Topics:
Saturday Night Fever - Stayin' Alive - Night Fever - Yvonne Elliman - More Than A Woman - Tavares - Soundtrack - Whitney Houston - The Bodyguard - The Beatles - Samantha Sang - Grease - Frankie Valli - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

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A fourth Gibb, younger brother Andy, also managed to enjoy massive success releasing dance albums. However, disco was rapidly declining in popularity and viability, and a large anti-Bee Gees faction of music listeners had erupted as the 1970s ended. Even so, the Bee Gees had one more multi-platinum success following "Saturday Night Fever," with their Spirits Having Flown album. Turning away from disco rhythms, it yielded three more Top 10 hits: "Tragedy," "Too Much Heaven" (originally written for, but not used in, the John Travolta movie "Moment By Moment"), and "Love You Inside Out." During the "Spirits" sessions, the Bee Gees recorded "Desire" with brother Andy on guest lead vocals; the single peaked at #4 as an Andy Gibb release.

Related Topics:
Dance - 1970 - Spirits Having Flown - Too Much Heaven

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The Bee Gees' overwhelming good fortune rose and sank with the disco bubble. The backlash against disco largely sank the Bee Gees' American career; after the spring of 1979, the group would only have two minor Top 40 singles, plus the Top 10 1989 comeback "One." However, their international popularity sustained less damage; for example, the group would notch five more Top 5 hits in the United Kingdom between 1987 and 1998.

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