Bee Gees far more than disco kings

Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Apr 18, 2003 by Scott IwasakiDeseret News staff writer

Monday night, my wife and I went to see Odyssey Dance Theatre's "Shut Up and Dance" performance of "Staying Alive." While we were waiting for the house lights to dim, I overheard a woman telling her daughter that she hoped the dancing wouldn't be to Bee Gees music.

Unfortunately for her, it was.

However, the rest of the audience, including my wife and I, loved it. And the music held up quite well.

Thanks to the 1978 flick "Saturday Night Fever," there is a general misconception of Barry, Robin and the late Maurice Gibb as a falsetto-voiced disco band. That image has been imbedded into pop culture's convoluted consciousness for 25 years.

In fact, however, the Bee Gees were primarily a rock band in the same vein as the Beatles.

The Gibb Brothers, sons of Hughie Gibb (who had his own Hughie Gibb Orchestra), moved from England to Australia in 1958. On that island continent, the Gibb Brothers formed a band called the Rattlesnakes and sang covers of harmony-filled hits by the Everly Brothers and the Chordettes.

By the time Barry, the oldest, was 13, the trio's recordings had been played on station 4KQ by Australian DJ Bill Gates, who christened the band the Brothers Gibb, and later the name was shortened to the Bee Gees.

By 1967, the group had a string of minor hits and signed with Robert Stigwood. The songs Barry wrote for the group then were rock and folk. The Bee Gees' first U.S. hit was "New York Mining Disaster 1941 (Have You Seen My Wife Mr. Jones)," which peaked at No. 14 later that year.

Other hits -- "To Love Somebody," "Holiday," "(The Lights Went Out in Massachusetts)" and "Words" -- followed. Then things really began to pick up with "I've Gotta Get a Message to You" and "I Started Joke," which solidified the Bee Gees' place on American radio.

In 1971, the group had it's first No. 1 hit, "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart." The second No. 1, "Jive Talkin,' " would arrive in 1975, and did give a glimpse of the Bee Gee's easy dance groove. That was followed up with another No. 1 hit, "You Should Be Dancin.' "

By 1977, the world was conquered by the night-life glitter of disco, and the Bee Gees were commissioned by Stigwood to create a soundtrack to the John Travolta flick "Saturday Night Fever."

In addition to the live version of "Jive Talkin,' " and a re- recording of "You Should Be Dancin'," the soundtrack featured three more No. 1 hits -- "Staying Alive," "How Deep Is Your Love" and "Night Fever."

By the time the Gibbses followed up their chart success with the album "Spirits Having Flown," the soundtrack to "Saturday Night Fever" remained on the Billboard Top 200 charts for 24 weeks and sold more than 24 million copies. During that period, "Saturday Night Fever" became the biggest-selling album of all time. (Until Michael Jackson's "Thriller" took the crown in 1982. "Eagles Greatest Hits, Vol. 1" currently holds the title.)

"Spirits Having Flown" unleashed three No. 1 singles -- "Tragedy," "Too Much Heaven" and "Love You Inside and Out."

In addition to those songs, Barry Gibb produced and wrote Top 10 hits for Samantha Sang ("Emotion"), Dionne Warwick ("Heartbreaker"), Barbara Streisand ("Guilty," "Woman In Love" and "What Kind of Fool") and Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton ("Islands in the Stream," with a chorus that was later reworked for Pras' 1996 hit "Ghetto Superstar"). And that doesn't include all the production work on little brother Andy's recordings.

Obviously, the Bee Gees, although known by the world and that woman at the Odyssey dance concert as mere disco kings, they are so much more.

My name is Scott Iwasaki and I'm a Bee Gees fan.

E-mail: scott@desnews.com