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The Bee Gees are a group of brothers who were born in
Douglas, The Isle of Man in Britain. They moved to Manchester
on the mainland and began singing in the early 50s and debuted at a local
cinema. In 1958 the family emigrated to Australia. The brothers initially called
themselves Les Tossers (they were later to walk
out of a TV talk show because of the joke made by the presenter). This was followed by The
Rattlesnakes and later Wee Johnny Hayes & the Bluecats and they have been
active as a group since 1958. A
DJ called Bill Gates and a racetrack promoter, Bill Goode introduced them
to radio and it was they who renamed them and the name was their initials
and not just for the Brothers Gibb as is commonly thought. The group's first LP Barry Gibb and the Bee Gees Sing and
Play Barry Gibb Songs was released in 1965 and they returned to England
in 1967 where other members of the group were added. They split as a band in 1969 due to
disagreements about Barry being promoted more than the others but they
reunited in late 1970. They
moved to Miami to record in
1975, at the suggestion of Eric Clapton. For the eight months beginning at
Christmas 1977, they wrote six songs that held the No.1 position in the US
charts for 25 of 32 consecutive weeks, three recorded by them, two by their
brother Andy Gibb and one by Yvonne Elliman. The album Saturday Night Fever on which they were heavily featured is the
biggest selling soundtrack of all time. They had 5 songs written by them in
the Top 10 at the same time which ranks them 2nd behind The
Beatles. They appeared with
Peter Frampton in the movie Sgt.
Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band. Although one of the most parodied
groups, they were successful as a group for over 40 years, recording as a
group and also individually but retired the name of the group following the
death of Maurice in 2003. Most
of their hits were co-written by the three brothers.
Members
Barry Gibb (1958-1969, 1970-2003) (vocals)
Robin Gibb (1958-1969, 1970-2003) (vocals)
Maurice Gibb (1958-1969,
1970-2003)(vocals/bass/guitar/keyboard)
Vince Melouney (1967-1968) (guitar)
Colin Petersen (1967-1969) (drums)
Geoff Bridgeford (1969-1972) (drums)
Alan Kendall (1971-1980, 1986-1999)(lead
guitar)
Dennis Bryon (1974-1980) (drums)
Blue Weaver (1975-1980) (keyboards)
Matt Bonelli (1993-2003) (bass)
Steve Rucker
(1993-2003) (drums)
Ben Stivers (1997-2003?) (keyboards)
Bee Gees Recordings
Jive Talking (Barry Gibb/Maurice Gibb/Robin
Gibb)
Wind of Change (Barry Gibb /Robin Gibb)
Nights
on Broadway (Barry Gibb/Robin Gibb/Maurice Gibb)
Edge of the Universe (Barry Gibb/Robin Gibb)
Source:
1.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bee_Gees
2.
http://www.beegeesonline.com/
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