Barry Gibb

Barry Gibb

Barry Alan Crompton Gibb, CBE (born 1 September 1946), is a singer, songwriter and producer. He was born in the Isle of Man, to English parents. With his brothers Robin and Maurice, he formed the Bee Gees, one of the most successful pop groups of all time. The trio got their start in Australia, and found their major success when they returned to England. He is known for his high-pitched falsetto singing voice. Gibb holds the record for consecutive Hot 100 Number Ones as a writer with 6. He also is the only songwriter to have written or co-written five songs that were simultaneously in the top ten and this occurred five weeks.

Early life

Born Barry Alan Crompton Gibb to Barbara (née Pass) and Hugh Gibb on the Isle of Man. The second-born of five children, he has an older sister, Lesley (b. 1945), and three younger brothers, fraternal twins Maurice (1949-2003) and Robin (b. 1949), and Andy (1958-1988). In the 1950s, he and his family moved to Chorlton-cum-Hardy in Manchester before, in late 1958, his family moved to Brisbane, Australia, settling in one of the city's poorest suburbs, Cribb Island, which was subsequently obliterated to make way for Brisbane Airport. Following brother Maurice's death in 2003 from a strangulated intestine, he and brother Robin, announced that they would no longer perform as the Bee Gees.

Personal life

Barry Gibb married a former "Miss Edinburgh (Scotland)" Linda Gray on 1 September 1970, choosing Barry's birthdate "so he wouldn't forget [their] anniversary" according to Linda from a 1979 biography of the Bee Gees. At that time they lived in Abbey House, a mansion block in London near the Abbey Road crossing made famous by The Beatles. They have five children: Stephen (b. 1973), Ashley (b. 1977), Travis (b. 1981), Michael (b. 1984), and Alexandra (b. 1991). Michael Jackson was the godfather of Barry's son Michael. Gibb's son Steve Gibb has toured with the Bee Gees and is currently a guitarist for the bands Crowbar and Kingdom Of Sorrow.

According to the biography Tales from The Brothers' Gibb ... In the early 90s Barry had a heart attack brought on by morphine during a back operation and suffers from arthritis. He also thought that his career was over because his hands were badly affected and sometimes wears a glove to keep his hand warm while playing the guitar.

In January 2006 Gibb purchased the former home of country legends Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash in Hendersonville, Tennessee, intending to restore it and turn it into a songwriting retreat. This house was destroyed by fire on 10 April 2007 while under renovation.

On 10 July 2009, both Barry and Robin were made Freemen of the Borough of Douglas. The award was also bestowed posthumously on Maurice, therefore confirming the freedom of the town of their birth to all three brothers.

Gibb resides in Miami Beach Florida and Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire. Gibb is left-handed,but he plays guitar right-handed.

Political activity

On 7 December 2006, Barry Gibb, along with around 4,500 other musicians, took out a full-page advertisement in the Financial Times newspaper calling for the British Government to extend the existing 50 years copyright protection for sound recordings in the United Kingdom. The fair play for musicians advertisement was viewed as a direct response to the Gowers Review published by the British Government on 6 December 2006 which recommended the retention of the 50 year protection for sound recordings.

Recent work

• On the 8 May 2007 episode of American Idol, Gibb mentored the four remaining contestants, and on the following night, he sang his own song "To Love Somebody" before the elimination of LaKisha Jones.

• As a preview to his forthcoming country album, Gibb released the song "Drown On The River" to iTunes. The song is also be featured in the 2008 movie Deal starring Burt Reynolds.

• According to interviews, Gibb has some resistance to his late 70s music being called 'disco' and had thought of the music that they were writing at the time as R&B and soul.

• Gibb composed the theme music for ITV's Grease Is The Word.

• On 14 March 2009 Gibb teamed with Olivia Newton-John to present the one hour finale performance at a star studded 12 hour live concert at Sydney's Sydney Cricket Ground, part of Sound Relief, a fundraiser to aid victims of the February 2009 Victorian Bushfires that devastated large tracts of heavily wooded and populated south-eastern Australia. The concert was televised live nationally across Australia on the Max TV cable network.

• Barry also authored the new composition for the Masters Championship golf tournament for NBC's coverage of the tournament. He has been recently working with Damon Albarn for Gorillaz 3rd album.

• In late 2009, Barry and Robin began performing together as the Bee Gees.

Pop culture references

The Barry Gibb Talk Show has been a popular satirical segment on Saturday Night Live, and featured Jimmy Fallon as a temperamental Barry and Justin Timberlake as his brother Robin. Barry Gibb had a short cameo role in the Only Fools and Horses film Miami Twice, in which he is seen in the garden of his Miami home as a tourist boat passes by.

Discography

The Kid's No Good

Polydor, 1970 (unreleased)

Side 1

• Mando Bay
• One Bad Thing
• The Day Your Eyes Meet Mine
• Happiness
• Peace In My Mind
• Clyde O'Reilly

Side 2

• I Just Wanna Take Care Of You
• I'll Kiss Your Memory
• The Victim
• This Time
• What's It All About
• Born

Album Notes

• No definite title is known, but this is the title constantly given to Barry's 1970 album.
• This is most likely the intended lineup (though some sources swap "Mando Bay" and "Born"); however, bootleg versions add a number of extraneous bonus tracks. It seems obvious that "Born" was intended to be the final track, as it ends with a long, anthemic ending that would've made an appropriate finale to the LP.
• Despite a bootleg claiming to be on the Polydor label, no official CD release has appeared as of yet.
• "I'll Kiss Your Memory" and "This Time" were released on a single, which failed to chart.

1984 - Now Voyager

Polydor, 1984

Side 1

• I Am Your Driver
• Fine Line
• Face To Face
• Shatterproof
• Shine Shine

Side 2

• Lesson In Love
• One Night (For Lovers)
• Stay Alone
• Temptation
• She Says
• The Hunter

Album Notes

• To tie in with the album, Barry filmed a short film based on its songs, also titled "Now Voyager." This film is currently available as a Region 0 (all region) NTSC DVD.
• 'Shine Shine' reached the Top 40 in the US and the Top 10 in Adult Contemporary Charts.

Moonlight Madness

Polydor, 1986 (unreleased)

Side 1

• Moonlight Madness
• My Eternal Love
• System Of Love
• Where Tomorrow Is
• In Search Of Love
• Cover You

Side 2

• The Savage Is Loose
• Not In Love At All
• Words Of A Fool
• Distant Strangers
• Change
• Letting Go

Album Notes

• Also known as WHEN TOMORROW COMES and MY ETERNAL LOVE.
• Several songs would later appear on the HAWKS soundtrack.
• A bootleg version exists, titled THE ORIGINAL HAWKS. This disc features the entire unreleased album, as well as a number of bonus tracks.

1988 - Hawks (OST)

Polydor, 1988

• System Of Love
• Childhood Days
• My Eternal Love
• Moonlight Madness
• Where Tomorrow Is
• Celebration De La Vie (Theme From 'Hawks')
• Chain Reaction
• Cover You
• Not In Love At All
• Letting Go

Album Notes

• The final incarnation of the unreleased MOONLIGHT MADNESS album.
• "Chain Reaction" is performed by Diana Ross.

2006 - The Eaten Alive Demos

private, 1985 / iTunes, 2006

• Oh Teacher
• Experience
• More And More
• I'm Watching You
• Love On The Line
• (I Love) Being In Love With You
• Crime Of Passion
• Don't Give Up On Each Other

Album Notes

• Recorded as a guideline for Diana Ross.
• Released on iTunes in 2006 as "The Eatin Alive Demos". The spelling of "Eaten" was later corrected.
• Notable for their absences are "Eaten Alive" and "Chain Reaction". Though a demo exists, the album's title track was not included as the song is currently the property of its co-author, Michael Jackson. And Barry and Albhy Galuten did not send any demo of "Chain Reaction" to Diana Ross, and evidently Barry did not want to release whatever work tape they had of it.

2006 - The Guilty Demos

private, 1979 (unreleased) / iTunes, 2006

• Guilty
• Woman In Love
• Run Wild
• Promises
• The Love Inside
• What Kind Of Fool
• Life Story
• Make It Like A Memory
• Carried Away
• Secrets

Album Notes

• Recorded as a guideline for Barbra Streisand.
• Finally released on iTunes in 2006 as "The Guilty Demos."
• A demo of "Never Give Up" was also recorded, but remains unreleased.
• "Carried Away" and "Secrets" were not used on Barbra's version.

2006 - The Eyes That See in the Dark Demos

private, 1983 (unreleased) / iTunes, 2006

• This Woman
• You And I
• Buried Treasure
• Islands In The Stream
• Living With You
• Evening Star
• Hold Me
• Midsummer Nights
• I Will Always Love You
• Eyes That See In The Dark

Album Notes

• Recorded as a guideline for Kenny Rogers.
• Released on iTunes in 2006 as "The Eyes That See In The Dark Demos."
• Strangely, Barry's solo version of "Islands in the Stream" was passed up when the song was chosen for inclusion on the 2001 compilation, THE RECORD. (Instead, Robin and Maurice, sans Barry, recorded a brand new version.)

2006 - The Heartbreaker Demos

private, 1982 (unreleased) / iTunes, 2006

• Heartbreaker
• It Makes No Difference
• Yours
• Take The Short Way Home
• Misunderstood
• All The Love In The World
• I Can't See Anything (But You)
• Just One More Night
• You Are My Love

Album Notes

• Recorded as a guideline for Dionne Warwick.
• Released on iTunes in 2006 as "The Heartbreaker Demos."

Guilty Pleasures

private, 2005 (unreleased) / Barry Gibb Radio, 2006

• Come Tomorrow
• Stranger In A Strange Land
• Hideaway
• It's Up To You
• Night Of My Life
• Above The Law
• Without Your Love
• All Our Children
• Golden Dawn

Album Notes

• Recorded as a guideline for Barbra Streisand.
• As of yet, the full-length demos have not been released. All nine songs appeared on the online Barry Gibb Radio as two or three minute fragments, with a fade at each end.
• Two songs are missing from the above tracklist - '(Our Love) Don't Throw It All Away' and 'Letting Go'. As both songs were previously released, no new demos were necessary.

Albums

• 1970: The Kid's No Good (Unreleased)
• 1984: Now Voyager
• 1988: Hawks (Soundtrack album)
• 2006: The Eaten Alive Demos (iTunes)
• 2006: The Guilty Demos (iTunes)
• 2006: The Eyes That See In The Dark Demos (iTunes)
• 2006: The Heartbreaker Demos (iTunes)

Singles

• 1969: "I'll Kiss Your Memory"
• 1978: "A Day in the Life"
• 1981: "Guilty" (duet with Barbra Streisand)
• 1981: "What Kind of Fool" (duet with Barbra Streisand)
• 1984: "Shine Shine"
• 1984: "Fine Line"
• 1988: "Childhood Days"
• 2006: "Dr. Mann"
• 2006: "Underworld"
• 2007: "Drown On the River"

External links

• The Official Barry Gibb Website
• Maurice Gibb Website
• Andy Gibb Website
• Bee Gees
• Gibb Service International
• Barry Gibb at IMDb