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Barry Gibb

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Barry Gibb

Barry Alan Crompton Gibb CBE (born 1 September 1946) is a singer, songwriter and producer. He was born in Douglas, 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. According to britishhitsongwriters.com he is the fourth most successful songwriter in U.K. singles chart history based on weeks that his compositions have spent on the chart (his brother Robin being the fifth).[1]

Early life

Born Barry Alan Crompton Gibb to Barbara (née Pass) and Hugh Gibb in the [[Isle of Man. The second-born of five children, he has an older sister, Lesley (b. 1945), and three younger brothers, twins Maurice and Robin (b. 1949), and Andrew (b. 1958). 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.

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. [citation needed]

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. [2] This house was destroyed by fire on 10 April 2007 while under renovation.[3]

Gibb resides in Miami Beach Florida and Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire.

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

  • As a preview to his forthcoming country album, Gibb has released the song "Drown On The River" to iTunes. The song will 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.[4]
  • On 14 March 2009 Gibb teamed with Olivia Newton-John to present the 1-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.

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. 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

Albums

  • 1984: Now Voyager
  • 1988: Hawks
  • 2006: The Eyes That See in the Dark

Singles

References

  1. ^ http://britishhitsongwriters.com/page3.htm
  2. ^ "Gibb buys Johnny Cash's house". Retrieved 2007-04-15.
  3. ^ "Johnny Cash's Former Home Burns to Ground". Retrieved 2007-04-10.
  4. ^ e.g. stated in the biography "Keppel Road: The Life and Music of the Bee Gees" (Oct 6, 1997), VHS/DVD available from UNIVERSAL/POLYGRAM


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