Barry Gibb wasn’t exaggerating when he told me that he and Olivia Newton John had “lived the same life”. British born, Australian-raised, first strides to fame in the UK, superstardom in the USA, careers of various astounding triumphs that are perennially overshadowed by one particular cultural earthquake; it’s not hard to see the parallels between…
Tag: Andy Gibb
Taylor Hawkins, Dave Grohl & the visual power of friendship in rock & roll
When I think of Taylor Hawkins I immediately think of friendship. Sometimes the profound power of a band is beyond just the sounds they make. Indeed, that’s hardly surprising given the importance of image in entertainment. But what always stood apart for me with Taylor is that he was in a rock band – the…
40 Years Since Andy Gibb’s ‘Shadow Dancing’ & The Biggest Hit Of 1978
This past week marked 40 years since Andy Gibb hit the summit of the US singles charts with Shadow Dancing, the title track to his second album. This wasn’t just a big hit. We’re talking double platinum in the US with more than 2.5 million copies sold in that country alone. Then there are the…
30 Years Since Andy Gibb Died, Why It’s Time To Re-Examine His Career
It’s 30 years since one of the biggest teen idols of them all, Andy Gibb, passed away. Given that this month also marks what would’ve been Andy’s 60th birthday, I wanted to post an updated version of an article I wrote in 2013 that I hoped would encourage people to re-examine his life and career. Five years on…
Samantha Gibb: ‘The man knew how to rock a fedora’ – An Extended Interview Ahead Of The New Bee Gees Tribute Album
The Gibb Collective is a Bee Gees and Andy Gibb tribute album with a twist: all the performers are related to Barry, Robin, Maurice and Andy. What began as just Samantha Gibb (daughter of Maurice) recording a cover of New York Mining Disaster 1941 evolved into a 10-track album including her brother Adam as well…
Bee Gees Mother Barbara Gibb Dies – 4 Deep Album Cuts From Each Of Her 4 Sons
The Bee Gees with their Mum Barbara in 1997. What a lady. 95 years on this planet, five children, four sons, one who’d become the only solo artist to have his first three singles go to US#1, three others who’d sell 220 million records and write no less than 21 different US and UK#1 hits….
Whatever Happened To The Bee Gees In The 80s?
Bee Gees ESP album cover, 1987 For people in the Southern Hemisphere, last night was the longest night of the year. Never afraid of a slightly tenuous link if it means I can talk about the Bee Gees, I couldn’t resist sharing this beautiful song of the same name, The Longest Night. Where I live…
The Overlooked Genius Of The Bee Gees’ Lyrics
Something occasionally said even by staunch admirers of the Bee Gees is that they were melodically and vocally superior than they were lyrically. What this overlooks is a point made in a recent The Paris Review article about the Gibbs: the appeal, even if it was subconscious, of the “melancholic emotion, even paranoia,” of the brothers’…
Andy Gibb With A Country / Pop Song John Denver Would’ve Been Proud Of
I wrote a post yesterday about it being 25 years this week since the death of Andy Gibb and mentioned that many music fans might be surprised to learn much of his songwriting was in the country vein. This taps into the endless frustration I have with people’s idiotic appraisal of late 70s music in…
25 Years Since Andy Gibb’s Death – A Remarkable, Lost Song
Andy Gibb. A little over a week since Barry Gibb’s triumphant Mission Estate Concert in Napier (in front of 20,000 fans, see article below about my backstage experience), the Gibb family are in the news again today, specifically Andy. If he was still alive, today would be his 55th birthday and in just five days…
Mickey Rourke’s ‘The Wrestler’ & How It Parallels The Life Of Pop Star Andy Gibb
At home yesterday I cracked out some of my old Andy Gibb LPs. I wanted to hear Shadow Dancing again which despite being the biggest hit of 1978 in the US, you hardly hear on the radio anymore. What a great song, what perfect pop albums and as is always the case with Andy, listening…