Bee gees documentary music archive#

“We were not really that good when it came to doing anything without a pill,” says Barry. The early 1970s brought the Bee Gees a new wave of popularity and consecutive gold-selling US singles in “Lonely Days” and the titular, chart-topping “How Can You Mend A Broken Heart.” But all was not well. They mirrored what we wanted to be.” Stimulants nearly drove the group off the rails At the same time, Robin and I did two different leads, and Maurice would always know where to put that other melody, to make a three-part harmony. “They all did something unique in their own way. “We fell in love with the Mills Brothers,” says Barry. Their influence is often underestimated, but not by the Bee Gees. Harmony kings the Mills Brothers began performing in the late 1920s and were still going in the early 80s, selling a cool 50 million records along the way. The Bee Gees’ underrated inspiration was a hit group who started in the 1920s The audience were expecting Bee Gees hits, not Robin’s solo material, and some clambered on stage, to be restrained by security staff. As footage in the documentary shows, it did not go well. It was really me and Robin that were in conflict, and I think Maurice was in the middle.” A Robin Gibb show in New Zealand nearly caused a riotĭuring the period in which he had left the group and was pursuing the solo career that delivered a major hit in “Saved By The Bell,” Robin Gibb played a show in Auckland in 1970. “I stopped really knowing Robin and his personal life once we became famous,” says Barry. “I don’t know where they are now, but that’s how crazy it was.” But it wasn’t all plain sailing. “I had six Rolls Royces before I was 21,” says Maurice. “I mean, bonkers.”Ĭlick to load video Success brought material riches…and personal challenges But the management deal came as a surprise to Eric Clapton, who explains that he thought the agreement that he and Cream had with Stigwood was exclusive. Maurice says the group went from being Beatles nuts to partying with them, in five months. He took them on, promoting them extensively in the British media and helping to set the scene for the striking “New York Mining Disaster 1941” to become their debut UK hit. “Robin and Maurice started to collaborate and sing with me, and we started doing gigs as a teenage act.” Robert Stigwood’s adoption of the Bee Gees surprised Eric ClaptonĪustralian entrepreneur Robert Stigwood embraced the eager trio early in 1967, when his NEMS management colleague Brian Epstein passed him their demo tape. “My ninth Christmas, there was an acoustic guitar at the end of my bed,” recalls Barry.

Bee gees documentary music archive#

The Gibb boys inherited some of their creative drive from their father, Hugh, himself a musician and described by Maurice in an archive interview in the film as “the most ambitious man, I think, in the Gibb clan.” The moment it all went up a notch came one festive season.

The birth of the Bee Gees can be pinpointed at December 25, 1954 Here are ten lesser-known morsels that help to make up these engrossing tales of the brothers Gibb.

It also contains new and often revealing interviews with Barry and with friends and admirers Eric Clapton, Mark Ronson, Noel Gallagher, Lulu, Nick Jonas, Chris Martin, and Justin Timberlake.

The Polygram Entertainment presentation offers some fascinating archive material, with home movies, indelible hits, improbable haircuts, and the keepsakes of so many decades in the public eye.