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Barry Gibb: Highs, Lows & Heartaches

(Nov 7-8, 2005) You can't think '70s without the BEE GEES. The Brothers Gibb dominated the charts when disco exploded onto the scene, and their soundtrack for Saturday Night Fever shot them into the stratosphere. Now, ET's MARK STEINES sits down with BARRY GIBB to get his take on the fantastic disco era -- and the tragedies that tore his family apart.

"To me, the song that's really reminiscent of that period is 'Stayin' Alive,' or 'Night Fever,'" Barry tells Mark. "[Disco] was bigger than anybody thought it was going to be, and even now, no matter how many films or records came out in that era, Fever still seems to be the thing that people seem to focus on. I can't explain that.

"When someone says, 'Do you want to do a soundtrack to a movie' and you've never done [one], you think, 'Wow, that's great," he says about the origins of Fever. "It became the poster child [of the era] ... We realized that we had reached another level."

Of course, as popular as their music became, there was a terrific backlash that effectively knocked Barry, ROBIN and MAURICE -- and disco -- off the pop culture pedestal.

"Certainly in the Midwest there was a backlash against this music," says Barry, "but they underrated the stay-ability of this kind of music. We're sitting here 30 years later and they're still playing [it]."

Barry says that while the brothers were unified as a group, they were anything but that in their personal lives. "This group didn't thrive on being unified; we thrived on competing against each other," he admits. "But when we were younger, that was good. As we got older, that wasn't acceptable; if someone stuck out, well, the other two weren't so happy about it."

That lack of harmony, combined with a new era of music and the tragic death of brother ANDY GIBB -- and more recently brother Maurice -- took its toll on the group.

"[Tragedy] does two things: It either fuses you together, or it blows the family apart," says Barry. "Death in the family can have those two different effects. I think it's very sad; it wasn't good for our family to lose Andy and Mo.

"Things were not so good between us five years leading up to Maurice's death," continues Barry. "I think the group was well-worn; it had become quite tainted over the years, especially the last decade. I think if we'd all been healthy, especially if Andy had still been with us, [we'd be] a whole family.

"The sense of loss that stays in the family is the void that stays," says Barry, and, unfortunately, it has driven a wedge between him and brother Robin, especially where a tribute album for the late Maurice is concerned.

"I'm not involved," reveals Barry. "I have been deliberately dis-involved. People have actually excluded me from that process. It's personal in my family, and I can't go into it, but certain things were done by the people who look after my brother to stop me from being involved."

Still, Barry intends to pay tribute to Maurice in his own special way, and he looks back fondly at the disco years that catapulted the Bee Gees to superstardom.

"It was a bit like being in the center of a hurricane," says Barry about the Australian trio's phenomenal success, "where you could see the blue sky but there was absolute turbulence going on all around you."

ET November 8, 2005

Barry Gibb snubbed for brother's tribute album

Bee Gees brother Barry Gibb is heartbroken after being told his late brother Maurice's family want him to play no part in a planned tribute album.

Gibb reveals he and siblings, Maurice and Robin, had fallen out five years before Maurice's sudden death in 2003 - and the feud continues two years after the tragedy.

The singer explains: "I have been deliberately disinvolved. People have actually excluded me from that process. "Certain things were done by the people who look after my brother to stop me from being involved.

"It much more involves exploiting the Bee Gees than it does paying tribute to Mo (Maurice), and that's what's sad."

And, speaking exclusively to US news show Entertainment Tonight, Barry Gibb reveals he's more than used to family feuds he and his singing brothers rarely got along.

He blames the death of the brothers' youngest sibling Andy in 1988 for sparking the family squabbles, and tragedy is still breaking them apart.

He says: "It (death) either fuses you together or it blows the family apart. I think it's very sad. It wasn't good for our family, to lose Andy and then Mo.

"The sense of loss that stays in the family... is the void that stays. It's real, it's touchable."

IOL:Breaking News 08/11/2005

Robin Gibb: his replies

(Nov 10, 2005) Robin Gibb was interviewed by Mary Hart for Entertainment Tonight:

- About the tribute to Maurice, he said he had asked Barry to take part, but Barry wasn't ready for it yet.

- When asked about the lack of communication, Robin answered both have been busy on different projects, and as Barry was involved in making the new album for Barbra Streisand, he thought it was not the right time to tell him again about Mo's tribute.

- He was also asked what he would say to Barry: "Well, there's one thing I'd like to say is that Barry, and no one can come between me and you. We're the only two people that count."

- When asked to comment Barry's words about them not being three brothers but three families, he replied: "You know, it's been three rough years of emotional space where we've had to come to terms with Maurice's loss and we've had to deal with that in our own separate ways"

- About Barry not being involved in Maurice's tribute, Robin said: "I've been in touch with him. Asked him to do the tribute album. But there are things that he needed to do on his own."

- About people around Robin excluding Barry from the project, Robin said "I love you and I would never allow that to happen. You are the very heart of the BeeGees. You're with me and we want to go forward I want to go forward together.

- The interviewer asked him again "Why do you think he feels so strongly that he is being shut out of the tribute album to Maurice then?". Robin's reply was: "I can't understand where that comes from, I have been in touch with Barry and I've asked him quite a few times to be involved, but again he's not been ready for various reasons because of Maurice's death."

- Mary Hart said: "But Barry was ready to pick up the phone and call his brother..." And Robin replied he phoned Barry two days before.

- Mary Heart: "Robin understands and shares Barry's grief over losing Maurice three years ago." Robin's reply: "In essence I don't think we're the kind of guys who can come together and work it through together. We had to do it in our own way."

- Mary Hart then asked about Andy: "Andy died after a long battle with drugs. I know that there was discussion about bringing Andy in and making him an official part of the BeeGees but that never happened. Why not?" Robin said : "It never happened because Andy didn't want it to happen and that was something that he made perfectly clear at least two months before he died."

- Finally he was asked about he and Barry getting together for Christmas: "Well, Barry is not very keen on flying, so it seems it will be in Florida. And that's good for me, I need some sunshine"

The Bee Gees Family Feud

The BEE GEES may have been the reigning kings of disco with their multi-platinum album Saturday Night Fever leading the charge, but a pair of tragedies over the course of their career -the deaths of brothers ANDY and more recently groupmate MAURICE- have derailed the personal relationship between the two remaining Brothers Gibb, BARRY and ROBIN.

"The sense of loss that stays in the family is the void that stays," Barry told ET's MARK STEINES earlier this week, and, unfortunately, it has driven a wedge between him and Robin, especially where a tribute album for the late Maurice is concerned.

"I'm not involved," Barry told Mark. "I've been deliberately dis-involved. People have actually excluded me from that process. It's personal in my family, and I can't go into it, but certain things were done by the people who look after my brother to stop me from being involved."

Now, Robin comes to ET to set the record straight and try to explain to MARY HART just what is behind their different points of view.

"I think it's an emotional trigger," says Robin. "I can't understand where that comes from, because I have been in touch with Barry and I have asked him a few times to be involved, but he's not been ready, for various reasons, because of Maurice's death, to actually go out there and do as many projects as possible, so he's had to work through this thing slowly on his own time."

As for any lack of communication, Robin explains that it's only been a few months since they've spoken, and for a good reason. "You have to respect a person's space when they're recording," says Robin. "You can't be talking to them all the time about other projects, but he has been in touch, whether it's been from me or by his advisors."

But even before Maurice's death and the tribute album obstacles, Barry says that "things were not so good" between the Bee Gees for years leading up to Maurice's sudden death in January of 2003. "I think the group was well-worn," he told Mark. "It had become quite tainted over the years, especially the last decade. I think if we'd all been healthy, especially if Andy had still been with us, [we'd be] a whole family.

"[Tragedy] does two things: It either fuses you together, or it blows the family apart," concludes Barry. "Death in the family can have those two different effects. I think it's very sad; it wasn't good for our family to lose Andy and Mo."

ET.TV.yahoo.com (November 10, 2005)

(Special thanks for collecting this articles: Bee Gees World)


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