The Bee Gees are a famous music group made up of three brothers: Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. I think their music and success are extra special at the end of each 10-year period, called a decade. Let’s take a simple look at their story!
It all started in 1958 when the Gibb family moved from cold England to sunny Australia. The brothers worked hard as young TV stars there and finally became big around the world in 1967 with their hit songs. That’s when people everywhere started loving their music!
Ten years later, in the late 1970s, they made some of the most famous songs ever, like the ones in Saturday Night Fever. Everyone still knows those tunes today! In the 1980s, they wrote huge hits for other singers like Barbra Streisand and Kenny Rogers. Then, in 1987, they had their own big song again called “You Win Again.” Exactly 10 years later, in 1997, they released an album called Still Waters that sold tons of copies—their biggest in almost 20 years!
By the early 2000s, people said the Bee Gees’ songs were played on the radio more than anyone else’s in the world—even more than the Beatles or other famous songwriters. That’s a big deal! They wrote about 1,000 songs, and people in every country love them.
Now, let’s talk about 2016. That year, Barry Gibb, the oldest brother, released a new album called In The Now. It was his first big solo album since 1984. Even though it came out in a year ending with “6” and not “7,” I think it still fits my idea that the Bee Gees do great things at the end of decades. Maybe there’s something magical about those years that makes artists like Barry extra creative!
Some people call the Bee Gees a “70s band” because of their big hits back then, but they had number-one songs in the 60s, 80s, and 90s too. I wonder if artists who shine at the end of decades get remembered as much as ones who stick to one time period. What do you think?
Barry Gibb has always been a big part of the Bee Gees, but he’s done solo music too. He made some albums on his own that not many people heard, like The Kid’s No Good in 1970, which he didn’t release because he went back to singing with his brothers. In the 1980s, he wrote songs for other stars, and those became super popular. He also made an album called Now Voyager in 1984 with videos for every song, but it didn’t get as much attention as it deserved. Another album, Moonlight Madness, was planned for 1986 but turned into a Bee Gees album instead. Some of those songs ended up in a movie called Hawks in 1988, which is about two friends living life to the fullest.
In The Now, released in 2016, was a family project—Barry wrote the songs with his sons Stephen and Ashley. It was his first big solo album in a long time, and fans were really excited! Barry is one of the best songwriters ever, and this album showed he still had lots of great music to share.
Want to hear some of Barry’s best solo songs? Check out “My Eternal Love” from 1988 with its big, high voice, or “Victim” and “Born” from 1970, which feel warm and cozy. “Childhood Days” from 1988 is a little sad but beautiful, and “You And I” from 1983 is so pretty that fans love it. Then there’s “I Am Your Driver” from 1984, which has a fun, bouncy sound. These songs show how talented Barry is all by himself!
