Maurice Gibb was a famous musician who was part of the Bee Gees, a popular band made up of three brothers: Maurice, Barry, and Robin Gibb. He was born in 1949 and passed away in 2003 when he was 53 years old. Maurice died because of problems with his intestines, which made him very sick.
One special thing Maurice did was write a song called “Jive Talkin’” using a guitar called the J45. He got the idea for the song while driving over a bridge in Florida and listening to the sound of the car tires on the road. This song came out in 1975 on the Bee Gees’ album called Main Course. It was a big hit and reached number one in the United States! It helped the Bee Gees become super famous again, especially when they started making disco music instead of slow songs.
In 1987, Maurice gave his J45 guitar to a radio station called Radio 1. They used it as a prize for a show hosted by Bruno Brookes. All three Bee Gees brothers signed the guitar, making it extra special. The person who won it later sold it on a TV show called Four Rooms in 2014.
Maurice also had another cool instrument: a double-neck guitar called the EBS-1250. It was a mix of a bass and a guitar in one! He sold it in 1974 to someone who kept it for a long time. This guitar was made by Gibson in 1968, and it might be the only one like it in the world.
Now, both the J45 and the double-neck guitar are being sold at a big auction in the UK, run by Gardiner Houlgate in a place called Corsham, Wiltshire. The auctioneer, Luke Hobbs, says these guitars are super rare and important because they show two big parts of the Bee Gees’ story: their early ballad days and their later disco success. The J45 is famous for being the guitar Maurice used to write “Jive Talkin’,” and there’s even a letter from Radio 1 proving who won it. You can also see Maurice playing the double-neck guitar in old videos online.
This auction is a huge deal—it has over 400 guitars, making it the biggest guitar auction ever in the UK, and maybe even the world! People from all over are excited to see these special Bee Gees guitars and other cool instruments, like a guitar George Harrison from The Beatles once played.
