
Gates renamed them the BG's (later changed to "Bee Gees") after his (Goode's) and Barry Gibb's initials-thus the name was not specifically a reference to "Brothers Gibb", despite popular belief. The crowd at the speedway would throw money onto the track for the boys, who generally performed during the interval of meetings (usually on the back of a truck that drove around the track), and in a deal with Goode, any money they collected from the crowd they were allowed to keep.
#Bee gees documentary 2017 driver
They were introduced to leading Brisbane radio DJ Bill Gates by speedway promoter and driver Bill Goode, who had hired the brothers to entertain the crowd at the Redcliffe Speedway in 1960. The young brothers began performing to raise pocket money. In August 1958, the Gibb family, including older sister Lesley and infant brother Andy, emigrated to Redcliffe, just north-east of Brisbane in Queensland, Australia. In May 1958, the Rattlesnakes were disbanded when Frost and Horrocks left, so the Gibb brothers then formed Wee Johnny Hayes and the Blue Cats, with Barry as Johnny Hayes. The brothers had to sing live and received such a positive response from the audience that they decided to pursue a singing career. The story is told that they were going to lip sync to a record in the local Gaumont cinema (as other children had done on previous weeks), but as they were running to the theatre, the fragile shellac 78-RPM record broke.

In December 1957, the boys began to sing in harmony. In 1955, the brothers Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb moved back to their father Hugh Gibb's hometown of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester, England, and formed a skiffle/rock-and-roll group, the Rattlesnakes, which consisted of Barry on guitar and vocals, Robin and Maurice on vocals, and friends Paul Frost on drums and Kenny Horrocks on tea-chest bass. History 1955–1966: Music origins, Bee Gees formation and popularity in Australia Robin died in May 2012, aged 62, after a prolonged struggle with cancer and other health problems, leaving Barry as the only surviving member of the group's final line-up. In 2009, Robin announced that he and Barry had agreed the Bee Gees would re-form and perform again. The Bee Gees' Hall of Fame citation says, "Only Elvis Presley, the Beatles, Michael Jackson, Garth Brooks and Paul McCartney have outsold the Bee Gees." įollowing Maurice's death in January 2003, at the age of 53, Barry and Robin retired the group's name after 45 years of activity. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997 the presenter of the award to "Britain's first family of harmony" was Brian Wilson, historical leader of The Beach Boys, another "family act" featuring three harmonising brothers. After achieving their first chart success in Australia as the Bee Gees with "Spicks and Specks" (their 12th single), they returned to the UK in January 1967, when producer Robert Stigwood began promoting them to a worldwide audience.Īs of July 2013, the Bee Gees have sold more than 220 million records worldwide, placing them among the world's best-selling music artists of all time. The family then moved to Redcliffe, in Queensland, Australia, and then to Cribb Island. There, in 1955, they formed the Rattlesnakes. The Bee Gees wrote all of their own hits, as well as writing and producing several major hits for other artists.īorn on the Isle of Man to English parents, the Gibb brothers lived in Chorlton, Manchester, England, until the late 1950s. The group sang recognisable three-part tight harmonies Robin's clear vibrato lead vocals were a hallmark of their earlier hits, while Barry's R&B falsetto became their signature sound during the mid-to-late 1970s and 1980s.


The trio were successful for most of their decades of recording music, but they had two distinct periods of exceptional success: as a popular music act in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and as prominent performers of the disco music era in the mid-to-late 1970s. Their lineup consisted of brothers Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The Bee Gees were a pop music group formed in 1958.
