The Disco Kings!
In 1977-79, the three brothers Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb were so popular they had six consecutive #1 singles, something only The Beatles had achieved previously.
The 6 #1 tunes were: How Deep Is Your Love, Stayin’ Alive, Night Fever, Too Much Heaven, Tragedy, and Love You Inside Out.
But that’s just a good spell, Bee Gees also released legendary tunes like Jive Talkin’, You Should Be Dancing, and More Than A Woman in the same half of the late 70s.
This Disco era was the glory days for the three brothers, with estimated sales of over 200 million records, mainly being achieved between 1975-79.
It’s hard to believe that they’d formed twenty years earlier, in 1955 on the Isle Man in England as the skiffle group the Rattlesnakes.
Like many other families, they migrated to Australia where they renamed themselves Bee Gees. This is where they honed their skills, even achieving some chart success.
When they returned to England and started working with Robert Stigwood, it was still only 1967.
Their first big hit was Massachusetts that same year, which got to #1 in eleven countries. The following year they released Words, another classic with great sales and chart success.
Between 1968 and 1975, Bee Gees kept releasing albums and singles, some had decent success but none would become immortal like what was to come between the golden years of 1975-1979.
You’d be pretty happy after that kind of stint but, some say the best was yet to come!
In 1980, Barry Gibb teamed up with Barbra Streisand for the album Guilty, the best-selling album of her entire career.
Two singles from this album are classics, the title track as well as Woman In Love. Both tunes were written by not just Barry but the Bee Gees!
Three years later, they released Islands In The Stream, a tune initially written for Diana Ross, they reworked it for Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers and got themselves another worldwide smash hit.
Amazingly, only two acts have had more chart success than the Bee Gees and that’s Michael Jackson and The Supremes.
If they’d only remained residents of the Isle Of Man, they would have avoided paying tax on all those album sales, or perhaps they’d still be playing skiffle instead of singing in falsetto!
Bee Gees Tunes | Related Pages
Islands In The Stream
Learn how to play Islands In The Stream by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, and the original recording.
| C | C |
Baby, when I met you there was peace unknown.
Stayin’ Alive
You can learn how to play Stayin’ Alive by Bee Gees using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, and the original recording.
| Fm7 | Eb Fm |
Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk, I’m a woman’s man, no time to talk…
Bee Gees on the web
Artists & Bands
Behind every single tune you learn, there’s an artist or band with an entire catalogue of music, waiting to be discovered.
Find out more about these great Artists & Bands, and let their tunes guide you to success.
About me | Dan Lundholm
This was an article about Bee Gees tunes, by Dan Lundholm. Discover more about him and learn guitar with Spytunes.
Most importantly, find out why you should learn guitar through playing tunes, not practising scales, and studying theory in isolation.
