The Bee Gees

Actually, the title of this book is THE ULTIMATE BIOGRAPHY OF THE BEE GEES--TALES OF THE BROTHERS GIBB. A tad unwieldy but so is the book, a thick paperback of nearly 800 pages!

I've really been into the Bee Gees lately since someone on Facebook posted a video I hadn't seen of them in their sixties prime. I had been a fan for more than 40 years but, in light of the recent passing of Robin Gibb, I realized just how little I knew about them. So I went looking for a good book on them. The local Half-Price Books has 4 shelves of Beatles books but not one on their seventies successors in top of the charts popularity. Then I saw this one on Amazon whilst ordering school supplies for David.

This is not a review. To be honest, I haven't finished reading it yet but I'm enjoying it so much, I just had to write about it. This is the story of Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb, from the Isle of Man to the land down-under to the Top of the Pops to being disco legends. But it's also the story of Andy Gibb, his resounding success and tragic demise. It's the story of Hughie Gibb and his WWII dance band. Of Producer Robert Stigwood as well as the story of the "other" Bee Gees, Vince Melouney and Colin Peterson. It's the story of the psychedelic sixties, the disco seventies and the ficklness of fans in the changing world.

If you've ever enjoyed the music of the Bee Gees, it's an enjoyable book, concentrating as much or more on the group and the brothers' careers as their individual lives. Even with hundreds of pages still to go, Booksteve Recommends.

 .