name	Deep Purple
landscape	yes
background	group_or_band
alias	Roundabout
genre	Hard rock, heavy metal, , progressive rock
origin	Hertford, England, United Kingdom
years active	1968–1976, 1984–present
label	Tetragrammaton, Warner Bros., Polydor, BMG, EMI, Edel
associated acts	The Outlaws, Episode Six, Rainbow, Paice, Ashton & Lord, Black Sabbath, Whitesnake, Blackmore's Night, Dixie Dregs, Living Loud, Angelfire
website	Official website
current members	Ian Paice Roger Glover Ian Gillan Steve Morse Don Airey
past members	Former members }}

Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in Hertford in 1968. Along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, they are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock, although some band members believe that their music cannot be categorised as belonging to any one genre. They were once listed by the ''Guinness Book of World Records'' as "the loudest pop group", and have sold over 100 million albums worldwide. Deep Purple were ranked #22 on VH1's ''Greatest Artists of Hard Rock'' programme.

The band has gone through many line-up changes and an eight-year hiatus (1976–84). The 1968–76 line-ups are commonly labelled Mark I, II, III and IV. Their second and most commercially successful line-up featured Ian Gillan (vocals), Jon Lord (keyboards), Roger Glover (bass), Ian Paice (drums) and Ritchie Blackmore (guitar). This line-up was active from 1969 to 1973, and was revived from 1984 to 1989, and again in 1993, before the rift between Blackmore and other members became unbridgeable. The current line-up (including guitarist Steve Morse) has been much more stable, although Lord's retirement in 2002 has left Paice as the only original member never to have left the band.

History

Pre-Deep Purple years (1967–68)

In 1967, former Searchers drummer Chris Curtis contacted London businessman Tony Edwards, in the hope that he would manage a new group he was putting together, to be called Roundabout: so-called because the members would get on and off the band, like a musical roundabout. Impressed with the plan, Edwards agreed to finance the venture with two business partners: John Coletta and Ron Hire, all of Hire-Edwards-Coletta (HEC) Enterprises.

The first recruit was the classically-trained Hammond organ player Jon Lord, who had most notably played with The Artwoods (led by Art Wood, brother of future Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood, and featuring Keef Hartley). He was followed by session guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, who was persuaded to return from Hamburg to audition for the new group. Curtis soon dropped out, but HEC Enterprises, as well as Lord and Blackmore, were keen to carry on.

For the bass guitar, Lord suggested his old friend Nick Simper, with whom he had played in a band called The Flower Pot Men and their Garden (formerly known as The Ivy League) back in 1967. Simper's claims to fame (apart from Deep Purple) were that he had been in Johnny Kidd and The Pirates and the car crash that killed Kidd. He was also in Screaming Lord Sutch's The Savages, in which he played with Blackmore.

Top English drummer Bobby Woodman was the initial choice for the drums, but during the auditions for a singer, Rod Evans of the Maze came in with his drummer, Ian Paice. Blackmore had been impressed by Paice's drumming when he'd met him in 1967, and quickly ensured an audition for Paice as well. Both Paice and Evans were added, and the lineup was complete.

After a brief tour of Denmark in the spring of 1968, Blackmore suggested a new name: Deep Purple, named after his grandmother's favourite song. The group had resolved to choose a name after everyone had posted one on a board in rehearsal. Second to Deep Purple was "Concrete God", which the band thought was too harsh to take on.

Breakthrough (1968–70)

In October 1968, the group had success with a cover of Joe South's "Hush", which reached number 4 on the US Billboard charts and number 2 on the Canadian RPM charts. The song was taken from their debut album ''Shades of Deep Purple'', which was released in July 1968, and they were booked to support Cream on their ''Goodbye'' tour.

The band's second album, ''The Book of Taliesyn'' (including a cover of Neil Diamond's "Kentucky Woman"), was released in the United States to coincide with the tour, reaching number 38 on the Billboard charts and number 21 on the RPM charts, although it would not be released in their home country until the following year. Early 1969 saw the release of their third album, ''Deep Purple'', which contained strings and woodwind on one track ("April"). Several influences were in evidence, notably Vanilla Fudge (Blackmore has even claimed the group wanted to be a "Vanilla Fudge clone") and Lord's classical antecedents, such as Bach and Rimsky-Korsakov. Not satisfied with the possibilities for singles off this album, the band also recorded a single called "Emmaretta", named for Emmaretta Marks, then a cast member of the musical ''Hair'', whom Evans was trying to seduce. This would be the last recording by the original lineup.

After the third album's release and extensive touring in the United States, their American record company, Tetragrammaton, went out of business, leaving the band with no money and an uncertain future. (Tetragrammaton's assets were assumed by Warner Bros. Records, who would release Deep Purple's records in the US throughout the 1970s.) During the 1969 American tour, Blackmore and Lord met with Paice to discuss their desire to take the band in a heavier direction. Feeling that Evans and Simper would not fit well with a heavy rock style, both were fired that summer.

In search of a replacement vocalist, Blackmore set his sights on 19-year-old singer Terry Reid, who declined a similar opportunity to front the newly forming Led Zeppelin only a year earlier. Though he found the offer "flattering", Reid was still bound by the exclusive recording contract with his producer Mickie Most and more interested in his solo career. Blackmore had no other choice but to look elsewhere.

The band hunted down singer Ian Gillan from Episode Six, a band that had released several singles in the UK without achieving their big break for commercial success. Six's drummer Mick Underwood – an old comrade of Blackmore's from his Savages days – introduced the band to Gillan and bassist Roger Glover. This effectively killed Episode Six and gave Underwood a guilt complex that lasted nearly a decade, until Gillan recruited him for his new post-Purple band in the late 1970s. This created the quintessential Deep Purple Mark II line-up, whose first, inauspicious release was a Greenaway-Cook tune titled "Hallelujah", which flopped.

The band gained some much-needed publicity with the ''Concerto for Group and Orchestra'', a three-movement epic composed by Lord as a solo project and performed by the band at the Royal Albert Hall with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Malcolm Arnold. Together with ''Five Bridges'' by The Nice, it was one of the first collaborations between a rock band and an orchestra. However, Blackmore and Gillan especially were less than happy at the group being tagged as "a group who played with orchestras" at the time; what they had in mind was to develop the band into a much tighter, hard-rocking style. Despite this, Lord wrote the ''Gemini Suite'', another orchestra/group collaboration in the same vein, for the band in late 1970.

Popularity and break-up (1970–76)

Shortly after the orchestral release, the band began a hectic touring and recording schedule that was to see little respite for the next three years. Their first studio album of this period, released in mid-1970, was ''In Rock'' (a name supported by the album's Mount Rushmore-inspired cover), which contained the then-concert staples "Speed King", "Into The Fire" and "Child in Time". The band also issued the UK Top Ten single "Black Night". The interplay between Blackmore's guitar and Lord's distorted organ, coupled with Gillan's howling vocals and the rhythm section of Glover and Paice, now started to take on a unique identity that further separated the band from its earlier albums.

A second album, the creatively progressive ''Fireball'', was issued in the summer of 1971. The title track "Fireball" was released as a single, as was "Strange Kind of Woman", not from the album but recorded during the same sessions (although it replaced "Demon's Eye" on the US version of the album).

Within weeks of ''Fireball'''s release, the band were already performing songs planned for the next album. One song (which later became "Highway Star") was performed at the first gig of the ''Fireball'' tour, having been written on the bus to a show in Portsmouth, in answer to a journalist's question: "How do you go about writing songs?" Three months later, in December 1971, the band traveled to Switzerland to record ''Machine Head''. The album was due to be recorded at a casino in Montreux, using the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio, but a fire during a Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention gig, caused by a man firing a flare gun into the ceiling, burned down the casino. This incident famously inspired the song "Smoke on the Water." The album was later recorded in a corridor at the nearby empty Grand Hotel.

Continuing from where both previous albums left off, ''Machine Head'' has since become the band's most famous album. It reached #1 in the UK, #7 in the U.S., and included tracks that became live classics, such as "Highway Star", "Space Truckin'", "Lazy" and "Smoke on the Water", for which Deep Purple is most famous. Deep Purple continued to tour and record at a rate that would be rare thirty years on; when ''Machine Head'' was recorded, the group had only been together three and a half years, yet the album was their seventh LP. Meanwhile, the band undertook four North America tours in 1972, and a Japan tour that led to a double-vinyl live release, ''Made in Japan''. Originally intended as a Japan-only record, its worldwide release saw the double LP become an instant hit. It remains one of rock music's most popular and highest selling live-concert recordings (although at the time it was perhaps seen as less important, as only Glover and Paice turned up to mix it).

The classic Deep Purple Mark II line-up continued to work, and released the album ''Who Do We Think We Are'' (1973), featuring the hit single "Woman from Tokyo", but internal tensions and exhaustion were more noticeable than ever. In many ways, the band had become victims of their own success. However, still following the successes of ''Machine Head'' and ''Made in Japan'', the addition of ''Who Do We Think We Are'' made them the top-selling artists of 1973 in the USA. Ian Gillan admitted in a 1984 interview that the band was pushed by management to complete the album on time and go on tour, although they badly needed a break. The bad feelings culminated in Gillan, followed by Glover, quitting the band after their second tour of Japan in the summer of 1973 over tensions with Blackmore.

The band first hired Midlands bassist/vocalist Glenn Hughes, formerly of Trapeze. After acquiring Hughes, they debated continuing as a four-piece band, with Hughes as both bassist and lead vocalist. According to Hughes, he was persuaded to join under the guise that the band would be bringing in Paul Rodgers of Free as a co-lead vocalist, but by that time Rodgers had just started Bad Company. Instead, auditions were held for lead vocal replacements. Two primary candidates surfaced: Angus Cameron McKinlay, a Scotsman; and David Coverdale, an unknown singer from Saltburn in Northeast England. They settled on Coverdale, primarily because Blackmore liked his masculine, blues-tinged voice, and Angus was eliminated. This new line-up continued into 1974. The band played at the famous California Jam festival at Ontario Motor Speedway located in California on 6 April 1974. Attracting over 250,000 fans, the festival also included 1970s rock giants Black Sabbath, Eagles, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Earth, Wind & Fire, Seals and Crofts, Rare Earth and Black Oak Arkansas. Portions of the show were telecast on ABC Television in the US, exposing the band to a wider audience. This lineup's first album, titled ''Burn'', was a highly successful release (only the second album, after ''Machine Head'', to crack the USA Top 10), and was followed by another world tour. Hughes and Coverdale added vocal harmonies and elements of funk and blues, respectively, to the band's music, a sound that was even more apparent on the late 1974 release ''Stormbringer''. Besides the title track, the album had a number of songs that received much radio play, such as "Lady Double Dealer", "The Gypsy" and "Soldier Of Fortune." However, Blackmore voiced unhappiness with the album and the direction Deep Purple had taken, stating simply, "I don't like funky soul music." As a result, he left the band on 21 June 1975 to form his own band with Ronnie James Dio of Elf, called Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, later shortened to Rainbow after one album. With Blackmore's departure, Deep Purple was left to fill one of the biggest band member vacancies in rock music. In spite of this, the rest of the band refused to stop, and to the surprise of many long-time fans, actually announced a replacement for Blackmore: American Tommy Bolin. There are at least two versions about the recruitment of Bolin: Coverdale claims to have been the one who suggested auditioning Bolin. "He walked in, thin as a rake, his hair coloured green, yellow and blue with feathers in it. Slinking along beside him was this stunning Hawaiian girl in a crochet dress with nothing on underneath. He plugged into four Marshall 100-watt stacks and...the job was his". But in an interview originally published by Melody Maker in June 1975, Bolin himself claimed that he came to the audition following a recommendation from Blackmore. Bolin had been a member of many now-forgotten late-1960s bands – Denny & The Triumphs, American Standard, and Zephyr, which released three albums from 1969–72. Before Deep Purple, Bolin's best-known recordings were made as a session musician on Billy Cobham's 1973 jazz fusion album ''Spectrum'', and as Joe Walsh's replacement on two James Gang albums: ''Bang'' (1973) and ''Miami'' (1974). He had also jammed with such luminaries as Dr. John, Albert King, The Good Rats, Moxy and Alphonse Mouzon, and was busy working on his first solo album, ''Teaser'', when he accepted the invitation to join Deep Purple.

The resulting album, ''Come Taste the Band'', was released in October 1975. Despite mixed reviews, the collection revitalised the band once again, bringing a new, extreme funk edge to their hard rock sound. Bolin's influence was crucial, and with encouragement from Hughes and Coverdale, the guitarist developed much of the material. Later, Bolin's personal problems with drugs began to manifest themselves, and after cancelled shows and below-par concert performances, the band was in danger.

Band split, side projects (1976–84)

The end came on tour in Britain in March 1976 at the Liverpool Empire Theatre. Coverdale reportedly walked off in tears and handed in his resignation, to which he was allegedly told there was no band left to quit. The decision to disband Deep Purple had been made some time before the last show by Lord and Paice (the last remaining original members), who hadn't told anyone else. The break-up was finally made public in July 1976.

Later, Bolin had just finished recording his second solo album, ''Private Eyes'', when, on 4 December 1976, tragedy struck. In Miami, during a tour supporting Jeff Beck, Bolin was found unconscious by his girlfriend. Unable to wake him, she hurriedly called paramedics, but it was too late. The official cause of death was multiple-drug intoxication. Bolin was 25 years old.

After the break-up, most of the past and present members of Deep Purple went on to have considerable success in a number of other bands, including Rainbow, Whitesnake, Black Sabbath and Gillan. There were, however, a number of promoter-led attempts to get the band to reform, especially with the revival of the hard rock market in the late 1970s and early 1980s. In 1980, a touring version of the band surfaced with Rod Evans as the only member who had ever been in Deep Purple, eventually ending in successful legal action from the legitimate Deep Purple camp over unauthorised use of the name. Evans was ordered to pay damages of US$672,000 for using the band name without permission.

Reunions and break-ups (1984–94)

In April 1984, eight years after the demise of Deep Purple, a full-scale (and legal) reunion took place with the "classic" early 1970s line-up of Blackmore, Gillan, Glover, Lord and Paice. The reformed band signed a worldwide deal with PolyGram, with Mercury Records releasing their albums in the United States, and Polydor Records in other countries. The album ''Perfect Strangers'' was recorded in Vermont and released in October 1984. A solid release, it sold extremely well (reaching #5 in the UK and #17 on the Billboard 200 in the US) and included the singles and concert staples "Knockin' At Your Back Door" and "Perfect Strangers". The reunion tour followed, starting in Australia and winding its way across the world to North America, then into Europe by the following summer. Financially, the tour was also a tremendous success. In the U.S., the 1985 tour out-grossed every other artist except Bruce Springsteen. The UK homecoming proved limited, as they elected to play just a single festival show at Knebworth (with main support from the Scorpions; also on the bill were UFO, Bernie Marsden's Alaska, Mama's Boys, Blackfoot, Mountain and Meat Loaf). The weather was bad (torrential rain and 6" of mud), but 80,000 fans turned up anyway. The gig was called the "Return Of The Knebworth Fayre".

The line-up then released ''The House of Blue Light'' in 1987, which was followed by a world tour (interrupted after Blackmore broke a finger on stage while trying to catch his guitar after throwing it in the air) and another live album ''Nobody's Perfect'' (1988) which was culled from several shows on this tour, but still largely based on the by-now familiar ''Made in Japan'' set-list. In the UK a new version of "Hush" (with Gillan on lead vocals) was released to mark 20 years of the band. In 1989, Gillan was fired as his relations with Blackmore had again soured and their musical differences had diverged too far. Originally, the band intended to recruit Survivor frontman Jimi Jamison as Gillan's replacement, but this fell through due to complications with Jamison's record label. Eventually, after auditioning several high-profile candidates, including Brian Howe (White Spirit, Ted Nugent, Bad Company), Doug Pinnick (King's X), Australians Jimmy Barnes (Cold Chisel) and John Farnham (Little River Band), Norman "Kal" Swann (Tytan, Lion, Bad Moon Rising) and Terry Brock (Strangeways), former Rainbow vocalist Joe Lynn Turner was recruited into the band. This line-up recorded just one album, ''Slaves & Masters'' (1990) and toured in support, though some fans derided it as little more than a so-called "Deep Rainbow" album.

With the tour complete, Turner was forced out, as Lord, Paice and Glover (and the record company) wanted Gillan back in the fold for the 25th anniversary. Blackmore grudgingly relented, after requesting and eventually receiving 250,000 dollars in his bank account and the classic line-up recorded ''The Battle Rages On''. But Gillan reworked much of the existing material for the album. As a result, Blackmore became infuriated at the non-melodic elements during an otherwise stunningly successful European tour. Blackmore walked out in November 1993, never to return. Joe Satriani was drafted to complete the Japanese dates in December and stayed on for a European Summer tour in 1994. He was asked to join permanently, but his record contract commitments prevented this. The band unanimously chose Dixie Dregs/Kansas guitarist Steve Morse to become Blackmore's permanent successor.

Revival with Steve Morse (1994–present)

Morse's arrival revitalised the band creatively, and in 1996 a new album titled ''Purpendicular'' was released, showing a wide variety of musical styles. The line-up then released a new live album ''Live at The Olympia '96'' in 1997. With a revamped set list to tour, Deep Purple enjoyed success throughout the rest of the 1990s, releasing the harder-sounding ''Abandon'' in 1998, and touring with renewed enthusiasm. In 1999, Lord, with the help of a Dutch fan, who was also a musicologist and composer, Marco de Goeij, painstakingly recreated the Concerto for Group and Orchestra, the original score having been lost. It was once again performed at the Royal Albert Hall in September 1999, this time with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Paul Mann. The concert also featured songs from each member's solo careers, as well as a short Deep Purple set, and the occasion was commemorated on the 2000 album ''Live at the Royal Albert Hall''. In early 2001, two similar concerts were performed in Tokyo and released as part of the box set ''The Soundboard Series''.

Much of the next few years was spent on the road touring. The group continued forward until 2002, when founding member Lord (who, along with Paice, was the only member to be in all incarnations of the band) announced his amicable retirement from the band to pursue personal projects (especially orchestral work). Lord left his Hammond organ to his replacement. Rock keyboard veteran Don Airey (Rainbow, Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath, Whitesnake), who had helped Deep Purple out when Lord's knee was injured in 2001, joined the band. In 2003, Deep Purple released their first studio album in five years (''Bananas'') and began touring in support of the album immediately. In July 2005, the band played at the Live 8 concert in Park Place (Barrie, Ontario) and, in October of the same year, released their next album ''Rapture of the Deep''. It was followed by the ''Rapture of the Deep tour''.

In February 2007, Gillan asked fans not to buy a live album ''Come Hell or High Water'' being released by Sony BMG. This was a recording of their 1993 appearance at the NEC in Birmingham. Recordings of this show have previously been released without resistance from Gillan or any other members of the band, but he said: "It was one of the lowest points of my life – all of our lives, actually".

Gillan hinted that the group may record their nineteenth studio album in February 2010, to be followed by a supporting tour. Steve Morse later revealed in an interview that the band would begin working on a new album in March.

Band members

Current members

Ian Paice – drums, percussion (1968–1976, 1984–present)

Roger Glover – bass (1969–1973, 1984–present)

Ian Gillan – lead vocals, harmonica, congas (1969–1973, 1984–1989, 1992–present)

Steve Morse – guitar (1994–present)

Don Airey – keyboards, organ (2001–present)

Former members

Jon Lord – keyboards, organ, backing vocals (1968–1976, 1984–2002)

Ritchie Blackmore – guitar (1968–1975, 1984–1993)

Rod Evans – lead vocals (1968–1969)

Nick Simper – bass, backing vocals (1968–1969)

David Coverdale – lead vocals (1973–1976)

Glenn Hughes – bass, vocals (1973–1976)

Tommy Bolin – guitar, vocals (1975–1976)

Joe Lynn Turner – lead vocals (1989–1991)

Joe Satriani – guitar (1993–1994)

Timeline

World tours

Deep Purple are considered to be one of the hardest touring bands in the world. From 1968 until today (with the exception of their 1976–1984 split) they continue to tour around the world. In 2007, the band received a special award for selling more than 150,000 tickets in France, with 40 dates in the country in 2007 alone. Also in 2007, Deep Purple's Rapture of the Deep Tour was voted #6 concert tour of the year (in all music genres) by Planet Rock listeners. The Rolling Stones' A Bigger Bang Tour was voted #5 and beat Purple's tour by only 1%. Deep Purple released a new live compilation DVD box, Around the World Live, in May 2008. In February 2008, the band made their first ever appearance in Moscow at the Kremlin at the personal request of Dmitry Medvedev who at the time was considered a shoo-in for the seat of the Presidency of Russia. The band was part of the entertainment for the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2009 in Liberec, Czech Republic.

Deep Purple Debut Tour, 1968

Shades of Deep Purple Tour, 1968

The Book of Taliesyn Tour, 1968

Deep Purple European Tour, (pre-tour for In Rock) 1969–1970

In Rock World Tour – 1970–1971

Fireball World Tour, 1971–1972

Machine Head World Tour, 1972–1973

Deep Purple European Tour 1974

Burn World Tour, 1974

Stormbringer World Tour, 1974–1975

Come Taste The Band World Tour, 1975–1976

Perfect Strangers World Tour, aka Reunion Tour 1984–1985

The House of Blue Light World Tour, 1987–1988

Slaves and Masters World Tour, 1991

Deep Purple 25 Years Anniversary World Tour, aka The Battle Rages on Tour, 1993

Deep Purple and Joe Satriani Tour, 1993–1994

Deep Purple Secret Mexican Tour (short warm-up tour with Steve Morse)

Deep Purple Secret USA Tour 1994–1995

Deep Purple Asian & African Tour 1995

Purpendicular World Tour, 1996–1997

A Band on World Tour, 1998–1999

Concerto World Tour, 2000–2001

Deep Purple World Tour, 2001–2003

Bananas World Tour, 2003–2005

Rapture of the Deep World Tour, 2006–2011

Deep Purple: The Songs That Built Rock Tour 2011

Discography

References

Notes

Bibliography

''Deep Purple - The Illustrated Biography'', Chris Charlesworth, Omnibus Press, 1983, ISBN 0-7119-0174-0

''Smoke on the Water: The Deep Purple Story'', Dave Thompson, ECW Press, 2004, ISBN 1-55022-618-5

''The Complete Deep Purple'', Michael Heatley, Reynolds & Hearn, 2005, ISBN 1-903111-99-4

External links

Deep Purple - The Official Website

Official Deep Purple business website for promoters and press

Category:Musical groups established in 1968 Category:Musical groups disestablished in 1976 Category:Musical groups reestablished in 1984 Category:Musical quintets Category:English rock music groups Category:English hard rock musical groups Category:English heavy metal musical groups Category:English progressive rock groups Category:Blues rock musicians Category:Deep Purple Category:Parlophone artists Category:Harvest Records artists

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Kathleen "Bird" York is an actress, screenwriter and Oscar nominated songwriter-recording artist. As a screenwriter, York has written projects for John Wells Warner Brothers, Sony, Paramount and has just completed a one hour pilot for Fox Television Studios. She is a recent alumni of the prestigious Showrunners Training Program facilitated by the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

York achieved global recognition with her song "In the Deep", (co-written with Michael Becker) which appears on her album ''Wicked Little High'' and was written for the 2004 film ''Crash''. "In the Deep" was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song with York performing the song live at the 78th Academy Awards in 2006. Her self titled debut record was released in February 1999.

As an actress, York has starred in over a hundred film and television projects. York starred as a young Naomi Judd in ''Love Can Build a Bridge'', the four hour NBC miniseries about Judd's life (the second highest rated event on NBC that year). Other credits include six seasons of the multi Emmy Award winning series ''The West Wing'' as Andrea Wyatt, ''Northern Lights'' with Diane Keaton, "Cold Feet" with Tom Waits, "A Season In Purgatory" opposite Patrick Dempsey, "Nightjohn" opposite Beau Bridges, and Oscar winner ''Crash''. Independent film credits include ''Cries of Silence'', ''The Big Day'', ''Ball Don't Lie''. York was a series regular in the ABC series ''Vengeance Unlimited'' as well as ''Aaron's Way'' for NBC. Recurring roles include Stephen Bochco's ''Murder One'', ''The O.C'' and ''Desperate Housewives''. She appeared on the cult hit ''Curb Your Enthusiasm'' as Larry David's masseuse "Summer" in the show's second season . Fall 2010 she will be seen in the NBC drama ''Chase'' and A&E;'s ''The Glades''.

Other music credits include the main theme song in Sony Pictures ''Seven Pounds'', the televised concert ''Where Music Meets Film'' along with Joss Stone, Lindsay Buckingham and Babyface as well as featured song placements in ''House'', 2010 season of ''American Idol'', ''Nip/Tuck'', ''CSI: NY'', ''In Justice'', ''Jake 2.0'' and ''Everwood''. She was the featured musical artist for the 2001 season of the CBS TV series ''Family Law'' writing and producing songs for numerous episodes.

Her latest EP ''Have No Fear'' was released on December 19, 2008 and a completed full record will be released in early 2010.

The song 'In The Deep' was used as the background music in the trailer for the programme 'Ocean Giants', which screened on BBC 1 in the UK at 9pm on Sunday 14th August,

Discography

''Have No Fear'' (Blissed Out Records 2008)

''Bird York'' (Blissed Out Records 1999)

''The Velvet Hour'' (Blissed Out Records 2005)

''Wicked Little High'' (EMI 2006)

External links

Variety: Multihyphenate has knack for running show

Official page

Paste Magazine spotlight - 7/25 Band/Artist of the Week

Category:American female singers Category:American singer-songwriters Category:American television actors Category:Living people Category:Place of birth missing (living people) Category:Year of birth missing (living people)

es:Kathleen York fr:Kathleen York it:Kathleen York pl:Kathleen York pt:Kathleen York

name	Bee Gees
origin
background	group_or_band
genre	Pop, soft rock, blue-eyed soul, disco
years active	1958–2003, 2009–present
label	Polydor, RSO, Warner Bros.
associated acts	Andy Gibb
website
current members	Barry GibbRobin Gibb
past members	Maurice GibbColin PetersenVince MelouneyGeoff Bridgford }}

The Bee Gees are a musical group that was originally made up of three brothers: Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio were successful for most of their 40-plus years of recording music, but they had two distinct periods of exceptional success: as a pop act in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and as a foremost act of the disco music era in the late 1970s. The group sang three-part tight harmonies that were instantly recognisable; Robin's clear vibrato lead was a hallmark of their earlier hits, while Barry's R&B; falsetto became their signature sound during the late 1970s and 1980s. The brothers co-wrote all of their own hits, as well as writing and producing several major hits for other artists.

Born in the Isle of Man to English parents, the Gibb brothers lived their first few years in Chorlton, Manchester, England, then moved in the late 1950s to Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, where they began their musical careers. After achieving their first chart success in Australia with "Spicks and Specks" (their 12th single), they returned to the United Kingdom in January 1967 where producer Robert Stigwood began promoting them to a worldwide audience. It has been estimated that the Bee Gees' career record sales total more than 220 million, making them one of the best-selling music artists of all time. 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, a "family act" also featuring three harmonising brothers. 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".

Following Maurice's sudden death in January 2003, Barry and Robin Gibb ended the group after 45 years of activity. In 2009, however, Robin announced that he and Barry had agreed that the Bee Gees would reform and perform again.

History

Early years

Barry Gibb (born 1946) and twin brothers Robin (born 1949) and Maurice Gibb (1949–2003) were born on the Isle of Man, but the family returned to father Hugh Gibb's home town of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester, England where they went to Oswald Road Primary School, in the early 1950s where the boys began to sing in harmony. 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) and as they were running to the theatre, the heavy 78-RPM record broke. The brothers had to sing live and received such a positive response from the audience that they decided to pursue a singing career.

In 1958, the Gibb family, including infant brother Andy (1958–1988), emigrated to Redcliffe in Queensland, Australia. The young brothers began performing where they could to raise pocket money. First called ''the Rattlesnakes'', later ''Wee Johnny Hayes & the Bluecats'', they were introduced to radio DJ Bill Gates by racetrack promoter Bill Goode (who saw them perform at Brisbane's Speedway Circuit). Gates renamed them the "Bee Gees" after his and Goode's initials – thus the name was not specifically a reference to "Brothers Gibb", despite popular belief.

By 1960, the Bee Gees were featured on television shows, and in the next few years began working regularly at resorts on the Queensland coast. Barry drew the attention of Australian star Col Joye for his songwriting, and Joye helped the boys get a record deal with Festival Records subsidiary Leedon Records in 1963 under the name "Bee Gees." The three released two or three singles a year, while Barry supplied additional songs to other Australian artists.

A minor hit in 1965, "Wine and Women", led to the group's first LP ''The Bee Gees Sing and Play 14 Barry Gibb Songs''. However, by 1966 Festival was on the verge of dropping them from the Leedon roster because of their perceived lack of commercial success. It was at this time that they met American-born songwriter, producer and entrepreneur Nat Kipner, who had just been appointed A&R; manager of a new independent label, Spin Records. Kipner briefly took over as the group's manager and successfully negotiated their transfer to Spin in exchange for Festival being granted the Australian distribution rights to the group's recordings.

Through Kipner, the Bee Gees met engineer-producer Ossie Byrne. He produced (or co-produced with Kipner) many of the earlier Spin recordings, most of which were cut at his own small self-built St Clair Studio, in the Sydney suburb of Hurstville. Byrne gave the Gibb brothers virtually unlimited access to St Clair Studio over a period of several months in mid-1966 and the group later acknowledged that this enabled them to greatly improve their skills as recording artists. During this productive time they recorded a large batch of original material—including the song that would become their first major hit, "Spicks and Specks" (on which Byrne played the trumpet coda) – as well as cover versions of current hits by overseas acts such as The Beatles. They regularly collaborated with other local musicians, including members of beat band Steve & The Board, led by Steve Kipner, Nat's teenage son.

Frustrated by their lack of success, the Gibbs decided to return to England in late 1966. Ossie Byrne travelled with them, and Colin Petersen, who eventually became the group's drummer, followed soon after. While at sea in January 1967, they learned that "Spicks and Specks", a No. 1 hit in October 1966 had been awarded Best Single of the Year by ''Go-Set'', Australia's most popular and influential music newspaper.

Late 1960s – first international fame

Before their departure from Australia to England, Hugh Gibb sent demos to Brian Epstein who managed The Beatles and was director of NEMS, a British music store and promoter. Brian Epstein had passed the demo tapes to Robert Stigwood, who had recently joined NEMS. After an audition with Stigwood in February 1967, the Bee Gees were signed to a five-year contract whereby Polydor Records would be the Bee Gees' record label in the United Kingdom, and ATCO Records would be the United States distributor. Work quickly began on the group's first international album, and Robert Stigwood launched a promotional campaign to coincide with its release.

Stigwood proclaimed that the Bee Gees were "The Most Significant New Talent Of 1967" and thus began the immediate comparison to The Beatles. Their second British single (their first UK 45 rpm issued was "Spicks and Specks"), "New York Mining Disaster 1941", was issued to radio stations with a blank white label listing only the song title. Some DJs immediately assumed this was a new Beatles' single and started playing the song in heavy rotation. This helped the song climb into the Top 20 in both the United Kingdom and the United States. No such chicanery was needed to boost the Bee Gees' second single, "To Love Somebody", into the US Top 20. Originally written for Otis Redding, "To Love Somebody" was a soulful ballad sung by Barry, which has since become a pop standard covered by hundreds of artists including Gram Parsons, Rod Stewart, Bonnie Tyler, Janis Joplin, The Animals, Nina Simone, and Michael Bolton. Another single, "Holiday" was released in the United States, peaking at No. 16. The parent album, the erroneously titled ''Bee Gees 1st'', peaked at No. 7 in the United States and No. 8 in the United Kingdom.

Following the success of ''Bee Gees 1st'', the band (which now consisted of Barry on rhythm guitar, Maurice on bass, Vince Melouney on lead guitar and Colin Petersen on drums),. began work on the act's second album. Released in late 1967, ''Horizontal'' repeated the success of their first album, featuring the No. 1 UK single "Massachusetts" (a No. 11 US hit), and the No. 7 UK single "World". The sound of the album ''Horizontal'' had a more "rock" sound than their previous release, though ballads like "And The Sun Will Shine" and "Really And Sincerely" were also prominent. The ''Horizontal'' album reached No. 12 in the US, and No. 16 in the UK promoting the record, the Bee Gees made their first appearances in America, playing live concerts and television shows such as ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' and ''Laugh In''.

Two more singles followed in early 1968, the ballad "Words" (No. 15 US, No. 8 UK) and the double A-sided single "Jumbo" b/w "The Singer Sang His Song". "Jumbo" was the Bee Gees' least successful single to date only reaching No. 57 in the US, and No. 25 in the UK. The Bee Gees felt that "The Singer Sang His Song" was the stronger of the two sides, an opinion shared by listeners in the Netherlands, who made it a No. 3 hit. Further Bee Gees chart singles followed: "I've Gotta Get a Message to You" (No. 8 US, No. 1 UK) and "I Started A Joke" (No. 6 US), both culled from the band's third album ''Idea''. ''Idea'' was another Top 20 album in the US (No. 17) and the UK (No. 4). Following the tour and TV special to promote the album, Vince Melouney left the group, feeling that he wanted to play more of a blues style music than the Gibbs were writing. Melouney did achieve one feat while with the Bee Gees—his composition "Such A Shame" (from ''Idea'') is the only song on any Bee Gees album not written by a Gibb brother.

By 1969, the cracks began to show within the group. Robin began to feel that Stigwood had been favouring Barry as the frontman. Their next album, which was to have been a concept album called ''Masterpeace'', evolved into the double-album ''Odessa''. Most rock critics felt this was the best Bee Gees album of the 60s, with its progressive rock feel on the title track, the country-flavoured "Marley Purt Drive" and "Give Your Best", and signature ballads such as "Melody Fair" and "First Of May"; the last of which became the only single from the album, and was a minor hit. Feeling that the flipside, "Lamplight" should have been the A-side, Robin quit the group in mid-1969 and launched a solo career. Robin Gibb saw brief success in Europe with the No. 2 hit "Saved By The Bell" and the album ''Robin's Reign''. Barry and Maurice continued as the Bee Gees, even recruiting their sister Lesley to appear with them on stage.

The first of many Bee Gees compilations, ''Best of Bee Gees'' was released, featuring the non-LP single "Words" plus the Australian hit "Spicks and Specks" The CD release replaces "Spicks and Specks" with another non-LP single "Tomorrow Tomorrow", because Polydor could no longer secure the rights to the Australian track. "Tomorrow Tomorrow" was a moderate hit in the UK reaching No. 23, but stalled at No. 54 in the US. The compilation reached the Top Ten in both the US and the UK.

While Robin was off on his own, Barry, Maurice, and Colin continued on as the Bee Gees, recording their next album, ''Cucumber Castle''. There was also a TV special filmed to accompany the album, which aired on the BBC in 1971. Colin Petersen played drums on the tracks recorded for the album, but was fired from the group after filming began and his parts were edited out of the final cut of the film. After Colin was fired, Australian drummer Geoff Bridgford was recruited to complete the recording of songs for Cucumber Castle. The leadoff single, "Don't Forget to Remember" was a big hit in the UK reaching No. 2, but a disappointment in the US, only reaching No. 73. The next 2 singles, "I.O.I.O." and "If I Only Had My Mind on Something Else" barely scraped the charts, and following the release of the album, Barry and Maurice parted ways. It seemed that the Bee Gees were finished. Barry recorded a solo album which never saw official release, though "I'll Kiss Your Memory" was released as a single, without much interest. Meanwhile, Maurice released the single "Railroad", and starred in the West End musical ''Sing A Rude Song''.

Early 1970s

The three brothers reunited in the later part of 1970 penning a series of songs about heartache and loneliness. During this period they became a four piece band joined again by Australian drummer Geoff Bridgford who after playing on the 2 Years On album and Trafalgar album became the last non-Gibb brother to be a member of the Bee Gees. Although they had lost traction on the British charts, the Bee Gees hit No. 3 in America with "Lonely Days" (from the reunion LP ''2 Years On'') and had their first US No. 1 with "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" (from ''Trafalgar''). The trio's talents were included in the soundtrack for the 1971 film ''Melody'' as they performed several songs for the title. In 1972, they hit No. 16 in America with the single "My World" and "Run To Me" from the LP ''To Whom It May Concern''; the latter also returned them to the British top ten for the first time in three years.

By 1973, however, the Bee Gees were in a rut. The album, ''Life in a Tin Can'', released on RSO Records and its lead-off single, "Saw a New Morning," sold poorly with the single peaking at No. 94. This was followed by an unreleased album (known as ''A Kick in the Head Is Worth Eight in the Pants''). A second compilation album, ''Best of Bee Gees, Volume 2'' was released in 1973, though it did not repeat the success of Volume 1.

On the advice of Ahmet Ertegün, head of their US label Atlantic Records, Stigwood arranged for the group to record with famed soul music producer Arif Mardin. The resulting LP, ''Mr. Natural'', included fewer ballads and foreshadowed the R&B; direction of the rest of their career. But when it too failed to attract much interest, Mardin encouraged them to work with the soul music style.

The brothers attempted to assemble a live stage band that could replicate their studio sound. Lead guitarist Alan Kendall had come on board in 1971, but did not have much to do until ''Mr. Natural''. For that album, they added drummer Dennis Bryon, and they later added ex-Strawbs keyboard player Blue Weaver, completing the late 1970s "Bee Gees band". Maurice, who had previously performed on piano, guitar, organ, mellotron, and bass guitar, as well as exotica like mandolin and Moog synthesiser, now confined himself to bass onstage.

At Eric Clapton's suggestion, the brothers relocated to Miami, Florida, early in 1975 to record. After starting off with ballads, they eventually heeded the urging of Mardin and Stigwood and crafted more rhythmic disco songs, including their second US No. 1, "Jive Talkin'", along with US No. 7 "Nights on Broadway." The latter featured Barry Gibb's first attempts at singing falsetto based on Arif Mardin's suggestion, in the backing vocals toward the end. Robin also began singing some passages in a falsetto pitch. The band liked the resulting new sound, and this time the public agreed, sending the LP ''Main Course'' up the charts. This was their second album to have two US top-10 singles since 1968's ''Idea''. ''Main Course'' also became their first charting R&B; album. Mardin was unable to work with the group afterwards, but the Bee Gees enlisted Albhy Galuten and Karl Richardson who had worked with Mardin during the ''Main Course'' sessions. This production team would carry the Bee Gees through the rest of the 1970s.

The next album, ''Children of the World,'' was drenched in Barry's newfound falsetto and Weaver's synthesiser disco licks. Led off by the single "You Should Be Dancing," it pushed the Bee Gees to a level of stardom they had not previously achieved in the US, though their new R&B;/disco sound was not as popular with some die hard fans from the 1960s. The Bee Gees' band was now closer to a rock act, with rhythm guitar and real drums behind the falsetto.

Late 1970s: ''Saturday Night Fever''

Following a successful live album, ''Here at Last... Bee Gees... Live'', the Bee Gees agreed with Stigwood to participate in the creation of the ''Saturday Night Fever soundtrack''. It would be the turning point of their career. The cultural impact of both the film and the soundtrack was seismic, not only in the United States but in the rest of the world, bringing the nascent disco scene mainstream.

The band's involvement in the film did not begin until post-production. As John Travolta asserted, "The Bee Gees weren't even involved in the movie in the beginning ... I was dancing to Stevie Wonder and Boz Scaggs." Producer Robert Stigwood commissioned the Bee Gees to create the songs for the film. The brothers wrote the songs "virtually in a single weekend" at France's Château d'Hérouville studio. Barry Gibb remembered the reaction when Stigwood and music supervisor Bill Oakes arrived and listened to the demos:

Bill Oakes, who supervised the soundtrack, asserts that ''Saturday Night Fever'' did not begin the disco craze; rather, it prolonged it: "Disco had run its course. These days, ''Fever'' is credited with kicking off the whole disco thing–-it really didn't. Truth is, it breathed new life into a genre that was actually dying."

Three Bee Gees singles ("How Deep Is Your Love", "Stayin' Alive", and "Night Fever") reached No. 1 in the United States and most countries around the world, launching the most popular period of the disco era. They also penned the song "If I Can't Have You" which became a No. 1 hit for Yvonne Elliman, while the Bee Gees' own version was the B-Side of "Stayin' Alive." Such was the popularity of ''Saturday Night Fever'' that two different versions of the song "More Than a Woman" received airplay, one by the Bee Gees, which was relegated to album track, and another by Tavares, which was the hit. The Gibb sound was inescapable. During an eight-month period beginning in the Christmas season of 1977, the brothers wrote six songs that held the No. 1 position on the US charts for 25 of 32 consecutive weeks—three under their own name, two for brother Andy Gibb, and the Yvonne Elliman single.

Fueled by the movie's success, the soundtrack broke multiple industry records, becoming the highest-selling album in recording history to that point. With more than 40 million copies sold, ''Saturday Night Fever'' is among music's top five best selling soundtrack albums. It is currently calculated as the 9th highest-selling album worldwide.

During this era, Barry and Robin also wrote "Emotion" for an old friend, Australian vocalist Samantha Sang, who made it a Top Ten hit (the Bee Gees sang back-up vocals). Barry also wrote the title song to the movie version of the Broadway musical ''Grease'' for Frankie Valli to perform, which went to No. 1. During this period, the Bee Gees' younger brother Andy followed his older siblings into a music career, and enjoyed considerable success. Produced by Barry, Andy Gibb's first three singles all topped the US charts. In March 1978, The Bee Gees held the top 2 positions on the US Charts with "Night Fever" and "Stayin' Alive", the first time this had happened since the Beatles. On the US Billboard Hot 100 chart for 25 March 1978, five songs written by the Gibbs were in the US top ten at the same time: "Night Fever", "Stayin' Alive", "If I Can't Have You", "Emotion" and "Love is Thicker Than Water". Such chart dominance hadn't been seen since April 1964, when the Beatles had all five of the top five American singles. Barry Gibb became the only songwriter to have four consecutive number one hits in the US breaking the John Lennon and Paul McCartney 1964 record. These songs were "Stayin' Alive", "Love Is Thicker Than Water", "Night Fever", "If I Can't Have You".

The Bee Gees also co-starred with Peter Frampton in the movie ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' (1978) loosely inspired by the classic 1967 Beatles album. The film had been heavily promoted prior to release, and was expected to enjoy great commercial success. However, the disjointed film was savaged by the movie critics, and ignored by the public. Though some of its tracks charted, the soundtrack too was a high-profile flop. The single "Oh! Darling", credited to Robin Gibb, reached No. 15 in the US. Previously, the Bee Gees had recorded three Beatles covers—"Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight", "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window" and "Sun King" – for the transitory musical documentary ''All This and World War II''.

The Bee Gees' follow-up to ''Saturday Night Fever'' was the ''Spirits Having Flown'' album. It yielded three more No. 1 hits: "Too Much Heaven", "Tragedy", and "Love You Inside Out." This gave the act six consecutive No. No. 1 singles in America within a year and a half (a record surpassed only by Whitney Houston). "Too Much Heaven" ended up as the Bee Gees' musical contribution to the Music for UNICEF Concert at the United Nations General Assembly in January 1979, a benefit organised by the Bee Gees, Robert Stigwood, and David Frost for UNICEF that was broadcast worldwide. The brothers donated the royalties from the song to the charity. Up to 2007, this song has earned over $11 million for UNICEF. During the summer of 1979, The Bee Gees embarked on their largest concert tour covering the US and Canada. The Spirits Having Flown tour capitalised on Bee Gees fever that was sweeping the nation, with sold out concerts in 38 cities. The Bee Gees produced a video for the title track of "Too Much Heaven" directed by Miami-based film-maker, Martin Pitts and produced by Charles Allen. With this video, Pitts and Allen began a long association with the brothers.

The Bee Gees even had a country hit in 1979 with "Rest Your Love On Me", the flip side of their pop hit "Too Much Heaven", which made Top 40 on the country charts. In 1981, Conway Twitty's version of "Rest Your Love On Me" topped the country charts.

The Bee Gees' overwhelming success rose and fell with the disco bubble. By the end of 1979, disco was rapidly declining in popularity, and the backlash against disco put the Bee Gees' American career in a tailspin. Radio stations around America began promoting "Bee Gee Free Weekends". Following their remarkable run from 1975 to 1979, the act would have only one more top ten single in the US, and that would not come until 1989. The Bee Gees' international popularity sustained somewhat less damage. Barry Gibb considered the success of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack both a blessing and a curse:

1980s

Robin and Barry Gibb released various solo albums in the 1980s but only with sporadic and moderate chart success. However, the brothers had continuing success behind the scenes, writing and producing for several artists. In 1980, Barry Gibb worked with Barbra Streisand on her album ''Guilty''. He co-produced and wrote or co-wrote all nine of the album's tracks (four of them written with Robin and the title track with both Robin and Maurice). Barry also appeared on the album's cover with Streisand, and duetted with her on two tracks. The album reached No.1 in both the US and the UK, as did the single "Woman in Love" (written by Barry and Robin), becoming Streisand's most successful single and album to date.

In 1982, Dionne Warwick enjoyed a UK No.2 and US Adult Contemporary No. 1 with her comeback single, "Heartbreaker", taken from her album of the same name written largely by the Bee Gees and co-produced by Barry Gibb. The album reached No.3 in the UK and the Top 30 in the US where it was certified Gold.

A year later, Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers recorded the Bee Gees-penned track "Islands in the Stream", which became a US No. 1 hit and Top 10 in the UK. Rogers' 1983 album, ''Eyes That See In The Dark'', was written entirely by the Bee Gees and co-produced by Barry. The album was a Top 10 hit in the US and was certified Double Platinum.

In 1985, Diana Ross released the album ''Eaten Alive'', written by the Bee Gees, with the title track co-written with Michael Jackson (who also performed on the track). The album was again co-produced by Barry Gibb and the single "Chain Reaction" gave Ross a UK and Australian No.1 hit.

In 1981, the Bee Gees released the album ''Living Eyes'', their last release on RSO. This album was the first CD ever played in public, when it was played to viewers of the BBC show ''Tomorrow's World''. With the disco backlash still running strong, the album failed to make the UK or US Top 40. Two singles from the album fared little better - "He's a Liar" reached No. 30 in the US and "Living Eyes" reached No. 45, breaking the Bee Gees' Top 40 streak which started in 1975 with "Jive Talkin'". In 1983, the Bee Gees had greater success with the soundtrack to ''Staying Alive'', the sequel to ''Saturday Night Fever''. The soundtrack was certified platinum in the US, and included their Top 30 hit "The Woman in You".

In 1983, the band was sued by Chicago songwriter Ronald Selle, who claimed that the brothers stole melodic material from one of his songs, "Let It End", and used it in "How Deep Is Your Love". At first, the Bee Gees lost the case; one juror said that a factor in the jury's decision was the Gibbs' failure to introduce expert testimony rebutting the plaintiff's expert testimony that it was "impossible" for the two songs to have been written independently. However, the verdict was overturned a few months later.

The Bee Gees released the album ''E.S.P.'' in 1987, which sold over 3 million copies. It was their first album in six years, and their first for Warner Bros. Records. The single "You Win Again" went to No. 1 in numerous countries, including Britain, but was a disappointment in the US, charting at No. 75. The Bee Gees voiced their frustration over American radio stations not playing their new European hit single, an omission which the group felt led to poor sales of their current album in the States.

On 10 March 1988, younger brother Andy died at the age 30 as a result of myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle due to a recent viral infection. His brothers acknowledge that Andy's past drug and alcohol use probably made his heart more susceptible to the ailment. Just before Andy's death, it was decided by the group that Andy would join them, which would have made the group a four piece. This did not come to pass, however. The Bee Gees' following album, ''One'' (1989), featured a song dedicated to Andy, "Wish You Were Here". The album also contained their first US top ten hit (No. 7) in a decade, "One". After the album's release, they embarked on their first world tour in ten years.

1990s

In 1990, Polydor Records issued the box set ''Tales from the Brothers Gibb: A History in Song'', which contained all of the group's singles (except 1981's "Living Eyes"), rare B-sides, unreleased tracks, solo material, and live performances. Many songs received new stereo mixes by Bill Inglot with some songs making their CD debut. At the time of its release, ''Tales'' was one of the first box sets issued in the music business and it was considered an honour for a group to have one. In the UK, Polydor issued a single disc hits collection from ''Tales'' called ''The Very Best of the Bee Gees'', which contained their biggest UK hits. The album became one of their best selling albums in that country, eventually being certified Triple Platinum.

Following their next album, ''High Civilization'' (1991), which contained the UK top five hit "Secret Love", the Bee Gees went on a European tour. After the tour, Barry Gibb began to battle a serious back problem, which required surgery. In addition, he also suffered from arthritis, and at one point, it was so severe that it was doubtful that he would be able to play guitar for much longer. Also in the early 1990s, Maurice Gibb finally sought treatment for his alcoholism, which he had battled for many years, with the help of Alcoholics Anonymous.

In 1993, the group returned to the Polydor label, and released the album ''Size Isn't Everything'', which contained the UK top five hit "For Whom the Bell Tolls". Success still eluded them in the US, however, as the first single released, "Paying the Price of Love" only managed to reach No. 74 on the Billboard Hot 100 while the parent album stalled at No. 153.

In 1997, they released the album ''Still Waters'', which sold over four million copies, and reached No.2 in the UK (their highest album chart position there since 1979) and No.11 in the US. The album's first single, "Alone", gave them another UK Top 5 hit and a top 30 hit in the US. ''Still Waters'' would be the band's most successful US release of their post-RSO era.

On 14 November 1997, the Bee Gees performed a live concert in Las Vegas called ''One Night Only''. The show included a performance of "Our Love (Don't Throw It All Away)" synchronised with a vocal by their deceased brother Andy and a cameo appearance by Celine Dion singing "Immortality". The CD of the performance sold over 5 million copies. The "One Night Only" name grew out of the band's declaration that, due to Barry's health issues, the Las Vegas show was to be the final live performance of their career. After the immensely positive audience response to the Vegas concert, Barry decided to continue despite the pain, and the concert expanded into their last full-blown world tour of "One Night Only" concerts. The tour included playing to 56,000 people at London's Wembley Stadium on 5 September 1998 and concluded in the newly built Olympic Stadium in Sydney, Australia on 27 March 1999 to an audience exceeding 105,000.

In 1998, the group's soundtrack for ''Saturday Night Fever'' was incorporated into a stage production produced first in the West End and then on Broadway. They wrote three new songs for the adaptation. Also in 1998 the brothers recorded ''Ellan Vannin'' for Isle of Man charities. Known as the unofficial national anthem of the Isle of Man, the brothers performed the song during their world tour to reflect their pride in the place of their birth.

The Bee Gees closed the decade with what turned out to be their last full-sized concert, known as ''BG2K'', on 31 December 1999.

2000s

In 2001, the group released what turned out to be their final album of new material as a group, ''This Is Where I Came In''. The album was another success, reaching the Top 10 in the UK (being certified Gold), and the Top 20 in the US. The title track was also a UK Top 20 hit single. The album gave each each member of the group a chance to write in his own way, as well as composing songs together. For example, Maurice's compositions and leads are the "Man in the Middle" and "Walking on Air," while Robin contributed "Déjà Vu," "Promise the Earth," and "Embrace," and Barry contributed "Loose Talk Costs Lives," "Technicolour Dreams", and "Voice in the Wilderness". The other songs are collaborative in writing and vocals. They performed many tracks from ''This Is Where I Came In'', plus many of their biggest hits, on the live televised concert series ''Live by Request'', shown on the A&E; Network. The last concert of the Bee Gees as a trio was at the ''Love and Hope Ball'' in 2002.

Maurice, who had been the musical director of the Bee Gees during their final years as a group, died unexpectedly on 12 January 2003 at the age of 53 from a heart attack, while awaiting emergency surgery to repair a strangulated intestine. Initially, his surviving brothers announced that they intended to carry on the name "Bee Gees" in his memory. But as time passed they decided to retire the group name, leaving it to represent the three brothers together.

The same week that Maurice died, Robin's solo album ''Magnet'' was released. On 23 February 2003, the Bee Gees received the Grammy Legend Award. Barry and Robin accepted as well as Maurice's son, Adam, in a tearful ceremony.

Although there was talk of a memorial concert featuring both surviving brothers and invited guests, nothing materialised. Barry and Robin continued to work independently, and both released recordings with other artists, occasionally coming together to perform at special events.

After the Bee Gees

In late 2004, Robin embarked on a solo tour of Germany, Russia and Asia. During January 2005, Barry, Robin and several legendary rock artists recorded "Grief Never Grows Old," the official tsunami relief record for the Disasters Emergency Committee. Later that year, Barry reunited with Barbra Streisand for her top-selling album ''Guilty Pleasures'', released as ''Guilty Too'' in the UK as a sequel album to the previous ''Guilty''. Robin continued touring in Europe. Also in 2004, Barry recorded his song "I Cannot Give You My Love" with Cliff Richard, which became a UK top 20 hit single.

In February 2006, Barry and Robin reunited on stage for a Miami charity concert to benefit the Diabetes Research Institute. It was their first public performance together since the death of brother Maurice. Barry and Robin also played at the 30th annual Prince's Trust Concert in the UK on 20 May 2006.

In October 2008, Robin performed a couple of songs in London as part of the BBC Electric Proms ''Saturday Night Fever'' performance. This involved various other performers and the BBC Concert Orchestra and was screened on the BBC and BBC interactive services.

Return to performing

On 1 September 2009, Barry Gibb, in an interview with Easy Mix radio host Tim Roxborough, mentioned on the subject of future tours that "they will be back"; but in an agreement with Warner/Rhino they would not make an announcement at that time. On 7 September 2009, Robin Gibb disclosed to Jonathan Agnew that he had been in touch with Barry Gibb and that they had agreed that the Bee Gees would re-form and "perform again".

Barry and Robin performed on the BBC's ''Strictly Come Dancing'' on 31 October 2009 and appeared on ABC-TV's ''Dancing with the Stars'' on 17 November 2009.

On 15 March 2010, Barry and Robin inducted the Swedish group ABBA into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. On 26 May 2010, the two made a surprise appearance on the ninth season finale of ''American Idol''.

In October 2010, Robin Gibb was interviewed by the ''Daily Mail'', and confirmed that the story of the Bee Gees is to be made into a Hollywood movie by Steven Spielberg. The Oscar-winning director believes the group’s journey from unknowns in Manchester to worldwide fame will prove box-office gold. Robin told the ''Daily Mail'': "The movie is going to be done by some very important people. It will be our life story. Barry and I will be involved in the technical side". One of the challenges for Spielberg will be replicating the brothers’ distinctive three-part harmonies and Barry’s falsetto voice. Robin said: "I’d like our original recordings to be used because it’s very hard to emulate them."

Songwriting success

The Bee Gees have sold in excess of 220 million records worldwide. At one point in 1978, the Gibb brothers were responsible for writing and/or performing 9 of the songs in the Billboard Hot 100. In all, the Gibbs placed 13 singles onto the Hot 100 in 1978, with 12 making the Top 40.

At least 2,500 artists have recorded their songs. Their most popular composition is "How Deep Is Your Love", with 400 versions by other artists in existence. Among the artists who have covered their songs are Elvis Presley, Janis Joplin, Al Green, Eric Clapton, Lulu, Elton John, Tom Jones, Nina Simone, John Frusciante (who has covered "How Deep Is Your Love" during Red Hot Chili Peppers concerts), Feist, Billy Corgan, Michael Bolton, Robert Smith, Ardijah, Jinusean, Faith No More, The Flaming Lips and Destiny's Child. The band's music has also been sampled by dozens of hip hop artists.

Songs written by the Gibbs, but largely better known through versions by other artists, include:

"Immortality" by Celine Dion

"If I Can't Have You" by Yvonne Elliman

"Chain Reaction" by Diana Ross

"Spicks and Specks" by Status Quo

"Emotion" by Samantha Sang and by Destiny's Child

"Come On Over" by Olivia Newton-John

"Warm Ride" by Graham Bonnet and by Rare Earth

"Guilty" and "Woman in Love" by Barbra Streisand

"Heartbreaker" & "All The Love In The World" by Dionne Warwick

"Islands in the Stream" by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton

"Grease" by Frankie Valli

"Hold On To My Love" by Jimmy Ruffin

"Only One Woman" by The Marbles

"Morning of My Life" by Abi and Esther Ofarim

"Rest Your Love on Me" by Conway Twitty

"Buried Treasure" by Kenny Rogers (backing vocals The Gatlin Brothers)

"Ain't Nothing Gonna Keep Me From You" by Teri DeSario

"I Will Be There" by Tina Turner

Awards and recognition

Inductions

1979 Hollywood Walk of Fame

1994 Songwriters Hall of Fame

1995 Florida's Artists Hall of Fame

1997 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

1997 ARIA (Australian Recording Industry Association) Hall of Fame

2001 Vocal Group Hall of Fame

2004 Dance Music Hall of Fame

2005 London's Walk of Fame

Grammy Awards

1978 Best Pop Vocal Performance By A Group – "How Deep Is Your Love"

1979 Best Pop Vocal Performance By A Duo Or Group – "Saturday Night Fever"

1979 Best Arrangement Of Voices – "Stayin' Alive"

1979 Album Of The Year – "Saturday Night Fever"

1979 Producer Of The Year – "Saturday Night Fever"

1981 Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal – "Guilty" (Barry Gibb with Barbra Streisand)

2000 Lifetime Achievement Award

2003 Legend Award

2004 Hall Of Fame Award – "Saturday Night Fever"

World Music Awards

1997 Legend Award

American Music Awards

1979 Favorite Pop / Rock Band, Duo Or Group

1979 Favorite Soul / R&B; Album – "Saturday Night Fever"

1980 Favorite Pop / Rock Band, Duo Or Group

1980 Favorite Pop / Rock Album – "Spirits Having Flown"

1997 International Artist Award

BRIT Awards

1997 Outstanding Contribution To Music

BMI Awards

On 15 May 2007, The Bee Gees were named BMI Icons at the 55th annual BMI Pop Awards. Collectively, Barry, Maurice and Robin Gibb have earned 109 BMI Pop, Country and Latin Awards.

Commemorative stamps

In October 1999 the Isle of Man Post Office unveiled a set of 6 stamps honouring their native sons' music. The official launch took place at the London Palladium where the stage show of ''Saturday Night Fever'' was playing. A similar launch was held in New York shortly after to coincide with the show opening across the Atlantic. The songs depicted on the stamps are "Massachusetts", "Words", "I've Gotta Get A Message To You", "Night Fever", "Stayin' Alive" and "Immortality".

Civic honours

In 1978, following the success of ''Saturday Night Fever'', and the single "Night Fever" in particular, Reubin Askew, the Governor of the US state of Florida, named the Bee Gees honorary citizens of the state, since they resided in Miami at the time.

All three brothers (including Maurice, posthumously) were appointed Commanders in the Order of the British Empire, one level underneath knighthood, in December 2001 with the ceremony taking place on 27 May 2004.

On 10 July 2009, the Isle of Man's capital bestowed the Freedom of the Borough of Douglas honour on Barry and Robin, as well as posthumously on Maurice, thereby conveying the award of the town of their birth to all three brothers. On 20 November 2009, Douglas Borough Council released a limited edition commemorative DVD to mark their naming as Freemen of the Borough.

Discography

Studio albums

{| class=wikitable style="text-align:center" |- ! Year ! Title ! US Chart ! UK Chart |- | 1965 | style="text-align:left;"|''The Bee Gees Sing and Play 14 Barry Gibb Songs'' | — | — |- | 1966 | style="text-align:left;"|''Spicks and Specks'' | — | — |- | 1967 | style="text-align:left;"|''Bee Gees 1st'' | 7 | 8 |- | 1968 | style="text-align:left;"|''Horizontal'' | 12 | 16 |- | 1968 | style="text-align:left;"|''Idea'' | 17 | 4 |- | 1969 | style="text-align:left;"|''Odessa'' | 20 | 10 |- | 1970 | style="text-align:left;"|''Cucumber Castle'' | 94 | 57 |- | 1970 | style="text-align:left;"|''2 Years On'' | 32 | — |- | 1971 | style="text-align:left;"|''Trafalgar'' | 34 | — |- | 1972 | style="text-align:left;"|''To Whom It May Concern'' | 35 | — |- | 1973 | style="text-align:left;"|''Life in a Tin Can'' | 68 | — |- | 1974 | style="text-align:left;"|''Mr. Natural'' | 178 | — |- | 1975 | style="text-align:left;"|''Main Course'' | 14 | — |- | 1976 | style="text-align:left;"|''Children of the World'' | 8 | — |- | 1979 | style="text-align:left;"|''Spirits Having Flown'' | 1 | 1 |- | 1981 | style="text-align:left;"|''Living Eyes'' | 41 | 73 |- | 1987 | style="text-align:left;"|''E.S.P.'' | 96 | 5 |- | 1989 | style="text-align:left;"|''One'' | 68 | 29 |- | 1991 | style="text-align:left;"|''High Civilization'' | — | 24 |- | 1993 | style="text-align:left;"|''Size Isn't Everything'' | 153 | 23 |- | 1997 | style="text-align:left;"|''Still Waters'' | 11 | 2 |- | 2001 | style="text-align:left;"|''This Is Where I Came In'' | 16 | 6 |}

Live albums

{| class=wikitable style="text-align:center" |- ! Year ! Title ! US Chart ! UK Chart |- | 1977 | style="text-align:left;"|''Here at Last... Bee Gees... Live'' | 8 | — |- | 1998 | style="text-align:left;"|''One Night Only'' | 72 | 4 |}

Soundtrack releases

{| class=wikitable style="text-align:center" |- ! Year ! Title ! US Chart ! UK Chart |- | 1977 | style="text-align:left;"|''Saturday Night Fever'' | 1 | 1 |- | 1978 | style="text-align:left;"|''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' | 5 | 38 |- | 1983 | style="text-align:left;"|''Staying Alive'' | 6 | 14 |}

Catalogue reissue

The Gibbs recently gained ownership rights to their back catalogue, and set up a new distribution arrangement with Warner/Rhino/Reprise Records where they have since reissued digitally remastered versions of ''Saturday Night Fever'', their later ''Bee Gees Greatest'' album, and a new boxed set: ''The Studio Albums: 1967–1968''.

Additionally, more recent titles such as ''Still Waters'' and ''This Is Where I Came In'' were among the first batch of re-releases. The band's three Warner Bros. releases, ''E. S. P.,'' ''One'' and ''High Civilisation'' were also made available on iTunes for the first time since the albums went out of print in North America in the mid-90s.

According to Robin Gibb's website, three more reissues were planned for the 2008 holiday season: ''Best of Bee Gees'', ''Best of Bee Gees, Volume 2'' and ''Love Songs''. The double album ''Odessa'' was released on 13 January 2009 in a special 3-disc deluxe edition complete with the original red velvet cover with remastered stereo and mono versions of the album as well as alternate versions and unreleased tracks.

Limited edition

was recorded in 1997 as a 1,000 quantity limited edition single for Isle of Man charities. The song was featured in the Bee Gees World Tour and on ITV's "An Evening With ..." but to date has not been released generally. The single was subsequently also available as part of the 1999 Bee Gees Stamp issue.

50th anniversary collections

In conjunction with the 50th anniversary of The Bee Gees (when they started calling themselves 'Bee Gees' in 1959), Rhino Records is releasing two new collections. ''Mythology'' is a four-disc collection highlighting each brother, including Andy, with tracks personally selected by Barry, Robin, Maurice's wife Yvonne (with his children Adam and Samantha), and Andy's daughter Peta. Maurice's disc contains two unreleased tracks called "Angel Of Mercy" and "The Bridge". Andy's disc contains the unreleased track "Arrow Through The Heart". ''Mythology'' also features a scrapbook of family photos, many never-before published, along with tributes from artists such as George Martin, Brian Wilson, Elton John, Graham Nash and the band's longtime manager Robert Stigwood.

The second collection, ''The Ultimate Bee Gees'' is a more modest two-disc, 40-track collection highlighting their biggest hits which will include a bonus DVD of unreleased videos, previously unreleased television appearances, live performances, and promo videos. Each disc is themed with the first disc being the more upbeat songs called 'A Night Out' and the second disc being more ballad focused called 'A Night In'.

Band instrumentalists

Barry Gibb played rhythm guitar.

During the early 1970s, Robin Gibb played piano and violin occasionally, but most of the time he only sang. Although he keeps on playing strings and keyboards privately, he has not played any instrument on stage since mid-'70s.

Maurice Gibb played bass guitar, rhythm and lead guitar, piano, organ, harpsichord, electric piano, mellotron, and electronic keyboards, synthesisers and drum tracks. From 1966 to 1972 he played multiple instruments on many records. During the late 1970s he played mainly bass guitar. From about 1986 onward he usually played keyboards and guitars. Maurice was credited by the brothers as being the most technologically savvy member of the band, and had built his own home studio. The bootleg CD ''ESP Demos'' allegedly includes rough versions of tracks from the album of the same name that were recorded at that studio.

These musicians were considered members of the band:

Colin Petersen – drums 1967–69

Vince Melouney – lead guitar 1967–68

Geoff Bridgford – drums 1969–72

Alan Kendall – lead guitar 1971–80, 87–01

Dennis Bryon – drums 1974–80

Blue Weaver – keyboards 1975–80

Here are some other musicians who backed up the Bee Gees live and in the studio:

Carlos Alomar – guitar

Ray Barretto – bongos

Reb Beach – guitar

David Foster – keyboards

Steve Gibb – guitar

Scott Glasel – Synthesizer and Drum Programming

Steve Jordan – drums

Manu Katché – drums

Jim Keltner – drums 1973

Rhett Lawrence – Synthesizer Programming

Marcus Miller – bass guitar

Pino Palladino – bass guitar

Greg Phillinganes – keyboards Jeff Porcaro – drums

Russ Powell—bass guitar

Steve Rucker – drums

Raphael Saadiq – bass guitar, guitar, drum programming, vocals

Stephen Stills – percussion

Peter-John Vettese – keyboards

Waddy Wachtel – guitar

Joe Walsh – guitar

Filmography

1969: ''Cucumber Castle''

1978: ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band''

1979: ''The Bee Gees Special''

1990: ''One For All Tour''

1997: ''Keppel Road''

1998: ''One Night Only''

2001: ''This Is Where I Came In''

2002: ''Live By Request''

2010: ''In Our Own Time''

In pop culture

Australian music quiz show ''Spicks and Specks'' takes its name from the Bee Gees song of the same name, and features the song in its opening titles

A TV sketch by Kenny Everett in which he played all three Gibbs as well as an interviewer, had the Bee Gees answering all of his questions with song quotes

They were parodied by Philip Pope, Angus Deayton, and Michael Fenton Stevens recording as The Hee Bee Gee Bees, singing "Meaningless Songs (in Very High Voices)"

In an episode of ''The Simpsons'' while at a yard sale Homer and Disco Stu perform the "Staying Alive" parody "Table Five"

In 2003, 2005, 2006, 2009, and 2011 Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake parodied Barry and Robin Gibb on ''Saturday Night Live'' in the show's ''Barry Gibb Talk Show'' sketches.

The pop punk band Blink 182 parodied the Bee Gees in their "First Date" video

A ''MADtv'' parody shows Barry Gibb, portrayed by Michael McDonald, making an American soundtrack with Randy Newman and other celebrities like Chaka Khan (Aries Spears) and Destiny's Child (Debra Wilson)

In 1998, the British television comedy sketch show ''Big Train'' featured a sketch starring Simon Pegg, Mark Heap and Kevin Eldon as the Bee Gees depicted as outlaws being killed by lawman Chaka Khan in a Western-style shoot-out

In ''The Mighty Boosh'' episode "The Legend of Old Gregg", The Bee Gees are one of the bands who wanted a piece of The Funk

In ''The Goodies'' episode "Saturday Night Grease", Tim imitated the high-pitched voices of the Bee Gees used in the soundtrack ''Staying Alive''

In ''The Fairly OddParents'', Cosmo refers to the untrue history of the Bee Gees, and mentions that "there's too much Bee Gees".

References

External links

Bee Gees – official website

Barry Gibb – official website

Robin Gibb – official website

Bee Gees at ''Rolling Stone''

Bee Gees' Vocal Group Hall of Fame webpage

Bee Gees at bmi.com

* Category:Musical groups established in 1958 Category:Musical groups disestablished in 2003 Category:Musical groups reestablished in 2009 Category:ARIA Award winners Category:ARIA Hall of Fame inductees Category:Australian rock music groups Category:Disco groups Category:English dance music groups Category:English rock music groups Category:Family musical groups Category:Grammy Award winners Category:BRIT Award winners Category:Musical groups from Manchester Category:Manx musical groups Category:Blue-eyed soul singers Category:Queensland musical groups Category:Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Category:Sibling musical trios Category:UNICEF people

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