Robin Gibb
Robin Hugh Gibb was a British singer and songwriter. He gained global fame as a member of the Bee Gees with elder brother Barry and twin brother Maurice. Robin Gibb also had his own successful solo career.
Gibb was born at the Jane Crookall Maternity Home, Douglas on the Isle of Man, to English parents, Hugh and Barbara Gibb; the family later moved to Manchester for three years before settling in Redcliffe, just north of Brisbane, Australia. Gibb began his career as part of the family trio. When the group found their first success, they returned to England, where they achieved worldwide fame. In 2002, the Bee Gees were appointed as CBEs for their "contribution to music". However, investiture at Buckingham Palace was delayed until 2004.
With record sales estimated in excess of 200 million, the Bee Gees became one of the most successful pop groups of all time. Music historian Paul Gambaccini described Gibb as "one of the major figures in the history of British music" and "one of the best white soul voices ever" owing to his distinctive vibrato-laden soulful voice. From 2008 to 2011, Gibb was president of the UK-based Heritage Foundation, which honours figures in British culture. After a career touching six decades, Gibb last performed on stage in February 2012 supporting injured British servicemen at a charity concert at the London Palladium. After numerous health problems in his final years, including colorectal cancer, Gibb died in May 2012 at the age of 62 from liver and kidney failure.
While primarily known as a vocalist, Gibb also played a variety of keyboards, including piano, organ and Mellotron on various early Bee Gees albums such as Odessa ; he also played acoustic guitar and organ on his debut solo album Robin's Reign.
Childhood
Robin Hugh Gibb was born on 22 December 1949 in Jane Crookall Maternity Home in Douglas, Isle of Man, to Barbara Gibb and Hugh Gibb. He was the fraternal twin of Maurice Gibb and was the older of the two by 35 minutes. Apart from Maurice, he had one sister, Lesley Evans, and two brothers, Barry and Andy. As children in Manchester, Gibb and his brothers began committing crimes such as petty burglary and arson.Their neighbour in Willaston, Isle of Man, Marie Beck, was a friend of his mother and her sister Peggy. Helen Kenney, another neighbour, was living in Douglas Head. As Kenney recalls, "Barry and the twins used to come into Mrs Beck's house and we would talk to them. Robin once said to me, 'We're going to be rich one day, we're going to form a band!' Little did I realise he meant it."
Career
1955–1958: The Rattlesnakes
In 1955, when the Gibbs moved back to their hometown of Manchester, the brothers formed the Rattlesnakes. The band consisted of Barry on guitar and vocals, Robin and Maurice on vocals, Paul Frost on drums, and Kenny Horrocks on tea-chest bass. The quintet performed in local theatres in Manchester. Their influences at that time were popular acts, such as the Everly Brothers, Cliff Richard, and Paul Anka. In May 1958, the group was disbanded as Frost and Horrocks left, and the name changed to Wee Johnny Hayes and the Blue Cats. In August 1958, the family travelled to Australia on the same ship as Red Symons, who also became a prominent musician in Australia.1958–1969: Bee Gees
The boys finally changed their name to the Bee Gees, while they were living in Queensland, Australia. The Bee Gees' debut television appearance was in 1960 on Desmond Tester's Strictly for Moderns when they performed "Time Is Passing By". When they signed to Festival Records at the start of 1963 they released their debut single, "The Battle of the Blue and the Grey". Their 1964 single "Claustrophobia" is notable for being the first song that features Gibb as an instrumentalist playing melodica. The first Bee Gees record on which he sang lead was "I Don't Think It's Funny" in 1965. In 1966, he wrote his first song "I Don't Know Why I Bother With Myself" that was credited to him. Also in 1966, Gibb and his brother Barry took more solo vocals.The group's first period of British success in the late 1960s started with "New York Mining Disaster 1941" and the band added drummer Colin Petersen and guitarist Vince Melouney to their line up. They toured Europe in 1967 and 1968 as well as the US in August 1968. The band's first UK No. 1 was "Massachusetts", which features Gibb on lead vocal.
On 13 June 1968, Gibb recorded demos for seven songs, accompanying himself on guitar. The tape listed Robin alone as artist and songwriter. Of these, one – "Indian Gin and Whisky Dry" – later appeared on Idea. On 27 July 1968, Gibb collapsed and fell unconscious. He was later admitted to a London nursing home suffering from nervous exhaustion, and was moved to a facility in Sussex on 31 July to continue his recuperation. The group, about to embark on its first US tour, cancelled four dates after Gibb had a relapse and flew back to England for additional rest.
Gibb co-wrote "Only One Woman", The Marbles' debut single, which was a hit in several countries, especially in Europe and New Zealand. The Marbles were a British rock duo consisting of Graham Bonnet and Trevor Gordon. The Bee Gees' single "I Started a Joke," on which Robin sang lead, was not released as a single in the UK but was the group's first US Top 10 hit. Gibb claimed that the melody of the song was inspired by the sounds he heard in a jet engine.
In August, the band started to record Odessa. In January 1969, Gibb co-wrote another Marbles single, "The Walls Fell Down," and co-produced the sessions that same month. However, the rivalry with Barry eventually prompted Robin to leave the group and begin a solo career after his song "Lamplight" was relegated to the B-side of Barry's song "First of May". Meanwhile, there were rumours during this period that he was dealing with drug problems, allegedly leading his parents to threaten legal action to make him a ward of court. The Bee Gees' last recording session with Robin was in February 1969. Gibb's last performance with the group was on The Tom Jones Show and Top of the Pops before leaving the group.
1969–1970: Solo career
On 19 March 1969, he announced that he was leaving the Bee Gees the same day as the band recorded "Tomorrow Tomorrow", their first single without Robin. In his solo career, Gibb was initially successful with a number 2 UK hit, "Saved by the Bell", which sold over one million copies and received a gold disc. He performed that song on the German TV show Beat-Club. Also in 1969, Gibb co-produced "Love for Living". The song was performed by Clare Torry and was released as a single. He also started a mini-tour, making television appearances in a dozen countries to promote "Saved by the Bell". By 19 July 1969, New Musical Express announced "Tonight, is fronting a 97-piece orchestra and a 60-piece choir in a recording of his latest composition, 'To Heaven and Back', which was inspired by the Apollo 11 moonshot. It is an entirely instrumental piece, with the choir being used for astral effects. The single will be billed as by 'The Robin Gibb Orchestra and Chorus' and it will be rush-released as soon as possible by Polydor". At that time, he was doing a musical score for Henry The Eighth and making his own film called Family Tree. Later, it was reported on NME that Gibb wrote dozens of songs for Tom Jones. A meeting between Gibb and Jones was said to be arranged for Gibb's return from a three-day promo trip to Germany.On 31 January and 1 February 1970, Gibb performed in Auckland, New Zealand at Redwood 70, billed as the first modern music festival held in New Zealand. During the first night of the festival, Gibb and his 16-piece backing orchestra were pelted with cans and tomatoes from the crowd, making his backing band gradually leave during the performance. Robin's first solo album, Robin's Reign was less successful and he soon found that being a solo artist was unsatisfying. Maurice played bass on the song "Mother and Jack", but was subsequently removed from the project by producer Robert Stigwood. Also in that year, Colin Petersen produced "Make a Stranger Your Friend" performed by Jonathan Kelly, on which Gibb sang on the chorus with Mick Taylor, Klaus Voormann, Madeline Bell, three members of The Family Dogg, Jackie Lomax, Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan and others. By January 1970, Gibb started to record his second solo album Sing Slowly Sisters until February, but the album would go unreleased until 2015. He wanted "Great Caesar's Ghost" to be released as a single around 1970 with "Engines, Aeroplanes" as the B-side but the two songs were not included on that album and were unreleased to this day.
On 13 June, Gibb and Maurice reunited and they recorded four songs, with two of the four tracks released on their upcoming album 2 Years On. The session was originally for Maurice alone as he brought Gibb to the sessions. On 21 June sessions, the pair recorded another five songs.
1970–1979: Bee Gees comeback
In August, the pair returned to the studio and they announced that the Bee Gees were back, with or without Barry's contribution. One of the fourteen songs, "Back Home" and "I'm Weeping" was also released on 2 Years On. On 21 August it was announced that Barry had rejoined the group and they were recording together. The first song after the announcement was "Lonely Days" which reached No. 3 in the US Billboard Hot 100. On the 2 Years On album, Gibb's songs included "Alone Again". He also co-wrote and sang lead vocals on the title track as well as "Man For All Seasons". In December 1970, Gibb recorded a demo "After the Laughter". The Bee Gees had their first US No. 1 single "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart", with Gibb contributing on the song, writing with Barry and singing lead vocals on its first verse.In April 1972, two months after the departure of drummer Geoff Bridgford, he wrote his last solo composition on a Bee Gees record until 1999, "Never Been Alone". In 1976, on the group's Children of the World album, he sang lead on "Love Me" as well as doing falsetto on the track's coda, and he also used his falsetto on his lead vocal part on the song "Lovers" as Barry provided lead vocals on the entire song. On the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, he did not sing lead vocals on any Bee Gees song, unlike their previous and next albums. Four tracks off the album reached the UK Top 10; "How Deep Is Your Love", "More Than A Woman", "Stayin' Alive", and "You Should Be Dancing". Moreover, "Night Fever" spent longer at #1 than any track in 1978.
In 1978, Gibb performed on the Sesame Street Fever album for the Sesame Street children's TV program. He was one of the singers on the "Sesame Street Fever" title track, he sang a song called "Trash" for the character Oscar the Grouch, and spoke with Cookie Monster at the beginning of "C is for Cookie".