The Ultimate Biography of The Bee Gees

by Hector Cook

  There was more chart success soon as the Gibbs provided backing vocals on an early February 1964 number two record by popular Australian television host Jimmy Hannan. His first single, ‘Beach Ball’, backed by ‘You Gotta Have Love’, featured the voices of all three Gibbs on both sides. Jimmy was also the first artist to be signed by Reg Grundy for his RG label, and this release was a huge success for Hannan, who at the time was the host of the teenage music television show, Saturday Date. With The Bee Gees’ own producer Robert Iredale also working as musical coordinator for the television show, The Bee Gees’ involvement in Hannan’s single seems only natural. This record was also the first occasion on which Americans were exposed to The Bee Gees’ distinctive vocal sound. As with the Australian release, they were again uncredited on the record when ‘Beach Ball’ was issued in the USA on Atlantic 2247, this time without any chart success.

  The Gibbs also provided back-upvocals for Hannan’s follow-upsingle, ‘You Make Me Happy’/‘Hokey Pokey Stomp’, released at the very end of March. While it was not as successful as its predecessor, it still made number 21 on the Sydney charts.

  Even though they couldn’t find chart success as The Bee Gees at that point, Jimmy Little’s cover of Barry’s ‘One Road’, released by Festival on February 3, 1964, made the Top 10 in some states. ‘One Road’ was the follow-upto Little’s number one, ‘Royal Telephone’, a few months before. Barry changed it from a love song to a religious theme to suit the gospel style that Jimmy was after. Little, another who was signed to the Festival label, also included Barry’s ‘Walkin’ Talkin’ Teardrops’ on his New Songs From Jimmy LP at about the same time.

  Although Jimmy knew of the Gibbs through the industry, these two songs were actually suggested to him by Ken Taylor in Festival’s A&R department. Jimmy says that he always liked Barry’s work but that he never really got the chance to say thanks as none of the Gibbs were in the studio with him for the recordings which were produced by Robert Iredale with assistance from Hal Saunders. One of the nicest guys in the entire entertainment industry, he is still very busy as a performing artist and is even sometimes asked to include both Gibb songs in his act.

  Later that February, another Festival act, Sydney born Noeleen Batley, released the first of four songs that Barry would write for her, as the B-side to ‘Forgive Me’; a number 34 in New South Wales. Now Noeleen Batley Stewart, and still a good friend of the Gibb family, her records had uncommonly good arrangements for the time and these, combined with her young voice, brought the most out of Barry’s songs. The years have been kind to her, and she retains an excellent memory of those far-flung days. “I met the Bee Gees when I did a big concert at Lane Cove National Park. Their mum and dad and the three boys were there, and we were introduced by Col Joye. The songs that Barry wrote were especially for me. I went to Belinda music and met with Tony Brady, who was in charge of the company, and Barry played many songs to me which I wasn’t really impressed with at the time. So we made another appointment, and he came up with ‘Surfer Boy’, my first recording by him. I loved it. [All four] records were produced by Robert Iredale, of Festival Records. I remember the fun we had, the three boys and myself together.”

  Tony Brady had worked hard to promote Barry’s songwriting abilities, so it seemed only fair that he should get a slice of the action too. ‘Let’s Stomp, Australia Way’, another title reflecting the new Australian dance craze, was released by RCA in March and was the first cover version single to contain two Gibb compositions, as the reverse side was ‘Lucky Me’. Brady embarked on what one newspaper described as “a barnstorming television tour round Australia in an attempt to push it high into the charts,” but he failed to catch the mood of the record-buyers who had put him into the Top 30 on two separate occasions just two years earlier.

  All was quiet on the Gibb front for the next three months but June witnessed a proliferation of releases. By then, Tony had switched to the Parlaphone label and launched his career there with another offering from Barry entitled ‘I Will Love You’. Nat Kipner, a key figure in Maurice’s writing development, wrote the B-side. Thankfully, Kipner would soon turn to serious writing – ‘I’m Gonna Buy My Mother-In-Law A Block Of Land On Mars’ might have appealed to Brady but would surely have looked out of place on a Bee Gees record. Tony now works for Col Joye’s ATA Records in Sydney.

  All three brothers were called upon once again by Johnny Devlin to contribute backing vocals on his next release. This time they appeared on both sides, but their voices are far more audible on the B-side, ‘Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On’, than on the plug side, ‘Blue Suede Shoes’. The single was rush released to capitalise on the announcement that Devlin and his band, The Devils, would be supporting The Beatles on their 1964 Australian tour. As Johnny is honest enough to admit, the Gibbs were not his first choice for these recordings. “I remember at the time we wanted the Delltones, who were big back then,” he confessed, “but they were unavailable, so we settled for what we thought was second-best, The Bee Gees.”

  Devlin’s good fortune came as the result of a strange decision by another artist. Del Juliana is famous in Australian pop music folklore for turning down an opportunity to tour with The Beatles at the height of their fame on that same 1964 tour. No reason has ever been given for her knockback of the Fab Four. A New Zealand born female singer, Del made ‘Never Like This’ almost sound like a Beach Boys tune. It was only one of a number of Barry Gibb songs that RCA suggested to Del, and she remembers that she recorded another one, ‘Boy On The Board’ at the same session. Sadly, no copies of Juliana’s version of this latter song exist. She now lives in the tran-quillity of The Blue Mountains in New South Wales.

  Although ‘It Takes A Lot (To Make Me Cry)’ was not one of their own compositions, Judy Stone was a fellow Festival artist of that time, and so the Gibbs were quick to lend her their support when she invited them to provide backing vocals. To this day, she remains a good friend.

  Later that summer, Tony Brady also collaborated with Barry on a radio advertising jingle for Surfing World magazine called ‘It’s A Surfing World’.

  Like the Gibbs a decade later, another young artist, Bryan Davies, emigrated from Manchester at the age of four in 1948, and first came to the attention of teenage rock fans in 1959 when he became a regular on Bandstand. He was soon heard from again, and Barry wrote both sides of his October release on HMV, ‘I Don’t Like To Be Alone’ backed with ‘Love And Money’. Both numbers belong to the emerging rock’n’roll genre and returned the Gibb name to prominence by reaching the Top 40 in several state charts, number 22 in New South Wales being pick of the bunch.

  Also in October, Columbia released ‘Scared Of Losing You’ as the B-side to Reg Lindsay’s ‘Lonely Road’.

  Before the end of the year, two more New Zealand acts got in on the Barry Gibb act too. The Pleasers were sufficiently impressed by Bryan Davies’ version of ‘I Don’t Like To Be Alone’ to record their own one for release on their native Red Rooster label. The other was country singer John Hore who included ‘Tribute To An Unknown Love’ on his Hit The Trail album for the obscure HMV-distributed John Brown label.

  The start of 1965 saw a couple of solo artists come back for second helpings. Bryan Davies chose ‘Watch What You Say’ as the A-side of his next single, while Noeleen Batley did likewise with ‘Baby I’m Losing You’. In hindsight, it is particularly frustrating to see how good a job Batley did with Barry’s songs because, with a little bit more time and expense, substantial improvement could have been made to The Bee Gees’ own releases.

  One of those Bee Gees releases was their collaboration at the end of 1964 with Trevor Gordon. This time Leedon chose to promote Trevor on his own, albeit that one Gibb – Robin – and possibly more, again provided vocals. ‘Little Miss Rhythm And Blues’/‘Here I Am’ was released on April 18, 1965 and the A-side, a fast Chuck Berry-like tune, was also covered by two groups.

  Mike, Tommy and Albert Williamson had all been merchant seamen
from the UK who whiled away their spare time on board by fooling around with music. In 1961, the three guitarists jumped ship together in Australia and formed a rock’n’roll band called The Steele Brothers as a tribute to their hero, Tommy Steele. Working out of Sydney, they moved to Auckland, New Zealand in 1963, taking drummer Dave Campand lead singer “Judge” Wayne Harrison with them. Thus, Judge Wayne & The Convicts were born and they recorded ‘Little Miss Rhythm And Blues’ for Viking Records, also recording ‘Here I Am’ as its B-side. Even before the record was released, Wayne took up the offer of a solo career in Australia and the band split. The other four would at least have the satisfaction of seeing Wayne’s career nose dive rapidly, before they too moved back to Australia where they are still involved in the music industry.

  The same song was released on Spin by Steve And The Board, the band formed by Nat Kipner’s son Steve and which included drummer Colin Petersen. The group achieved overnight success during this period when their début album, Steve And The Board And The Giggle Eyed Goo, reached the Top 10 in some states. However, after Petersen’s departure, even though he was replaced by ex-Nomads drummer Geoff Bridgeford, the band dissolved without ever realising their full potential.

  Bryan Davies recorded his fourth Barry Gibb song, ‘I Should Have Stayed In Bed’ for an April release, and he can recall Barry being in the studio for all four, not only to provide backing vocals, but to harmonise with him as well.

  Two new Leedon female artists came knocking on Barry’s door that June. Michelle Rae was presented with ‘I Wanna Tell The World’/‘Everybody’s Talkin’ ’ which was put out as a single by Leedon, apparently with some Gibb vocals on the B-side, while child singer Jenny Bradley received ‘Who’s Been Writing On The Wall Again’/‘Chubby’. Neither record made any impact nor, for that matter, did the careers of either singer. In Rae’s case, it appears to have been her one and only release.

  Barry now embarked on a brief hiatus as far as writing for others was concerned, and the period coincided with The Bee Gees’ first chart success in the form of the Bill Shepherd produced ‘Wine And Women’. His batteries were sufficiently recharged by October to resume.

  Noeleen Batley still had faith in Barry’s abilities and returned for another song. Festival relegated ‘Watching The Hours Go By’ to the B-side of ‘Padre’, a non-Gibb composition, which failed to chart. ‘Watching The Hours Go By’ lacked the impressive arrangements of Batley’s earlier releases; on the other hand, it does have substantial accompaniment from The Bee Gees to redress the balance, and is another source of pleasant memories for the lead singer. “The boys joined in and played their instruments,” Noeleen recalled. “I remember Maurice on the organ working out all of the chords. Even then at their young age, they were brilliant and Barry was such a perfectionist, especially rehearsing the song over and over again.” This was a trait that the eldest brother would demonstrate on many an occasion during his career.

  Barry, Robin and Maurice were also heard alongside Vyt on ‘Why Do I Cry’, a song that was a hit for The Remains a few years earlier. Vyt is a shortened version of this Lithuanian’s real name, reputed to be so long that they didn’t have room to fit it on the record itself.

  Denis Williams’ band, Denis And The Delawares recorded a pair of lively rock numbers and were rewarded with an HMV release of ‘Bad Girl’/‘They Say’. Delawares lead guitarist Bruce Davis confirmed that the recording of these songs came about through their manager, Chris Dipler, chasing Barry Gibb, who was by then getting a name around Sydney as a hot songwriter. Barry was not present during the recording although he was at Bruce’s house when they were rehearsing the song, and he did make a few suggestions. Robert Iredale, whom Bruce described as “a nice approachable man who would quite often join in on piano and maracas when necessary,” again produced the record. Barry additionally helped to promote the single’s release by also attending its launch.

  Two months later, as 1965 drew to its close, another HMV artist, Lynne Fletcher chose ‘You Do Your Loving With Me’ as the A-side of her new single. The song was sent to her by HMV, but Lynne already knew the Gibbs through her appearances on Bandstand. Highlighting the friendships that readily grew in those halcyon days, Noeleen Batley was Lynne’s bridesmaid when she got married.

  There would now be almost a six month gap before Barry could spare any time to resume his writing for others. Ossie Byrne had provided him and his brothers with a new playground, and it proved virtually impossible to tear them away from the recording studio during that entire period.

  * * *

  The first to receive a new Barry Gibb composition after his sabbatical was female singer, Lori Balmer, who reprised Jenny Bradley’s ‘Who’s Been Writing On The Wall Again’ and backed it with ‘In Your World’. Born in Victoria to showbiz parents, Lori was working professionally by the age of six. “When I was living in Sydney, I was picked up by RCA at seven and was their youngest recording star. My parents, being British (Irish & Scottish), were good friends of the Gibb family – Brits stick together – so I’ve known them since I was seven. Andy and I used to play together,” she reminisced fondly.

  “Barry wrote some songs for me, and the Gibbs played on [them], which were recorded at EMI studios in Castlereah Street, Sydney. I was eight years of age. The house producer of RCA was Ron Wills, but Barry really produced [them] under Ron’s eye. We did the vocals with the Gibbs providing the background vocals on one tape. The day before we did the demos for the songs at the Hurstville studio.”

  Emphasising the strength of the bond that developed between the two families, Lori revealed that when the Gibbs left Australia for England in less than a year’s time, they had their going away party at the Balmer’s house.

  In May, The Richard Wright Group– the lead singer was no relation to the Pink Floyd keyboard player – recorded ‘Neither Rich Nor Poor’ as the A-side of their single. Guitarist Gary McDonald confirmed that the song was actually recorded prior to the group’s formation. ‘Neither Rich Nor Poor’ reached Sydney’s Top 40 and he also clearly remembers having to learn the song so that they could go out and play it at concerts.

  By now, The Bee Gees had determined that their future lay outside Australia’s confines, and the only thing to be decided was when. Rather than sit idly twiddling their thumbs while awaiting confirmation of their passage, the brothers took an entirely opposite view and attempted to cram as many recordings as possible into the short space of time before their imminent departure.

  The writing for others showed no signs of drying up either, and August 1966 witnessed a landmark occasion with the near simultaneous release of three singles. All three were on Festival’s Down Under label and had consecutive catalogue numbers.

  The first, UK 1454, was allocated to Bip(his younger brother couldn’t pronounce ‘Phillip’!) Addison’s ‘Hey’/‘Young Man’s Fancy’ and had the honour of being Maurice’s first efforts at writing for others, both of Bip’s songs having been co-written with Nat Kipner. Nat had first met Bip on Saturday Date, the TV show for which Nat was talent co-ordinator and producer. Bipalso knew The Bee Gees, describing them as “just like the rest of the young artists in the pop music world that you ran into at other television shows.”

  Ossie Byrne’s St Clair Studios in Hurstville was where artists did the recording for songs that they sang/mimed on Saturday Date. It was here that Nat and Maurice played their two new songs for Bip, and he recorded both of them that same day. The precise details are still fresh in his mind. “For most of [‘Hey’], Maurice and I were the singers, double tracked so there were four voices. On the middle eight, it was just me.” Barry was on guitar, drums were provided by Colin Peterson while bass, piano, harmonica and maracas all came courtesy of Maurice. The line-upon ‘Young Man’s Fancy’ was similar but all three Gibbs sang back-upvocals while Maurice played a solid electric 12-string guitar unplugged to achieve a “Byrds” effect.

  Apparently, over and above the impressions that Maurice performed along
with his brothers as part of their new stage act, he also bore a striking resemblance to the lead singer of The Easybeats, and Bipstill chuckles at the memory. “He used to get annoyed as people kept mistaking him for Stevie Wright because they both had long hair and English accents.”

  Although Barry was workmanlike and interested in observing Nat’s and Ossie’s production techniques, Robin’s attention was sometimes elsewhere. “I remember I was amazed as he ate a whole [family size] Vienetta ice cream that day,” recalls Bip, “and I felt that sort of diet wouldn’t help his skin too much. Remember, they were pimply youths then,” he added.

  Bip describes Nat as a “nice enough guy, very busy, almost hyperactive in some ways” but he concedes that he didn’t know Ossie all that well. “He seemed a generation apart from us then. He was at least 20 years older with Brylcreemed hair, and we all had longer scruffy hair. I do remember he had only one eye or a glass eye! I can’t remember him ever playing an instrument.”

  Towards the end of the decade, Bip decided to give the recording business another try. “I was about to go and record another song with Robert Iredale as producer, but unfortunately he’d committed suicide. I had also done some recording with my previous band, The Fugitives.” Bip himself passed away suddenly in March, 2000.

  Next in line was Sandy Summers and Maurice and Nat wrote ‘Messin’ Round’ for her. This time, all three Gibbs provided backing vocals, with Maurice additionally contributing piano and bass while Barry was on his usual rhythm guitar. The B-side, ‘A Girl Needs To Love’, was written by Barry and can almost be considered a Bee Gees recording as Barry sings along with virtually all of Sandy’s lead vocal, while the twins are clearly heard providing back-up.

  The last of the Down Under trilogy was Anne Shelton’s ‘Talk To Me’, which was written by Maurice and Nat. The Bee Gees influence again predominates with vocals and instrumentation to the fore, especially on the B-side, a Kipner/Byrne composition entitled ‘I Miss You’, where the Gibbs even sing a verse on their own. Little is known of Shelton. Barrington Davis referred to her as “a fine singer” but said that “she left the pop world to work in the lucrative club scene” and Ossie Byrne was not sure if that was the best career move for her. She is no longer in the musicians’ union and no one appears to know her.