by Hector Cook
In another tribute, 13 of the biggest names in pop music all recorded Bee Gees’ songs in aid of Live Challenge 99 to raise money for homeless young people. The songs were included in a Bee Gees Tribute Album entitled Gotta Get A Message To You. Boy band 911 had a smash hit with their version of the Fever classic ‘More Than A Woman’. 911’s lead singer Jimmy raved, “Maybe because the bands on the tribute album are from a younger generation, we don’t have the preconceptions other people seem to have … Everyone I know thinks they are legends in music. The Bee Gees are brilliant songwriters, the best in the business. They’ve written so many different songs for so many different artists. ‘Chain Reaction’ for Diana Ross doesn’t sound anything like ‘Immortality’, their duet with Celine Dion. Actually, I shouldn’t be saying this, but we’re in talks with them about co-writing a song if we can ever get our schedules to match.”
UK teen idols Steps topped the charts in Britain and Australia with their version of the 1979 hit, ‘Tragedy’. Boyzone, who had had their first number one with their version of ‘Words’ in 1996, said they “were more than happy” to record an updated ‘Words ’98’ for the tribute. Ultra Naté, Cleopatra, Adam Garcia, Space, Louise, Robbie Williams & The Orb, Monaco, Spikey T & Gwen Dickey, Dana International and The Lightning Seeds all recorded tracks.
In July, Celine Dion’s version of ‘Immortality’ featuring The Bee Gees on backing vocals was eventually released as a single in most of the world, although notably not in the US. It was a number five hit in Britain and reached number eight in Australia.
Barry also lent backing vocals to ‘Do I Love You’ on Paul Anka’s A Body Of Work, the English language version of his 1996 South American album.
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On August 28, The Bee Gees played the first of four sold-out stadium concerts in 1998. Brian Kennedy opened the show at RDS Stadium in Dublin, before The Bee Gees took to the stage before a crowd of 39,000. Tim Cansfield had replaced Stephen Gibb in the line-up this time around, and on this occasion, Boyzone heart-throb Ronan Keating joined the group for ‘Words’.
The concert was also memorable from a fan perspective as the first live performance of ‘Ellan Vannin’ — and as the first sighting of Robin’s new hair. Instead of adopting his twin’s solution of covering his balding pate with an ever-present hat, the brother whose hair style had gone through the most transitions through the years had augmented his thinning locks with a toupee.
On September 5, Australian Tina Arena was the support act, when The Bee Gees appeared before an audience of 55,000 at Wembley Stadium in London.
Two days later, the One Night Only live album and video recorded at their Las Vegas concert were released.
On September 13, An Audience With The Bee Gees television special was taped in London for broadcast on November 7. Boyzone joined the group for a special performance of ‘Words’.
“It’s a real honour actually to have anyone, especially … the younger artists that are doing the songs because it was written [30] years ago,” Maurice enthused. “So when Boyzone did it, we were blown away because it was just a lovely version. It’s the first time we’d actually heard it fresh again and also be successful. I think for any songwriters, it’s a wonderful, wonderful feeling.”
Former Rolling Stone Bill Wyman, Saturday Night Fever’s Adam Garcia and soap star Patsy Palmer were among those in the celebrity audience, asking questions of the group. Clive Anderson and Angus Deayton notably declined invitations to appear.
In October, Stephen Gibb’s absence from the shows was explained, when a “family friend” chose to speak to the press. A relapse into heroin use had placed him first in a Missouri rehabilitation centre, and then in a halfway house drugs centre in Miami.
“He’ll be in the halfway house for the next month or so and we’re all hoping that will be the end of it,” said the friend. “Barry is nervously optimistic. But after what happened to his kid brother Andy, it’s fair to say he is going through a personal nightmare. Don’t forget Andy went to clinics — and he told Barry a million times he’d kicked drugs. But he never did. We hope this terrible business has been nipped in the bud. Stephen has faced up to things like a man.”
In covering the story, the Mirror showed little compassion and even less concern for the truth when they added, “In 1988, [Andy] was found dead in a rundown Miami motel room after suffering a heart attack during a marathon cocaine and drink session” — a statement in which only the year of Andy’s death was correct.
October 1998 saw the release of two long-awaited collections from The Bee Gees’ Australian days from Festival Records. The first was a 63-track two CD set called Brilliant From Birth, which was a confusingly similar title to their previous collection in 1978 of early Bee Gees’ recordings called Birth Of Brilliance. This 1998 version is the definitive collection of the Bee Gees’ Australian years which, as well as containing the fairly easy to obtain 35 recordings, also included another 20 less common demos and four previously unreleased songs. The four unreleased tracks are recordings made by The Bee Gees at Festival Records’ studios in 1964 to provide backing tapes for the Australian television show Sing, Sing, and were never intended for release on record. ‘Can’t You See That She’s Mine’ was a big hit for the Dave Clark 5 and it’s clear that the very young Bee Gees had a lot of fun with this one. Perhaps the highlight of the compilation is the sound of the Gibbs’ harmonies on their cover of The Beatles’ ‘From Me To You’ — Barry’s voice is just that little bit deeper than that of his younger brothers at this point. ‘Yesterday’s Gone’ had been a big hit for English duo Chad & Jeremy in the mid-Sixties, and The Bee Gees’ own version doesn’t stray far from the arrangement of the original. The fourth song was their near identical rendition of the Hollies’ ‘Just One Look’. It’s no surprise that the harmonies of both groups are so similar because both were brought up in Manchester.
The sound quality on the collection was excellent as Festival Records had gone to considerable expense, having the sound of each recording restored at Australia’s National Film and Sound Archives in Canberra. Great care had obviously been taken to authenticate the information in the CD’s booklet, but a couple of mistakes slipped through the net in the songwriting credits section. ‘You’re The Reason’ by Edwards, Henley and Fell is a different song from Bobby Darrin’s ‘You’re The Reason I’m Living’, which is the one sung here. Also, it was Payne & Carroll who wrote ‘Just One Look’ and not Hicks & Clarke, while a revision is needed for ‘The End’ where Jacobsen & Krondes are the correct writers. Otherwise, Warren Fahey’s team can be well pleased with their efforts.
The other Festival records release that month was titled Assault The Vaults — Rare Australian Cover Versions Of The Brothers Gibb. The set contained 31 recording of songs written by the Gibb brothers for other Australian artists from 1963 to 1966 and never released by The Bee Gees themselves. It was the first time that most of these recordings, now very rare and very expensive in their original vinyl, had appeared on album format let alone CD. Members of The Bee Gees appear on many of the tracks as back-up singers or musicians. What was particularly unique about this release was that it resulted from two Australian fans approaching a somewhat sceptical record company of the commercial viability of such a collection. At times acting almost as surrogate Bee Gees themselves, the two fans, Mark Crohan and Mark Byfield, argued successfully with the record company to protect the authenticity of the collection. Rather than use a new photo of the Gibbs they recommended a 1965 photo of the brothers to reflect the period the songs were written. They also successfully pushed for the use of the term “Brothers Gibb” in lieu of the more familiar and more commercial “Bee Gees” to reflect that this was no mere collection of covers of well-known Bee Gees songs. Festival Record’s support of the project was rewarded when it sold well on its release — well enough that plans are well on the way for a second volume of these rare recordings.
On October 17, The Bee Gees played the first South American con
cert of their career at Boca Junior Stadium in Buenos Aires before a crowd of 42,000. The support act for the evening was a blues band, Memphis La Blusera.
On November 28, it was One Night Only at Loftus Versveld Stadium at Pretoria, South Africa. The Bee Gees added ‘First Of May’ and ‘Melody Fair’ to the set list for the show, which was broadcast live into 2,200 Walmart stores across the United States.
On January 23, 1999, Barry performed a concert of Frank Sinatra classics with The Peter Graves Orchestra, as a charity fund-raiser for the Diabetes Research Institute’s Love & Hope Silver Anniversary Ball at the Fontainbleu Hilton Hotel in Miami. The Andy Gibb Memorial Foundation sponsored the orchestra for the event, the realisation of a long time dream for Barry.
On March 20, The Bee Gees took their One Night Only show to New Zealand. The concert at Western Springs Stadium in Auckland was their first in New Zealand since 1974. At a press conference the day before the show, Maurice declared, “It’s too long since we’ve been to New Zealand. We’ve wanted to come back.” The brothers were presented with Auckland Blues rugby shirts with their names on, which they wore during their encore at the concert before 61,000. They were also presented with multi-platinum discs for the New Zealand sales of the One Night Only CD, the biggest selling album in the country for 1998, which made another journey to the top of the charts during the week of the show.
A week later, The Bee Gees made a triumphant return to Australia for the first concert at the new Stadium Australia, the new Olympic stadium, where they played to a crowd of 70,000. The support act for the show was Wendy Matthews. The promoter for the Australian leg of the tour was their long term friend, Kevin Jacobsen, but there was a more familiar face joining The Bee Gees on stage. Vince Melouney, still playing the pub circuit around Australia as a solo performer, joined his old band-mates to play guitar on ‘Massachusetts’, ‘To Love Somebody’ and ‘I’ve Gotta Get A Message To You’.
“Things are going great for me,” Vince maintained. “I’m enjoying what I’m doing, and it’s getting better all the time. It hasn’t always been easy. Sometimes I felt I could have been as big as Paul McCartney and nobody wanted to book me. The only thing I regret is the time I spent running around partying and having a great time overseas when I could have been doing something musically. We hold no bad feelings towards each other, and I still keep in touch with the band and with Colin. It [was] tremendous to catch up with them again.”
Another old friend, David Trew, joined them in Sydney for the One Night Only concert; this time not as a promoter but as their guest. He was in ill health by this time, suffering the ravages of cancer, but was treated as a member of the family by the Gibbs, staying with them at their hotel for the duration of the tour. Tragically, Trew would die a few months after the concert, not yet 50 years of age.
In April, 2000, VH1 released Storytellers, a CD compilation of tracks from their popular television series, to benefit City of Hope, a research and treatment centre for cancer and other deadly diseases. The Bee Gees dedicated ‘How Deep Is Your Love’ to their late friend, David Trew.
As was almost traditional for Bee Gees’ tours in Australia, the concert was filmed and on this occasion shown live across the country. The evening before the concert, the Audience with The Bee Gees special was also broadcast in Australia, and the Keppel Road special was also repeated on television, all to good ratings.
Such was The Bee Gees “fever” in Sydney in March 1999 that the New South Wales Premier Bob Carr, in the midst of an election, made a surprise visit to The Bee Gees’ press conference, formally welcoming them back to Australia and reminding them that one of the old homes in Maroubra was in his electorate.
Buoyed by the success of the Australian tour, the One Night Only CD was re-released in that country as a ‘Special Limited Tour Edition’, with a bonus CD of the six additional live tracks from their 1997 MGM concert not included on the original live album. It immediately shot to the number one position in the album charts, where it stayed for six consecutive weeks. It was The Bee Gees’ first number one album in Australia since 1979.
In October, the Isle of Man Post Office issued a series of stamps to commemorate The Bee Gees’ contribution to music. Since no living person outside the royal family can be depicted on stamps, each stamp featured a different Bee Gees song. The Gibb brothers’ birthplace had long been considering honouring its famous sons in this way — indeed, the idea had first been proposed as far back as April 1985 — and the issue of the stamps had to be approved by the Queen. A special, limited edition set of the ‘Ellan Vannin’ CD with the stamps included in the CD insert booklet was also issued.
“Barry, Robin and Maurice are most enthusiastic to be honoured in this manner by the nation of their birth,” said Dick Ashby. “They consider this to be a milestone achievement.”
Representatives for the Isle of Man Post Office, Dot Tilbury and Janet Bridge, presented Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb with the stamps in New York on October 21. Maurice enthused, “We are just tickled by this entire tribute. These stamps really span our careers through the decades and cover a lot of ground. I know our fans will be very pleased with them.”
Robin commented, “The best thing about these stamps is that they have a deep connection to us because they have been issued by the country where we were born. Our mum once worked there as a postal official many years ago, so I guess these stamps bring everything full circle. The stamps are really colourful and turned out even better than we could have expected.”
“We are proud of this unique accomplishment,” Barry added. “We have a special fondness for the Isle of Man, and we look forward to perhaps a visit there next year. Maybe I’ll even send a few postcards with our stamps on them to some of our friends just to prove that they are real.”
After the stamps presentation, it was off to the Minskoff Theater for the opening night of the Saturday Night Fever stage show’s Broadway run. There was a strong sense of déjà vu. Just as they had at the London premiere, The Bee Gees received a standing ovation when they entered the theatre. John Travolta was also on hand, as was Robert Stigwood, again with the Duchess of York, who apparently enjoyed the London premiere.
Once again produced by Robert Stigwood and Paul Nicholas and choreographed by Arlene Phillips, the Broadway production starred James Carpinello and Paige Price as Tony and Stephanie.
Stigwood had taken a hands-on approach to setting up the move to Broadway, checking out three theatres before settling on the Minskoff, and sitting in on the final auditions for the five major roles.
In November, the latest Bee Gees composition, ‘I Will Be There’, was released on Tina Turner’s album, Twenty-Four Seven. ‘End Of Time’, a track originally written for Bette Midler, was earmarked for recording by Tina Arena, and The Backstreet Boys, Deana Carter and Lara Fabian were all rumoured to be recording new Gibb compositions.
Recording sessions for The Bee Gees themselves were moving along at a snail’s pace. Although the brothers had begun writing new songs for their next album as far back as February, 1998, nearly two years on, the proposed release date for the album was being pushed further into the future. Even the album’s working title, Technicolour Dream, had run into problems when their management was informed that Technicolour was a registered trademark.
Whilst the new album had not seen light of day by the close of the Nineties, it had nonetheless been an impressive decade of releases for The Bee Gees. Since 1990, fans had been witness to a whole array of recordings including a four CD box set, three studio albums, one Best Of album, a two CD collection of their Australian recordings, a live album, a soundtrack album, no less than five tribute CDs, three videos, one DVD and numerous singles.
At a press conference before their Sydney concert, Barry had mentioned The Bee Gees’ hope to return to Australia for a New Year’s Eve concert. “It’s New Year here before it’s New Year anywhere else, so it would be great to come home and do that,” he said.
“So we’ll be
at Balmain Leagues Club,” quipped Maurice, “and we might get to play South Sydney Juniors.”
But New Year’s Eve, 1999, found them celebrating in their other adopted home with a concert at the National Car Rental Center auditorium in Sunrise, Florida. Devoted fans from around the world paid up to $600 a seat for the event, and indeed, the $600 tickets even entitled them to keep their folding chair, emblazoned with BG2K, the date and the venue. Coupons for free champagne after the show were taped to each seat.
Although debates continue as to whether it was this New Year or the next which marked the new Millennium, the faithful who assembled to see The Bee Gees weren’t concerned. As a nod to the importance of the occasion, the group added their 1967 song, ‘Turn Of The Century’ to their acoustic medley.
Just after Barry, Robin and Maurice left the stage, it turned midnight. The giant screens on stage showed Times Square in New York, and the audience counted down as the large ball dropped on screen. The band played ‘Auld Lang Syne’ as the arena was showered with balloons, confetti and silver and white streamers which fell from the ceiling as people kissed in celebration.
The Brothers Gibb rejoined the rest of their band on stage for an encore of ‘You Should Be Dancing’. Years earlier, Barry had said, “We believe that on New Year’s Eve 2000, people will still be dancing to Saturday Night Fever.” Twelve thousand fans in Sunrise, Florida, proved him right.
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THE NEXT GENERATION
“OUR FAMILIES AND our kids [are] the fundamental basis of everything else we do,” Barry declared. “That’s our anchor, that’s what keeps our feet on the ground, that’s what keeps our egos in check, ’cause our kids don’t see us as pop artists or a pop group. They see us as dad, and it’s just totally different. It’s not like you would expect it to be. Home is just home.”