82 Facts About Barry Gibb

1.

Sir Barry Alan Crompton Gibb was born on 1 September 1946 and is a British musician, singer, songwriter and record producer.

2.

Barry Gibb rose to worldwide fame as a member of the Bee Gees, one of the most commercially successful groups in the history of popular music.

3.

In 1955, he formed his first band, the Rattlesnakes, which evolved into the Bee Gees in 1960, after the Barry Gibb family had moved to Redcliffe, Queensland, Australia.

4.

Barry Gibb is a fellow of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors.

5.

Barry Gibb was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2002 New Year Honours for services to music and entertainment, and a Knight Bachelor in the 2018 New Year Honours for services to music and charity.

6.

Barry Gibb was made an Honorary Companion of the Order of Australia on 27 January 2022, in the 2022 Special Honours, for eminent service to the performing arts as a musician, songwriter, and record producer, to the advancement of Australian music artists, and to philanthropy.

7.

Barry Alan Crompton Gibb was born at Jane Crookall Maternity Home in Douglas, Isle of Man, on 1 September 1946, to Hugh Gibb, a drummer, and Barbara Gibb.

8.

When Barry Gibb was born, his father was busy as a musician working at various hotels in Douglas, while his mother stayed at home looking after the children.

9.

Barry Gibb was in Nobles Hospital for about two and a half months.

10.

In 1949, the Barry Gibb family relocated to 50, St Catherine's Drive.

11.

Barry Gibb started school on 4 September 1951, three days after his fifth birthday, attending Braddan school.

12.

In 1952, the Barry Gibb family relocated to 43 Snaefell Road, Willaston, which became their home for the next two years.

13.

Barry Gibb said that their first song played was Paul Anka's "I Love You, Baby" in 1968, he remembered it as the Everly Brothers' "Wake Up Little Susie".

14.

Around 1958, Barry Gibb's guitar was accidentally broken by Frost, who described the guitar as "broken in the middle".

15.

At the beginning of August 1958, the Barry Gibb family set sail for Australia as part of an assisted migration scheme from Southampton on the ship Fairsea.

16.

The Barry Gibb family moved to Sydney at the start of 1963.

17.

Also between 1963 and 1966, Barry Gibb's songs were recorded by numerous other Australian recording artists including Trevor Gordon, Noeleen Batley, Anne Shelton, April Byron, Ronnie Burns and Lori Balmer.

18.

In 1966, Barry Gibb won the annual Radio 5KA award for the best composition of the year, "I Was a Lover, A Leader of Men".

19.

Around the same time, the Barry Gibb brothers contributed backing vocals on the track "Cowman, Milk Your Cow" a song written by Barry Gibb and Robin sung by singer Adam Faith.

20.

In 1967, Barry Gibb was in The Speakeasy Club, a nightclub in London where he was introduced by Pete Townshend to John Lennon.

21.

The photos from that event were leaked, and two of the pictures showing Barry Gibb was talking to actress Angela Cartwright, and the other, is Barry Gibb who was shown playing guitar and the members of Honey Ltd.

22.

Barry Gibb worked with Samantha Sang, co-writing and producing two songs "The Love of a Woman" and the B-side "Don't Let It Happen Again" released on Parlophone.

23.

In July 1970, Barry Gibb travelled to Australia to act as compere for Go-Set, and on that occasion, he gave an interview on the magazine which revealed that sixteen months after the Bee Gees' break-up, but he was still not ready to argue with his brothers, "Obviously, we're still brothers, but we are no longer as a group".

24.

Barry Gibb claimed that not only had he been focusing on writing and recording songs, but he had still hoped to be an actor, "I have already had offers to play different parts but, without appearing swell headed, I haven't found the right part yet".

25.

Barry Gibb had remained a constant creative force for the group and, by 1972, had set aside the idea of a parallel solo career and was ready to devote full attention to the band.

26.

Also in 1972, Barry Gibb moved to Los Angeles to record in the Record Plant studio.

27.

The first song featuring Barry Gibb's falsetto was 1975's "Nights on Broadway".

28.

In 1976, Barry Gibb wrote "I Just Want to Be Your Everything", his brother Andy Barry Gibb's first US No 1, and provided backup vocals.

29.

Andy's third single, "Shadow Dancing", which was credited to all four Barry Gibb brothers, was a US No 1 single.

30.

In 1978, Barry Gibb wrote a title song to order for their manager Robert Stigwood's film and stage musical Grease and was later recorded by singer Frankie Valli and reached No 1 in the US.

31.

In 1982, Clive Davis asked Barry Gibb to write for Dionne Warwick, who was on his Arista label.

32.

The other songs intended for Kenny Rogers were written in late 1982, then at the start of 1983, Barry Gibb continued to record the demos until April 1983, while recording songs with the Bee Gees for the film Staying Alive.

33.

Barry Gibb was signed for a few million dollars to a multi-album deal.

34.

The film Now Voyager starring Barry Gibb was directed by Storm Thorgerson, in which Barry Gibb is the protagonist, with actor Michael Hordern as his guide through a confusing world between life and death.

35.

In 1985, Barry Gibb started to record demos for Diana Ross, for her album Eaten Alive.

36.

Barry Gibb co-wrote three songs for Swedish singer Carola on her album Runaway.

37.

In 1987, Barry Gibb co-wrote "Up the Revolution" by Elton John.

38.

In September 1990, Barry Gibb played guitar and produced "Born to Be Loved by You" by Kelli Wolfe, which was released as an unreleased B-side in August 1993.

39.

Around 1992, Barry Gibb played guitar on Lulu's "Let Me Wake Up in Your Arms", released in 1993.

40.

Barry Gibb co-wrote "I Will Be There", which was recorded as a demo for Tina Turner and released on Turner's album Twenty Four Seven.

41.

In 2001, Barry Gibb co-wrote "I Cannot Give You My Love" with Ashley Barry Gibb, which was intended for Cliff Richard.

42.

In September 2001, the Bee Gees re-recorded "Islands in the Stream", which became their last session as a group, as Barry Gibb did not seem to be present on the session in Middle Ear Studios, Miami Beach, Florida.

43.

Also in 2004, Barry Gibb co-wrote and sang background vocals on his son Steve Barry Gibb's solo single "Living in the Rain".

44.

On 7 December 2006, Barry Gibb joined 4,500 other musicians in a full-page advertisement in the Financial Times newspaper, calling for the British Government to extend the existing 50-year copyright protection of sound recordings in the United Kingdom.

45.

Also in the same year, Barry Gibb sang background vocals on Jamie Jo's song "U Turn Me On" and wrote the theme music for ITV's Grease Is the Word.

46.

Also in 2007 Barry Gibb appeared as a mentor in season six of American Idol.

47.

On 14 March 2009, Barry Gibb teamed with Olivia Newton-John to present the one-hour finale performance at a star-studded 12-hour live concert at Sydney's Sydney Cricket Ground, part of Sound Relief, a fundraiser to aid victims of the February 2009 Victorian Bushfires that devastated large tracts of heavily wooded and populated south-eastern Australia, where the Barry Gibb family once lived.

48.

On 10 July 2009, Barry Gibb was made a Freeman of the Borough of Douglas.

49.

In 2010, Barry Gibb withdrew from a planned appearance on the Gorillaz album Plastic Beach which was released in March.

50.

On 21 February 2012, Barry Gibb performed his first solo concert in the US at the Seminole Hard Rock Cafe in Florida.

51.

Barry Gibb sang "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" with Maurice's daughter, Samantha Gibb, who is a singer in her own band.

52.

Barry Gibb made his debut performance at the Grand Ole Opry on 27 July 2012, performing three songs with Ricky Skaggs.

53.

Skaggs later recorded "Soldier's Son" on which Barry Gibb added vocals for Skaggs' album Music to My Ears released in 2012.

54.

Barry Gibb commenced a world tour in 2013 in Australia called Mythology Tour, featuring the Bee Gees anthology set album of the same name.

55.

Barry Gibb was joined on stage by his son Steve and Maurice's daughter Samantha.

56.

Also, for the first time, the music video of the Bee Gees' 2001 song "Technicolor Dreams", written by Barry Gibb, was shown before the show began.

57.

On 27 October 2013, Barry Gibb appeared at the Country Music Hall of Fame with Kenny Rogers and Bobby Bare; Barry Gibb performed "Islands in the Stream" with Kelly Lang.

58.

On 21 December 2013, Barry Gibb made a surprise appearance on the US television show Saturday Night Live at the end of the "Barry Gibb Talk Show" skit with Jimmy Fallon, Justin Timberlake and Madonna.

59.

On 27 January 2014, Barry Gibb appeared on the American television show Late Night with Jimmy Fallon to announce the start of his first solo tour of the US.

60.

Barry Gibb performed "You Should Be Dancing" with help from Fallon's backing band, the Roots.

61.

Barry Gibb sang "To Love Somebody" as a bonus online performance.

62.

Barry Gibb appeared on a McCartney tribute album, The Art of McCartney, released on 18 November 2014 performing "When I'm Sixty-Four".

63.

On 26 March 2015, Barry Gibb was one of the headlining acts on a music festival called the Hard Rock Rising Miami Beach Global Music Festival alongside Andrea Bocelli, Gloria Estefan, Flo Rida, Jon Secada and Wyclef Jean.

64.

On 26 June 2016, Barry Gibb was scheduled to perform the "legend" spot at the Glastonbury Festival in England, but pulled out due to a family illness.

65.

Barry Gibb did appear with Coldplay as a guest performer singing "To Love Somebody" and "Stayin' Alive".

66.

On 28 June 2016, it was announced that Barry Gibb had signed to Columbia Records and would release his second solo album, In the Now, on 7 October 2016.

67.

On 25 June 2017, Barry Gibb performed the "legend" spot at the Glastonbury Festival in England.

68.

Barry Gibb joined Coldplay on stage during the same festival in 2016.

69.

On 6 November 2020, Barry Gibb announced his latest album entitled Greenfields which is a duets album featuring country artists Dolly Parton, Little Big Town, Alison Krauss and others.

70.

The album contains 11 Bee Gees tracks and one unreleased Barry Gibb track, re-imagined as country songs.

71.

In January 2006, Barry Gibb purchased the former home of country singers Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash in Hendersonville, Tennessee, US intending to restore it and turn it into a songwriting retreat.

72.

On 10 July 2009, Barry Gibb was made a Freeman of the Borough of Douglas.

73.

Barry Gibb created a style that we all still strive to emulate.

74.

In 2007 Barry Gibb was ranked by Q magazine at No 38 on its list of '100 Greatest Singers'.

75.

Barry Gibb had a highly successful career as a member of the Bee Gees, a group near the top of the all-time top-sellers list.

76.

Barry Gibb was awarded a knighthood in the 2018 New Year Honours.

77.

Barry Gibb was made an Honorary Companion of the Order of Australia on 27 January 2022 in the 2022 Special Honours for eminent service to the performing arts as a musician, songwriter and record producer, to the advancement of Australian music artists and to philanthropy.

78.

Barry Gibb is a prolific and successful songwriter and a fellow of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors.

79.

In 1977, Barry Gibb saw five of his songs simultaneously enter the Top Ten of the Billboard Hot 100 and, for one week in March, four of the top five songs were written by him.

80.

Barry Gibb's songs were No 1 for 27 out of 37 weeks from 24 December 1977 to 2 September 1978.

81.

Barry Gibb is the only male artist to have 10 songs on the 600 biggest songs of the Hot 100 Billboard in its history, having co-written, co-produced or performed them.

82.

Australian musician David Campbell, praising Gibb, compared the Beach Boys and the Bee Gees: 'And like Brian Wilson, Barry Gibb's melodies made the songs timeless.