Bee Gees

Bee Gees are an Australian-British pop group, originally from Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. They were formed in 1958 by three of the Gibb brothers, originally from Douglas (Isle of Man) in the United Kingdom: Barry and the (non-identical) twins Robin and Maurice, initially associated with a guitarist (Vince Melouney) and a drummer (Colin Petersen then Geoff Brigford), all Australians. The group's total record sales throughout their career are estimated at 220 million, making them one of the biggest-selling artists.

Over their forty-year career, three distinct periods of success can be identified. The first is that of British pop from the late 1960s to 1973, with songs such as Massachusetts, To Love Somebody, I Started a Joke, a period during which Robin and Barry were the group's leaders. The second is that of the disco wave from 1975 to 1979, with songs like Stayin' Alive, How Deep Is Your Love, Night Fever or Tragedy, corresponding to the trio's media and commercial explosion. Barry became the lead singer and now used his falsetto, which became the Bee Gees' trademark. During this period, they reached the peak of their success thanks to the soundtrack of the film Saturday Night Fever (1977). The third and final period, from the 1980s to 2001, was more soft rock-oriented with titles such as You Win Again, but also Woman in Love or Islands in the Stream, marked by collaborations and production work for artists such as Barbra Streisand, Céline Dion, Kenny Rogers, Diana Ross, and Dionne Warwick.

The group won nine Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Around forty of their titles charted worldwide between 1965 and 2001, and seventeen of their compositions were number one in the American charts between 1971 and 1983.

The Bee Gees were a group with three-part vocal harmonies. Barry sang with his chest voice and with a falsetto voice that appeared in the 1970s, Robin provided an airy vibrato, and Maurice, who was also the group's musical director, sang the high or low harmonies. The three brothers were also musicians: Barry played guitar, Robin played organ, and Maurice played bass, guitar, drums, and keyboard. The three brothers wrote almost all of their songs and stated that they "felt like one person working together."

On January 12, 2003, Maurice, then 53 years old and suffering from an intestinal obstruction, did not survive the operation and died following a heart attack. Robin died at 62 in May 2012 from cancer. After the group's dissolution in 2012, the only remaining member, Barry, continues to tour.