Bee Gees

Bee Gees
The Bee Gees in 1977 (top to bottom): Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb
Background information
Also known as	BGs (1958–1959)
Genres	Pop soul disco rock soft rock[1]
Discography	Bee Gees discography
Years active	1958–1969 1970–2003 2006 2009–2012
Labels	Leedon Spin Festival Polydor Atlantic RSO Warner Bros Capitol
Past members	Barry Gibb Robin Gibb Maurice Gibb Vince Melouney Colin Petersen[2][3] Geoff Bridgford
Website	beegees.com

The Bee Gees were a musical group formed in 1958 by brothers Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio were especially successful in popular music in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later as prominent performers in the disco music era in the mid-to-late 1970s.

The group sang recognisable three-part tight harmonies: Robin's clear vibrato lead vocals were a hallmark of their earlier hits, while Barry's R&B falsetto became their signature sound during the mid-to-late 1970s and 1980s. The group wrote all their own original material, as well as writing and producing several major hits for other artists, and are regarded as one of the most important and influential acts in pop-music history.^[4] They have been referred to in the media as The Disco Kings, Britain's First Family of Harmony, and The Kings of Dance Music.^[5][6][7]

Born on the Isle of Man to English parents, the Gibb brothers lived in Chorlton, Manchester, England, until the late 1950s. There, in 1955, they formed the skiffle/rock and roll group the Rattlesnakes. The family then moved to Redcliffe, in the Moreton Bay Region, Queensland, Australia, later to Cribb Island. After achieving their first chart successes in Australia as the Bee Gees, they returned to the UK in January 1967, when producer Robert Stigwood began promoting them to a worldwide audience. The Bee Gees' Saturday Night Fever soundtrack (1977) was the turning point of their career, with both the film and soundtrack having a cultural impact throughout the world, enhancing the disco scene's mainstream appeal. They won five Grammy Awards for Saturday Night Fever, including Album of the Year.

The Bee Gees have sold over 120 million records worldwide^[8][9] (with estimates as high as over 200 million records sold worldwide),^[10] placing them among the best-selling music artists of all time, as well as the most successful trio in the history of contemporary music.^[11] They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997;^[12] the Hall's citation says, "Only Elvis Presley, the Beatles, Michael Jackson, Garth Brooks and Paul McCartney have outsold the Bee Gees."^[13] With nine number-one hits on the Billboard Hot 100, the Bee Gees are the third-most successful band in Billboard charts history behind only the Beatles and the Supremes.^[14]

Following Maurice's sudden death in January 2003 aged 53, Barry and Robin retired the group's name after 45 years of activity. In 2009 Robin announced he and Barry had agreed the Bee Gees would re-form and perform again.^[15] Robin died in May 2012, aged 62, after a prolonged period of failing health, leaving Barry and members Colin Petersen, Vince Melouney, and Geoff Bridgford as the only surviving members of the group.^[16]