4-02. Whatever happened to...? (Bee Gees)
Description
This article is from the Bee Gees FAQ, by David Garcia garc@compuserve.com with numerous contributions by others.
4-02. Whatever happened to...? (Bee Gees)
Here are some followups on several people who have been asked
about from time to time...
ANDY GIBB - Younger brother Andy Gibb passed away on March 10th,
1988. The Andy Gibb Memorial Foundation was started by his
brothers to carry on his memory.
At some point, I would like to see an Andy Gibb FAQ posted
here too. I don't know as much about Andy as some of our mailing
list subscribers do, and I'm sure that there are those who could
do better at it than me. It seems inappropriate to let him be
merely a footnote to this FAQ, and I look forward to seeing the
Andy Gibb FAQ someday soon. In the meantime, be sure to visit
the official Andy Gibb web page, http://www.andygibb.org/
ROBERT STIGWOOD - As Joe Brennan once said, it would seem that
the relationship between Robert and the Bee Gees is a complex
one. While they had their share of legal battles in 1981, the
brothers still look upon Robert as their mentor, and said as much
at the Brit Awards this year. Barry also asked Robert Stigwood
to accept the award on stage with them.
Among Robert's recent acheviements are the movie "Evita" and
the new stage musical "Saturday Night Fever". A Bee Gees
connection in each of these: Back in the seventies, Barry was
being considered for the role of Che Guevara in the film "Evita",
but lost out due to the misfortune of two decades of delays.
And, the Bee Gees have written a new song, "Immortality", for the
"Fever" musical, which is opened in London in May of 1998.
BILL SHEPHERD - When recently asked about him on the "Words"
mailing list, Renee mentioned that Bill passed away some years
ago. Bill, as you recall, did the orchestrations for the early
Bee Gees albums, and it could be said that he had a lot to do
with the lush sound of those albums as well. He was also one of
their producers in the Australian days.
ALBHY GALUTEN AND KARL RICHARDSON - In much the same way that
Bill Shepherd helped to sculpt the sound of the early Bee Gees
albums,Albhy and Karl had a lot to do with the sound of the
"helium years". I had a press release from MCA about one of
these two a few months back, talking about work with CD-ROMs.
According to an article Joey Spain recently forwarded, it appears
to be Albhy, who is now VP of interactive programming for MCA
Music Entertainment. Thanks, Joey!
ARIF MARDIN - Arif produced three albums with the Bee Gees: "Mr.
Natural", "Main Course", and "E.S.P.". He also produced two
songs on the new "Still Waters" CD: "I Will" and "Obsessions".
On December 17th 1996, the New York Post reported that,
after 33 years with Atlantic Records, Arif has signed a
"long-term deal" to stay with the company. It also notes that in
1990 he was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the National
Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. He won his sixth Grammy
award earlier this year for his work on "Smokey Joe's Cafe -- The
Songs of Leiber and Stoller" from the hit Broadway play. His
previous Grammy awards include Producer of the Year in 1975 and
for co-producing the soundtrack for "Saturday Night Fever" in
1978, according to the Post.
GUMMO GIBB - Joe Brennan writes...
Apparently Hugh and Barbara were big Marx brothers fans, and
started off naming their boys after them in order. Luckily for
the others, by the time the second boy came along, Gummo was old
enough to be attending school and taking quite a bit of teasing
about his name, and they decided to name the second boy Barry.
The parallels would have been uncanny. It was the middle
three brothers who performed together and achieved the greatest
fame, and consider even the personalities involved: Chico, the
one who gets the girls; Harpo, the best musician and whose voice
you rarely hear; and Groucho, the one known for his wordplay.
And then even little Zeppo would have been the young handsome
brother.
But it was not to be. The real reason for the family's move
to Australia was not the alleged arson incidents, but for the
sake of poor Gummo, who needed to start a new life where his name
was less known.
Living out an eerie parallel, Gummo left show business early
in the family's career and was never captured on film performing
with them. He is said to be a travelling sheepshearer in
Queensland, keeping to himself and never revealing his first
name, going only by "Gibb... just call me Gibb".
At his request, only his feet are shown in the drawing in
the "Legend" book, and not even an animal parody of his face is
provided. He is not mentioned in the autobiography of the group,
and if you ask any of the family about him today, they will deny
his existence, mainly because I have made all of this up.
SUNNY JIM - In their authorized biography, the Bee Gees mention
that they often did little comedy skits about Sunny Jim as a way
of warming up before recording in the studio -- "Sunny Jim in the
Arctic", etc. Sunny Jim is also among those given thanks in the
liner notes of the "Children of the World" CD.
Of course, all this you hear about Sunny Jim action figures,
and Rankin/Bass yuletide productions of "The Adventures of Sunny
Jim" with the composition "What's That on the Floor, Sunny Jim,
Sunny Jim", is nothing more than groundless rumor. Ignore it.
Please.
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