Bee Gees reunion: Barry & Robin Gibb put aside feud

[lovely bones]

Bee Gees Reunion!

After years of career struggles and family tragedies derailed the personal relationship between BARRY and ROBIN GIBB, ET helped bring the brothers back together, setting the course for a BEE GEES reunion.

After going public with their feud, Robin came exclusively to ET to set the record straight and make an emotional plea. Eager to put their feud behind them, Robin offered this message to his estranged brother:

"I love you," he said. "You are the very heart of the Bee Gees. You're with me and I want to go forward and I want to go forward together."

Just months later, the brothers showed a united front as they collected the Ivor Novello statuette, symbolizing their acceptance into the Fellowship of the Ivor Novello Academy. "This is the highest British award you can get for songwriting," Robin told ET. "We've come together for this very important award." Barry agrees. "It's extremely special," he says. "It's about songwriting and being part of a fellowship."

Barry also made it clear that he and Robin are not only working out their professional but personal differences. "We've lost two brothers and we're not going to lose each other," he told ET backstage after accepting their award.

But the reunion doesn't end there, and Barry says the brothers look forward to getting back together on stage to perform. "We're sort of rediscovering each other," he added. "Working together and as individuals."

"We're enjoying ourselves," said Robin. "Moving forward we'll continue to experiment." He says fans can look forward to new music from the Bee Gees coming soon. "It will be different," he noted. "We've always worked very hard to try not to repeat what we've done before."

As for the state of their family union, Barry says "all three of us used to be glued together at the hip -- we do have our own lives and our own families [now]."

But growing up and spending time with their individual families no longer means they'll be living separate lives. As far as continuing to work together he says "that's not in question."

With the Gibbs making beautiful music together once again, it sounds like this story has a happy ending that the whole world can groove to.

http://et.tv.yahoo.com/music/14853/

[LynnieD]

I saw this on ET and it was kind of sad. Hope they are able to become close again.

[Elvira]

Anyone know the details of what the feud was about?

[Icepik]

I don't get the "reunions" when one band member is dead.

[ultrafabviolet]

"The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there." So writeth L.P. Hartley.

Heal the wounds, the hearts, the ties that bind, boys. But please do not do one of those "Beatles [sic]-sans-John" recordings. It just isn't right. I once paid money to see "1964." It was narcotically "WOW!"--until around " . . . well my heart went boom, when I crossed that room, and I held. . . ."

That'd be the chorus of the tribute band's opening song. Suddenly, the Paulish aping and waving to the crowd, the John-esque gum chewing, the George-ish reticence, and the smiling Ringolian devil-may-care seasoned professionalism were all wrong. I felt sick.

I can see the remaining B'Jeezes going into the studio with the nothing but the very best of sentimental intentions, only to emerge with a tarnished record. No pun intended.

"Let it Be"; Take a "Holiday," lads.

God loves ya; so do I. We all do.

Vi

[LynnieD]

I don't really know if they even went into the reasons for the 'feud'. If they did, it was quickly and I didn't catch it. Seems silly now that I really look at it. You have two of the 4 brothers dead. Can't you all just get along??

[A*O]

Like all family feuds it was probably over something completely stupid. Robin Gibb is a bit 'odd' though. He's been in an 'open' marriage for a long time which both partners seem perfectly happy about and he's into the whole buddhist, macrobiotic, fanatical exercise thing. He's also a Tom Cruise Mk2 Control Freak and prone to major dummy spits and other diva behaviour. Oh right, he's just like any other celeb in fact.

[sprynkles]

I too saw an interview last week with the Brothers together again. Although they did not really speak about the fued, the reporter mentioned something about a tribute album for Maurice in which Barry was not informed about. Barry was very tight lipped about saying anything, other than it was a family matter.
Barry looks so strange and his face seems so bloated looking. Is he on meds?

[luvmy2cats]

I guess the ending of the feud was caused by lack of money. I guess they need new royalties off the comeback album.

[Elisa]

I guess the ending of the feud was caused by lack of money. I guess they need new royalties off the comeback album.

But why would they be feuding with each other? This is the first I've heard of any feud so I'm a bit confused by what they'd be feuding about. They always appeared extremely tight. That's not to say so many tragedies couldn't come into play, but I'm just surprised it didn't bring them even closer together rather than tear them apart.

[HWBL]

Been a BeeGees fan for decades, so here goes.

Here you had Barbara and Hugh Gibb, singer and bandleader. They got married. First had a daughter, soon followed by a son, Barry. Hugh's band stopped so he had to find other work. The twins were born 3 years after Barry. Hugh went from job to job. When Barry was 9 and the twins 6, they developed the amazing three way harmony while trying to imitate their dad's Mills Brothers records. Their granddad knew, their mom thought it was the radio. They started developing their sound and the applause of relatives and kids in the theater where they sang in between matinee movies, warmed their hearts and increased their desire to "be like Elvis Presley".
When Barry was 12 and the twins 9, baby brother Andy was born. Soon after the Gibbs moved to Australia. Reasons? Hugh would be able to find work easier there and the three eldest boys were close to becoming juvenile delinquents.
In Australia the ball started rolling> didn't take long for them to be noticed and they sort of became teen idols there. Were regulars on afternoon TV shows, played in clubs and theaters. Wrote and played their own songs, none of which became hits.
Barry found love just before - after tons of failed songs - the family had decided to move back to Britain because that's where the music scene exploded at that time.
Because he didn't want to lose his girlfriend he married her and took her along to Britain. On the boat over there, their last Australian recorded song "Spicks and Specks" zoomed to #1!!!!
They arrived in England, hooked up with Brian Epstein's business partner, Robert Stigwood, and after a while started making huge hits (all the classic sixties BeeGees songs). But there were soon 2 camps> the Barry camp (him being the matinee idol type) and the Robin camp (him being the one with the sensitive, be it weird, voice and humongous overbite).
Remember they were only still 20/21 and 17/18 years old!!!
The camps were divided and played against each other. They had individual agents and managers and after a couple of years the rivalry ended in a split. By then the teenaged Robin had married, also against his parents' wishes because he was too young, and so he was all up against the rest of the family. Maurice and Barry continued for a bit as the BeeGees, but that soon stopped too. Barry, by then, had divorced his girlfriend and met up with his soon to be second (and current) wife Linda.
After 15 months, the brothers came to their senses and reconciled, though their success didn't return until 1975 with "Main Course" that spun "Nights on Broadway" and "Jive Talkin'".
Then when Saturday Night Fever ruled the world and they had their ginormously successful "Spirits Having Flown" album and tour, things spun out of control again because of the heavy pressures from being EVERYWHERE.
Maurice went into alcohol, Robin divorced, Barry went to work with several other artists (Streisand, Rogers, Ross, Warwick etc. etc. etc.).
Things calmed down again and because their little brother Andy, who'd never been part of the BeeGees due to the age difference, needed HIS life back on track again (after a teenage marriage, too much success at a too young age, a divorce, a failed relationship with Victoria Prinicipal and a drug addiction) so the brothers planned - after a highly successful comeback album and tour "E.S.P." to have Andy join the BeeGees. The theme for this union of ALL Gibb brothers would be "One". But, alas, five days after his 30th birthday, Andy died of Myocarditis. His heart had weakened after years of drug abuse, and the Gibbs already had congenital heart disease in their family.
The "One" album and tour went on, but now with different songs and a different theme, as a tribute to Andy.
In 1992, four years after Andy died, Barry had to undergo risky back surgery that was successful for the back ailment, but unfortunately triggered his arthritis. Several years later a world tour was cancelled because he also began having problems with his heart> the congenital problem. By now, his arthritis is so bad, that several of his joints have no cartilage in them at all!

To cut a way too long story short> Maurice has always been the "man in the middle" between Robin and Barry. He even wrote and sang a song about it. Though Robin is somewhat eccentric, Barry isn't exactly the easiest person to be around either. These two have been rivals since the sixties and it never really ended, just died down a bit, only to flare up under the right (or wrong) circumstances. Problem is that the "man in the middle" is gone now, so they HAVE to do it themselves. You'd think after all they've been through and at their age, they'd be able to do so.
And no> they are NOT doing it for the money. Only a few years ago, Barry signed a 50 million dollar deal with Sony, don't know what for. This year or last year he bought Johnny Cash's house and is currently overseeing what must be done to preserve it. Robin is not exactly in the poor house either.
Don't forget they have written ALL their own stuff since the early sixties and have royalties coming in on a regular base.
I think they, but especially Barry, should get over it and just concentrate on writing songs. His health is a problem, so he should just shut up, be nice, take it easy, write songs and count his money.

[luvmy2cats]

I remember listening to their music when I was a toddler. My dad would be in the field and my mother would get roaring drunk and blare their LP's on the turntable and start dancing and making noise.

[chartreuse]

so sad that it takes money to "reunite" brothers.

[HWBL]

so sad that it takes money to "reunite" brothers.

That's not it, dear. Read my post above. They're both well off. They just have this insane drive to still try to score a big hit.

[darksithbunny]

I like them. Sad that Maurice is gone. How will it be the same without him?