THE BEE GEES (UK)

The brothers Gibb (Barry, Robin and Maurice) were born on the Isle of Man. While still quite young, they formed a band called The Rattlesnakes which was made up of the 3 brothers and 2 of their friends. In 1958 the 2 friends left and the brothers formed Wee Johnny Hayes & The Blue Cats with Barry playing the role of  ‘Johnny Hayes’. Later in 1958 the family moved to Australia where the band began to get noticed. They initially changed their name to the BG’s and only later to The Bee Gees. While they got some attention in Australia, they didn’t crack the big time so the boys returned to the UK. However, before heading back to the UK, they sent a demo tape to The Beatles’ manager, Brian Epstein. Epstein passed the tapes on to Robert Stigwood and this would result in a partnership between Stigwood and The Bee Gees somewhat akin to that between Epstein and The Beatles as Stigwood took on the band to manage them. Their first UK hit was ‘New York Mining Disaster 1941’ which was initially released to radio stations as a white label single with only the song title on. The radio DJ’s gave it heavy rotation mistakenly thinking it was a new Beatles single. This would kick off their UK career which would see them manage 38 UK chart hits, 5 of which would go to number 1. In the US they would see 43 hits, 9 of which would top the charts. At the time of writing this, only 14 acts had managed 9 or more US chart toppers. Apart from their own hits, they also became very successful as songwriters and Robin would have a relatively successful solo career.

Date of entry	Song	Peak (weeks at 1)	Weeks
30-Jun-1967	New York Mining Disaster 1941	2	7
10-Nov-1967	Massachusetts	1 (7)	17
15-Mar-1968	World	18	3
29-Mar-1968	Words	5	12
13-Sep-1968	To Love Somebody	10	8
11-Oct-1968	I’ve Gotta Get A Message To You	1 (3)	13
21-Feb-1969	I Started A Joke	2	9
02-May-1969	First Of May	4	11
08-Aug-1969	Tomorrow Tomorrow	9	6
10-Oct-1969	Don’t Forget To Remember	1 (4)	13
13-Aug-1971	How Can You Mend A Broken Heart?	7	9
20-Oct-1972	Run To Me	3	17
20-Jan-1978	How Deep Is Your Love	2	23
07-Apr-1978	Stayin’ Alive	1 (8)	16
05-May-1978	Night Fever	2	14
19-Jan-1979	Too Much Heaven	1 (7)	16
06-Apr-1979	Tragedy	2	9
15-Oct-1987	You Win Again	2	27
		Total hits	18
		Total weeks	230

Biggest climber awards	14
Star rater climbs	31
Biggest fallers	18
Weeks with oldest in the charts	18
Longest run in the charts (weeks)	29
Weeks with more than 1 in the charts	26
Biggest gap between hits (weeks)	436
Top 30 points ranking	2
Top 20 points ranking	2
Top 30 points	5300
Top 20 points	3015

Their 18 hits were the tied 3^rd highest total while their 230 weeks placed them 2^nd only to Abba for this stat. They spent a total of 29 weeks at 1 which was the highest any act managed, 8 more than Abba who were second on 21. They were 1 of 7 acts to manage 3 hits in the charts in the same week and managed this for 7 weeks, the tied top total (the Pet Shop Boys also managed it). They were also 1 of 4 acts to hold the top 2 spots in the same week and the only act to manage it for more than 1 week. They saw 5 weeks where they held the top 2 spots with 2 different combinations of songs.

Robin Gibb solo hits:

Date of entry	Song	Peak (weeks at 1)	Weeks
22-Aug-1969	Saved By The Bell	1 (3)	12
07-Sep-1984	Boys Do Fall in Love	7	19
		Total hits	2
		Total weeks	31

Hits Barry, Robin & Maurice wrote:

Song	Act	Peak (weeks at 1)	Weeks
Only One Woman	Marbles	1 (1)	14
Shadow Dancing	Andy Gibb	4	17
Woman In Love	Barbra Streisand	1 (8)	18
Heartbreaker	Dionne Warwick	4	17
Islands In The Stream	Dolly Parton & Kenny Rogers	4	36
Chain Reaction	Diana Ross	4	18
		Total hits	6
		Total weeks	120

Hits written by Barry & Robin:

Song	Act	Peak (weeks at 1)	Weeks
New York Mining Disaster 1941	The Staccatos	18	3
Love Me	Yvonne Elliman	3	12
		Total hits	2
		Total weeks	15

Hits written by Barry:

Song	Act	Peak (weeks at 1)	Weeks
Spicks And Specks	The Staccatos	10	9
Grease	Frankie Valli	14	6
		Total hits	2
		Total weeks	15

Total chart involvement:

Number of hits	30
Weeks	401
Number 1’s	8
Weeks at 1	41