Yesterday, I was talking about how disco fans took a terrible hit this week with Donna Summer and Robin Gibb both dying within a week.
Robin Gibb had been having health issues as of late, including a blocked intestine and liver and colon cancer. Earlier this year, he contracted pneumonia and fell into a coma, before regaining consciousness, much to the amazement of his physicians. He died on May 20th, finally succumbing to his cancers.
Robin Gibb, along with brothers Maurice and Barry, formed the Bee Gees in the ‘60s and found success with such songs as “Massachusetts,” “Words,” “Lonely Days,” and “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart.” Then, the hits stopped around ’71.
(This work is in the public domain in that it was published in the United States between 1923 and 1977 and without a copyright notice.)
The Bee Gees continued to record, but it wasn’t until 1975, when they recorded “Jive Talkin” that they began to make a comeback. That was followed by “Nights on Broadway” and “You Should Be Dancing,” which went to No. 1 in the U.S. because the U.S. was in the middle of disco fever.
Two years after “You Should Be Dancing,” the Bee Gees would become the Kings of Disco with the release of Saturday Night Fever. Featured prominently on the soundtrack of the film, the Brothers Gibb would have three No. 1 hits from the album – “How Deep is Your Love?” “Stayin’ Alive,” “If I Can’t Have You,” and “Night Fever.” In fact, “Stayin’ Alive” and “If I Can’t Have You” were both released on the same 45, so if you had that one, you had two No. 1 hits on a 45 – a rare occurrence.
But, disco saturated society and by the ‘80s, there was a hatred for the genre and artists associated with it were considered musical outcasts. By 1980, the Bee Gees would be done with No. 1 hits on the U.S. charts.
In the ‘90s, people began to see that a disservice had been done to the Bee Gees and their popularity began to rise again. However, Maurice died in 2003 of a heart attack. With the death of Robin, Barry, the oldest brother, remains the only living Bee Gee.