Bee Gees get
Ivor Novello Award
(May 25, 2006)
Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb have been honored today with the Academy Fellowship at the 51st annual Ivor Novello Awards held at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London. The Bee Gees are the 9th recipients of this award in 51 years.
"It`s overwhelming. And what`s really overwhelming is to be in the company of so many songwriters I really admire," said Barry. Referring to their late brother Maurice by his nickname "Mo", he added: "Mo, we know you`re here, we know you would love this and we salute you"
When inducted, Robin and Barry Gibb paid particular tribute to their former manager Robert Stigwood during their acceptance speeches. Stigwood, who made a rare public appearance at the event. "We wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for Robert Stigwood," said Robin Gibb. Brother Barry described the veteran manager and label boss as "the man who turned our whole industry upside down."
Maurice Gibb's presence on stage
News Yahoo UK: The Bee Gees brothers Barry and Robin Gibb insist their late brother Maurice joined them on stage, in spirit, at their first UK performance since he died. The group returned to perform at the Prince's Trust charity concert in London last week, as a duo for the first time.
But they maintain they felt Maurice was with them throughout their performance. The singer suffered a fatal heart attack during surgery in January 2003, aged 53 - fifteen years after another Gibb brother, Andy, died.
Barry says, "Mo is still with us. When I am on stage, I look to the left and he is there. He is everywhere when we are playing."
Robin adds, "It's a spiritual presence. It has taken us two years to be able to perform again without him but getting on stage felt totally right."
And Barry insists the gig was the first of many, now the brothers are back: "We're going to keep on playing. We've lost two brothers. Now we are going to make sure we don't lose each other."
On the road again
Insider TV: After accepting a coveted Ivor Novello award for songwriting last night in London, BEE GEES brothers BARRY and ROBIN GIBB talked about putting the past behind them and even recording new music together!
"It will be different," Robin promised "The Insider." "We've always worked very hard to try not to repeat what we've done before."
Barry said, "We're sort of rediscovering each other, working together and as individuals."
It's a historic meeting of the minds for the Grammy-winning team. After years of hard feelings, the estranged brothers reunited on stage in February for the first time since their brother MAURICE passed away.
They performed in a private concert to raise money for the Diabetes Research Institute at their annual Love and Hope event held at the Diplomat Hotel in Miami, FL. Among the hits the supergroup sang were "Staying Alive," "Massachusetts," "How Deep is Your Love" and a stunning tribute to Maurice: "Don't Forget to Remember."
During a recent interview with our KATHIE LEE GIFFORD, just the mention of Maurice proved difficult for Barry.
"I think we all have been through a lot of pain," said Barry from the Miami studio where the Bee Gees recorded many of their most memorable tunes. He has since put the studio up for sale.
"It was an incredible period of time for all of us and we had a great time here," recalled Barry. "It's a very small building, no secrets in this building, but it's also very sad for me to work when I am in this room."
But Barry says his music gives him the strength to carry on. "Maybe it's like any other job. If you love it, it can keep you distracted enough not to be unhappy about things." [Posted by Juan Cristobal. Source:
The Independent: Next year, the 30th anniversary of Saturday Night Fever, the group's surviving members, Barry and Robin Gibb, intend to hit the road together again.
Although they've performed occasional one-off gigs, it'll be the first Bee Gees tour since the death of their brother, Maurice, in 2003.
The putative concerts will also end long-running hostilities between the two, which last hit the news pages in November.
"It's taken two years to get over Maurice's death, and reach the stage where we can work together again," said Robin, at yesterday's Ivor Novello awards.
"I now realise that it's even more important that we do stuff together. So we might well be going back on the road next year, but dates won't be announced until everything's concrete."
Bee Gees Reunion
ET TV Yahoo: "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.
Bee Gees plot comeback at Cash house
Contact Music: "Disco legends THE BEE GEES are plotting their pop comeback from JOHNNY CASH's old Nashville, Tennessee, home. BARRY GIBB bought the lakeside pad in January for $2.7 million, and plans to reunite with surviving bandmember brother ROBIN to write new songs. The pair only recently began performing again, following the death of their brother MAURICE in 2003. Barry says, "We're bringing the house back to its original state when Johnny and June purchased it. It's in a bit of disrepair. For the past five years, since Johnny and June were both very sick, it was left to rot. I love Nashville and I've got to get Robin to come because it's all about the music and once he gets here he'll understand. "It's a musical environment, it's next door to ROY ORBISON's old house and the songs that have been written in that four-acre area, between those houses are amazing. You can sit there and become inspired by that. That's what we're thinking - to have somewhere to write songs like Roy Orbison and Johnny Cash used to write. Those were great songs, you still hear them today."
