ROBIN GIBB
INTERVIEW
(Grant Lethem, That's Shanghai Magazine, May 1, 2006)
In an interview from his home in Oxford, we asked Robin about his work, family and musical legacy.
Q: Why did you leave Australia for the UK in 1967?
Robin Gibb: We were only teenagers when we left Australia at the beginning of 1967. I was about 17 years old, Barry was about 20, and Maurice, of course, was my twin brother, so he was the same age. It was really because we could only go so far in Australia. In those days, Australia was not the major [international] market in the English-speaking world that it is today. Of course, 1967 was also when The Beatles were doing a lot of big things in the UK, and the Rolling Stones as well – the whole Mersey thing was happening all over the world, and England looked like the place to be. We were very ambitious; we were young; we were driven, and we wanted to be right where it was happening.
Q: Tell us about Robert Stigwood.
RG: We met Robert Stigwood at NEMS Enterprise in February 1967, two weeks after we’ve arrived in London. Robert Stigwood was partner with Brian Epstein (at NEMS), who was the manager of The Beatles, and Robert was handling Beatles affairs, as well as other artists with Brian at the time. Robert was very interested in finding someone he could call his own, a group that could write their own songs like the Beatles did; he wanted a group that he could fashion from the ground up. He listened to the tapes we’d sent to England ahead of our trip, and was very impressed. He then tracked us down, two weeks after we’ve arrived in London, and asked if he could do business with us. Of course we were very excited by that.
Q: One of your early influences was a favorite of your father’s, The Mill’s Brothers. What are some of your other musical influences?
RG: The greatest music influences for us when we were kids would be what we heard on the radio when we were 8 or 9 years old in Manchester, England. We were listening to songs by the Everly Brothers, who did harmonies, “Wake up little Suzy”, for example. Later, when we were teenagers, just like any other teenager at the time, we were very influenced by The Beatles. It was mostly because they were songwriters, and they sang harmonies. We were very influenced by what they were doing - as well as the soul singers in America, like and Otis Redding and Wilson Pickett.
Q: The Bee Gees have outlasted and outsold The Beatles – you had 19 number one hits in the US alone, with 5 songs simultaneously on the Billboard Top 10 at one point. How do you deal with success of such gigantic scale?
RG: The Bee Gees have a big catalogue, one that can compete with other major catalogues in the world, including The Beatles. Occasionally [one catalogue] ends up out-doing the other, and at the moment that is the case for us. That’s what happens when you have so many people covering your songs. However, it isn’t so much of a competition when it comes to big catalogues like ours and the Beatles; there will probably be occasions when they overtake us and others when we overtake them. We’re glad to be in that same category.
Q: Together with Arif Mardin, you have created some of the best and most memorable R’n’B music ever. Can you tell us about your experience working with Arif?
RG: Arif Mardin has to be one of the greatest producers the world has ever produced. He’s done well with us and many other artists as well, for example, Bette Midler on “Wind Beneath My Wings”. He produced our Main Course album which included “Jive Talkin’” and “Nights On Broadway’. It is still one of my favorite albums, and I believe it is one of Barry’s favorites as well. He was really part of our transition to what we called R’n’B/black grooves, the soul, black music that was happening in America at the time. He was a great bridge for that, and still a great friend of ours today.
Q: The Bee Gees wrote dozens of hits for other artists (Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton, Barbara Streisand, Dionne Warwick, Yvonne Elliman, Samantha Sang, etc.), and Bee Gees’ songs have been covered by just about everyone including Elvis, Janis Joplin, Eric Clapton, Rod Stewart and Elton John. What’s the key to your music’s universality?
RG:What we regard as our great asset really, and the thing we are the most proud of, is our songwriting catalogue – because we see ourselves first and foremost as songwriters. Since we were little kids we have been writing songs. And, yes, we have written hits for the artists you mentioned: “Islands in the Stream” for Kenny Rogers; “Emotion” for Destiny’s Child and Samantha Sang; “If I Can’t Have You” for Yvonne Elliman; and “Heartbreaker” for Dionne Warwick, of course. Also “Woman in Love” for Barbara Streisand; “Chain Reaction” for Diana Ross; and many more. And yes, Elvis Presley covered one of our songs (“Words”). We also continue to work with new people – we’ve just done a charity record for UNICEF with Paul McCartney, Too Much Heaven. Paul has done a great job on it, and Barry and I will be joining him on the record later in the year.
Q: Though based in the USA, you seem to have a special connection with Asia. Both you and Barry were part of the Tsunami Relief Record.
RG: There is no doubt that Asia is a special place for us. We’ve visited all over Asia, and I was in Hong Kong last year. Barry and I were part of the Tsunami Relief record, which contributed to a lot of good efforts in all the regions that were affected by the tsunami. Those efforts continue to go on just as the memories continue.
Q: The Bee Gees’ legacy is phenomenal and unique. Your popularity has spanned more than four decades. New artists like Destiny’s Child and Liz McClarnon from Atomic Kitten have recently having recorded your songs. How does it feel to be a legend in your own time?
RG: Like most people who’ve done a lot in their lives, I don’t really see myself as other people see me. Everything you do is one project at a time, and eventually you look back and say some work was better than others, and some were unexpectedly bigger than you thought they would be. Really, your career is a series of projects, so of course the more you do, the better. Then one day you look back and see that you have a career and that it’s worked. By the sheer weight of numbers and continuation and ambition, you’ve achieved some kind of recognition and legacy, and some people describe you as “a legend in your own time”. If that is what it is, then I think it’s really down to the fact that you’ve done something special, something that is yours, that people identify with you. A sound that everyone knows. Some other artists have that element as well; when you hear a Beatle record for instance, or a Rod Stewart record, or an Elton John record, you know their sound. I think The Bee Gees have that – a style that people know.
