News 1999

(03 January 2000)— The "BG2K" concert and year-end comments

The Bee Gees performed live at the National Car Rental Centre in Ft. Lauderdale , Florida, U.S.A. on the new century's eve. The show, called "BG2K" concert, were attended by 10.018 people, and the sale results, according to the promoters, were disappointing, because of the high costs. Anyway the year-end show were generally disappointing. The Eagles in Las Vegas and Gloria Estefan in Miami reached the same show audience. So this year ends, a transition year for the Bee Gees and theirs fans. Now the waiting is for the new album, due next year, and for the new concerts, it seems in summer.

(15 December 1999)— The Bee Gees' Top 10 Of The Century

The brothers Gibb were asked to express their Top 10 music of the century by "CDNOW", the known online records store. Here are their (maybe surprising) Top 10:
1. The Beach Boys, Pet Sounds
2. The Beatles, Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band
3. Elvis Presley, Heartbreak Hotel and Jailhouse Rock
4. Frank Sinatra
5. Michael Jackson, Thriller
6. Jimi Hendrix Experience, Are You Experienced?
7. Pink Floyd, Music From Big Pink
8. Everly Brothers
9. Pasty Cline
10. Rod Stewart, Every Picture Tells A Story
News Source

(30 November 1999) —New cover of a Bee Gees song, Top 10 in UK

On 21 November was released in UK a cover of the Gibb song "Love me" by the English East Enders star Martine Mc Cutcheon. This cover version was recorded to raise money for the charity funds for "Children In Need". The song entered the UK charts at # 6.

(5 November 1999) — "An audience with the Bee Gees", the highest rated music special in UK for 1998

According to the Statistics Book of the BPI (British Phonographic Industry) for the year 1998, the programme: "An Audience With The Bee Gees", which was aired in Britain in November 1998 was the year’s highest rated music special with more than 10,2 million viewers in Britain.

(30 October 1999) —Released the new Gibb song included in the Tina Turner's new set

"I Will Be There", written by Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb was released today, being in the new album by Tina Turner entitled "Twenty Four Seven", out today in Europe.
It seems that the song was sent for an error by the Gibb publisher, even if Tina Turner asked personally to the brothers to record the song, and they gave their permission. It is a very good song, confirming that the brothers Gibb are one of the best songwriting team in the pop-rock music scene. The song is a mid-tempo and is fairly produced by Absolute, a production team very known for their work with Spice Girls. The producers tried to keep the general sound very similar to the last mid-tempo Tuner's singles, and they worked it out. The result is a great song, in which the superior blend of the Brothers Gibb melody is the key, even if Tina does a good work, too. In Italy the Tina Turner albun was firstly reviewed by major radio networks (Radio Dimensione Suono, 105, RTL, Capital) that gave big emphasis to the presence in the set of a Bee Gees new song.

(22 October 1999)— Bad reviews for the "Saturday Night Fever" premiere on Broadway

The "Saturday Night Fever" Broadway version, which debuted on 21 October 1999 at Minksoff Theatre in NY was reviewed very badly by the American critics. In particular Rolling Stone made an awful report of the show. To see one of the few favoreable review about the show go to Digital city.
Most of the critics, anyway, pointed their attention on the show production, judged very approximate. The orchestral version of the Bee Gees songs were also strongly criticized, like most of the Broadway musical versions of well known pop rock hits (i.e. "Tommy" by the Who). No press conference was yelded and there are no news about any statement by the Bee Gees about the Broadway show. Available online are some pics of the event. (Credits and special thanks for the pics: Songbird79@hotmail.com)

(12 October 1999)— Bee Gees make "Saturday Night Fever" donation

With the Broadway opening of Saturday Night Fever only a week away, the Bee Gees have decided to make the Oct. 21 premiere evening a charity benefit, donating 100 opening-night tickets, along with 100 invitations to the celebrity party after the musical, to MusiCares, the recording industry's financial assistance and addiction recovery organization.
In a statement, the Gibb brothers said, "In addition to MusiCares' many health initiatives, we are particularly anxious to support their addiction recovery programs and wish this counseling had been available years ago when it could have helped many young musicians who became casualties, including our brother Andy."
NARAS President Michael Greene added, "We are very grateful to this legendary group for their generosity. Barry, Robin, and Maurice have been great friends to the Academy, and we appreciate their involvement with MusiCares. Though they have reached the highest level of success, this gesture shows the Bee Gees are still in touch with the needs of the music community." (Credits for this news: launch.com)

(23 September 1999)— A new Bee Gees song in the Tina Turner's upcoming new album

The new album by the pop-rock diva Tina Turner will include the unreleased song "I will be there", written by Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb. The new Turner's set, titled "Twenty Four Seven", will be released on Europe on 1st november 1999 and in the rest of the world on February 2000. To know more details about this great news please take a look to Billboard Online.

(11 September 1999)— The "Saturday Night Fever" musical opens in Germany, soon in Broadway and next year in Australia

The German version of the "Saturday Night Fever" musical debuted at the Musical Dome in Koln, Germany. The Bee Gees didn't attend the premiere but recorded a video message that was shown before the opening of the show. The reactions of the German press were very positive, together with the usual warm attention of the loyal German fans. If you want to know and see more about the German show, please go to the Official German site of the SNF musical.
The SNF musical, that debuted last year in London, will have a first prewiew at the Minksoff Theatre, 200 W. 45th Street, Broadway on 28 September 1999, while the opening night will be on 21 October 1999. The Bee Gees are scheduled to attend the event.
Finally, in March 2000 the musical will debut in Australia, at the Sidney's Lyric Theatre.

(8 September 1999)— The IOM Bee Gees stamps: online purchase, press release and a new website

The long awaited sets of Bee Gees stamps by the Isle of Man Post Office will be released on 12 October 1999, as already anticipated by the IOMVC website, the Official Bee Gees website and the major official Bee Gees fan clubs. The sets can be purchased online going to the Isle of Man Post Office - Stamps Centre or taking a look to a brand new website dedicated to the Bee Gees and their stamps, BeeGeesStamps.com . In this website you will find detailed info and images of the stamps, together with a Bee Gees tribute section. You will find also a press release about this exciting event, that follows several other Internet and press news about this wonderful homage to the Bee Gees' career.

(27 August 1999)— A new Bee Gees/Andy Gibb Biography

22 years after the "Authorized Biography" by David Leaf, a new, more complete Bee Gees/Andy Gibb Biography will be available on October 2000. The great news comes from the writing team of the upcoming hardback book, that gave the delighted announce of the reached agreement with a major publishing house for the release of the work (over 600 pages covering the whole Gibb Brothers' career). The team (BGQ board member Andrew Môn Hughes, Melinda Bilyeu and Bee Gees experts Joseph Brennan in USA and Mark Crohan in Australia), is heavily involved to finish the book this year.

(18 August 1999)— Ronan Keating (Boyzone) teams up with Barry Gibb

The Irish singer Ronan Keating of the pop stellar act Boyzone is reported to have been in Miami on the first half of August, working with Barry Gibb on new material for his new solo album, due next year.
According to Boyzone's sources Keating co-wrote and produced a song with Barry and Maurice Gibb.

(21 June 1999)—"One Night Only" album certified Gold in U.S.A.

Latest Bee Gees album, the live set "One Night Only", recorded from the Las Vegas MGM concert in november 1997, has received the the Record Industry Association of America (RIAA) award gold certification for album sales exceeding 500,000 units (Source: "Billboard Online".)
Worldwide sales of the album, according to Polydor International, exceed 4,000,000 units.

(01 June 1999)—The Bee Gees new year's eve concert in South Florida

The Bee Gees will play a new live concert on 31 December 1999, new year's eve, in in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
Tickets' sale begins on June 11th. Some tickets will be reserved to the fans club members.
All the details about this big event can be found clicking here.

(25 May 1999)—AGMF '99: Huge success

The fourth "Andy Gibb Memorial Fondation" event was a huge success, according to several reports supplied by the fans that were attending.
Maurice, Barbara and Linda Gibb attended the event too, while Barry and Robin Gibb did not.

(10 May 1999)—No Gibb song on the new Backstreet Boys album

The Gibb penned song "Sacred trust", prevoiusly reported as written for the BSB new album "Millenium", was surprisingly not included in the set.
No official reasons were given. Unofficial sources said that the song, that seem to be a ballad, was not included as in the BSB's new set there are many ballads.
Maybe the song will be included in the new Bee Gees album, due for first months of 2000, together with the songs originally written for Deanna Carter and Bette Midler, that, equally, weren't included in the albums of the mentioned artists.

(15 April 1999)—AGMF '99 Spectacular sold out

The fourth "Andy Gibb Memorial Fondation" event, the fourth fundraiser that will take place in Miami on May 29 is completely sold out. The enthusiastic reaction of the fans is a huge tribute to the loving memory of Andy Gibb.
Full details and more about this important event and about the goals of the AGMF can be found clicking here.

(11 April 1999)—Bee Gees and Olivia Newton-John together in Sidney 2000 Olimpics

The Bee Gees and Olivia Newton-John are scheduled to play together in the inauguration ceremony of the Olimpic Games in Australia next year.
The source of this news (to be confirmed by the official Bee Gees sources) is the Italian music news site "Rock Online Italia".
For further small details (unfortunately only in Italian) you may click here.
Probably they will perform together the new song that the Bee Gees have written for Olivia in these days, according to what the Brothers said during one of their Australian interviews given during their very recent ONO OZ tour. Olivia Newton-John attended the Las Vegas first ONO Bee Gees show in November 1997 and introduced the Sidney show.
Rumors are reported also about a Bee Gees concert in Hong Kong in May 2000, but nothing yet is confirmed.

(4 April 1999) — The smash "One Night Only" OZ concerts

Huge success in South Pacific for the last two dates of the triumphant Bee Gees world tour "One Night Only", On March 20 at Western Springs, Auckland, New Zealand there was a 62.000 people attendance and on March 27 at Stadium Australia, Sydney, Australia there was a 65.000 people attendance! The playlist of the two dates was very similar to the set of the previous dates, with some little changes (i.e. "Spicks and Specks"). The Bee Gees dedicated the song "For whom the Bell Tolls" in the Sidney concert to the Kosovo children, that are tragically suffering in the actual war. The Australian concert was freely broadcasted by the Australian TV "Channel 9".
During their South Pacific sojourn, the Brothers Gibb gave several interviews and met their sister Leslie, which lives in Australia.
The "One Night Only" live CD (available in OZ also in a special limited version including the six songs that were not available in the edited previous CD version), went to number one in New Zealand, (where ONO is the most successful 1998 album) and Australia.

(24 March 1999) — BGI closed down after 28 years

BGI (Brothers Gibb Information) one of the older and important Bee Gees fan club, has been closed down by the Bee Gees personal management.
After 28 years of activity and more than 100 numbers of the brilliant fanzine "The Spirit" (formerly "Lamplight"), the Euro-based but worldwide very popular Bee Gees appreciation society has been ended due to internal conflict between the members of the Board.
Former BGI Board member Ann Grootjans and former BGI UK representative and BeeGeeologist Andrew Mon Hughes have been appointed as members of the most important official Bee Gees fan club, the BGQ (Bee Gees Quarterly).

(10 March 1999)— Australia and New Zealand "One Night Only" Bee Gees live concerts are arriving!

There are excellent news for the Bee Gees in South Pacific!
The "One Night Only" album is doing extremely well both in New Zealand (it reached number 1)and in Australia (it went at number 2).
In Australia the Bee Gees will finish their "One Night Only" world (very successful) tour. The last two concert dates are as follows:

March 20, 1999: Western Springs, Auckland, New Zealand
March 27, 1999: Stadium Australia, Sydney, Australia

On the wings of the extraordinary success of the "One Night Only" live album and after "Still Waters" huge success, in New Zealand 35,000 tickets for the Auckland show were sold on the first day (November 12th 1999) and all of the reserved seats were sold out by lunchtime. Official sources say it's a record.
The Bee Gees performance in Sydney will be the first concert held in the new Olympic venue “Stadium Australia”, and the latest chart news from Australia make us feel it will be a sellout!
Official sources say that after these shows the Gibbs, after a brief break, will begin ti work on the new album, that seems to be called "Technicolor Dream". It seems that many of the songs are already written.

(20 February 1999) — Brothers Gibb penned songs in the Billboard LOVE chart

Three songs written by the brothers Gibb are included in the the Billboard 'Love' Chart, that scores the Top 50 songs from the last 40 years with "Love" in the title. They are:
"How deep is your LOVE" (Number 16)
"Woman in LOVE" (Number 22)
"(LOVE is) thicker than water" (Number 42)

This chart is available online and the songs can be heard at this Bilboard URL

(10 February 1999)—Upcoming new Bee Gees cover single

1998 Eurovision contest winner, Israelian act Dana International is releasing a cover of the Gibb penned song "Woman in love", that as we all know, was originally a huge hit for Barbra Streisand in 1980.
The song was featured on the multiplatinum brilliant album "Guilty", produced by Barry Gibb with Karl Richardson and Albhy Galuten. All the songs in that album were written or co-written by Barry Gibb.
The Dana International cover is included in the Bee Gees tribute album "Gotta get a message to you", that also includes the hit cover version of "More than a woman" by 911 (UK # 2) and "Tragedy" by Steps (UK #3, and according to the Official charts sources, selling more than any other song written by the Bee Gees in UK). The tribute album also include a very interesting cover version of "I started a joke" by the multi Brit Awards winner artist Robbie Williams and ORB.
Other details are available about this new cover by Dana International are available online here

(2 February 1999) — Backstreet Boys new album with a Gibb tune: almost official

Sources very near to the record label of the very popular band Backstreet Boys says that in the act' new album, due tentatively in May, is included the Gibb penned song "Sacred trust".
Seems that the song is the track # 12 in the new upcoming release. Backstreet Boys fans' sources say that band member Kevin Richardson has confirmed the news in a very recent internet chat.

(30 January 1999)—Barry Gibb honors Frank Sinatra at "Love and Hope ball"

On 23 January Barry Gibb did a wonderful live show at the 25th anniversary of the "Love and Hope ball", in Miami. The concert was an outstanding tribute to the late Frank Sinatra. Barry sang 13 Sinatra songs, including classics like"My way" and "New York, New York."
"Bee Gees Italy" had the big honour to have been the first (and for a long time the sole) website in all the Net to have several exclusive pics of this important event!! See also the report of the concert!

(15 January 1999)—Bee Gees Stamps Approved

A serie of Bee Gees stamps will be issued later this year, included in a new stamp issue in the Isle of Man, the birthplace of the Bee Gees. The title of this new issue is "Legends of Music". For further details please see IOMVC site and BGI site pages dedicated to this important news.

(10 January 1999)—"One Night Only" number one in Holland and still in the top 10 UK

The huge success of the live album "One Night Only" goes on also in 1999. After its huge success in 1998, the Bee Gees live set mantains its high position in the charts also in the beginning of this new year, expecially in Europe. In fact the album reaches the number one position in Holland (and it will stay at the top for several weeks) and stays in the top 10 in UK during all the month, becoming the most successful Bee Gees album in the UK since"Spirits having flown" in 1979.
Unfortunately the album in USA seems not to repeat the platinum level of "Still Waters". While worldwide "One night only" is doing very well, the US market seems to be the only important market where the album is a partial flop (it only entered in the top 100). US fans report, as one of the most important cause of this, the usual disappointing lack of Polydor's promotion for the album.

(8 January 1999) —Bee Gees covers high in the Charts

While the Bee Gees current effort does very well, there are in the present musical scene various Gibb tunes covered by several artists, and all of these are big hits.
In fact, after the success of "911" rendition of "More than a woman", the second single from the Bee Gees tribute album, "Gotta get a message to you", the Step's version of "Tragedy", become a smash hit in UK. The sales of the single, that will stay in the UK top ten for two consecutive weeks, surpass any sales of a Bee Gees song in UK, also the ones performed by the Bee Gees themselves.
In the meantime, also two other covers not included in the mentioned tribute album("You should be dancing" by Blockster -top 10 in the UK-) and ("I started a joke" by Faith No More) confirm the current magical moment for the Bee Gees.