Il "Times" e l' "Independent" pubblicano in questi giorni due interessanti interviste di Robin Gibb, in questi giorni più che mai attivo.
L'intervista del Times rivela tra l'altro che il primo ministro inglese Gordon Brown è un fan dei Bee Gees, mentre nell'intervista all'Independent Robin dichiara con forza di pretendere più rispetto per i Bee Gees e per le altre grandi star che contribuito alla grandezza della musica pop e rock inglese nel mondo. Interessante anche il commento (che sottoscrive le affermazioni di Robin) contenuto in un articolo dell'Indipendent , successivo all'intervista.
Inoltre in questi giorni Robin ha registrato una video intervista come testimonial di una campagna lanciata dal governo inglese per incoraggiare i padri separati a restare sempre vicini ai figli. Il sito web del "Times" riporta la sintesi e la trascrizione della video-intervista, che sarà disponibile sul sito http://www.dads-space.com/ a partire dalla fine di maggio.
(Fonti (Timesonline, www.independent.co.uk)
Gordon Brown’s secret to stayin’ alive - listen to the Bee Gees
How is the Prime Minister surviving a grim period in office? By listening to the Bee Gees every day, the ever so well connected Robin Gibb reveals
Robin Gibb counts prime ministers past and present among his friends
Will Hodgkinson, (The Times 16-05-20089
Not everyone hates Gordon Brown. “He listens to our music every day,” says his friend, the Bee Gee Robin Gibb. “Gordon likes our music and I like Gordon. I was with him at a dinner recently” – Gibb says this with the air of a man for whom dining with the Prime Minister is all in a day’s work – “and he was asking: who is creating the big song catalogues of today? The answer is no one. Record companies today don’t see the need for creating big catalogues because that involves investing in careers, which they are no longer doing. But great songs are the backbone of music. They transcend the artist and the record and become part of the culture.”
It is not hard to see why Gibb is passionate about the craft of the pop song. The Bee Gees, the band he formed in his teens with his late twin Maurice and their elder brother Barry, are one of the most successful acts of all time. A fair chunk of the world’s population can sing along to Tragedy, Jive Talking and Stayin’ Alive.
The Bee Gees recently became the first band to be made fellows of the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters, for which the flagship event is the Ivor Novello Awards next Thursday. Since the ceremony is all about celebrating the art of the song, Gibb is one of its most vocal supporters.
“The Ivor Novellos [are] the beacon of the songwriting establishment in Britain,” says Gibb, a remarkably thin man with a gentle if slightly cadaverous air about him. “I come from an era when artists wrote their own songs, when people like Paul McCartney and Elton John created a huge body of work. We are in real danger of losing that tradition.”
Gibb lives in a 1,000-year-old former monastery in Oxfordshire with grounds equivalent to a reasonably proportioned London park. And he counts prime ministers past and present among his friends. “Tony Blair is a great friend,” Gibb says of our former leader, who took a holiday at Gibb’s Miami house in 2007. “I respect him tremendously. In this business you have friends from all backgrounds, including prime ministers and princes, and we get on like a house on fire.”
Brown likes the Bee Gees music, Gibb says, “because it talks about human relationships and experience, rather than specific events, and reaches out across the decades.” Brown has told Gibb: “Your music is absolutely timeless.”
Gibb is in fine form, talking rapidly in a Mancunian twang. Interviews have suggested that he feels the Bee Gees are not taken as seriously as they should be – there was the incident in 1998 when all three stormed off the set of Clive Anderson’s television show after the presenter made a joke about their once being called Les Tosseurs – but if this is still the case, he’s not showing it.
“We’re not just performers but also songwriters, which is the important thing,” he says. “I love Mozart because of his emphasis on melody, but in his time he wasn’t taken seriously at all. Now nobody listens to Mozart and says, ‘That’s so 1780s’. What you are left with is the music.”
“The music” has been Gibb’s saviour. He grew up in a poor family in Manchester until he was nine, when the family moved to Australia. The Bee Gees formed soon after, inspired by the broad variety of music they heard on Australian radio. “We didn’t have a pot to piss in when we were growing up – my dad couldn’t hold down a job – but we didn’t feel we were missing out because we had a lot of fun writing songs. We would hear our favourite bands on the radio and then try and write in their style, pretending that we were coming up with their next hit. We never thought about fame or anything like that.”
Does it bother him that the pop song is frequently dismissed as teenage trash? “That’s just an attitude and it doesn’t impact on the quality of the music,” he replies. “Writing a simple melody that people remember and that can be interpreted in different styles is one of the hardest things to do. Look at Islands in the Stream. We wrote that as an R&B tune but Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers turned it into pure country. A lot of classical composers worked in the same way. It’s rumoured that Beethoven sat in Bavarian taverns and stole melodies from travelling folk singers, so concepts of what is high or low art are irrelevant.”
The Bee Gees were writing songs at a farmhouse in France in 1976 when their manager, Robert Stigwood, approached them to provide music for an adaptation of a short story by Nik Cohn called Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night. “We weren’t at all sure about it,” Gibb says. “It’s a dark film about what was really going on in New York at the time, and it has gang rape, suicide . . . Robert Stigwood came over to listen to our new songs while crickets chirped and cows mooed in the background, and he talked about this thing called disco we had never heard of, and between us we came up with this marriage of film and music that eclipsed everything. It was a low-budget film with no marketing at all and yet it captured imaginations.”
At the height of their powers the Bee Gees couldn’t help but write smash hits. “We wrote Tragedy and How Can You Mend a Broken Heart? in one afternoon at our house in Addison Road in Kensington. Both went to No 1, so that wasn’t a bad afternoon’s work,” he says. “We would sit around with a tape recorder and a keyboard and bash out ideas, and I think it worked because we had fun. If you think too hard about what you want from a situation it never works. The secret is to enjoy it.”
Since Maurice died in 2003 a return to that golden age of fraternal hitmaking is impossible. But Robin and Barry are in talks about writing a musical based on their back catalogue, and there are always mainstream pop stars ready to look to a Gibb brothers composition for material – Barbra Streisand, Diana Ross and Destiny’s Child are a few that have already done so.
Gibb’s main concern for the future is that the songwriting culture is in danger of dying out. “Programmes like The X Factor turn the song into a vehicle for celebrity rather than the other way round,” he says. “Our whole lives have been made up of projects that went into creating a catalogue of songs that the world has embraced. I just wish that the world today [was] more like the world we started out in.”
"Jive talkin': Why Robin Gibb wants more respect for the Bee Gees " - Tim Walker meets a famously prickly musician (The Indipendent, 12-5-2008)
Gibb says the Bee Gees should be celebrated for what they've achieved
Interviewing a Bee Gee can be a tricky business. There was the notorious incident on Clive Anderson's talk show when all three brothers Gibb strode off after tiring of their host's wisecracks. And there was the time Robin Gibb, invited on to Radio 4's Front Row to discuss his last solo album with the probing but hardly combative Mark Lawson, peeled off his mic in mid-conversation.
The Gibbs would have made good guests for Graham Norton, but the comedian scuppered that prospect by making a tasteless joke about the death of Robin's twin brother Maurice in 2003. At the time, Robin, perhaps understandably, expressed a wish to rip the presenter's head off.
It's no surprise, then, when our first appointment, due to take place at the star's converted monastery in Oxfordshire, is broken. A second meeting is cancelled, too. Third time lucky: we meet at a private members' club in Cavendish Square in London.
In March, Gibb, 58, was made President of the Heritage Foundation. The organisation, he explains, is devoted to "the recognition of achievement by people across the spectrum of British cultural life", with activities including tribute events, concerts and the unveiling of blue plaques.
Now, Gibb is heading the foundation's Bomber Command campaign. "It's 63 years since the end of the Second World War," he says. "We want the 56,000 guys who lost their lives protecting the freedoms of all of Europe to be honoured with a statue in the centre of London."
Gibb is bothered by Britons' lack of pride in their history. "We whinge about our past, but we're a greatly admired culture. We're the country that produced Shakespeare, for Christ's sake, the Brontës, Winston Churchill."
His home in Oxfordshire is "a microcosm of British history. It's 1,000 years old – older than Westminster Abbey. It survived the dissolution, and during the Civil War it was used by both Royalists and Parliamentarians. In the Second World War, the American army had a base there."
Gibb and his twin Maurice were born on the Isle of Man in December 1949; Barry, the other surviving sibling, was three years their senior. The trio were brought up in relative poverty in Manchester until 1958, when their youngest brother Andy was born, and the family relocated to Australia, where the Bee Gees first found fame.
"As a teenager growing up in Australia," Gibb says, "I realised that the Australians value British history more than the British do. Tony Blair spent a few years growing up in Adelaide and I had the same conversation with him."
Blair, "a good friend", holidayed at Gibb's mansion in Florida last year, sending the tabloids into a tizz. In 1992, Gibb's wife Dwina had been inaugurated as patroness of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids, a British neo-druidic order. She and Gibb were also candid about the openness of their marriage, a mistake he learnt from. "I don't understand why the press went crazy over that," he says. "They made very unnecessary jibes at my wife. It was a personal attack on her."
Unnecessary jibes are what have riled the band in past interviews: Anderson making the obvious joke about their former moniker, "Les Tosseurs", and Lawson asking Gibb how he felt about the lack of respect afforded the band. The Bee Gees are often treated without seriousness, mocked for the big hair, dismissed as men of the Seventies.
"Nobody ever says, 'Mozart? That's so 1780s!' I think we should see people for what they've achieved. Mozart was a womaniser and a drunk, but we evaluate him on his works," Gibb says. "We've got one of the biggest catalogues in the world. There are songs we wrote in 1968 that people are still singing. Ronan Keating did 'Words', Destiny's Child did 'Emotion'. There's very few artists with that kind of history."
The Bee Gees' record sales top 220 million. The only people who have outsold them are Elvis, The Beatles, Michael Jackson and Garth Brooks. Their compositions have shifted more units than The Rolling Stones, Abba, Elton John or U2. It's unlikely that the Bee Gees will ever be toppled from that top five, even now that the name has – probably – been retired.
Since Maurice's death in January 2003, Barry and Robin have performed together only a handful of times at charity events. The old tales of animosity between the pair are quickly dismissed. "Retiring the name is an emotional decision. We'll decide what we want to do in the next couple of years. We are planning to work together, but what shape or form that will take, it's too early to tell."
The album Gibb is recording for release later this year will, inevitably, be infused with the experience of losing his twin. "In many ways I don't accept that he's gone," he says. "I miss his presence, but it's something I have to live with."
Maurice wasn't the first family member to die unexpectedly. Andy, the youngest Gibb, was a Seventies star in his own right with a string of US solo No 1s. During the Eighties, the prospect of Andy joining the Bee Gees was much discussed, but in March 1988, he died from a heart condition. He was 30. His brothers didn't hide the fact that past abuse of drugs and alcohol had probably contributed. "Losing two brothers at a very early age is one thing, but the fact that both their deaths were unnecessary only compounds it," says Gibb.
Thirty years after its release, Saturday Night Fever is still the best-selling soundtrack of all time. Until then, the Gibbs were best known for their late 1960s ballads, like "Massachusetts". But, says Gibb: "We were dying to get into our soul influences. We wanted to do more than just ballads."
In 1976, they released Children of the World, complete with the No 1 blue-eyed soul single "You Should Be Dancing". They were working on new songs at a farmhouse in France when they got a call from Robert Stigwood. "He called from LA," Gibb recalls, "and said, 'We're making a film with this new guy John Travolta, and we're rehearsing to 'You Should Be Dancing'. Do you have any more songs?'" The rest is history.
"All those songs – 'Night Fever', 'How Deep Is Your Love', 'More Than a Woman', 'If I Can't Have You' – were written in a three-week period at five o'clock in the morning, with the only view from the window being of the cows that needed milking. They were the first to hear 'Stayin' Alive'."
Saturday Night Fever still overshadows the Bee Gees' long career. "Fever was a very important project, but the Gibb brothers were responsible for a wide range of songs," Gibb says, "from 'Islands In the Stream' for Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton, to 'Chain Reaction' for Diana Ross, to 'Heartbreaker' for Dionne Warwick, to 'Woman In Love' for Barbra Streisand. There's only a handful of people with catalogues like ours – the Stones, Elton, Abba and The Beatles.
"I get together with Paul [McCartney] a lot," he continues. "We talk about how we used to record. When we and The Beatles were recording we had no reference points. We just went into the studio and did what came into our minds. Many artists today just go into the studio and try to copy what's in the charts. We saw what was in the charts and said, 'Let's try to do something different.'"
Terence Blacker: These elderly pop stars have a right to feel miffed (The Indipendent, 13-05-2008)
The prejudice has less to do with the music than the way its performer looks, or his views
On the face of it, there are few sillier or unseemly sights in public life than a pop billionaire stroppily complaining that he is not taken seriously enough. Sir Cliff Richard does it every other week. Sir Paul McCartney seems to exude dissatisfaction with his lot. And that high-pitched, perfectly harmonised sound you can hear in the background almost certainly comes from one of the Bee Gees, those perennial chart-toppers in the moaners' hit parade.
A few years ago, they walked when Clive Anderson made a disrespectful, unfunny joke about them. A Mark Lawson interview with one of them, Robin Gibb, on Radio 4 was also terminated abruptly. This week, in The Independent, Gibb complained that it was odd that a group whose records have sold over 220 million and whose compositions exceed the sales of the Rolling Stones, U2, Elton John and Abba (and, he might have added, have suffered their share of misfortune) are still a byword for jokes about hair, teeth and the 1970s. "Nobody ever says, 'Mozart?' That's so 1780s!' I think we should see people for what they have achieved."
He is right to be miffed. By the simplest and most persuasive criteria of artistic success – how much lasting pleasure a work has given – pop musicians like the Gibb brothers deserve respect and gratitude, perhaps even from those who are not particularly fans of their music. The music that they wrote is in the bloodstream of a generation. People grew up, fell in love, married and had children to it. Their songs were taken for granted precisely because they were so ubiquitous.
Music is probably more vulnerable to snobbery than any other art form. For every talented pop composer, there are a thousand Clive Andersons, waiting on the sidelines to say how naff they are. More often than not, the prejudice has less to do with the music than the way its composer or performer looks, or his clothes, hair, views or sexuality. Almost always, the popular success of a musician confirms his lack of coolness to more sophisticated people.
Judgements as to which musicians are culturally acceptable are utterly subjective and, in the long term, meaningless. In the 1950s, when Gerry Goffin and Carole King were writing hits for Bobby Vee and The Drifters, the songs were dismissed as bubble-gum music for kids; a few years later, by some strange alchemical process which only rock journalists will understand, the same songs had become pop classics. A couple of decades later, Abba were seen to be the height of musical vulgarity. Only after they stopped writing and performing was it decided that, in fact, they were rather innovative and ahead of their time.
It must be annoying for someone like Robin Gibb, who has contributed so much to national life, not to mention to the national exchequer, to find that he is still a joke for the usual gang of scoffers. The state now and then attempts to recognise the work of pop musicians by handing out baubles and honours but, as poor old Sir Cliff and Sir Paul have discovered, a knighthood can often merely confirm a person's naffness.
Yet there is something which could be done to strike a significant blow against musical snobbery. Last year the Government announced that a national songbook would be introduced to encourage the nation's children to share and enjoy music. There would be 30 songs which would be the focus of a campaign called "Sing-Up". The project is now in all sorts of trouble. The list was thought to be too short and too prescriptive. Songs from different cultures were introduced in response to accusations of cultural imperialism. When last counted, there were about 600 songs in what has now become the National Song Bank.
Yet the idea was good. If the list had been increased to 50 songs and revised once every two years with the help of teachers and children, it could have engaged schools in understanding what made songs last. Because music has the power to unify, there would surely have been a case for putting the emphasis on songs from the main culture.
The list, as it stands, is dull: too many nursery rhymes and traditional songs. The national songbook should include the best popular songs of the past, whether they are naff or not. The Beatles' "Yellow Submarine" should be there, and so should Ralph McTell's "Streets of London" and Cliff Richards' "Congratulations". Something by the Bee Gees – "Stayin' Alive", perhaps – would certainly be a contender.
There will be discussions and rows but the songbook would be a great, self-renewing celebration of the power of music. It would also be the best way to pass on to future generations songs that have brought us pleasure – however unfashionably – in the past.
"Stayin’ in touch: Bee Gee tips for absent fathers " (The Times , 6-5-2008)
The government has enlisted Robin Gibb, the Bee Gees singer, and Gary Lineker, the sports presenter, to encourage fathers separated from their children to stay close to them.
In an interview to be shown at a launch event this week by Ed Balls, the children’s secretary, Gibb, 58, speaks of having been “very, very nervous” and “horrified” at the prospect of seeing his children, Spencer and Melissa, for the first time after he divorced his first wife, Molly Hullis, in 1980. “‘Out of control’ is the first emotion alienated parents feel when they’re separated from their kids,” says Gibb. “They feel threatened. They feel as if they are not dictating events.”
Gibb says that one of the most difficult parts of reestablishing the relationship with children is knowing there might be another man in their home. “That’s what a lot of fathers can’t deal with,” he says.
The singer, whose interview was filmed for the website dads-space.com, which has received funding from Balls’s Parent Know How programme, has long had links to the government. He lent his Florida mansion to the former prime minister Tony Blair after noticing he looked “haggard” following the invasion of Iraq.
Transcript of an interview with Robin Gibb
This is a transcript of an interview with Robin Gibb conducted by www.dads-space.com, a service helping separated fathers communicate with their children. The full interview will be uploaded on to this website this month.
Quotes from interview with Robin Gibb on Dads Space
Emotionally, you tend to feel like swings and roundabouts; you don’t know what you want to do. You want to take action. You want to take action on your own, you want to take action with lawyers, you want to do this, you want to do that; you feel out of control.
I think that “out of control” is the first emotion that alienated parents feel when they’re separated from their kids. They feel threatened. They feel as if they are not dictating the course of events, someone else is, so it is very, very hard.
Related Links
Stayin’ in touch: Bee Gee tips for absent fathers
This is a very emotional period and this takes a while to settle down and see the wood for the trees. I think that once you let go of that emotional thing, things happen that become positive.
I became a father at a very early age by comparison to a lot of men – I was 22 years old when Spencer my first boy was born and I was in LA at the time, because in… this was about 1972 – it wasn’t always the thing… it was just… at the dawn of the time when men were supposed to be in surgery watching the child being born. But I was on the plane straight back… and he was premature. He was in an incubator …
I remember seeing him for the first time. It’s an incredible feeling actually producing life and having a child for the first time. And at 22 – I was still a bit of a kid myself. It kinda made me grow up a bit.
I think what you have to do… is that you’ve got to be a friend to your kids and you’ve got to be always there for them and I think more so when you are separated. I think you become more valuable as a father and friend once you’ve been separated. Because there are other people who come into the family structure that may be seen as father-figures – and so therefore you’re competing with that as well.
I think that’s what a lot of fathers can’t deal with as well – that there might be someone else at home who might be a father to the kids, who may spend more time with them and might replace them. In my case that did not happen. I feared it – but it didn’t happen. I’ve always been dad and we’ve always had a very close relationship.
And I think you’ve got to be first and foremost got to be a friend, a confidante to your kids. And not say… dictating too much, disciplinarian and always on their back… but a friend and a confidante – that’s the most important thing.
When I first saw my children afterwards I took them to pantomimes and things like that in Windsor, the usual quality moments, museums, all the things that parents do with kids to try and look for quality bonding moments.
The feeling I had when I first knew I was going to see them was great anticipation, very, very nervous; what would they think of me? Would they see me as Dad and how would their views be formed of me and what’s my role with them. You’re starting from a different reference point. I think a lot of parents go through this; you feel like a stranger with your own kids.
With those nerves that I had about seeing them, I turned them into “well, why don’t I just treat myself as a guy who’s getting to know some other people, like a friend and turn them into friends?” which is what I did, and I think, after a while I gained their respect and their friendship, which is probably something maybe I wouldn’t have had if we’d stayed together.
I think it developed into something more meaningful. All I know is that I was horrified at the time because I hadn’t seen them for a while. I think that any parent who’s going to see their kids after a long, long time is going to feel this, and it’s quite normal. You get over it. It’s just a moment in time but it is very, very nerve wracking.
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StampaIl 25 settembre si è svolto a casa di Robin Gibb (Thame, Oxfordshire), l'evento di beneficienza "Splash of Pink", organizzato dall'associazione inglese "Against Breast Cancer".
Era la seconda apparizione pubblica di Robin dopo l'intervento chirurgico subito ad agosto in seguito ad improvvisi problemi di natura gastro-intestinali.
In precedenza Robin era apparso (rilassato ed in ottima forma) a sorpresa ad Amburgo il 21 settembre, 
nel corso dell'evento Hamburger Fischauktionshalle, improvvisando un'applauditissima performance acustica insieme ai musicisti tedeschi Udo Lindenberg e Leslie Mandoki.
Lindeberg e Mandoki hanno accompagnato Robin cantando e suonando insieme a lui "Stayin'alive", "Night fever" e "How deep is your love".
L'evento "Splash of Pink", nel corso del quale si è svolta una sfilata di moda presenziata da numerosi stilisti inglesi e personaggi noti nel mondo della moda, dello spettacolo e della televisione britannica, si è concluso con una esibizione di Robin, che ha cantato sei canzoni ("How Deep is your Love", "To Love Somebody", "Night Fever, "Islands In The Stream" (con Natasha Hamilton, ex Atomic Kitten), "Massachusetts" ed infine "Stayin' Alive". Secondo quanto riportato dai fan presenti, Robin è apparso in ottima forma e di buon umore, e si è soffermato varie volte a chiaccherare con i presenti. All'evento erano presenti oltre 400 ospiti e sono state raccolte più di 60.000 sterline.
Link ad articolo sull'evento (witneygazette.co.uk)
Stars and celebrities turn out for charity fashion show at Bee Gee Robin Gibb's Thame home
Against Breast Cancer staged its biggest fundraising event yet with the Splash of Pink fashion show at the home of the singer and wife Dwina, who is a patron of the charity.
More than 400 people attended the fashion show and tea in the grounds of the couple's home at Thame.
charity spokesman Fiona Smart said: "The fashion show was brilliant and was attended by so many well-known celebrities.
"We have raised more than £60,000 for the charity by selling seats for the fashion show and from the auction and the raffle.
"This was the biggest event in the charity's 17-year history."
A host of stars arrived wearing a splash of pink.
They included Dragons' Den star Duncan Bannatyne, shoe designer Jimmy Choo, 2009 X Factor winner Joe McElderry, on behalf of patron Simon Cowell, fashion designer Paul Costelloe, Noel Edmonds, Sir Leslie Phillips, and former Tory MP Michael Portillo.
The fashion show, which featured Mr Costelloe showcasing his autumn collection, finished with a live performance from host Robin Gibb, supported by Natasha Hamilton and Elan Lee.
The show will help the charity reach its annual goal of £1m to fund research into breast cancer.
A new blood test is being developed by the charity's researchers which it is hoped will detect the secondary spread of breast cancer.
Gordon Vallance, director of Against Breast Cancer, said: "We were astounded by the huge amount of goodwill and generosity shown to the charity for our event by both individuals and organisations. Robin and Dwina have been incredibly kind in letting us use their home for this special event.
"Everyone's time, expertise and services helped bring this ambitious project to fruition, helping to raise much-needed funds for our research."
(SOURCE: witneygazette.co.uk)
Il nuovo anno si apre con la pubblicazione della ristampa di "Odessa (Deluxe Editon)", il concerto di beneficienza a Londra per celebrare la musica dei Bee Gees, e voci su un presunto futuro viaggio "nostalgico" di Barry e Robin in Australia.
In ordine di data, subito dopo capodanno, si sono diffuse nel web notizie circa un viaggio di Barry e Robin Gibb nei luoghi del loro inizio di carriera, in Australia. Le notizie riportavano un certo disinteresse della comunità di Redcliffe, la città dove i Gibb di fatto iniziarono a scrivere le loro prime canzoni. Un mega tributo ai Gibb invece sarebbe programmato a Sidney, con un concerto pieno di mega-star australiane. Tuttavia, dopo una convulsa serie di iniziative per assicurare un adeguato benvenuto ai Gibb pure a Redcliffe, è arrivata dal management di Barry un parziale ridimensionamento delle notizie diffuse, definite non ancora del tutto attendibili, visto che ad oggi nè Barry nè Robin hanno confermato il viaggio e neanche l'eventuale periodo e modalità di svolgimento. Insomma pare che ci sia stato una semplice maifestazione di volontà non seguita da fatti concreti.
Il 9 gennaio a Londra (Battersea) si è tenuto un concerto di beneficienza in favore dell'Outward Fund Trust, organizzazione benefica di cui è presidente Robin Gibb, che ha coinvolto un gruppo di stelle del pop e del rock britannico, insieme ad una serie di giovanissimi protagonisti, per lo più vincitori di selezioni televisivi simili ad "X-factor". Il tema della serata era la celebrazione della musica dei Bee Gees, pertanto i fortunati (e generosi, visto che l'incasso della serata è di 250.000 sterline) ascoltatori presenti (circa un migliaio), hanno ascoltato i principali successi dei fratelli Gibb (come Bee Gees, ma anche come autori), eseguiti da una serie di grandi artisti della scena britannica. Tra i presenti Bill Wyman (ex Rolling Stones), Mark King (Level 42), Paolo Nutini, Natasha Hamilton (Atomic Kitten), la Spice Girl Mel C , Lulu, la star del soul Beverley Knight e l'ormai immancabile Valerija, la star russa nota ai fans dei Gibb per una sua cover di "Stayin'alive" in cui partecipava pure il buon Robin. Tra le canzoni eseguite anche "Heartbreaker" e "Chain Reaction", mentre il gran finale è stata una versione di "How deep is your love" cantata da tutti i partecipanti all'evento. (Nella foto, da sinistra: Bill Wyman con la figlia Matilda, Valerija, Mel C, Natasha Hamilton, Mark King, Lulu e Robin Gibb).
In alcune dichiarazioni rilasciate subito prima dell'evento, Robin ha fatto riferimento alla realizzazione di un film sulla musica dei Gibb, alla stregua di "Mamma mia", il film basato sui successi degli Abba, uno dei maggiori successi cinematografici del 2008. "L' idea è in sviluppo in questi giorni, seguiranno annunci su larga scala", ha detto Robin al Times, ed ha annunciato che a giugno incontrerà Barack Obama in merito alle problematiche sui diritti d'autore. "Non sarà un remake di "Saturday Night Fever", e comprenderà le canzoni che abbiamo scritto per gli altri", ha aggiunto Robin. In un'altra intervista, Dwina, la moglie di Robin, ha detto con molta chiarezza che Robin è ancora profondamente addolorato, (in uno stato di lutto), per la morte del fratello Maurice, avvenuta il 12 gennaio 2003.
Dal 13 gennaio è disponibile nei principali negozi (online e non) la ristampa (remasterizzata e con inediti) di "Odessa", il doppio album originalmente pubblicato con la celebre copertina di velluto nel 1969. La versione del quarantennale prevede tre CD, di cui uno contiene inediti e versioni "alternative" di alcune canzoni dell'album, per la prima volta disponibili al pubblico. L' album è stato accolto con molto favore dalla critica, raccogliendo recensioni molto lusinghieri, visto che da sempre è stato considerato un lavoro, che, sebbene non accompagnato da vendite esaltanti, contiene alcuni dei migliori momenti compositivi e sperimentali del periodo forse più creativo della carriera dei fratelli Gibb. Recensioni: Billboard, All Music Guide.
(Fonti: Times Online, Google News)
Saturday Night Fever starting to bubble up again
The Mamma Mia! phenomenon has shifted another £300 million into the Abba bank account. But what of their disco-era contemporaries, the Bee Gees? Thirty years after Saturday Night Fever, isn’t it time to revive one of pop’s most hit-packed catalogues for a new film?
“It’s developing as we speak. We are about to make some massive announcements,” Robin Gibb tells us before leading an all-star band, including Bill Wyman and Mel C, through a night of Bee Gee classics at a ball in Battersea to raise funds for the Outward Bound Trust.
Don’t dust off those white flares just yet though – the film won’t be a return to Night Fever. “It will include songs we wrote for other people, like Chain Reaction, Heartbreaker and Islands in the Stream,” Gibb said. He is now lobbying governments to protect songwriters’ royalties. “I am going to speak to Obama at the White House in June.” And the Bee Gee is offering GB the use of his mansion in Miami. “I have a lot of respect for Gordon Brown. Everyone needs a holiday.”
Robin Gibb still grieves for his twin brother Maurice
London, Jan 13 (ANI): Brit singer/songwriter Robin Gibb has still not gotten over the death of his twin brother Maurice Gibb. Maurice, who had been part of the Bee Gees, a band formed by his twin Robin and elder brother Barry, had died six years ago on January 12. Robin was looking pale and thin, as he flew into London from Los Angeles for a charity ball in aid of the Outward Bound Trust at the weekend. “Robin has not got over the death of his twin,” the Daily Express quoted his wife Dwina as saying. “It is something he will never get over. It is on-going really,” she added.
Odessa Deluxe edition out on 13 january
Review. Reprise/Rhino went all-out for their deluxe edition treatment of the Bee Gees' 1969 Odessa album. Disc one of the three-CD set has the album (originally a double LP) in its original mono mix; disc two presents it in its original stereo mix; and disc three, most excitingly for Bee Gees fans and collectors, offers 22 previously unreleased tracks (and one promotional radio spot). It goes without saying, perhaps, that this is a pretty specialized affair even by the standards of deluxe editions, especially as Odessa is not exactly considered a core classic late-'60s rock album by mainstream audiences. It has its merits, however, and even though ownership of both the stereo and mono CDs might not be considered essential by the average Bee Gees fan, fanatics will appreciate having both of them side by side (especially as the mono mixes were made available in the U.S. for the first time here).
The real interest, of course, lies in the abundant previously unreleased material. Most of this, it should be cautioned, consists of alternate versions/mixes and demos of songs that made it onto the album — in fact, there demos or alternate takes for every song from Odessa besides "The British Opera" — although there are two previously unissued tunes, "Pity" and "Nobody's Someone," that didn't make it onto the album in any form. As is the case with alternates on many expanded/deluxe CDs, you'd never put these recordings on par with the officially released versions. Mostly they tend to confirm the Bee Gees' judgment as to what takes and arrangements were used on the final LP, with some obviously hesitant performances and a few songs lacking final lyrical polish. But there are some notable interesting differences in the batch, like the "You'll Never See My Face Again" minus orchestration; an early version of "Edison" with different lyrics, at that point titled "Barbara Came to Stay"; a much sparser, fairly rudimentary demo of "Melody Fair," one of the best and most famous songs on the album; "Never Say Never Again" with an up front heavy fuzz guitar that was erased from the finished master; a demo of "First of May" with nothing more than piano backing; and, perhaps most unexpectedly of all, a version of "With All Nations (International Anthem)" with lyrics, although the one on the official LP ended up being instrumental. As for the two songs with no counterparts on the actual Odessa album, "Nobody's Someone" is a characteristically pleasantly sad, rather sorrowful (if rather lightweight) Bee Gees original that was covered almost 30 years later by a virtually unknown artist named Andrew (no last name); "Pity" is a more upbeat midtempo piano-dominated number, but with a skeletal arrangement obviously in need of completion.
Thorough liner notes explain the origination of the tracks and the differences between the official and previously unreleased versions. Thus overall, this, like Reprise/Rhino's box set The Studio Albums 1967-1968 (which gives a similar expanded treatment to the three previous Bee Gees albums), is a valuable supplement to the group's standard '60s discography. It is a release, however, that will be somewhat limited in appeal to the general pop and rock audience, who might not have the patience to sort through all the multiple versions.
(Source: All Music Guide)
"Celebrating the music of the Bee Gees with Robin Gibb and friends". E' il titolo che accompagna l'iniziativa di beneficenza voluta da Robin Gibb per supportare due associazioni inglesi, ("Outward Bound Trust" e "Sunseeker International Charitable Trust").
La prestigiosa serata, che si svolgerà a Londra (Battersea Park) il prossimo 9 gennaio, consisterà in un concerto basato sulle canzoni dei Bee Gees, cantate da Robin e da una serie di artisti di indiscussa fama, che è in corso di aggiornamento.
Tra le star che hanno confermato la loro partecipazione: Bill Wyman (ex Rolling Stones) con la sua band "The Rhythm Kings, Lulu, la Spice Girl Melanie C. , la soul diva Beverley Knight, Georgie Fame, Mark King (Level 42), il batterista Kenney Jones (Who e Small Faces), Paolo Nutini, Natasha Hamilton (Atomic Kitten) e la russa Valeriya.
I prezzi dei biglietti variano da 250 a 500 sterline e sono acquistabili online nel sito del sito del "Sunseeker international"
(Fonte: www.undilutedspirit.org.uk)
"Celebrating the music of the Bee Gees with Robin Gibb and friends": a charity event with Robin
A charity Ball to support The Outward Bound Trust and Sunseeker International Charitable Trust.
The evening will be a once in a lifetime show bringing together some of the world's greatest musicians to celebrate the musical song book of The Bee Gees.
With over 200 million records sold, the Bee Gees are one of the most covered bands of all times. The Outward Bound Trust ambassador, Robin Gibb CBE, has assembled a line up of extraordinary performances, including Bill Wyman, Spice Girl Mel C, Beverley Knight, The Rhythm Kings, Level 42's Mark King, Paolo Nutini, Atomic Kitten's Natasha Hamilton, Lulu, Georgie Fame, The Who's Kenney Jones and Russian pop star Valeriya to name but a few ... for a night of celebration.
Date - Start 7pm Friday 9th January 2009
Venue - Battersea Evolution, Battersea Park
(Source: www.undilutedspirit.org.uk)
Il Primo Ministro britannico Tony Blair e la sua famiglia sono ospiti nella villa di Robin Gibb a Miami, dove passeranno un periodo di vacanze per la fine dell'anno. Robin e Dwina Gibb li raggiungeranno il 31 dicembre. Doveva essere una vacanza privata, e quindi la notizia non era destinata ai media. La stampa inglese, invece, venuta a sapere del viaggio a Miami a causa di un incidente tecnico all'atterraggio dell'aereo sul quale viaggiavano i Blair, si è subito scatenata, speculando sul fatto che a quanto pare è abitudine di Blair essere ospitati gratuitamente nelle dimore di personaggi ricchi e famosi. Un portavoce del Primo Ministro si è affrettato a dichiarare che i Blair hanno regolarmente pagato, in base ad un accordo privato. Ma la moglie di Robin lo ha smentito, dichiarando: "Non stanno pagando, siamo amici, è una cosa fra amici. Loro hanno il loro staff e se lo portano appresso, è una cosa che abbiamo organizzato insieme...
(Fonte: Mirror.co.uk - Reuters )
BLAIR UNDER FIRE FOR HOLIDAY AT BEE GEE'S MANSION
LONDON (Reuters) - Tony Blair's office defended his holiday at the U.S. mansion of pop star Robin Gibb, saying on Thursday the prime minister had paid for the stay.
The Conservatives and newspapers savaged Blair over his year-end break at the Bee Gees star's luxurious Florida home, demanding to know whether it was costing taxpayers money or if Blair was enjoying a free holiday.
The Daily Mail printed a front-page story about the visit under the headline "Shameless" and asked in an editorial: "Is any degradation too deep for Tony Blair in his quest for a glitzy family holiday on the cheap?" Blair's Downing Street office declined to give any details about the prime minister's holiday but a spokeswoman said: "There is a private commercial arrangement in place".
The Daily Mail quoted Gibb's wife Dwina as saying that the couple had neither asked for nor accepted money from Blair, who it said was relaxing at the 5.2 million pound seafront mansion with wife Cherie and three of their children. A similar house would cost up to 40,000 pounds a week to rent, reports said.
Newspapers said the visit raised concerns of a possible conflict of interest as Gibb has lobbied ministers to extend copyright laws to allow performers to profit from their hits for longer.
The controversy over his holiday comes as Blair is embroiled in a party funding scandal. Police questioned Blair this month in an investigation into allegations that state honours were handed out in return for loans to his party.
Blair has been in office for more than nine years but he has said he will step down next year as his popularity slumped over his support for the Iraq war and government scandals.
RICH AND FAMOUS
It is not the first time Blair has drawn fire over his holidays with the rich and famous. He has stayed several times at singer Cliff Richard's Barbados mansion and has visited the Sardinian villa of former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
Blair has in the past made donations to charity to cover the cost of hospitality he has received.
Conservative MP Chris Grayling told The Daily Telegraph that Blair's holiday raised questions about how Blair conducted himself. "We need very clear details on who is paying for this holiday or whether it is a 'freebie'," he said.
Blair's Florida visit only came to light because of a safety scare at Miami airport. The Boeing 747 carrying Blair and his family missed a runway exit on arrival from London on Tuesday, prompting emergency vehicles to rush to the scene.
The Sun newspaper ran the story on its front page under the headline "Stayin' Alive", echoing the title of the 1970s hit from the Bee Gees.
In seguito al ricovero ed all’intervento di urgenza del 18 agosto, fonti vicine alla famiglia di Robin hanno confermato che la convalescenza di Robin procede perfettamente e che Robin è addirittura impaziente di ritornare al lavoro.
Nel frattempo il sito ufficiale annuncia che i concerti previsti in Germania (Lipsia e Dresda), sono stati rinviati a data da destinarsi, mentre il concerto di Amsterdam è stato rinviato al 22 ottobre 2010.
Qualche settimana prima dell’intervento d’urgenza era stata annunciata la partecipazione di Robin all’evento di beneficienza “Splash of Pink Fashion Show & Couture Tea”, organizzato dall’associazione inglese per la prevenzione dei tumori al seno.
L’evento che prevede un’esibizione acustica di Robin Gibb ed alcuni ospiti, è schedulato per sabato 25 settembre 2010 a casa di Robin (Thame, Oxfordshire), ed ad oggi non è stato rinviato. Ciò lascia ottimisti sulle buone condizioni e sulla velocità di ripresa di Robin.
Fonte: google news & robingibb.com
Robin Gibb is going well: European dates re-scheduled
Following the emergency surgery and 18 August, sources close to the family confirmed that Robin Robin's recovery goes well and that Robin is even eager to return to work.
Meanwhile, the official website announced that the concerts planned in Germany (Leipzig and Dresden), have been postponed until a later date, while the Amsterdam concert was postponed to October 22, 2010.
A few weeks before the emergency was announced the participation of Robin to the charity event "Splash of Pink Couture Fashion Show & Tea", organized by the British association for the prevention of breast cancer.
The event includes an acoustic performance by Robin Gibb and guests and it is scheduled for Saturday, September 25, 2010 at the home of Robin (Thame, Oxfordshire).
To date has not been postponed. There’s optimism about the goodness and the recovery of Robin.
Fonte: google news & robingibb.com
Secondo quanto riporta il sito del Barnet Times , Barry Gibb ha appena scritto insieme al suo grande amico David English una canzone country ("Song for Davey"), dedicata al figlio undicenne di English, David Jr. "
E' il mio migliore amico, lo conosco da tantissimi anni ed è un grande uomo. E' mio fratello", ha dichiarato David English per descrivere il rapporto che lo lega a Barry Gibb.
Fonte: (Barnet Times )
"Brotherly Bee Gee makes sweet music"
Music mogul David English is fresh from Miami after another epic recording session with Bee Gee Barry Gibb.
Bearded Mr Gibb enlisted the help of his old friend, who managed the Bee Gees in the 1970s, to write new country tune, "Song for Davey", inspired by David's 11-year-old son, David English Junior.
Junior is, no doubt, thrilled.Mr English, of Nan Clark's Lane, Mill Hill, flew to America still celebrating his appointment as president of Finchley Cricket Club at the end of December.
And it seems Mr Gibb is quite enamoured with the humble cricket bat, as shown by this picture of him clutching one signed by members of Bunbury Cricket Club the celebrity team he founded to play charity matches.
On his visit to America, Messrs English and Gibb enjoyed making beautiful music and working on a film screenplay. Mr English said: "He is my best friend, I have known him for many years and he is a great man he is my brother." (Source: Barnet Times )
Robin Gibb e Tom Jones canteranno i cori del singolo di beneficienza realizzato dalla famosa organizzazione benefica inglese "Comic Relief", che dal 1985 organizza eventi ed iniziative artistiche per finanziare le attività in favore delle popolazioni povere in tutto il mondo. Il giorno del naso rosso (Red Nose Day) è l'evento annuale più importante nella raccolta dei fondi per il Comic Relief, e quest'anno una canzone dei Bee Gees è stata scelta per favorire le donazioni.
Si tratta di una cover della celebre "Islands in the stream" , la canzone scritta da Barry, Robin e Maurice Gibb e portata alle vette delle classifiche USA da Dolly Parton e Kenny Rogers nel 1983. In seguito la canzone fu ripresa da Pras Micheal nel 1988, raggiungendo nuovamente le vette di molte classifiche, tra le quali quella inglese.
I protagonisti principali della cover saranno due attori popolarissimi in Gran Bretagna, Rob Brydon e Ruth Jones, che interpretano Bryn e Nessa nel popolarissimo show televisivo della BBC "Gavin & Stacey".
La canzone sarà disponibile a partire via web dal prossimo 8 marzo, anche se la distribuzione effettiva è prevista in concomitanza con il "Red Nose Day" (13 marzo).
(Fonte : Look to the Stars)
Robin Gibb Helps Out With Red Nose Day Single
Bee Gees founder Robin Gibb has joined a host of celebrities to record a song to benefit this year’s Comic Relief Red Nose Day.
The singer appears on a new version of Islands In The Stream alongside stars such as Tom Jones, Rob Brydon and Gavin and Stacey stars Ruth Jones and Joanne Page, to be released March 13 – the date of this year’s Red Nose Day.
Brydon was one of the many stars to attend the launch of this year’s appeal in London yesterday, and urged the public to make the 11th annual Red Nose Day the best one ever despite the recession.
“There has never been a more important time to show generosity,“ he said. “It would be great to make it the best one ever in the current climate.”
Comic Relief uses comedy to help raise awareness and funds for those in need and are especially committed to helping end poverty and social injustice in the UK and around the world. Red Nose Day is their major annual fundraising appeal.
(Source : Look to the Stars)
Robin Gibb ha suonato il 18 novembre a Douglas, Isola di Man, ed i proventi della serata sono stati devoluti all'ospizio per i bambini "Rebecca House", inaugurato proprio da Robin con la moglie Dwina il 14 novembre.
Nella giornata Robin ha ricevuto (per conto dei Bee Gees) un prestigioso riconoscimento alla carriera, ed ha cantato "Ellan Vannin", l'inno dell'Isola di Man, accompagnato dal King William's College Choir.
La canzone è stata registrata e sarà messa in vendita (CD e DVD) per beneficenza (sempre a favore dell'ospizio dei banbini dell'Isola di Man) in occasione delle festività natalizie.
Robin ha cantato numerosi successi suoi e dei Bee Gees, in un concerto intervallato da momenti informali e rilassati, durante i quali ha declamato con entusiasmo la bellezza dell'Isola.
Presente al concerto la madre Barbara (che il giorno prima aveva compiuto 88 anni), alla quale Robin ha dedicato "How deep is your love"
Barry, Robin e Maurice Gibb sono nati nell'isola, e Robin non nasconde il suo attaccamento al luogo della sua nascita, che ha definito "il più grande piccolo paese del mondo".
?Robin ha espresso il suo orgoglio per avere inaugurato "Rebecca House". "Dobbiamo supportare i bambini, specialmente quelli malati, ed è mia intenzione fare tutto quello che potrò per questo centro. Sono orgoglioso di essere nato nell'Isola di Man e di ritornare alla mia casa spirituale."
(Fonti: hospice.org.im e iomtoday.co.im )
Robin live for charity in Douglas (Isle of Man) - 18 november 2008
"Robin Gibb reminds us why the Bee Gees rule" (John Gregory)
THERE was Tuesday night fever at the Villa when Bee Gee Robin Gibb performed hit after hit at a special charity concert for Rebecca House.
The very fact I knew every single song Robin and his great band performed was a testament to the fact that the Bee Gees were masters of the three-minute pop record.
The Gibb brothers – Robin, Barry and their late brother Maurice – together were a true hit-making machine, whether they were performing the songs themselves or writing for other people.
Robin's solo concert at the Villa was a great reminder of that. Not that the audience needed reminding, of course. There was plenty of dancing going on as the concert progressed and with 200 million record sales – and a catalogue second only to the Beatles in terms of success – it is hardly surprisingly these songs are so well known.
Robin made his way through classics such as Night Fever, How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?, Massachusetts, Words, To Love Somebody, You Win Again, Stayin' Alive, Jive Talkin' and many more.
His mum Barbara, who turned 88 the day before, was in the audience and he dedicated How Deep is Your Love to her.
She used to run the Union Mills post office and there is a plaque on the wall of the building commemorating the Bee Gees connection.
Robin also spoke about the influence his late father Hugh had on the brothers and said next time he performs in the Island he will bring Barry, who lives in Miami, with him!
The feel of the concert was quite intimate and informal – in between songs Robin spoke many times on how he was proud to be Manx and described the Island as 'the greatest little country in the world'.
In fact he spoke so much about it and is so passionate about the Isle of Man that he should be offered an honorary role with the Department of Tourism and Lesiure.
There was some banter with the audience too and the gig attracted fans from around the world. Psychiatrist Todd Jacob Gates and his wife travelled for two days from Clevland, Ohio, just to be there.
Also among the audience was a long-time friend of the brothers, Bernie Quayle, of Manx Radio.
The evening was started in fine style by Anna Goldsmith and her band. She opened with You Slayed All My Monsters and was in very fine voice indeed. Don't Wait Up was a particular highlight and it is one of Anna's most beautiful songs. The band finished with Come Together by The Beatles.
While the audience loved every second of the music, the real winners on the night were Oskar's Dreams who organised the concert for Rebecca House children's hospice which Robin officially opened on Friday. The charity is named after Oskar Craig who was just 18 months old when he died.
Oskar's father Heath told the Villa Marina that Oskar's Dreams – taking into account the money raised from the night – has now raised £250,000.
The Proud to be Manx concert was presented by the Henry Bloom Noble Trust in conjunction with Isle of Man Newspapers and sponsor Quinn Kneale.
Larry Keenan, chairman of the trust, explained about the history of it and the role of trustee Trudi Williamson – who is also deputy chairman of Isle of Man Newspapers – in putting on the concert.
Robin, who received a gift from Oskar's Dreams at the end of the night, was genuinely touched to be involved with the charity and Rebecca House.
Dot Tilbury and Geoff Corkish were the comperes for the evening and the whole night was a great success on many levels. It would have been a tragedy to miss it.
Robin and Dwina Gibb officially opened Rebecca House on Friday (14 november) in the presence of His Excellency Vice Admiral Sir Paul Haddacks KCB and Lady Haddacks.
Tribute was paid to the Henry Bloom Noble Healthcare Trust and Oskar’s Dreams who, among others, have contributed to fundraising efforts in order that a children’s hospice could be built on the Isle of Man. Rebecca House provides paediatric specialist palliative care and respite for children with life-limiting illnesses and conditions along with end of life care and bereavement support within Hospice Isle of Man.
Robin Gibb expressed his pride and delight at being asked to open Rebecca House: ‘we need to support children, particularly sick children and it is my intention to do all I can to support Rebecca House and Hospice Isle of Man in the future. He continued:
‘I am proud to be a Manxman and returning to my spiritual home.’ Robin and Dwina spent some time with the children and parents at Rebecca House.
On 14 november Robin accepted a lifetime achievement award on behalf of the Bee Gees. As he took the stage, Robin was given a standing ovation and after receiving the award he performed a rousing rendition of Ellan Vannin with the King William's College choir. The CD/DVD of the song will be released around Christmas, and it will help to raise money for the IOM children hospice
Fonte: (Reuter/Tv Guide)
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Bee Gees will receive a lifetime achievement award from a music industry group in Beverly Hills in May, organizers said on Monday.
The pop legends will be presented with the Icon Award during performing rights group BMI's 55th annual pop music awards on May 15 at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel.
A BMI spokeswoman said it was unclear if surviving brothers Barry and Robin Gibb would perform at the invite-only, black-tie event. They have sung together only twice since Robin's twin Maurice died suddenly of a heart ailment in 2003 -- at charity events last year in Florida and London
Last year's honoree, Ray Davies of the Kinks, did not play. But previous recipients, such as Paul Simon, Merle Haggard and Carlos Santana, did. Either way, the events include performances of the honorees' tunes by other artists.
The awards dinner honors the BMI-represented writers and publishers of the year's most-performed compositions. Rival group ASCAP will honor Melissa Etheridge at its annual event in Hollywood on April 18.
L'iniziativa è a fini di beneficienza, nel contesto del progetto "Idol gives back", che raccoglie fondi per i bambini in stato di estrema povertà in Africa e nelle Americhe.
Fra le celebrità: Hugh Grant, Gwyneth Paltrow, Hugh Laurie (Dr. House) ed alcuni personaggi di famose serie televisive come "Friends" e "Desperate Housevives".
Guarda il video di "Stayin'alive" su "youtube.com"
Fonte: Elle Magazine
Actresses Gwyneth Paltrow , Kiera Knightley and Teri Hatcher are trying their luck as singers - and risking the wrath of simon cowell. the a-list stars appeared on an American Idol charity special alongside celebrities including Madonna, who sent a video message from her adopted son David's birth country Malawi, to appeal for donations to charities helping children in extreme poverty in America and Africa. The show, which included a celebrity version of the Bee Gees "Stayin' Alive", raised over 30 million pounds.
The "Stayin'alive" video on "youtube.com"
Source: Elle Magazine
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