Did Barry, Maurice, and Robin Gibb Invent Disco Music?

1975. Their British Invasion days now distant in the rear-view mirror, The Bee Gees found their career waning as their sound had gone stale with the record buying public.  Disco, with its energetic beat and underlying Latin rhythm, was now the hippest trend in music, and by 1975 it was beginning to catch on with record buyers nationwide.  

Record and film producer Robert Stigwood signed teen sensation John Travolta (Welcome Back Kotter) to portray a Brooklyn kid whose life revolved around dancing in the discos of New York City. The Bee Gees, after breaking up and then reuniting, moved to Miami to cultivate a new sound.  They finally scored their first number one single, Jive Talking, in 1975.  Recognizing that the Gibb brothers were more than capable lyricists who had successfully re-invented themselves, Stigwood commissioned them to write songs for the film, Staying Alive. Taking place after principal photography of the picture was completed, the Bee Gees wrote the soundtrack in one weekend, based on a copy of the script.


Three number one hits, "How Deep Is Your Love", "Stayin' Alive", and "Saturday Night Fever" catapulted them to the top of the music universe for the first time in their decade long career as the sound-track Saturday Night Fever sped to number one worldwide.  Saturday Night Fever became their greatest achievement, and the brothers were forever tagged with the Disco label.  They continued, however, in later years to be successful in writing and producing numerous hits for other artists, many of which became number one hits.

Drug usage and poor health claimed the lives of Maurice (2003), Robin (2012), and Andy (1988),
(the latter who worked mostly as a solo act but did perform with the Bee Gees in later years and worked with his elder brothers who were his writers and producers in his more successful years.).




STAYIN' ALIVE
The Bee Gees