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Andy GibbDon't Throw It All AwayShadow Dancing
Born Andrew Roy Gibb in Manchester, England, to Barbara (née Pass) and Hugh Gibb, Gibb emigrated with his family to Australia six months after his birth. They settled in Cribb Island, adjacent to Redcliffe, north of Brisbane. He was the youngest boy of five children and had one older sister, Lesley (1945), and three older brothers, Barry (1946) and twins Maurice (22 December 1949 – 12 January 2003) and Robin (1949). After moving around Brisbane and then Sydney many times, Gibb returned to the UK in January 1967 with his family when The Bee Gees sought international fame. As a young teenager, Andy began playing at tourist clubs around Spain's coastal Island of Ibiza, and later on the Isle of Man, the birth place of his older brothers, where his parents were living at the time. Andy formed his first group, Melody Fayre (named after a Bee Gees song) which included local island musicians John Alderson (guitar) and John Stringer (drums). The group was managed by Gibb's mother Barbara. The group had regular bookings on the small island's hotel circuit. His first recording (in early 1974) was a Maurice Gibb composition called "My Father Was A Reb" on which Maurice also produced and played. It was not released. At the urging of his brother Barry, Andy returned to Australia in 1974. Barry's prompting was based on his belief that Australia had been a good training ground for the Bee Gees and would also help his youngest brother. The Gibb brothers' eldest sister Lesley had remained in Australia and had raised a family there with her husband. Both Alderson and Stringer followed Gibb to Australia with hope of forming a band in Australia. With Col Joye producing, Gibb, Alderson and Stringer recorded a number of Andy Gibb's own compositions. What may have separated "the training ground" aspect of Australia for Andy Gibb compared to his brothers was that Gibb was relatively financially independent, mainly because of his brothers' support and largesse, hence the group's sporadic work rate. Andy Gibb would disappear for periods of time, leaving Alderson and Stringer not working and consequently out of money. Despondent, Alderson and Stringer returned to the UK. Andy Gibb's first single was the ballad "Words and Music" on the ATA label, owned by Joye. The single, backed by another Andy Gibb composition "Westfield Mansions", would eventually reach Top Twenty on the Sydney music charts in 1976. Then Gibb joined the band Zenta (including renowned drummer Trevor Norton) and supported international artists Sweet and the Bay City Rollers on the Sydney leg of their Australian tours. The planned follow-up single "Can't Stop Dancing" (a Ray Stevens song, later a US hit for The Captain and Tennille in May 1977) was not released, although Andy did perform it on television at least once on the revitalised Bandstand show hosted by Daryl Somers. Robert Stigwood who, at the time, was also the Bee Gees' manager, signed Gibb to his label, RSO Records in early 1976. Andy soon moved to Miami Beach, Florida to begin working on songs with his brother Barry and co-producers Albhy Galuten and Karl Richardson. Before leaving Australia, Gibb had married his
girlfriend, Kim Reeder. They had one child, a daughter named Peta
Jaye who was born 25 January 1978. The couple were already separated
when Reeder found out she was pregnant and they would divorce later
that year. In late 1976 in Miami, Andy Gibb, with older brother Barry producing and recording in the famed Criteria Studios, set about making his first album. The first release from the sibling combination, and Andy’s first single released outside Australia, was "I Just Want to Be Your Everything" which was written by Barry, who also provided backup vocals. That single reached number one in the United States and Australia and ended up being the most played record of the year. In Britain it was a lesser hit, just scraping in to the Top 40. Of the ten tracks on the album, the other eight were Andy Gibb compositions, mostly songs written during his time in Australia. Amongst the eight songs was a re-recording of "Words and Music". In September 1977, his album Flowing Rivers, with another number one single "(Love Is) Thicker Than Water" (co-written by Andy and Barry Gibb) to support it, quickly became a million selling album. That single broke in early 1978 during the time the Bee Gees' contributions to the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack were dominating the world charts. In the US it replaced "Stayin' Alive" at the top of the charts, and then was surpassed by "Night Fever" when it reached number one in mid-March. Andy then began work with the Gibb-Galuten-Richardson production team on his second album Shadow Dancing, which was released in April 1978. The title track, written by all four Gibb brothers, was released as a single in the US in April 1978, and in mid-June began a seven week run at number one, achieving platinum status. In the United States, Gibb became the first male solo artist to chart three consecutive number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100. Two further Top Ten singles, "An Everlasting Love" (which reached number five) and "(Our Love) Don't Throw It All Away" (which reached number nine), were released from the album, which became another million seller. In 1979, Andy performed along with the Bee Gees, ABBA, and Olivia Newton-John (duet with "Rest Your Love On Me"), at the Music for UNICEF Concert at the United Nations General Assembly which was broadcast worldwide. He returned to the studio to begin recording sessions for his final full studio album, After Dark. In March 1980, the last of Gibb's Top Ten singles charted just ahead of the album's release. "Desire"(written by all four Gibb brothers), was recorded for the Bee Gees' 1979 album Spirits Having Flown, and featured their original track complete with Andy's original "guest vocal" track. A second single, "I Can't Help It", a duet with family friend and fellow British and Australian expatOlivia Newton-John, reached the Top Twenty. Later in the year, Andy Gibb's Greatest Hits was
released as a finale to his contract with RSO Records, with two
new songs: "Time Is Time" (number 15 in January 1981) and "Me (Without You)" (Gibb's last Top Forty chart entry) shipped as singles. "After Dark" and "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" were non-single songs added to the album, the latter of which was a duet with
PP Arnold, who had previously worked with Barry Gibb, including
singing uncredited backups on "Bury Me Down By The River" from Cucumber Castle. During his relationship with Victoria Principal, Gibb worked on several projects outside of the recording studio. These included performances in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat on Broadway, Gilbert & Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance in Los Angeles, and a stint from 1980–1982 as co-host of the television music show Solid Gold. He was fired from both Dreamcoat and Solid Gold because of absenteeism caused by Cocaine binges.[1][2] According to Broadway producer Zev Bufman, who financed Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat: "When Andy was at the theater, he was a joy. But he wasn't there enough", adding that of the five people to play Joseph up to that point, Gibb was the best actor.[1] He also said after Gibb's death, "We'd lose him over long weekends. He'd come back on Tuesday, and he'd look beat. He was like a little puppy – so ashamed when he did something wrong. He was all heart, but he didn't have enough muscle to carry through."[2] An unnamed co-star in Dreamcoat was quoted as saying, "I hear he spent most of his time in his hotel room in front of the TV. I guess he was frightened and insecure. That's what happens when you're the baby brother of the Bee Gees."[1] Commenting after Gibb's death, Solid Gold producer Brad Lachman was of a similar sentiment: "...[Andy] was a very charming, vulnerable and charismatic performer. He clearly meant well. He wasn't being difficult. He was going through [drug] problems he couldn't deal with. He wanted everyone to love him. He had so much going for him, and he just couldn't believe it."[2] His romance with Principal also ended shortly thereafter after an ultimatum from her to decide between her or the drugs; but not before they recorded and released a duet of the Everly Brothers' "All I Have To Do Is Dream", in the summer of 1981. This would be Gibb's last official single, and his last US chart entry, peaking at number 51. His family convinced him to seek treatment for his drug addiction; after a stint at the Betty Ford Clinic in the mid-1980s, Gibb toured small venues with a stage show of his greatest hits and covers. He also appeared in guest-starring roles on several television situation comedies including Gimme A Break! and Punky Brewster. Following an expansive East Asia tour, he regularly performed shows in Las Vegas and Lake Tahoe. In 1984 he was the headline performer at the Viña del Mar Festival in Chile, performing two nights in a row. He also held a two-week engagement at San Francisco's Fairmont Hotel in March 1986. Andy returned to work alongside brothers Barry
and Maurice. Their series of demo recordings with engineer Scott
Glasel would eventually secure him a contract with the UK branch
of Island Records. One of the demos, "Man On Fire", was released posthumously on a self-titled 1991 Polydor anthology. Another
demo, "Arrow Through The Heart," would be, whether ironic in lyrics or not, the final song Andy would ever record.
The latter song would be featured on an episode of VH1's series
Behind the Music. The song saw its official debut with the release
of the four-disc Bee Gees Mythology box set in November 2010. In March 1988, Andy Gibb celebrated his 30th birthday in London while working on a new album. Soon after, he entered John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, complaining of chest pains. He died on 10 March 1988 just five days after his 30th birthday as a result of myocarditis, (an inflammation of the heart muscle) caused by a recent viral infection.[3] Initially no cause of death was given,[1] and the precise viral infection that was responsible for causing Gibb's terminal myocarditis has never been reported publicly, but myocarditis is a frequent post mortem finding with viral infections such as HIV.[2][3] The Bee Gees' following album, One (1989), featured
a song dedicated to Andy, "Wish You Were Here". Andy Gibb is entombed at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills) in Los
Angeles. On 5 March 1992, what would have been Andy's 34th birthday,
the Gibbs' father Hugh Gibb died and is buried close to Andy. Robin
Gibb redid "Wish You Were Here" when twin brother, Maurice, died in 2003. First studio album 19 — 9 — 4 — — US: Platinum[6] 1978 Shadow Dancing Second studio album 7 18 1 15 42 8 15 US: Platinum[6] 1980 After Dark Third studio album 21 67 24 — 23 21 — US: Gold[6] "—" denotes releases that
did not chart Release date: 1980 46 Release date: 1991 — Release date: 14 August 2001 — Release date: November 2010 — US: Gold[9] Flowing Rivers US: Gold[9] 1978 "Shadow Dancing" 1 8 11 5 42 11 US: Platinum[9] Shadow Dancing US: Gold[9] "(Our Love) Don't Throw It All Away" 9 2 — 27 32 61 US: Gold[9] 1980 "Desire" 4
— 49 38 — 90 After Dark
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