Andy Gibb

All Music Guide:

Once the Bee Gees experienced a career revival with the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack in 1977, the Gibb brothers' younger sibling Andy began his own solo career. Following his brothers' disco style, Andy Gibb's first three singles ("I Just Want to Be Your Everything," "(Love Is) Thicker Than Water," and "Shadow Dancing") all hit number one. Three more consecutive Top Ten hits followed, cementing his overnight sensation status. Despite the number four "Desire," Gibb's streak of Top Ten hits began to slip in 1980; the following year he had his last Top 40 hit, "Me (Without You)." After a brief stint as the host of Solid Gold, Gibb turned to acting, where he failed to replicate the enormous success of his recording career. He developed a massive cocaine addiction, which led to his death in 1988 from an inflammatory heart virus. He was 30 years old.

Wikipedia:

Andy Gibb (5 March 1958 – 10 March 1988) was an English singer and teen idol, and the younger brother of Bee Gees Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb.

The early years

Andrew Roy Gibb was born in Manchester, England, to Barbara (née Pass) and Hugh Gibb. At the age of six months, Gibb emigrated with his family to Queensland, Australia, settling on Cribb Island just north of Brisbane. He was the youngest of five children and had one older sister, Lesley (b. 1945), and three older brothers, Barry (b. 1946) and fraternal twins Robin (22 December 1949 – 20 May 2012) and Maurice (22 December 1949 – 12 January 2003). After moving several times around Brisbane and Sydney, Gibb returned to the United Kingdom in January 1967 as his three older brothers began to gain international fame as the Bee Gees.

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, after he had heard some of Andy's demo tapes. 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.

Number one hits

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 into 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 that 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 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 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 expat Olivia Newton-John, reached the top 20.

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 40 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.

Career decline

During his relationship with actress Victoria Principal, Gibb worked on several projects outside the recording studio including performances in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat on Broadway and Gilbert & Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance in Los Angeles, California. He also co-hosted the television music show, Solid Gold, from 1980 to 1982. Gibb was ultimately fired from both Dreamcoat and Solid Gold because of absenteeism caused by cocaine binges.

Broadway producer Zev Bufman who financed Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat said this of Gibb, "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. 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." 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." Commenting after Gibb's death, Solid Gold producer Brad Lachman stated, "...[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."

His romance with Principal also ended shortly thereafter when she gave him an ultimatum to choose between her or 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. He reportedly heard her singing in the shower and convinced her to go into the studio with him. 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 which included a stay at the Betty Ford Clinic in the mid-1980s. It was during this time that Gibb began touring small venues with a stage show featuring his hits as well as covers. He also appeared in guest-starring roles on several television sitcoms including Gimme a Break! and Punky Brewster. Following an expansive tour of East Asia, 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 historic Fairmont Hotel in March 1986.

Andy returned to work alongside his brothers Barry and Maurice. Their demo recordings with engineer, Scott Glasel, secured him a contract with the UK branch of Island Records. One of the demo tracks, "Man on Fire", was released posthumously in 1991 on a Polydor Records anthology. Another track, "Arrow Through the Heart", was the final song Andy would ever record and was featured on an episode of VH1's series, Behind the Music, and released on Bee Gees Mythology 4-disc box set in November 2010.

Death

On 5 March 1988, Andy Gibb celebrated his 30th birthday in London, England, while working on a new album. Soon after, he entered John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford complaining of chest pains and died five days later on 10 March 1988, as a result of myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle caused by a recent viral infection. Gibb's body was returned to the United States where he was interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills) in Los Angeles.