Stamps Highlight The Bee Gees' Albums
The island’s postal administration released a set of eight stamps on July 1 highlighting the Brothers Gibb’s career—with seven stamps featuring their album covers: Children of the World (1976), Spirits Having Flown (1979), Still Waters (1997), One Night Only (1998), This Is Where I Came In (2000), Number Ones (2004) and The Studio Albums 1967-1968 (2006). There is also a stamp featuring an early black and white photo of the Gibbs—Barry, Maurice and Robin—as kids.
Other items associated with the release include a presentation pack, a first day cover, and a stamp and coin cover.
A Legendary Career
The Bee Gees are one of the most popular groups in music history best known for their early ‘60s pop songs and massively phenomenal ‘70s disco hits. Sons of a bandleader, the brothers moved to Australia where they became the Bee Gees. Upon moving to England, they hooked up with manager Robert Stigwood and garnered hits in the late ‘60s with songs such as “New York Mining Disaster, 1941,” “To Love Somebody,” “I’ve Got to Get a Message to You” and “I Started a Joke.” The trio also scored a number one hit with “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?” in 1971.
The Brothers Gibb hit a creative and commercial wall in the early ‘70s before relocating to Miami. They began their now-legendary reputation as disco artists for the rest of that decade, beginning with “Jive Talkin’,” “Nights On Broadway” and “You Should Be Dancing.” Their contributions to the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack in 1977 yielded the classic number one hits “Staying Alive,” “How Deep Is Your Love” and “Night Fever”—making it the best-selling album of all time before Michael Jackson’s Thriller.
Although they were never able to duplicate their massive success in the U.S. during the ‘80s, the Bee Gees had a hit in the U.K., “You Win Again,” in 1987. During that time, they also wrote and produced hit songs for other artists such as Dionne Warwick’s “Heartbreaker,” and Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers’ duet “Islands in the Stream.” Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997, the brothers were still recording until Maurice’s death in 2003.
Later this year two compilations will be released to coincide with the Gibbs’ 50th anniversary in music: a four-CD box set and a double-disc package. According to an Island of Man Post Office press release, the Bee Gees were said to have sold 200 million records: “The surviving Bee Gees are proud to be Manx-born," it says, "and the Isle of Man is just as proud of them, over fifty years after they left home.”
Source:
- Isle of Mann press release, The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock and Roll, 1995.
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