September 01
Barry Alan Crompton Gibb's Birthday
 

More and more rock, soul, and pop singers have perfected their falsetto range to enhance their music, such as Eddie Kendricks, Lou Christie, Jeff Lynne, Frankie Valli, Phillip Bailey, Freddie Mercury, Ed Debarge, Greg Gilbert, Michael Jackson, and Prince. But possibly no one has used it more effectively than Barry Gibb who,  with his brothers Robin and Maurice, formed The Bee Gees, one of the most successful pop groups of all time.

Barry first used his falsetto voice in "Nights on Broadway" and the public loved it sending the Main Course album up the charts, after which Barry's falsetto would become a staple of subsequent recordings. On The Larry King show February 2, 2000, Barry said "It came to me in a dream. There was a request by Arif Martin, who was like an uncle to us, he was a great record producer during the song 'Nights On Broadway,' for the Main Course album, which is previous to the 'Fever' syndrome. And he said, 'Can any of you scream... scream in falsetto.' So, you know, give us an ad lib or a scream at the end. So from screaming, it turned into things like Blaming It All."

Next Barry used his falsetto on in "Fanny (Be Tender With My Love)." In  "Baby As You Turn Away,"  he sang a full verse in falsetto. In the ten months after ‘Baby As You Turn Away’ Barry had developed his falsetto to an incredible degree. The first song he did in full-force falsetto was the classic "You Should Be Dancing" from the album, Children of the World, in 1976 and was the number one single hit for one week on the American Billboard Hot 100 .The song was prominently featured in the movie Saturday Night Fever  (1977) and the Bee Gees featured live performances of their hit during the 1979 Spirits Having Flown tour featured the Bee Gees' younger brother Andy on backing vocals. The song was subsequently featured in the films Short Circuit (1986), Donnie Brasco (1997), and Despicable Me (2010). Recently, the Tampa Bay Rays have started playing the song at home games between innings.

After Saturday Night Fever was released, the Bee Gees exceeded the 1960s sales of The Beatles, and were toping Paul McCartney's '70s popularity.  Both the Bees Gees' music and the film were catalysts for the popularity of the disco movement which left many older music fans cursing the Bee Gees with one memorable swipe at Barry in which one disco hater threatened to castrate him to give him a permanent falsetto.

Although the Gibb brothers had their occasional problems as a group, after Maurice's death in 2003, Robin and Barry decided to stop performing as the Bee Gees, after which Barry commented, "The only thing I miss on stage is the falsetto."

As an inspiration to celebrate Barry's birthday, we turn to the Bee Gees' Song "Crime of Passion" and suggest that you toast him with a Crime of Passion cocktail and watch him in Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978) in which he is featured along with Robin and Maurice .

Crime of Passion Cocktail