Andy Gibb: A Talent Gone Too Soon

By | December 17, 2021

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Source: (IMDb).

In 1958, Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb formed what would become one of the powerhouses of disco music: the Bee Gees. The year that the brothers became a band, they also welcomed their youngest brother into the world. Andrew Roy Gibb was born on March 5, 1958, in Stratford, Lancashire, England, although at the age of six months, he moved to Australia with his family. In 1967, he returned to England.  

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With his brother Barry. Source: (Pinterest).

Getting An Early Start In Music

At the age of 13, he quit school. His older brother Barry had given him an acoustic guitar, and he started to play at tourist clubs in Ibiza, Spain, where his parents were living. Later, after his parents moved to the Isle of Man, he began playing there. Three years later, in 1974, he started his first band. Melody Fayre was named after a Bee Gees song and managed by Gibb’s mother Barbara; they played regularly in the hotels on the island. In 1974, he also returned to Australia. His brother Barry convinced Gibb to return to Australia to work on his career. Gibb’s older sister Lesley was still there, and had married and started to raise a family. 

Two members of Melody Fayre, John Alderson, and John Stringer went with him, as they hoped to form a band in Australia. They recorded several of Gibb’s compositions, starting with “To a Girl,” which featured Maurice Gibb on organ. This was not his first recording, however, which he actually made in 1973. That first recording was “My Father Was a Rebel,” which was composed by Maurice Gibb, who also produced and played in the song. During the same session, he recorded “Windows of My World,” which he co-wrote with Maurice. These recordings were not released. Similarly, “To a Girl” was not released, although he did perform it for his Australian television debut on The Ernie Sigley Show.