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The Bee Gees -The Biography by David N. Meyer
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Who are the Bee Gees? Who are the brothers Gibb – fraternal twins Maurice and Robin, their big brother and leader Barry, and their tragically doomed little brother Andy – who sold 250 million records over a 40-year career?
In this insightful, moving, memorable, meticulously researched biography, renowned rock historian David N. Meyer discovers the true, astonishing story of one of the world’s most popular and enduring bands. He provides the facts and the emotions behind the Bee Gees extraordinary, music, ambition, creative imagination and fame.
Events
August 1st - The Bee Gees The Biography in stores in Australia
Sept 11 - Reading at Books & Books in Coral Gables, Florida
Reviews
"The Freaky Falsetto That Helped The Bee Gees Stay Alive"
The Bee Gees' trademark high harmonies fueled the sound of '70s chart hits like "Nights on Broadway" and "Jive Talkin'," not to mention the influential 1977 soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever. But the Brothers Gibb didn’t always employ an aggressive falsetto. In fact, it was an act of desperation. We hear the story from David N. Meyer, author new book The Bee Gees: The Biography. - @Soundcheck
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#8 on NYMag.com's 25 things to see, hear, watch, and read.
David N. Meyer’s book is a good solid reminder that the hair-and-sequins caricature was unfair to this interesting Brit band, who, in the course of a long career (of which disco was merely one phase), were asked to run up a few songs for that “little movie” about a Brooklyn disco. -Nymag.com
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Can You Tell the Difference Between Charles Manson's Biography and the Bee Gees'?
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Click here for the website review
"Bee Geeks"
"The Bee Gees: The Biography is a fascinating, historically significant retrospective of one of popular music’s most enduring—yet maligned—acts."
Despite selling over 250 million records worldwide across five decades, The Bee Gees were pegged as panderers of a single style and lost out on the adulation afforded fellow Rock and Roll Hall of Famers like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. Meyers probes inside the band, examines its inner workings like a clockmaker, then reassembles the musical machine and presents it to the reader in coherent, easily-digested chapters. -Peter Roche Examiner.com
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Bee Gees: The Biography does what Meyer intended it to: restore some respect and luster to a family band whose music is incredibly ingrained in a lot of people's everyday listening, embodied with craftsmanship, and far more than just a "disco group." -Bob Ruggiero HoustonPress.com
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"Crisp and hilariously mythic!"
The Brothers Gibb, still under age 10, are about to mime to a record in public when, in "the perfect Jungian symbolic moment," leader Barry drops and smashes the record they were to use. "With that 'accident,' Barry frees himself and his brothers from imitation, from false performance, from false ceremony, from living a lie in front of the congregation." They sing themselves instead, and the rest is history in MetalJazz friend David N. Meyer's crisp and hilariously mythic "The Bee Gees: The Biography," published today. You may remember Meyer as the author of a major Gram Parsons biography a few years ago, and even if you're not passionate about the Bee Gees, the writing and the story will grip your ass. -Greg Burk Metaljazz.com
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This exhaustive biography takes the same approach to its subject as Meyer’s critically acclaimed bio of country-rock legend Gram Parsons (Twenty Thousand Roads): the author is a fan, but he doesn’t hesitate to be critical (“Give the Bee Gees a fashion period and they always chose the worst possible options”). -Publishers Weekly
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Book Synopsis cont'd
The Bee Gees: The Biography is the definitive portrait of the lives and music of the world’s most famous musical family. The product of two years of investigative research and interviews by the author of the award-winning Gram Parsons biography Twenty Thousand Roads, The Bee Gees is a fast, provocative read, chock-full of Bee Gees drama, backstage stories, revealing portraits, and musical insights.
A must-read for any Bee Gees fan, for anyone who ever sang along to “Massachusetts,” or danced to “Jive Talkin,’”, The Bee Gees provides a detailed history of the Gibbs' original sound and turbulent personal lives - the crushing poverty of their youth; their forced emigration to Australia; their return to England as unknowns; their astonishing success and #1 hits in 1960s Swinging London, when the Gibb brothers were still teenagers. It chronicles the battles for control of the band between Robin and Barry; the near-breakup that almost ended the Bee Gees forever; their slow climb out of obscurity and their breakthrough comeback; their 18-month domination of the Top Ten worldwide with Saturday Night Fever. The Bee Gees tells of Andy Gibb becoming the first artist ever to have his first three releases hit #1; the Bee Gees’ sold-out Spirits Having Flown tour; the Gibb brothers’ career as #1 songwriters and producers for Barbra Streisand, Diana Ross, Kenny Rogers, Dionne Warwick and Dolly Parsons; as well as Maurice’ struggle with alcohol; Robin’s addiction to amphetamines, and Andy’s fatal attraction to cocaine.
The Bee Gees - The Biography was released on July 9, 2013 and is available for purchase from the following booksellers.
(Some booksellers have the correct cover on their webiste, some don't; don't worry - it's the right book)
And for all our friends in Oz
( All Photos used Licensed from BEI Images)
