Barry Gibb interview 11/8/82

Mary Gibbs interview roll one Scene one sound one marker yeah well let me start at the beginning first of all I made my first trip to the United States with our manager Robert Stigwood in about 1967 and Otis Redding was playing at the Apollo and along with the salmon Dave quite a few other soul acts and American and Robert Stigwood took us down there too took me down there to see yeah Otis and the show and it was amazing we were probably the only white people in an audience of about a thousand or 2,000 black people and it was amazing and the reason behind all this was that Robert at the time and Otis wanted us to write a song for him so we met for a little while at the waldorf-astoria before the show or perhaps after its 1967 as a little difficult to remember but we sat and chatted for a while and Robert an Otis then went out to dinner and I went to work and when Robert came back that night the song that was written for Otis which was obviously never recorded by him was called to love somebody and it was consequently recorded by ourselves but someone like Otis to me was I suppose the first real soul singer to emerge out of that out of the early black music and made an enormous impression on many many white artists including ourselves Oh movement alright sorry sound - marker yes well I mean to me it was it was sort of a half hour discussion but one could see that this was a very personable man a very very strong seemed to emanate from him he knew what he was doing he knew he knew the music and it's very difficult to say any more than that this was a man with with a lot of soul and I think if you go back far enough to the early days when I say the early days I mean the late 60s our early days I would say that and you listen to Robin's voice all the voices of this group in particular they were very heavily influenced by Otis Redding this man definitely had an effect on on white singers to the extent that no other black performer had and I think that will go on and on I think you still hear it today in a lot of people's voices his phrasing is his feeling when he sang you know it filled everybody my favorite song of Otis Redding is try to tenderness no question but there are many Sam Cooke yes very much so very much so cupid and all those records we followed his career very closely to we bought his records and it's interesting that we did buy or get involved in a lot of black artists records more so than white people and we like to sing that way ourselves and when you're it's not the same when you're white you tend to copy as opposed to feel the same way but with this man you were monogamous you definitely perform better if you felt that you were singing like him you know Sam Cooke or Otis Redding same type of thing well I think the Varrick their stage performances live performances may or may not have been captured I've never heard I've never heard on record what I've seen on stage it's just an amazing thing it's like a gospel meeting and you don't get that type of thing on record unless you're lucky and if I know amadeur tick and it's probably on tape somewhere you know it's wonderful stuff you don't get it on record are you very unlikely to you know but their records were tremendous that was a different thing you know I was at the speakeasy in London in 1967-68 where Otis and Sam and they both performed in the room was probably only twice the size of the room were sitting in now and the atmosphere was unbelievable and it's it was never recorded this is magic you know well we started performing 1955 we first we did our first show and that was I think the year that rock around the clock came out and the kiss curl and everything and we were called the rattlesnakes at the time something we tried to live down and we would go on stage and we never sang rock around the clock but I do remember it being very vivid in our minds that that was the record out there and this was the beginning of rock and roll and and there were other groups like us you know it was a very very nostalgic time yeah buddy Hollywood performed in England before we left and that was uh we left from 1958 for Australia and I remember his tour being in England at the time or around that period before we left yes it's very difficult to say you just applied you applied what record you heard you applied to how you were singing you thought well that's good I'll try doing something like that and Bobby Vee and people like that we're the same category you listen to those people Carole King was another big impression on us and all of these people sort of rolled up it was never one particular until Otis Redding until about 1967 68 it was never one particular artist it was a whole field you know that kind of thing that kind of rock yeah the captains and the and the Cromwellian and all the different clubs and I came to know Jimi Hendrix a little bit better than I knew most other artists in fact he came to my 21st birthday party in I think it was in Holland we were doing television over there at some stage and there was Dave Dee dozy beaky Mick and tich I remember them very well the captains and the and the Cromwellian and all the different clubs and I came to know Jimi Hendrix a little bit better than I knew most other artists in fact he came to my 21st birthday party in I think it was in Holland we were doing television over there at some stage and there was Dave Dee dozy beaky Mick and tich remember them very well and Jimi Hendrix was the kind of opposite personality that you would expect him to be on stage very warm very quiet nothing like nothing like the a that person standing on stage that you didn't feel that you could get near you know nice man it's a great great shame we lost him I never knew Janis Joplin but she recorded one of our songs and we were always grateful for that she recorded I had to love somebody yes and once again we were knocked out by that within that area as well Elvis Presley recorded words which was another great moment for us you know we love these people and we'd follow them for years and to have somebody sing one of your songs like someone like that is something you can't explain no got to his front door once you never came to mind no he wasn't in at the time yeah yeah where they led us through the gates his uncle led us through the gates and we drove up to the front door and they didn't tell us he was out till we got to the front door that was interesting interesting experience sound three markers I probably knew Jimmy Hendrix a little better than then most artists that I've met I found him to be the opposite to the way you would expect someone like Jimi Hendrix to be to be on stage and that he was a very warm and quiet person and not the outrageous type of person you would expect to see or hear he came to my 21st birthday party in Holland and he was a very nice man no I want to do this again stop the time it sounds okay sound roll to film roll to sound for marker well that's good yeah well because towards I don't think tours I don't think times have changed all that much we still we still do the same things we still make records the same as we did in the 50s except the more technologically better than then I suppose but but I remember going back to a long ago is 1955 that we asked children or even my brothers who were considerably younger than me were just as interested in records as teenagers or adults I don't think that's changed I think children we talk about children being younger and younger involved in pop music today and it was simply that was the case then - it's never really changed that much and that's good I think that's good Oh Robert yay love when yes yes in fact in those days Robin did have a he was about six years old and he had a kiss curl so I guess you could say that we were we would definitely followers of people like Bill Haley and the Comets and Frankie Lymon and the teenagers which was which was a name you conjured up a few minutes ago they were fantastic days you know for us as children being very young and and and singing pop music and appearing on stage was fantastic for us I mean we had the best upbringing I know about well we first arrived we lived in Australia till about 1967 and then we came back to London to the midst of the Mersey boom all the latest stages of the Mersey boom and we went to NEMS we took our tapes around as you do you know and you try to get a break and we went to visit gnomes and we didn't know Robert Stigwood at this time and we met him that day and we also met on the same day Brian Epstein and Ringo Starr and I think you have to imagine being young kids like us walking into these offices and meeting these people it's like you are meeting legends in a way and it was very exciting period for us and but those were particularly crazy days this was just prior to flower power and caftans and flowers in your hair and all that business which we were ready to adopt everybody did you know it didn't affect us any differently everyone wanted to be the same and and that's interesting too when you think about it how quickly everybody followed that situation I guess some of the most exciting times of the 60s were going to the late night clubs after you finished work after you finished doing your gig you'd go down to the speakeasy which was the centre where most of the artists would gather and eat and chat and listen to the music and in those days you would see as many as 10 to 15 major artists in the same restaurant we're in the same room totally disregarding each other and and and doing whatever they want it all just enjoying themselves I met John Lennon in the speakeasy I also met Bryan Jones and a few of the stones down there they were everywhere it was incredible yeah well the Beatles were definitely a musical influence and I would go on to add who wasn't influenced by the Beatles I mean every artist that we see today was influenced in some way by that whole period and by that group they were a phenomena and we love them just as much today I think and of course Sergeant Pepper was a major influence on us as it was many artists that tried to emulate it or try to do something like it they were fortunate in the respect that they had someone like George Martin they had facilities that were a little bit further ahead than most groups were able to afford and and they were able to experiment more although having spoken to George Martin since he claims to this day that wouldn't it be great if we had four track studios to work in instead of 24 track studios because then we could be more inventive like we were in those days and I think that's a very good comment well I think that as far back as you go there was always such a thing as for want of a better word I guess crossover I mean white artist white artist did sell records to black people and black artists did sell records to white people that still goes on today and if you go back a long way people like Marvin Gaye and and the early Otis Redding woke white people up to real soul music which is something that they hadn't been involved in they hadn't really got into and it sort of mixed in with the with the beat boom with the Mersey boom pretty well and I would call that crossover I don't see what else you could call it today it's a it's it's still a great privilege to sell if you're selling records to a black audience and I think it's just as just as nice for a black artist to see that whiter white people appreciate what he's doing or she you know so I still think it happens and I think it always has well I still think it's the yeah I think it's it was a worship situation where no matter even if England was at the front of the music scene in a way it didn't really regard itself as that in other words it's still English artists and English people still appreciated American artists more so than their own artists that's still that that's that's still very much the England always sort of looked up to America as a music scene and when you go to America you you see that the opposite was in fact happening but but England didn't realize it and still feels the same way England still looks up to America and that's right there are there are a lot of tremendous artists in this country that that England unfortunately doesn't have and doesn't see enough of so there is always that looking up situation you know I remember it being I remember it being done because at the time Morris of course my brother was married to Lulu and I do remember the event I don't know what exactly happened I even remember the night there were many phone calls about it but I really didn't witness it so taught me it so I did see Jimmy at Madison Square Gardens and that was amazing oh okay how do you want me to rephrase it I mean well yeah well I heard about it and and the phones of course were ringing off the hook I remember the day that it happened I didn't witness it but it was the Lulu show and I remember Lulu being disturbed about it but I never saw it can I see it now no I've never been a fan of Jim Morrison's it's just it's just one of those artists he appeal to a cult still does and that's fine I just think there's a there's a there's a bigger magic there's always a bigger magic afield of all on the other side of the track than there is where you live although some people say it's it's nice to work in your hometown or it's nice to work in your home country and you're always appreciated more but I think for instance I think if we went to Italy we'd have we'd have a bigger reaction in Italy than we would have in the United States where we to work here so there is a certain magic about working in another country or about the way your audience treats an artist if they've never seen the artist or if the answer to foreigner definitely definitely is a stronger thing I don't know why that is and I can't explain it but that is the case very much so very much so in fact I'm probably the epitome of an Elvis Presley fan I mean I followed Elvis since I was a little boy and obviously I can't follow him anymore haha but but I do still listen to all his records and I'm still very much a fan and I love him just as much oh we have an airplane okay just just ask me the same question again yeah sound v marker I was the I still am the that's Elvis sound roll free film roll three sound six marker well I always have been a big Elvis Presley fan way back and still now I listen to a lot of his records he is to me probably the most and to many the most magnetic performer I think that ever that ever performed you know I mean he was tremendous we still listen to his records to this day and we were very fortunate enough once again to have had one song recorded by him it's a wonderful performer it's held by the hair no oh yeah well no we didn't actually meet him but we went to we were in Memphis one time for a show we went up to Graceland to see if we could meet him and his uncle was at the gates I think his uncle's name is Vernon and he actually led us through the gates and we drove up to the house now his father's Vernon isn't it well his uncle was his uncle's name it doesn't matter okay yeah no it's alright god bloody directors okay we're a team right okay yeah yes we we never did meet Elvis but we went to we did a show in Memphis once and we went up to Graceland to see if there was a chance we could meet him and his uncle was at the gate house and opened the gates and let his in we drove up to the house and up to the front door and we one thing we hadn't noticed and I don't think people notice from the gates is that all of the windows are barred very big bars on all of them so I don't think anyone could actually get in that place with the greatest desire to we got to the front door and his one of the big cars was outside with the television in the back we figured he was home but we were wrong I don't think we'd have got to the front door had he been home but they allowed us to go up there and take pictures of the front door and isn't it amazing what you get up to you know take pictures of a front door but you know it was a pleasure to do that we're all fans of the man and and it was nice to get that close it would be no artist likes to be told that the earliest recordings were the best but I think in Elvis's case they most definitely were I mean blue suede shoes and jailhouse rock and all of these records still seemed to outlive any of the later recordings that he did I don't know why that is that suspicious minds was a marvelous record there were a lot of great records that he made prior to his death but I think everybody would agree that the early ones were the ones that that took the world by storm I think well they just reflect a general opinion of the person and I don't think it's part of the hype or just part of management saying these things or creating these titles they were definite definite terms of emotional closeness that people felt towards these people I think those things apply I think they apply yes well I think yes those titles do apply yes there were many titles given to many artists for instance Elvis Presley was called the king of rock and roll Bill Haley was called the father of rock and roll and and I think I think these titles apply this is how people feel about those people there were not business hypes they were true leaders in what they were doing and I think those titles apply no no I never saw him perform no sorry Sam yeah sound seven marker well as much as we would love that the later material I think that you'd still have to say that the earlier songs and the earlier hits were the ones that really counted for instance jailhouse rock and blue suede shoes okay okay well I think that Elvis's earlier recordings probably will outlive any of the later recordings that he made although they'll all go on forever I just think that the earlier ones were better I think most people would agree that that they were the ones that will live with us the longest I think a jailhouse rock and blue suede shoes and it was an era and I think that we relate to that era more more so than any of the very latest songs like suspicious minds although anything the man sang became important anything he's saying for instance Ave Maria was wasn't happy Maria it was How Great Thou art that in itself was a classic recording and I've never heard anyone sing it like that and that once again that'll go on forever you know yes well of course you'd you you do that when when somebody blows any Theory you had about what they were like what they are like as people I think you'll find that in in most areas with Jimi Hendrix he was a much warmer person offstage and much more much more like everybody else than you were than you would expect of him and I think that applies to other people I think it also applies to people in the field of comedy the work in the way that you find that most great comedians are very serious offstage is a there is always a different end of the spectrum and people like Jimmy I don't think he could live his life the way he did on stage I don't think that's possible so it didn't really surprise me that much most of the energy or most of the aggression came out in the performance and I think that's that counts for a lot of artists as well yeah well I'm not a very good guitarist I'm a rhythm guitarist so his tremendous stage presence and talent is what influences me the same as Otis the person who influenced me as a guitarist is in fact Otis Redding and he plays the guitar in not the conventional way of tuning he Tunes it's it's it's like Hawaiian tuning straight straight open majors and you bar all the majors and you create your own minors and it's not the right way to play a guitar but that's the way I was reading play that's the way I play and it's in other words it's a way of playing the guitar the way you weren't taught if you have to find out for yourself that's how you end up playing and that's really where my influence came from why do I think it's important that we remember them well apart from the fact that it means an awful lot to these people themselves that they wanted to be remembered that's why they were doing what they were doing I think that's why we all do it there's a little bit of immortality in in pop music and as opposed to other lines of work or other kinds of business politics and pop music seems to make people live forever in a certain way and I think that's what they strive for and apart from the fact that we love the music alright

Channel: Chris Balton

Views: 34,838

Rating: 4.9148936 out of 5

Keywords: video, barry gibb, otis redding, robert stigwood organization, sam cooke, blues, rock, jimi henbdrix', the beegees, Bee Gees, BGs, HBO Special, When The Musics Over

Id: A1qhnGuymF4

Length: 30min 29sec (1829 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 12 2019