Bee Gees ~ Nights On Broadway 1975 Disco Purrfection Version

The brothers Gibb, Barry (9/1/1946) and twins Maurice and Robin (12/22/1949) were born on the Isle Of Man to Hugh and Barbara Gibb. The family moved to Manchester, England shortly after and remained there and the brothers formed a music group called the Rattlesnakes just before the family relocated to Australia. Using their vocal talents to perform at various venues, they were hired to work at the Redcliffe Speedway racetrack singing on the back of a truck that slowly drive around the track while patrons threw loose change at them. Australian DJ Bill Gates championed the bros and renamed them the BG's, using the initials of the oldest brother, Barry Gibb. They had their first TV appearance in 1960 and got a record deal in 1963 with Festival Records. By 1965, label interest in the group faded and the brothers decided to return to England. Daddy Gibb sent demo tapes to Beatles manager Brian Epstein who got Robert Stigwood interested in handling their affairs. He devised a promotional program that included releasing "New York Mining Disaster 1941" on a 45 that had no artist listed, and DJ's believing that it was the latest single from the Beatles, pushing the song into the top 20 UK and #14 US. They began a run of Top 40 US hits that culminated with the chart topping "How Can You Mend A Broken Heart" that spent four weeks at #1 in 1971. By that time, the Bee Gees were fighting each other and one brother would exit the group and then return to the fold. Their career stalled until Arif Marden and Stigwood lit a fire under them telling them to listen to what US radio was playing. A move to Miami cemented the new direction they were taking and the "Mr Natural" album opened them up to a new sound. The bros were excited about this, and set about working on their next LP, "Main Course" that ignited their spectacular career in the 70's. The first single issued was the #1 pop hit "Jive Talkin'" and it was followed up by "Nights On Broadway" a #7 pop hit. The new combination of falsetto vocals and funky soul tunes hit big and even gave them a firm hold on the R&B charts. The slow paced middle eight was omitted on the single, but some radio stations still played the full version. Did you know that Stigwood originally wanted "Stayin' Alive" to have the same arrangement? Barry in his wisdom nixed the idea of breaking the song to include a tender interlude, because he felt it would kill the energy. I can only surmise that he did not want to repeat himself, but his reasoning about not breaking the beat was bang on.