Monday, June 04, 2012

AccuRadio Song Of the Day-Andy Gibb

Artist:Andy Gibb
Song:I Just Want To Be Your Everything
Album:Greatest Hits Collection





Andy Gibb was the youngest of the Gibb brothers but was never a member of The Bee Gees. He had solo success in the late 70s. I Just Want To Be Your Everything was the first of three straight number one hits. Sadly, a cocaine addiction led to Gibb's premature death in 1988 at age 30. He was born Mar. 5, 1958 in Manchester, England and grew up in Queensland, Australia. He was the youngest of the five Gibb siblings. In 1967, he moved to England with his brothers when they formed The Bee Gees. As a teen, he sang in tourist clubs in Ibiza and led the group Melody Fayre. The band moved to Australia to live with the oldest sister Lesley Gibb and her family. But it was not productive and the other band members moved back to England. Andy Gibb's first single Words and Music was a top twenty hit in Australia in 1976. Then he joined the band Zenta and they toured Australia. Then he signed with RSO Records when label owner Robert Stigwood heard his demos. The Bee Gees were also on RSO and they moved Andy to Miami to record his debut album. The Bee Gees had just come off the success of Saturday Night Fever and the music style of Andy's debut album Flowing Rivers is very similar to the pop disco they were doing at the time. Barry Gibb wrote I Just want To Be Your Everything and sang backup vocals. The song topped the Billboard Hot 100 and remained there for four weeks. The singles (Love Is) Thicker Than Water and Shadow Dancing also reached number one. Gibb had three more top ten hits and then started to decline. After three albums, he left RSO in 1980. Polydor released this comp in 1991 and it was recently re-released as a budget comp by Rhino. In the early 80s, he was in a relationship with actress Victoria Principal and even recorded a single with her. He also starred in a couple of stage musicals and was co-host of the TV show Solid Gold. His cocaine addiction got him fired from everything. A 1985 stint in The Betty Ford Clinic in Los Angeles cured the addiction but the paranoia and depression remained. In 1988, the plan was for him to record new music for Island Records produced by his brothers. But after celebrating his 30th birthday on Mar. 5, Gibb complained of chest pains and died of heart failure likely caused by the cocaine addiction. He died on Mar. 10, 1988. Here's Andy Gibb performing I Just Want To Be Your Everything on The Midnight Special 1977.

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