Artist Profile: The Bee Gees

A lone guitar and an unforgettable melody begin, then three voices join in harmony - it's the start of "This Is Where I Came In". With that title-track and the album that follows, you're connecting again with what is best about the Bee Gees, the essence of their four decades of writing and performing pop hits, new music that's fresh and inspiring, and those incredible vocals. "Yes, it's the harmonies," Maurice Gibb says, "they're what keep people coming back to us." Harmonies, melodies, heartbeat rhythms - that's what makes the Bee Gees' songs constant in the soundtrack of our lives.

We've fallen in love to the accompaniment of "How Deep Is Your Love" and "To Love Somebody," hit the dancefloor to "You Should Be Dancin'" and "Stayin' Alive," sought hope with "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart." With This Is Where I Came In, the magic continues.

Keeping the faith with their legendary past while continuing to explore new ground, the Bee Gees once more reinvent themselves. "This album is us, " Barry says, "it's very honest, and it reflects our feelings about everything that's happened to us in the past 30 years." "With some of the songs, we go back to our roots," Maurice says of the creative process here.

"We also tried something different," adds Robin Gibb. "Each of us worked on our own songs and then on songs together." It's the best of both worlds, individual talent and unified strength ("When the three of us get together, it's like we become one," the brothers say).

The range of "This Is Where I Came In" is dazzling - from the guitar-driven "She Keeps on Coming" to the gospel-tinged "The Extra Mile" to the downright rocking "Voices in the Wilderness." Note the assurance of Maurice's singing on "Man in the Middle" and Robin's and Barry's interplay on "Wedding Day." Listen to the ensemble singing on "Walking On Air," a fond nod to the Beach Boys, and the Noel Coward-like panache of "Technicolor Dreams."

Working out of their own Middle Ear Studio in Miami, the Bee Gees produced themselves this time around. "Working that way has always been good for us," Maurice says, "ever since we began making records in a studio that was a converted butcher shop back in Australia. And we like the freshness of early takes - because they really capture the emotion."

Raised on the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea, the brothers Gibb were born into music - their father, Hugh, a bandleader, their mother, Barbara, a singer. By nine years old, Barry was already singing and practicing on a guitar his dad had given him, accompanied (on plastic banjos at first) by six year old twins Robin and Maurice. Robin's and Barry's unique vocals would become group trademarks, and Maurice would go on to distinguish himself on guitar, bass and keyboards. The late '50s saw the boys' professional debut, miming the day's hits at Saturday morning shows in local cinemas in Manchester England. Still pre-teens, they moved with their parents to Australia, where, billed as the Rattlesnakes, they performed at racetrack gigs in Brisbane. After achieving their first number one hit Down Under, "Spicks & Specks" released in 1966, the trio now known as the Bee Gees hit Swinging London in 1967. 

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