The three Brothers Gibb were born in the town of Douglas on the lsle of Man: Barry was born 1 September 1946. Fraternal twins Maurice and Robin were born 22 December 1949, with Robin the elder by 35 minutes. The boys were very close as children and spent most of their time together.

They started their careers as performers and songwriters shortly after the Gibb family moved to Australia in 1958. The name Bee Gees came from the initials of their earliest benefactors, local Brisbane DJ Bill Gates and local racing promoter Bill Goode, as well as Barry Gibb, and their mother Barbara Gibb. Only later did the name come to stand for “Brothers Gibb”.

After years of honing their songwriting skills and of perfecting their performing craft in bars, hotels, fairgrounds, racetracks, and radio and television shows, they moved back to England in 1967 as teens to access a wider audience and to take part in the British boom of pop culture and music happening in the 1960s. Within months, the boys became one of the most popular pop acts of the late 1960s under the guidance of their long-time manager Robert Stigwood.

The early 1970s was a period of falling fortunes and retrenchment. With the help of mega-producer Arif Mardin, the Bee Gees re-emerged in 1975 with a new R&B and dance oriented sound, and proceeded to conquer the pop charts from 1975 to 1980, and beyond; not only for themselves, but also as songwriters and producers for their younger brother Andy Gibb (1958-1988), and artists as diverse as Barbra Streisand, Kenny Rogers, Dionne Warwick, Diana Ross, and Celine Dion.

They functioned as a group almost continuously from 1958 until 2003, when Maurice Gibb suddenly died while in a post-emergency surgery coma on 12 January 2003.

After several years of aborted attempts to work together, any hope of brothers Barry and Robin reuniting ended on 20 May 2012, upon Robin’s death from complications due to liver and colon cancer. Barry has continued to make music and tour as circumstances permit.

The Bee Gees have sold more than 220 million records worldwide over the last half-century, and are in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, The Songwriters' Hall of Fame, and have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and were awarded CBE’s in 2001, among other honors.