(#2006-2487) - Topics this issue: 1) Stigwood Motives, 2) Stigwood Motives, 3) Barry's Age, ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2006 15:23:49 +0100 From: "Julian Glass" Subject: Stigwood Motives I think RS was motivated only by his desire for wealth and personal = success. I don't think he wanted to be famous as he has always shunned publicity. = He saw the Bee Gees as his vehicle for this so left NEMS to go on his own. = If they hadn't had success in '67 he would have moved on. I believe that = the contracts he would have drawn up would have reflected his need to = maximise this business opportunity with no regard for the long landing and close relationship he would have with them on a non business footing. None of = us knows how the lawsuit panned out but perhaps it wouldn't have been = necessary if he'd have none this, with hindsight. I'm convinced the Bee Bees = career would have continued to flourish through the 80's and beyond with him at = the helm. =20 That Barry became a favourite may have been because he face was more marketable that Robin's (no offence to Robin, but he would surely agree) = or that he was someone he got closet to professionally after Eppies death. = It may have been the catalyst to Robin's departure and the demise of the = group and therefore could have perhaps been avoided if he had read the = signals, thereby not killing the golden goose. On the other hand 'first fame' may have led to the split anyway as they were young, ambitious and = egotistical. =20 Julian =20 =20 =20 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2006 11:18:37 EDT From: Compoccias@aol.com Subject: Re: Stigwood Motives In a message dated 9/28/2006 10:25:36 AM Eastern Standard Time, julian@theglassfamily.co.uk writes: >think RS was motivated only by his desire for wealth and personal success. >I don't think he wanted to be famous as he has always shunned publicity. He >saw the Bee Gees as his vehicle for this so left NEMS to go on his own. If >they hadn't had success in '67 he would have moved on. I believe that the >contracts he would have drawn up would have reflected his need to maximise >this business opportunity with no regard for the long landing and close >relationship he would have with them on a non business footing. None of us >knows how the lawsuit panned out but perhaps it wouldn't have been necessary >if he'd have none this, with hindsight. There are some episodes in the Bee Gees story that need to have some more light shed on them. The Stigwood lawsuit is definitely one of them. >I'm convinced the Bee Bees career >would have continued to flourish through the 80's and beyond with him at the >helm. I'm not so sure. What would Stigwood have done differently to overcome the Disco backlash and that awful stigma? >That Barry became a favourite may have been because he face was more >marketable that Robin's (no offence to Robin, but he would surely agree) or >that he was someone he got closet to professionally after Eppies death. It >may have been the catalyst to Robin's departure and the demise of the group >and therefore could have perhaps been avoided if he had read the signals, >thereby not killing the golden goose. The Barry favoritism was probably a mixture of personal reasons. Barry was three years older than R&M at a time when three years mattered more. Moreover, Robin's erratic and difficult behavior at the time probably made it diificult to form a close relationship with him even if he weren't a teen-ager. As for Maurice, well it would appear he was not as mature as the other two at that time. Also, probably a belief by Stigwood that Barry was the most talented and the best bet for a long range career. I'm assuming Stigwood may have thought that Barry could have a sustaining career as a solo singer/songwriter, and possibly a film actor. His better looks than R&M just may have added to that calculation. The mistake Sigwood made was the potential longevity of the Bee Gees. Sigwood probably ascribed to the conventional wisdom of the business at the time, which was that groups don't last long. So, he was probably looking ahead and that involved a long range plan for Barry, not the Bee Gees (you wonder what, if any, plans he may have had for R&M post-Bee Gees). Then again, who would have imagined the Bee Gees would have had the on-going success and lasting power they somehow managed to acheive? Hindsight is 20/20, right? > On the other hand 'first fame' may >have led to the split anyway as they were young, ambitious and egotistical. Agreed. Sigwood is only partly at fault. Sal Julian ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2006 19:40:54 +0100 From: "maggie-bleksley" Subject: Re: Barry's Age That's something that has always puzzled me. Their parents must have fibbed about their ages as soon as they started going to school in Australia, unless the school leaving age was a year younger there. According to the book it was fifteen, same as it was in England at the time, but surely the school would have had their ages on their records? Maggie > Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2006 08:02:06 +0100 > From: "melissagibson" > Subject: Re: Barry's Age > > You're right, of course, Frank, I was really just making a joke about it all > being a big conspiracy. But yes, the family themselves could cloud the issue > of their ages - didn't they pretend Robin and Maurice were a year older than > they were so they could leave school in December 1963? And when they > released their first single in 1963, I read that Barry was stated as 17 > instead of 16. > > Not that it really matters, of course...except to nitpicky people like me. > > Michelle > ----- Original Message ----- > > > > > ------------------------------ End words@brothersgibb.com Digest [09/28/2006 15:01] ----------------------------------------------------