Ask most people to name a Bee Gees song and you’ll get “Stayin’ Alive” or “How Deep Is Your Love.” Hardly anyone says “Islands in the Stream.” Yet some of the biggest hits Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb ever wrote were sung by somebody else entirely.
Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton. Barbra Streisand. Diana Ross. Frankie Valli. Their kid brother Andy. The Gibbs handed out chart-toppers the way other songwriters handed out demos, and a lot of people still have no idea who wrote them. Here are ten that went all the way to the top.
Quick Reference: The 10 Songs at a Glance
| Song | Artist | Year | Peak Chart Position | Written By |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Islands in the Stream | Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton | 1983 | #1 US Hot 100 | Barry, Robin, Maurice |
| Woman in Love | Barbra Streisand | 1980 | #1 US Hot 100, #1 UK | Barry, Robin |
| Chain Reaction | Diana Ross | 1986 | #1 UK, #1 Australia | Barry, Robin, Maurice |
| Grease | Frankie Valli | 1978 | #1 US Hot 100 | Barry |
| If I Can’t Have You | Yvonne Elliman | 1978 | #1 US Hot 100 | Barry, Robin, Maurice |
| I Just Want to Be Your Everything | Andy Gibb | 1977 | #1 US Hot 100 | Barry |
| Shadow Dancing | Andy Gibb | 1978 | #1 US Hot 100 (7 weeks) | Barry, Robin, Maurice, Andy |
| (Love Is) Thicker Than Water | Andy Gibb | 1978 | #1 US Hot 100 | Barry, Andy |
| Rest Your Love on Me | Conway Twitty | 1981 | #1 US Country | Barry |
| Heartbreaker | Dionne Warwick | 1982 | #1 US Adult Contemporary, #2 UK | Barry, Robin, Maurice |
Why the Bee Gees Became Hit-Writers for Hire
The Gibbs were songwriters before they were stars. Barry was writing songs for other Australian acts as a teenager, and the brothers never really stopped. By the late 1970s, they had a hit factory running in Miami with their production partners Albhy Galuten and Karl Richardson, and manager Robert Stigwood’s RSO label gave them a steady supply of artists to write for.
Then came 1978. Saturday Night Fever turned the Bee Gees into the biggest act on the planet, and Barry wrote four US number ones in a row for three different acts. When the disco backlash hit in 1979 and radio started avoiding Bee Gees records, the songs themselves were still in demand. Writing and producing for other artists let the brothers keep landing hits through the early 1980s, often with Barry’s own voice tucked into the background vocals.
The 10 Songs
1. Islands in the Stream (Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton, 1983)
How it came about: The brothers wrote it in an R&B style and later reworked it as a country-pop duet for Rogers, with Parton brought in to sing the other half. It topped the Hot 100, the country chart and the adult contemporary chart.
Fun fact: The title comes from Ernest Hemingway’s novel. As for who it was originally for, Robin once said it was written with Marvin Gaye in mind, while Barry has consistently said it was meant for Diana Ross. Either way, it ended up as one of the best-loved country duets ever recorded.
2. Woman in Love (Barbra Streisand, 1980)
How it came about: After Saturday Night Fever, a reporter asked the Bee Gees who they’d most like to produce. They named Streisand, her team called, and Barry ended up co-producing her album Guilty. “Woman in Love” spent three weeks at number one in the US and gave Streisand her first UK number one.
Fun fact: Albhy Galuten has said the track uses the same drum loop as “Stayin’ Alive,” just slowed down and reshaped.
3. Chain Reaction (Diana Ross, 1986)
How it came about: The brothers almost didn’t offer it to Ross, worried it sounded too much like her old Motown work. She took it anyway, and it spent three weeks at number one in the UK.
Fun fact: It was the best-selling single of 1986 in Australia, yet it stalled at number 66 in the US. Barry adds vocals on the record.
4. Grease (Frankie Valli, 1978)
How it came about: The original title song from the stage musical was dropped before Broadway, so Robert Stigwood asked Barry to write a new one for the film. Valli, whose range resembled Barry’s, sang it and topped the Hot 100.
Fun fact: Barry invited Peter Frampton, his co-star in the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band film, to play lead guitar. The Bee Gees never released a studio version of their own.
5. If I Can’t Have You (Yvonne Elliman, 1978)
How it came about: Elliman was originally slated to sing “How Deep Is Your Love” on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. Stigwood swapped them, giving the ballad to the Bee Gees and this disco track to Elliman. Both songs went to number one.
Fun fact: The Bee Gees’ own version came out as the B-side of “Stayin’ Alive.”
6. I Just Want to Be Your Everything (Andy Gibb, 1977)
How it came about: Barry wrote it for his youngest brother in Bermuda. Andy later recalled Barry coming up with the chorus so fast it caught him off guard. It was Andy’s debut US single and spent four weeks at number one.
Fun fact: Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh played electric guitar on the session.
7. Shadow Dancing (Andy Gibb, 1978)
How it came about: All four Gibb brothers wrote it together in Los Angeles while working on the Sgt. Pepper’s film. Andy said they had the core of it in about ten minutes. It held number one for seven weeks.
Fun fact: Billboard named it the number one single of 1978. That July, Barry, Robin and Maurice joined Andy on stage in Miami to perform it, the first time all four brothers played a concert together.
8. (Love Is) Thicker Than Water (Andy Gibb, 1978)
How it came about: Andy came up with the title, and Barry built the song around it during the same Bermuda writing trip.
Fun fact: It knocked the Bee Gees’ “Stayin’ Alive” off number one, then got knocked off two weeks later by the Bee Gees’ “Night Fever.” Brothers replacing brothers at the top of the chart doesn’t happen often.
9. Rest Your Love on Me (Conway Twitty, 1981)
How it came about: Barry wrote this country-leaning ballad in 1976. It didn’t fit a Bee Gees album, so it ended up as the B-side of “Too Much Heaven.” Conway Twitty recorded it a few years later and took it to number one on the Billboard country chart.
Fun fact: Stephen Stills played bass on the original demo.
10. Heartbreaker (Dionne Warwick, 1982)
How it came about: The brothers wrote it for Warwick’s album of the same name, with Barry producing. She admitted she didn’t love the song at first but trusted Barry’s instinct that it was a hit. It went to number one on the US adult contemporary chart and topped the charts in Sweden, Portugal and Luxembourg.
Fun fact: Maurice said he cried after writing it. Warwick, for her part, later joked about how happily she’d cried all the way to the bank.
The Songbook Behind the Songbook
Put these ten next to the Bee Gees’ own hits and the scale of what the Gibbs pulled off becomes hard to ignore. They wrote across pop, disco, country and soul, for some of the biggest voices of their era, and kept doing it long after radio decided it was done with their own records.
The Brothers Gibb brings that whole catalogue to the stage, from the early ballads through the Saturday Night Fever years and beyond. Come for “Stayin’ Alive” and don’t be surprised when you find yourself singing along to a few songs you never knew they wrote.
Bring the Bee Gees Songbook to Your Event
| Act | The Brothers Gibb, a tribute to the music and era of the Bee Gees |
| Website | thebrothersgibb.com |
| Booking | Bass/Schuler Entertainment, bass-schuler.com |
| facebook.com/beegeesmusic | |
| Available for | Theatres, festivals, corporate events, private parties and college events |