It was a pretty wild roller coaster ride for those two or three years.”Īt the time of his death Andy was penniless, living at his brother Robin's estate in England, and had been working on demos for a comeback album to be released in conjunction with the Bee Gees' One album. Also, I mean, y'know, I'd be foolish to deny it - you suddenly do get an ego and you've got to come back down to Earth and control that. I thought that it was always going to be that way and there would always be those Number One hit records and stuff. In the mid-'80s, after the hits had dried up, Andy was able to take a long hard look at what his brothers had famously termed “First Fame”: “It certainly made me very spoiled. Y'know, he was the youngest brother in the 'Brothers Gibb.' So, when Barry decided to produce him, he ended up having some hits on his own, he was very excited about it.” Andy wanted so desperately to be successful like his brothers. Singer Marilyn McCoo, who co-starred with Andy on Solid Gold, said that he had a tough time living up to his famous brothers: “Andy was fragile. In the last years of his life, Andy was forced to perform a cabaret act based around Bee Gees hits and was supported almost completely by his brothers.
I thought so much of the girl - and I still do - it just, I just fell apart.” I didn't care about people, I didn't care about life. I started missing tapings of Solid Gold - I would not turn up for tapings. an awful lot of cocaine - which I no longer do. In 1982, once back on track doing the rounds on the comeback trail, Andy publicly blamed his addictions on Principal leaving him - rather than acknowledging the fact that she had left becauseof his drug use: “I want to tell a story now - I turned to drugs for a month. And over a period of ( laughs) deduction, I finally realized that it had to be drugs.” And Andy was a very kind person and a very gentle person, and some of his behavior seemed the antithesis of who I knew him to be. Victoria Principal recalled realizing that drugs were playing a major role in Andy's life: “Well, it was became very apparent to me that his behavior was becoming erratic and that he was very, very thin. As his substance abuse problems increased, he began performing such musicals as The Pirates Of Penzance and Joseph And The Technicolor Dreamcoat, but frequent absences due to drug problems ended all his stage runs prematurely. With his musical career drying up, he turned to TV, serving as the host of the syndicated music show Solid Gold. By 1980, Andy, who had previously been romantically linked with Susan George, Marie Osmond, and Olivia Newton-John, became involved with Dallas star Victoria Principal. He produced my first records - he wrote most of my hits, so, who's to say? If it hadn't been for him first.”Īndy Gibb was briefly married to his high school sweetheart, Kim Reeder, and they had a daughter named Peta in 1978. Well, who knows how it would've worked out? But my brother Barry gave me my first break. The long shadow of the Bee Gees was never far from Andy when discovering his own musical success: “I don't honestly think I'd be here now if it wasn't for them, if they hadn't come along first.
He racked up three Number One hits - “I Just Want To Be Your Everything” in 1977, and “(Love Is) Thicker Than Water” and “Shadow Dancing” in 1978 - all before his 21st birthday. Success for Andy came fast, with his brother Barry's songwriting and producing help. By the time he was 19, he had emigrated from Australia to be with his brothers, who helped him sign with Robert Stigwood, who managed the group and owned their record label, RSO.
Andy, who was almost a decade younger than his brothers, had desperately wanted to become part of the group, but because of his age he missed out on the Bee Gees' first era of success in the late-'60s. Andy, who was the younger brother of the Bee Gees - Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb - died just five days after his 30th birthday from an inflammatory heart virus exacerbated by years of substance abuse.
It was 32 years ago today (March 10th, 1988) that Andy Gibb died.
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