'Bee Gees: How Can You Mend A Broken Heart': Did Barry Gibb cut ties with his brothers? He regrets the bitter fights
The Bee Gees consisting of Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb were known as the shapeshifters of disco culture in the '70s with their unique vision for popular music. But a recent documentary on their life, ‘The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend A Broken Heart’ has unveiled a lot more about the brothers than just their monumental musical influence. The HBO documentary opens up the lonely world of the last Bee Gee, Barry Gibb, who talks about his regrets for all the fights with his brothers, the loss of their bond, and more.
In the documentary, Barry talks about his last moments spent with the Gibb brothers. He was trying to act on "tough love" for Andy when his addiction ended his life in 1988, and even with Maurice – the former wasn’t exactly on "speaking terms" with his brother in 2003 before Maurice’s death during a surgery. With Robin, Barry had a fallout before the he died of cancer in 2012.
Directed by Frank Marshall, 'The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend A Broken Heart' also features a series of commentaries from musical legends including Eric Clapton, Grammy-winning songwriter Mark Ronson and Noel Gallagher. Nick Jonas of the Jonas Brothers is also seen talking about the dynamics of maintaining a band between brothers. In the film, the friction between the brothers is evident from early on. The rivaling relationships between Robin and Barry strained their bond, with Maurice Gibb always acting as the constant peacemaker. Upon the cause of this strain, Barry talks about the fallout of their band and more to The Guardian stating: “There’s fame and there’s ultra-fame, and it can destroy you,” and he adds, “You lose your perspective … you’re in the eye of a hurricane and you don’t know you’re there. And you don’t know what tomorrow is, you don’t know if what you’re recording will be a hit or not. And we were kids, don’t forget.”
Barry Gibb, the only surviving brother of three has also admitted about the regrets which come with the mourning for the lost brothers. He said, "before we ever became famous were the best times of our lives. There was no competition; it didn’t matter who sang what. When we had our first No.1, ‘Massachusetts,’ Robin sang the lead, and I don’t think he ever got past that. He never felt that anyone else should sing lead after that. And that was not the nature of the group. We all brought songs in; whoever brings the idea in sings the song.”
Gibb, now 74 talked about how addiction also played a more devastating role in their lost bond. “My brothers had to deal with their demons, but I was married to a lady who wasn’t going to have it,” adding, “I could bring drugs into the house, but they would end up down the toilet. She never allowed me to go in that direction. I had to deal with my brothers being pretty much out there, but I was lucky.”
Gibb who is known as the second most successful songwriter in the Guinness World Records after Paul McCartney said that their relationship wasn’t exactly like brothers. “I never thought of them as my little brothers,” Gibb notes, explaining It just wasn’t like that. There was something we all loved doing and we kept on doing it. There was nothing more fun than singing in three-part harmony.” He talked about his thought on retirement after the death of Robin but "I care that the music lives, and I do everything in my power to enhance that. That’s my mission.”
On a melancholic note, Gibb concludes “I’ve had to deal with loss, not just my brothers but my mother and father. But what I’ve learned from all of it is that things just roll on, and you roll on with them.”