Since the release of The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart, interest has reignited in the ’70s disco group. However, the band’s only living member, Barry Gibb, has admitted he has only seen parts of the film because he “can’t handle watching” it.
In a recent interview on American show CBS Sunday Morning, 74-year-old musician Barry said he “can’t handle watching the rest of my family. “I just can’t handle it. Who would, you know? I think it’s perfectly normal to not want to see how each brother was lost, you know? And I don’t want to address it. I’m past it.”
Barry formed the iconic disco group Bee Gees with his brothers Maurice and Robin and went on to have incredible success. The band climbed the disco charts with hit songs like Stayin’ Alive and Night Fever.
The documentary chronicles their childhood, rise to stardom and the deaths of Maurice (who died due to complications with a twisted intestine in 2003 and Robin who died from liver and kidney failure in 2012, brought on by colorectal cancer.
Barry reflects on the “incredibly hard” loss of his siblings, including a third brother, singer Andy Gibb, who tragically died at age 30 due to drug use. The singer spoke of how it was “really tough,” as they had “never not been together”.
“The first year after the last brother passed, Robin, that was the most difficult period for me. People have said, ‘He had a breakdown.’ And, you know, I didn’t have a breakdown, actually. I just didn’t know where to go. I didn’t know what to do… and I didn’t know how to be perceived. I didn’t know how to perceive other people’s opinions. So basically, I’ve been in lockdown for years now.”
Barry has continued to make music, including his solo album In the Now, from 2016. This Friday, January 8th, he will release the album Greenfields: The Gibb Brothers Songbook, Vol. 1, featuring re-recordings of Bee Gees classics with contributions from Dolly Parton, Sheryl Crowe, Brandi Carlile and more top country artists.
Whilst talking about the upcoming project, Barry said he “was bitten by Nashville, you know, because Nashville is about music,” Gibb said of the upcoming project. “It’s about real songs.”
You can watch the interview here.
The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart is available on DVD and digital download. Paramount Pictures teamed up with production company Sister and Bohemian Rhapsody producer, Graham King for the film. The production company purchased the life rights to the Gibb family estate on behalf of GK’s King and will be able to use their classic songs in the movie.
