Bee Gees first hit was in Australia!?

Believe it or not, The Bee Gees started to release singles in 1963 but it took them a couple of years to get into the Top Ten.

Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb were the main members of the group though they have always had other musicians such as Colin Petersen on Drums and Vince Melouney (formerly of Billy Thorpe and The Aztecs) as the lead guitarist during the mid to late 1960’s.

The band’s debut single was “The Battle of The Blue and Grey” with The B Side being “Three Kisses of Love” and the single peaked at No. 98 in Australia.

The Bee Gees (who at the time were just the Gibb brothers) were well known for their performances on the Australian version of Bandstand.

Their first Top 10 single in Australia was ”Spicks and Specks” in 1966, it was a Top Five single in Australia, No. 1 in New Zealand and No. 2 in the Netherlands.

Their first No. 1 single in Australia was “I Started A Joke” with “Kilburn Towers” being the B-Side in 1968.

Their first Top 10 album in Australia was “Bee Gees’ 1st” when it was released in July 1967, it peaked at No. 10 and featured hits such as “New York Mining Disaster 1941” and “To Love Somebody”.

The soundtrack to “Saturday Night Fever” which was released in 1977 was the band’s first No. 1 soundtrack album in Australia, it was a major success around the world and the movie made John Travolta more than just a TV star.

Their first Australian No. 1 studio album was “Spirits Having Flown” in 1979, the album featured songs like “Tragedy”, “Love You Inside Out” and “Too Much Heaven”, “Tragedy” was later a hit for the group Steps in the late 1990’s.

Their last Top Ten single in Australia was “Alone” in 1997, it had peaked at No. 7 and “Alone” was their ninteenth Top Ten single in the nation.

Their last Top Ten studio album was “Still Waters” in 1997, it reached the Top Ten in six other countries.

“One Night Only” was their second and last live album when it was released in 1998 and it reached No. 1 in Australia, it was also a popular DVD when it was released in the 2000’s.

“This Is Where I Came In” was their last studio album, it peaked at No. 16 in Australia while the single of the same name (“Just in Case/I Will Be There” was the B Side) peaked at No. 76.

Their last compilation album to reach the Top Ten was “Mythology” in 2010, it was a four CD set and included a CD dedicated to non Bee Gees member Andy Gibb who was a music star himself.

The band had at least one Top Ten single in Australia in the 1960’s, 1970’s, 1980’s and the 1990’s.

In the end the Bee Gees released 22 Studio Albums, 2 Live Albums, 83 singles from 1963 to 2017 with the band’s recording career running from 1963 to 2001 before the band’s name was retired in 2003 after the death of Maurice earlier that year.

They had also released 15 Compilation Albums, made four movies, appeared in five television shows and were part of 4 Soundtrack albums.

The above milestones show how popular the Bee Gees were and still are to Australians and to those around the world.