Andy Gibb

Andy's Biography
 

On March 5, 1958, a boy named Andrew Roy Gibb, arrived
at Stretford Memorial Hospital, Manchester. Andy's middle name was
given in honor of his uncle, Roy Gibb, Hugh's youngest brother.

At the age of 4, Andy was already considering his own career
options. He wanted to be either a doctor or a Bee Gee.
Hugh and Barbara expressed their preference that he should pursue
the latter option. "He sings in perfect pitch with the boys when they're
practicing." enthused Barbara, "and we'd like him, one day,
to join the group."

For nine-year-old Andy, he didn't allow his brothers' success to affect him.
"It didn't change my life that much. I knew they were in the business and
I had always known they were in the business. Not being anything extra special
to me, and at (that age) you don't think about show business, you don't think glitter,
you don't think that your have 400 to 500 kids outside the front door because your
brothers are big stars. I just walk in after school, pass the 500 kids at the front door,
go in the back door, my brothers would all be sitting, watching television with
the curtains drawn, girls banging on the windows and that was their whole
life, you know."

Andy's take on his brothers break-up:

Andy, 11 years old at the time , said, "It was a very shaky thing, a bit of a
sore point as far as our family went because my brothers weren't talking to
each other, and they all wanted to because they're so close. They can't get by a
week without talking to each other. They wanted to call, but no one wanted to
swallow their pride and do it. So I knew the family was going through a real tight
moment because if affected my parents and everything...For families to split up,
it's a really strange thing. I knew they were going to get back together again,
and our family knew. There was no doubt in that, but it's hard for the public
to know that."

Andy's Education:

Andy was an indifferent student at best and said that he felt singled out in school
when he was in England because of his famous brothers. "I have never had a good day
at school ever in my life." he said. "I mean there were kids there that I would do
anything to get on normally with...If I would do something outstanding in the fame
or sport, it was, 'You think you're great, don't you?' 'Because you're the Bee Gees
brother, you think you can do that fabulously.' To have that for quite a few years
thrown at you, I mean, it just got to me so bad in the end, I just couldn't handle it
anymore. I had to leave it. Everyone said that most people in that position would
say,  'God, my brothers are responsible for all this, damn them'...but not for   one second
did I ever think that. I always decided to take everything myself and not consider
it as their faulty.  Naturally,  I was always going to be related to them in any
conversation or anything, so that has never bugged me really."

Andy became involved with a rougher crowd and acquired a less than desirable
circle of new friends. "I was moving about with my own gang, the skinheads, wearing
steel-toed army boots and kicking in shop windows,"  he admitted.   "With the skinheads,
the main thing was football matches. You take a hammer into  the stadium and
throw it as high as you can into a capacity crowd of 30,000. And wherever it lands,
it lands. We were really very nasty."

Andy said, "As far back as I can remember, we always moved. We never even stayed
in a house more than eight or nine months. We never last a year at any one house,
I don't know what it was, we would have to get up and move somewhere else...I
didn't have permanent friends in many places for long. All my friends were older
than me, I never had friends my own age. I left school at 13, so I've always been
surrounded by people in the business."

When Hugh and Barbara moved to Ibiza, a Spanish island, Andy said in 1977,
"I never got round to going back to school because I knew I wanted to be a singer.
My brothers left school when they were thirteen, and they were doing all right.
Everybody said that I would regret leaving school but I haven't so far and
I don't think I ever will now"

A nudge towards a musical career:

In March 1970, for Andy's 12th birthday, Barry presented him with his first
guitar. Up to this point Andy had shown little interest in music, most of his
attention having been lavished on sport and horses. Barry also gave his
youngest brother his first horse, which Andy name Gala.

"Andy was a little devil," Barbara said fondly. "A little monster. I'd send him
off to school but he'd sneak off to the stable and sleep with his two horses all day.
"He'd wander back home around lunchtime smelling of horse manure, yet he'd
swear he had been at school. Oh, he was a little monkey!"

Armed with his new guitar, the small, freckled-faced boy began to emulate
his hero, his big brother Barry.  Despite more than a decade's difference in their ages,
the youngest and eldest of the Gibb brothers had formed a strong bond.   "I think
he's my favorite brother," Andy said. "He's so kind and generous, and when
he comes to visit us, he plays with me. I've only got to ask for something, and
he'll buy it for me. I think he's too soft-hearted, people can talk him into things,
and he hates hurting anyone. I see him about twice a week.  He takes me out for
rides in his Bentley, but he doesn't let me have a go at driving it, though!   I
go up to his flat sometimes, and we play together. He's very kind and generous,
and when I grow up, I hope I'm like him." 

Andy forms first group:

Andy was now back and living on the Isle of Man. It was the early seventies.
Talk of Andy joining his brothers as a member of The Bee Gees had died down.
"I almost joined the group a couple of times," he said. "Over the past few years
we've made plans for me to join them, had shows worked out and been ready to go.

"But somewhere along the line negotiations have always fallen through. The
boys are traveling so much that it's hard to pin them down long enough to finalize
anything. The only way I think I'd get to join now is if one of the group left," Andy
added wistfully. "I'm a sort of ready-made understudy. I can do any of their voices
and sound just like them particularly if I do their material."

"One night he was really crying" Barbara said. "So I said, "Look love, in the morning
we'll go out and buy some amplifiers and get some good players and we'll start our
own group.' And we did exactly that. His father came home and got him a job at
one of the local hotels for the season and that was that."

The first recruit was drummer John Stringer, formerly of Bootlegged, who joined
Andy on February 13, 1974.  A few days later, Andy and John Stringer were
joined by lead guitarist John Alderson.

The young group set up their equipment in Terry Clough's recording studio
in Duke Street in Douglas to rehearse and audition new members.  Jerry Callaghan,
a bass player, came on board.

Barbara Gibb christened the group Melody Fayre, a variation on the
Bee Gees' song title, 'Melody Fair'. Alderman and Stringer were not happy
with the name, but Barbara put her foot down and there was no further discussion.

Melody Fayre's first paid concert was held at Port St. Mary Town Hall on June 17.
Andy's friend from Ibiza, Tony Messina, had re-entered the picture as the group's
roadie.  The Clerk for the Commissioners Office granted permission for the group
to hold a "Disco Dance...and subject to good order being maintained, the event finished
at 11:30 p.m. and any necessary clearing up being carried out afterwards." It was
obvious the lads were not in it for the money - after paying for the hall and posters,
the band members and Messina each collected the princely sum of 3.56 pounds!

In 1974, Andy, John Stringer and Tony Messina, arrived in Australia.

The Bee Gees' old friends, Col Joye and his brother Kevin Jacobsen, represented
the young group, and there were plans for recording a single and album for
Col Joye's ATA label.  They shared in Andy's dreams for stardom and recognition
as a songwriter and performer in his own right, not just as "The Bee Gees' Little Brother".

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