Bee Gees Perform on 'GMA'

N E W Y O R K, April 27, 2001 -- Barry picks up the electric guitar, winks at Maurice and nods toward Robin. And just like that, the Bee Gees are back.

Many might argue the band never left. Take one awestruck fan in Good Morning America's Times Square studio holding a sign proclaiming, "The Bee Gees are immortal."

They very well might be.

With the release of This is Where I Came In, the Bee Gees span five decades of music. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997, the band has seven Grammy Awards (including 16 nominations), and has sold more than 110 million albums worldwide.

"We can't explain the success," says Barry, fiddling with his signature sunglasses, leg propped up on a coffee table. "We've been around a long time and we've seen a lot of artists come and go. We thought at one point we might be one of them, but people still pick up on our music."

More than 2,500 artists have recorded Bee Gees songs. Destiny's Child covered "Emotion" on a recent album and Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers immortalized "Islands in the Stream" in the 1980s.

Barry says, "We wrote "Islands in the Stream," originally for Diana Ross —"

"No, we wrote it for Marvin Gaye," interrupts Robin, eager to correct his older brother. "We sent it to him, but he was dead so it was a bit difficult for him to sing it."

The band cackles and Maurice suggests a group hug.

The Brothers Gibb

The hug symbolizes all that is the Bee Gees: Brothers first.

"We've been working together for so long," Barry says. "If you're not brothers, you are more liable to break up. Being brothers is really the glue that has kept us together no matter what.

"I mean, we're indebted to each other," Robin adds. "We all owe each other money."

Maurice chokes on either the comment or the smoke from his Dunhill cigarette, mumbling, "Robin, always the joker, you." Robin returns a wicked glimmer to his twin brother.

With Triumph Comes Hardship

While the band's voyage is replete with laughter and success, it has not been without its hardships. In 1988, baby brother Andy Gibb died from heart failure at age 30 after a drug binge. Maurice is an alcoholic.

"I will always be an alcoholic," he says. "There's no such thing as 'I'm cured.' There are just two days of the week I don't worry about, and that's just today and tomorrow —"

"— Yeah, and those are the days you drink," Robin shoots back, laughing.

Maurice goes to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings every day.

In the Beginning…

The Bee Gees began their innumerable chart achievements 35 years ago, when they had a No. 1 Australian hit called "Spicks and Specks."

Raised on the Irish Isle of Man, but living in Australia since 1958, the trio took their shot in England in 1967. They were a hit there within a few months of their arrival and "New York Mining Disaster 1941" was a hit in both England and the United States.

In the decades since, the Bee Gees have had 43 singles (including nine No. 1 hits) and 28 albums on the Billboard charts. Their hits include, "Stayin' Alive," "Night Fever," and "How Deep is Your Love."

"This Is Where I Came In" is a reflective album, a culmination of sorts — although the band shows no signs of losing steam.

"If anything we have more energy now," Barry notes.

"We didn't behave ourselves back then," Maurice says. "We all smoked heavily. We were a typical late '60s English group, you know, morons."

"Well, we still stay up all night and smoke, but now we get something out of it!" Robin adds.

'This Is Where I Came In'

For "This Is Where I Came In," each brother wrote his own tracks and brought his work to the drawing table. Two songs apiece from Barry, Robin and Maurice appear on the album.

"The audience now gets a perspective about what each brother likes, and that is new for us," Maurice says.

Five decades and still singing; Robin says they'll go for another five.