A blessing or a curse? Every silver lining has a cloud, yet sadly
Andrew Roy Gibb had to find that out the hard way. Born the fifth and
final child to parents Barbara (17 November 1920-12 August 2016) and Hugh Gibb
(15 January 1916-6 March 1992) Andy grew up with his three older siblings
dominating the music charts, collectively known as
The Bee Gees. Performing at clubs from the
age of 13, it was suspected that Andy was to join
The Bee Gees, yet Andy always wanted to be
his own personality.
Victimised at the many schools he went to by other students who were
convinced he had a superiority complex due to his famous brothers, Andy
escaped into his music. But it all came too fast and too soon. Andy was
performing and making music by the time he was 20 years old, and it was
virtually impossible to break away from his brothers shadows when older
brother Barry wrote 90% of his songs, and the Bee Gees sang back up
vocals on half of his songs. Andy got it all too fast, and his life was
intermingled with years of depression that he tried to stay away with
booze, drugs and women. While they all may have provided temporary
relief, Andy was plagued by depression and the fact that no matter what
he did, he could never escape his heritage. Toward the end of his life,
Andy vowed to change and reform. He planned to clean up his act and
reform. he was dabbling in stage musicals and TV, and he had a new
album planned for release. On his 30th birthday he promised the people
most dear to him: He was a changed man. Sadly Andy's heart and Andy's
body were two very different things, and five days after his 30th
birthday his body finally succumbed to the seemingly endless years of
alcohol abuse. Andy may have been dead for almost two decades, but his
music lives on. Andy Gibb was a legendary music figure, and when
listening to some of his hit songs, such as '(Our Love) Don't throw it
all away', 'man on fire' and 'I just want to be your everything' you
don't hear death, you hear life.
