Andy Gibb
10 March 1988
Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
- Singer
- songwriter
- musician
- actor
- television presenter
1967[1]–1988
1
- Hugh Gibb (father)
- Barry Gibb (brother)
- Robin Gibb (brother)
- Maurice Gibb (brother)
- Steve Gibb (nephew)
Redcliffe, Queensland, Australia
- Vocals
- guitar
Gibb came to prominence in the late 1970s through the early 1980s with eight singles reaching the Top 20 of the US Hot 100, three of which went to number one: "I Just Want to Be Your Everything" (1977), "(Love Is) Thicker Than Water" (1977), and "Shadow Dancing" (1978). In the early 1980s, he co-hosted the American music television series Solid Gold. He also performed in a production of The Pirates of Penzance and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Gibb would later struggle with drug addiction and depression. He died on 10 March 1988, five days after his 30th birthday.[3]
Life and career[edit]
1958–1975: Early life and first recordings[edit]
Andrew Roy Gibb was born on 5 March 1958 at Stretford Memorial Hospital in Stretford, Lancashire.[4] He was the youngest of five children born to Barbara and Hugh Gibb. His mother was of Irish and English descent, and his father was of Scottish and English descent.[5] He had four siblings: his sister, Lesley Evans; and three brothers—Barry and fraternal twins Robin and Maurice.
At the age of six months, Andy Gibb immigrated
with his family to Queensland, Australia, settling on Cribb Island just north of Brisbane. After moving several times between Brisbane and Sydney, Andy returned to the United Kingdom in January 1967 as his three older brothers began to gain international fame as the Bee Gees.
In his childhood, his mother, Barbara, described Andy as "A little devil, 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!"[6]
Producer and film director Tom Kennedy described Andy's personality in his childhood:
Legacy[edit]
The Andy Gibb Memorial Foundation contributes to charities that Gibb supported, such as the American Heart Association, the American Cancer Society, and the Diabetes Research Institute.[29]
The song "Wish You Were Here", which was a track on the Bee Gees 1989 album One, was dedicated by his brothers to Andy.[30][31]