In Conversation
with Maurice Gibb, (The Bee Gees)
Telecast Date: 21 May 2001
Producer: June Lee

Editor's Note:
This is an edited transcript of the interview.

They were just three boys who loved to sing. But they took the world by storm with their songs: from Massachusetts, Alone, How Deep is Your Love to Staying Alive and Night Fever. Three decades later, the Bee Gees songs still strike a cord with the people.

Maurice Gibb, one of the Brothers Gibb, talks candidly to In Conversation about the Bee Gees' triumphs, trials, setbacks and comebacks.

Shankar: Maurice Gibb, welcome to In Conversation.

Gibb: Thank you.

Shankar: Well, this is where you come in.

Gibb: This is where we came in.

Shankar: Well, you've had such great successes. You're a legend now. How are legends made?

Gibb: You know, it's very hard for anyone to see as an icon or a legend or whatever. To me that is very funny. I am sorry. It seems, I mean if somebody dies, yes, it's okay. But being so prominent as people put that name on us, I mean, we don't perceive ourselves as that or ...

Shankar: What do you see yourself as?

Gibb: Three brothers trying to be bigger than Beatles.

Shankar: And..

Gibb: We're still trying.

Shankar: You feel you haven't made it yet?

Gibb: No. No by a long shot.

Shankar: But you certainly have had all the successes of the Beatles have had in the sense.

Gibb: All because they have stopped. If they had kept on going and John hadn't died and so forth. Who knows?

Shankar: But then that's what's great about you. Your group has survived where others has just stopped.

Gibb: It's the songs. It's the songs more than anything. If you can write a good song that last for years. I mean that is a great blessing. And the Beatles did that. But it's just that they are not productive anymore after that period. We were. We just kept writing more songs and we do need to do.

Shankar: Well how have you been able to do that? You needed to reinvent yourself every other day.

Gibb: You don't think about reinventing. You don't think about that. You just do what you love to do. We're persistent little buggers. We keep on trying and trying and trying. We've had pitfalls, we've had valleys, we've had mountains. And if you didn't have the valleys you wouldn't know about the mountains.

Shankar: Well why don't you tell me something about the valleys, the really tough times.

Gibb: You know, I don't like talking negative about stuff because that recycles in my head the memories that I did I went through.

Shankar: But then you survived you survived...

Gibb: Because we persisted in our talent in what we wanted to do like any actor. John Travolta for example... kept on persisting. Now look where he is.

Shankar: And what was it that you require to sort of survive that trough.

Gibb: Love.

Shankar: You took a long time

Gibb: Everybody has two training thoughts. It's either fear or love. Nothing in between. It's always the one or the other. I love to live in love today. I don't live in the negative I don't think negative. I don't pursue anything that is negative. I don't even ask questions that are negative. I just go for what I enjoy. And love to do what I to do. And if I am loving it then it's incredible. That you can do something that you love as you work or your hobby whatever. To have that blessing.

Shankar: You've had great successes in Europe more than America.

Gibb: Sometimes..

Shankar: And then now Asia. Asia is also picking up a lot of your music and a lot of Asians love your music too. Do you ever think when you write a song what sort of audience you are writing for?

Gibb: No. We always write our songs that we love and record what we love and we hope that everybody else would love what we love. We don't make records or cds or anything like that just to please the public. We always write the songs that we love to write and perform and record. Some songs don't make it to the album, some do. Those also are covered, so we've got people who wanted songs, we've got extra songs to give to them. But creating in that way and the love that's involved to be blessed with that, it's amazing. We still do what we love to do. And still loving it.

Find out what Maurice has to say about families >>