The Bee Gees' Barry Gibb is intent on keeping his and his brothers' music alive with a new album and group documentary hopefully reaching a new audience. The long awaited documentary, How Can You Mend A Broken Heart, premieres on HBO Max on December 12th, and his country-crossover album of duets, Greenfields: The Gibb Brothers Songbook, Vol. 1, drops on January 8th.
Gibb, who's now 74, has outlived his younger brothers and collaborators Andy, Maurice, and Robin. He told The New York Times he's committed to carrying the brothers' legacy forward: “The mission is to keep the music alive. Regardless of us, regardless of me. One day, like my brothers, I will no longer be around, and I want the music to last. So I’m going to play it no matter what.”
He recalled getting a call in 1977 from the group's manager and label-head Robert Stigwood requesting a theme song to the movie Grease. Gibb recalled his puzzlement on how to begin writing around that title: “How in heaven’s name do you write a song called 'Grease'?' I remember walking around on the dock, and it suddenly occurred to me that it’s a word, and you’ve just got to write about the word.”