where were the bee gees born and raised

Born on the Isle of Man to English parents, the Gibb brothers lived in Chorlton, Manchester, England, until the late 1950s. There, in 1955, they formed the Rattlesnakes. The family then moved to Redcliffe, in Queensland, Australia, and then to Cribb Island. After achieving their first chart success in Australia as the Bee Gees with "Spicks and Specks" (their 12th single), they returned to the UK in January 1967, when producer Robert Stigwood began promoting them to a worldwide audience.

Bee Gees

Principal
Barry Gibb
Robin Gibb
Maurice Gibb

The Bee Gees were a pop music group formed in 1958. Their lineup consisted of brothers Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio were successful for most of their decades of recording music, but they had two distinct periods of exceptional success: as a popular music act in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and as prominent performers of the disco music era in the mid-to-late 1970s. The group sang recognisable three-part tight harmonies; Robin's clear vibrato lead vocals were a hallmark of their earlier hits, while Barry's R&B falsetto became their signature sound during the mid-to-late 1970s and 1980s. The Bee Gees wrote all of their own hits, as well as writing and producing several major hits for other artists.

As of July 2013, the Bee Gees have sold more than 220 million records worldwide, placing them among the world's best-selling music artists of all time.[2][3] They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997;[4] the presenter of the award to "Britain's first family of harmony" was Brian Wilson, historical leader of The Beach Boys, another "family act" featuring three harmonising brothers.[5] The Bee Gees' Hall of Fame citation says, "Only Elvis Presley, the Beatles, Michael Jackson, Garth Brooks and Paul McCartney have outsold the Bee Gees."[6]

Following Maurice's death in January 2003, at the age of 53, Barry and Robin retired the group's name after 45 years of activity. In 2009, Robin announced that he and Barry had agreed the Bee Gees would re-form and perform again.[7] Robin died in May 2012, aged 62, after a prolonged struggle with cancer and other health problems, leaving Barry as the only surviving member of the group's final line-up.[8]

In 1955, the brothers Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb moved back to their father Hugh Gibb's hometown of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester, England, and formed a skiffle/rock-and-roll group, the Rattlesnakes, which consisted of Barry on guitar and vocals, Robin and Maurice on vocals, and friends Paul Frost on drums and Kenny Horrocks on tea-chest bass. In December 1957, the boys began to sing in harmony. The story is told that they were going to lip sync to a record in the local Gaumont cinema (as other children had done on previous weeks), but as they were running to the theatre, the fragile shellac 78-RPM record broke. The brothers had to sing live and received such a positive response from the audience that they decided to pursue a singing career.[9] In May 1958, the Rattlesnakes were disbanded when Frost and Horrocks left, so the Gibb brothers then formed Wee Johnny Hayes and the Blue Cats, with Barry as Johnny Hayes.[10]

In August 1958, the Gibb family, including older sister Lesley and infant brother Andy, emigrated to Redcliffe, just north-east of Brisbane in Queensland, Australia. The young brothers began performing to raise pocket money. They were introduced to leading Brisbane radio DJ Bill Gates by speedway promoter and driver Bill Goode, who had hired the brothers to entertain the crowd at the Redcliffe Speedway in 1960. The crowd at the speedway would throw money onto the track for the boys, who generally performed during the interval of meetings (usually on the back of a truck that drove around the track), and in a deal with Goode, any money they collected from the crowd they were allowed to keep. Gates renamed them the BG's (later changed to "Bee Gees") after his (Goode's) and Barry Gibb's initialsâ€”thus the name was not specifically a reference to "Brothers Gibb", despite popular belief.[11]

The family moved to a house at Cribb Island which was later demolished to allow the expansion of Brisbane Airport. While there, the brothers attended Northgate State School.

By 1960, the Bee Gees were featured on television shows, including their performance of "Time Is Passing By".[12] In the next few years they began working regularly at resorts on the Queensland coast. For his songwriting, Barry sparked the interest of Australian star Col Joye, who helped them get a recording deal in 1963 with Festival Records subsidiary Leedon Records, under the name "Bee Gees". The three released two or three singles a year, while Barry supplied additional songs to other Australian artists. In 1962, the Bee Gees were chosen as the supporting act for Chubby Checker's concert at Sydney Stadium.[13]

From 1963 to 1966, the Gibb family lived at 171 Bunnerong Road, Maroubra in Sydney.[14] Just prior to his death, Robin Gibb recorded the song "Sydney", about the brothers' experience of living in that city. It was released on his posthumous album 50 St. Catherine's Drive.[15] The house was demolished in 2016.[16]

A minor hit in 1965, "Wine and Women", led to the group's first LP, The Bee Gees Sing and Play 14 Barry Gibb Songs. By 1966 Festival was, however, on the verge of dropping them from the Leedon roster because of their perceived lack of commercial success. It was at this time that they met the American-born songwriter, producer and entrepreneur Nat Kipner, who had just been appointed A&R manager of a new independent label, Spin Records. Kipner briefly took over as the group's manager and successfully negotiated their transfer to Spin in exchange for granting Festival the Australian distribution rights to the group's recordings.[citation needed] Through Kipner the Bee Gees met engineer-producer, Ossie Byrne, who produced (or co-produced with Kipner) many of the earlier Spin recordings, most of which were cut at his own small, self-built St Clair Studio in the Sydney suburb of Hurstville. Byrne gave the Gibb brothers virtually unlimited access to St Clair Studio over a period of several months in mid-1966.[17] The group later acknowledged that this enabled them to greatly improve their skills as recording artists. During this productive time they recorded a large batch of original material—including the song that would become their first major hit, "Spicks and Specks" (on which Byrne played the trumpet coda)—as well as cover versions of current hits by overseas acts such as the Beatles. They regularly collaborated with other local musicians, including members of beat band Steve & The Board, led by Steve Kipner, Nat's teenage son.[18]

Frustrated by their lack of success, the Gibbs decided to return to England in late 1966. Ossie Byrne travelled with them, and Colin Petersen, who eventually became the group's drummer, followed soon afterward. While at sea in January 1967, the Gibbs learned that "Spicks and Specks" had been awarded Best Single of the Year by Go-Set, Australia's most popular and influential music newspaper.

Before their departure from Australia to England, Hugh Gibb sent demos to Brian Epstein, who managed the Beatles and directed NEMS, a British music store. Epstein passed the demo tapes to Robert Stigwood, who had recently joined NEMS.[19] After an audition with Stigwood in February 1967, the Bee Gees signed a five-year contract whereby Polydor Records would release their records in the UK, and Atco Records would do so in the US. Work quickly began on the group's first international album, and Stigwood launched a promotional campaign to coincide with its release.[20]

Stigwood proclaimed that the Bee Gees were "The Most Significant New Talent of 1967", thus initiating the comparison of the Bee Gees to the Beatles. Before recording the first album, the group expanded to include Colin Petersen and Vince Melouney.[21] "New York Mining Disaster 1941", their second British single (their first-issued UK 45 rpm was "Spicks and Specks"), was issued to radio stations with a blank white label listing only the song title. Some DJs immediately assumed this was a new single by the Beatles and started playing the song in heavy rotation. This helped the song climb into the top 20 in both the UK and US.

No such chicanery was needed to boost the Bee Gees' second single, "To Love Somebody", into the US Top 20. Originally written for Otis Redding, "To Love Somebody", a soulful ballad sung by Barry, has since become a pop standard covered by many artists including the Flying Burrito Brothers, Rod Stewart, Bonnie Tyler, Janis Joplin, the Animals, Gary Puckett and the Union Gap, Nina Simone, Jimmy Somerville, Billy Corgan and Michael Bolton. Another single, "Holiday", released in the US, peaked at No. 16.

The parent album, Bee Gees 1st (their first internationally), peaked at No. 7 in the US and No. 8 in the UK. Bill Shepherd was credited as the arranger. After recording that album, the group recorded their first BBC session at the Playhouse Theatre, Northumberland Avenue, in London, with Bill Bebb as the producer, and they performed three songs. That session is included on BBC Sessions: 1967â€“1973 (2008).[22]

Following the release of Bee Gees' 1st, the group was first introduced in New York as "the English surprise".[23] At that time, the band made their first British TV appearance on Top of the Pops. Maurice recalled:

In late 1967, they began recording for the second album. On 21 December 1967, for a live broadcast from Liverpool Anglican Cathedral, they performed their own song, "Thank You For Christmas" (which was recorded in the Horizontal sessions but was not released until 2008), as well as "Silent Night" and "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing". The folk group the Settlers also performed on that programme and were conducted by the Very Reverend Edward H. Patey, dean of the cathedral.[24] Ten days later, the band finished the year off with their Christmas Eve special, How on Earth?

January 1968 began with a promotional trip to the US. Los Angeles Police was on alert in anticipation of a Beatles-type reception, and special security arrangements were being put in place.[21] In February, Horizontal repeated the success of their first album, featuring the group's first UK No. 1 single "Massachusetts" (a No. 11 US hit) and the No. 7 UK single "World".[25] The sound of the album Horizontal had a more "rock" sound than their previous release, although ballads like "And the Sun Will Shine" and "Really and Sincerely" were also prominent. The Horizontal album reached No. 12 in the US and No. 16 in the UK.

Promoting the record, the group made their first appearance on US television on The Smothers Brothers Show, on CBS. Tommy Smothers had first encountered the band on a trip to London, and became their friend as well as a fan. That evening, Smothers wore a shirt which Maurice had bought for him at the Beatles' Apple Boutique.

With the release of Horizontal, they also embarked on a Scandinavian tour with concerts in Copenhagen. Around the same time, the Bee Gees turned down an offer to write and perform the soundtrack for the film Wonderwall, according to director Joe Massot.[24]

On 27 February 1968, the band, backed by the 17-piece Massachusetts String Orchestra, began their first tour of Germany with two concerts at Hamburg Musikhalle. In March 1968, the band was supported by Procol Harum (who had a well-known hit "A Whiter Shade of Pale") on their German tour.[26] As Robin's partner Molly Hullis recalls: "Germans were wilder than the fans in England at the heights of Beatlemania." The tour schedule took them to 11 venues in as many days with 18 concerts played, finishing with a brace of shows at the Stadthalle, Braunschweig.

After that, the group was off to Switzerland. As Maurice described it:

On 17 March, the band performed "Words" on The Ed Sullivan Show. The other artists who performed on that night's show were Lucille Ball, George Hamilton and Fran Jeffries.[27] On 27 March 1968, the band performed at the Royal Albert Hall in London.[24]

Two more singles followed in early 1968: the ballad "Words" (No. 8 UK, No. 15 US) and the double A-sided single "Jumbo" b/w "The Singer Sang His Song". "Jumbo", the Bee Gees' least successful single to date, only reached No. 25 in the UK and No. 57 in the US. The Bee Gees felt "The Singer Sang His Song" was the stronger of the two sides, an opinion shared by listeners in the Netherlands who made it a No. 3 hit.

Further Bee Gees chart singles followed: "I've Gotta Get a Message to You", their second UK No. 1 (No. 8 US), and "I Started a Joke" (No. 6 US), both culled from the band's third album Idea.[25] Idea reached No. 4 in the UK and was another top 20 album in the US (No. 17).[25]

Following the tour and TV special to promote the album, Vince Melouney left the group, desiring to play more of a blues style music than the Gibbs were writing. Melouney did achieve one feat while with the Bee Gees: his composition "Such a Shame" (from Idea) is the only song on any Bee Gees album not written by a Gibb brother.

The group also filmed a BBC television special with Frankie Howerd, called Frankie Howerd Meets the Bee Gees, written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson. This gave the group the opportunity to display their comedy skills in sketches with Howerd.

The band were due to begin a seven-week tour of the US on 2 August 1968, but on 27 July, Robin collapsed and fell unconscious. He was admitted to a London nursing home suffering from nervous exhaustion, and the American tour was postponed.[24] The band began recording their sixth album, which resulted in their spending a week recording at Atlantic Studios in New York. Robin, still feeling poorly, missed the New York sessions, but the rest of the band put away instrumental tracks and demos.[28]

By 1969, the cracks started to show within the group, as Robin began to feel that Stigwood had been favouring Barry as the frontman.

The Bee Gees' performances in early 1969 on the Top of the Pops and The Tom Jones Show performing "I Started a Joke" and "First of May" as a medley was one of the last live performances of the group with Robin.[29]

Their next album, which was to have been a concept album called Masterpeace, evolved into the double-album Odessa. Most rock critics felt this was the best Bee Gees album of the 1960s with its progressive rock feel on the title track, the country-flavoured "Marley Purt Drive" and "Give Your Best", and ballads such as "Melody Fair" and "First of May" (the last of which became the only single from the album and was a minor hit). Feeling the flipside, "Lamplight", should have been the A-side, Robin quit the group in mid-1969 and launched a solo career.

The first of many Bee Gees compilations, Best of Bee Gees, was released featuring the non-LP single "Words" plus the Australian hit "Spicks and Specks". The single "Tomorrow Tomorrow" was also released and was a moderate hit in the UK, where it reached No. 23, but it was only No. 54 in the US. The compilation reached the top 10 in both the UK and the US.[25]

While Robin pursued his solo career, Barry, Maurice and Petersen continued on as the Bee Gees recording their next album, Cucumber Castle. The band made their debut performance without Robin at Talk of the Town. They had recruited their sister, Lesley, into the group at this time.

To accompany the album, they also filmed a TV special which aired on the BBC in 1971. Petersen played drums on the tracks recorded for the album but was fired from the group after filming began (he went on to form the Humpy Bong with Jonathan Kelly). His parts were edited out of the final cut of the film and Pentangle drummer Terry Cox was recruited to complete the recording of songs for the album.

After the album was released in early 1970, it seemed that the Bee Gees were finished. The leadoff single, "Don't Forget to Remember", was a big hit in the UK, reaching No. 2, but a disappointment in the US, only reaching No. 73. The next two singles, "I.O.I.O." and "If I Only Had My Mind on Something Else" barely scraped the charts. On 1 December 1969, Barry and Maurice parted ways professionally.[30]

Maurice started to record his first solo album, The Loner, which was not released. Meanwhile, he released the single "Railroad" and starred in the West End musical, Sing a Rude Song.[31] In February 1970, Barry recorded a solo album which never saw official release either, although "I'll Kiss Your Memory" was released as a single backed by "This Time" without much interest.[32] Meanwhile, Robin saw success in Europe with his No. 2 hit "Saved by the Bell" and the album Robin's Reign.

In the summer of 1970, according to Barry, "Robin rang me in Spain where I was on holiday [saying] 'let's do it again'". By 21 August 1970, after they had reunited, Barry announced that the Bee Gees "are there and they will never, ever part again". Maurice said, "We just discussed it and re-formed. We want to apologise publicly to Robin for the things that have been said."[10] Earlier in June 1970, Robin and Maurice recorded a dozen songs before Barry joined and included two songs that were on their reunion album.[33] Around the same time, Barry and Robin were about to publish the book, On the Other Hand.[10] They also recruited Geoff Bridgford as the group's official drummer; Bridgford had previously worked with the Groove and Tin Tin, and played drums on Maurice's unreleased first solo album.[34]

In 1970, 2 Years On was released in October in the US and November in the UK. The lead single "Lonely Days" reached at No. 3 on the United States, promoted by appearances on The Johnny Cash Show, Johnny Carson's Tonight Show, The Andy Williams Show, The Dick Cavett Show and The Ed Sullivan Show.[10]

Their ninth album, Trafalgar, was released in late 1971. The single "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" was the first to hit No 1 on the US Charts, while "Israel" reached No. 22 in the Netherlands. "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" also brought the Bee Gees their first Grammy Award nomination for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. Later that year, the group's songs were included in the soundtrack for the film Melody.

In 1972, they hit No. 16 in the US with the non-album single "My World", backed by Maurice's composition "On Time". Another 1972 single, "Run To Me" from the LP To Whom It May Concern, returned them to the UK top 10 for the first time in three years.[25] On 24 November 1972, the band headlined the "Woodstock of the West" Festival at the Los Angeles Coliseum (which was a West Coast answer to Woodstock in New York), which also featured Sly & The Family Stone, Stevie Wonder and the Eagles.[35][36] Also in 1972, the group sang "Hey Jude" with Wilson Pickett.[37]

By 1973, however, the Bee Gees were in a rut. The album, Life in a Tin Can, released on Robert Stigwood's newly formed RSO Records, and its lead-off single, "Saw a New Morning", sold poorly with the single peaking at No. 94. This was followed by an unreleased album (known as A Kick in the Head Is Worth Eight in the Pants). A second compilation album, Best of Bee Gees, Volume 2, was released in 1973, although it did not repeat the success of Volume 1. On the 6 April 1973 episode of The Midnight Special they performed "Money (That's What I Want)" with Jerry Lee Lewis.[38] Also in 1973, they were invited by Chuck Berry to perform two songs with him onstage at The Midnight Special: "Johnny B. Goode"[39] and "Reelin' and Rockin'".[40]

After a tour of United States in early 1974 and a Canadian tour later in the year,[41] the group ended up playing small clubs.[42] As Barry joked, "We ended up in, have you ever heard of Batley's the variety club in (West Yorkshire) England?".[43]

On the advice of Ahmet Ertegün, head of their US label Atlantic Records, Stigwood arranged for the group to record with soul music producer Arif Mardin. The resulting LP, Mr. Natural, included fewer ballads and foreshadowed the R&B direction of the rest of their career.

When it, too, failed to attract much interest, Mardin encouraged them to work within the soul music style. The brothers attempted to assemble a live stage band that could replicate their studio sound. Lead guitarist Alan Kendall had come on board in 1971 but did not have much to do until Mr. Natural. For that album, they added drummer Dennis Bryon, and they later added ex-Strawbs keyboard player Blue Weaver, completing the Bee Gees band that lasted through the late '70s. Maurice, who had previously performed on piano, guitar, harpsichord, electric piano, organ, mellotron and bass guitar, as well as mandolin and Moog synthesiser, now confined himself to bass onstage.

At Eric Clapton's suggestion, the brothers moved to Miami, Florida, early in 1975 to record. After starting off with ballads, they eventually heeded the urging of Mardin and Stigwood, and crafted more dance-oriented disco songs, including their second US No. 1, "Jive Talkin'", along with US No. 7 "Nights on Broadway". The band liked the resulting new sound. This time the public agreed by sending the LP Main Course up the charts. This album included the first Bee Gees songs wherein Barry used falsetto,[44] something that would later become a trademark of the band. This was also the first Bee Gees album to have two US top-10 singles since 1968's Idea. Main Course also became their first charting R&B album.

On the Bee Gees' appearance on The Midnight Special in 1975, to promote Main Course, they sang "To Love Somebody" with Helen Reddy.[45] Around the same time, the Bee Gees recorded three Beatles coversâ€”"Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight", "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window" with Barry providing lead vocals, and "Sun King" with Maurice providing lead vocals, for the unsuccessful musical/documentary All This and World War II.[46]

The next album, Children of the World released in September 1976, was drenched in Barry's new-found falsetto and Weaver's synthesizer disco licks. Mardin was unavailable to produce, so the Bee Gees enlisted Albhy Galuten and Karl Richardson, who had worked with Mardin during the Main Course sessions. This production team would carry the Bee Gees through the rest of the 1970s.

The first single from the album was "You Should Be Dancing" (which features percussion work by musician Stephen Stills[47]). The song pushed the Bee Gees to a level of stardom they had not previously achieved in the US, though their new R&B/disco sound was not as popular with some die hard fans. The pop ballad "Love So Right" reached No. 3 in the US, and "Boogie Child" reached US No. 12 in January 1977.[48] The album peaked at No. 8 in the US.[49]

A compilation Bee Gees Gold was released in November, containing the group's hits from 1967-1972.

Following a successful live album, Here at Last... Bee Gees... Live, the Bee Gees agreed with Stigwood to participate in the creation of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. It would be the turning point of their career. The cultural impact of both the film and the soundtrack was seismic throughout the world, prolonging the disco scene's mainstream appeal.

The band's involvement in the film did not begin until post-production. As John Travolta asserted, "The Bee Gees weren't even involved in the movie in the beginning ... I was dancing to Stevie Wonder and Boz Scaggs."[50] Producer Robert Stigwood commissioned the Bee Gees to create the songs for the film.[51] The brothers wrote the songs "virtually in a single weekend" at Château d'Hérouville studio in France.[50] Barry Gibb remembered the reaction when Stigwood and music supervisor Bill Oakes arrived and listened to the demos:

They flipped out and said these will be great. We still had no concept of the movie, except some kind of rough script that they'd brought with them ... You've got to remember, we were fairly dead in the water at that point, 1975, somewhere in that zone — the Bee Gees' sound was basically tired. We needed something new. We hadn't had a hit record in about three years. So we felt, Oh Jeez, that's it. That's our life span, like most groups in the late '60s. So, we had to find something. We didn't know what was going to happen.[50]

Bill Oakes, who supervised the soundtrack, asserts that Saturday Night Fever did not begin the disco craze; rather, it prolonged it: "Disco had run its course. These days, Fever is credited with kicking off the whole disco thingâ€”it really didn't. Truth is, it breathed new life into a genre that was actually dying."[50]

Three Bee Gees singles - "How Deep Is Your Love" (US No. 1, UK No. 3), "Stayin' Alive" (US No. 1, UK No. 4) and "Night Fever" (US No. 1, UK No. 1) - charted high in many countries around the world, launching the most popular period of the disco era.[25] They also penned the song "If I Can't Have You", which became a US No. 1 hit for Yvonne Elliman, while the Bee Gees' own version was the B-Side of "Stayin' Alive". Such was the popularity of Saturday Night Fever that two different versions of the song "More Than a Woman" received airplay, one by the Bee Gees, which was relegated to album track, and another by Tavares, which was the hit.

The Gibb sound was inescapable. During a nine-month period beginning in the Christmas season of 1977, seven songs written by the brothers held the No. 1 position on the US charts for 27 of 37 consecutive weeks: three of their own releases, two for brother Andy Gibb, the Yvonne Elliman single, and "Grease", performed by Frankie Valli.

Fuelled by the film's success, the soundtrack broke multiple industry records, becoming the highest-selling album in recording history to that point. With more than 40Â million copies sold, Saturday Night Fever is among music's top five best selling soundtrack albums. As of 2010, it is calculated as the 4th highest-selling album worldwide.[52]

In March 1978, the Bee Gees held the top 2 positions on the US Charts with "Night Fever" and "Stayin' Alive", the first time this had happened since the Beatles. On the US Billboard Hot 100 chart for 25 March 1978, five songs written by the Gibbs were in the US top 10 at the same time: "Night Fever", "Stayin' Alive", "If I Can't Have You", "Emotion" and "Love is Thicker Than Water". Such chart dominance had not been seen since April 1964, when the Beatles had all five of the top five American singles. Barry Gibb became the only songwriter to have four consecutive number one hits in the US, breaking the John Lennon and Paul McCartney 1964 record. These songs were "Stayin' Alive", "Love Is Thicker Than Water", "Night Fever" and "If I Can't Have You".

The Bee Gees won five Grammy Awards for Saturday Night Fever over two years: Album of the Year, Producer of the Year (with Albhy Galuten and Karl Richardson), two awards for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals (one in 1978 for "How Deep Is Your Love" and one in 1979 for "Stayin' Alive"), and Best Vocal Arrangement for Two or More Voices for "Stayin' Alive".

During this era, Barry and Robin also wrote "Emotion" for an old friend, Australian vocalist Samantha Sang, who made it a Top 10 hit, with the Bee Gees singing backing vocals. Barry also wrote the title song to the film version of the Broadway musical Grease for Frankie Valli to perform, which went to No. 1.

The Bee Gees' younger brother Andy now followed his older siblings into a music career and enjoyed considerable success. Produced by Barry, Andy Gibb's first three singles all topped the US charts.

The Bee Gees also co-starred with Peter Frampton in Robert Stigwood's film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978), loosely inspired by the classic 1967 album by The Beatles. The movie had been heavily promoted prior to release and was expected to enjoy great commercial success. However, it was savaged by the movie critics as a disjointed mess and ignored by the public. Though some of its tracks charted, the soundtrack too was a high-profile flop. The single "Oh! Darling", credited to Robin Gibb, reached No. 15 in the US.

The Bee Gees' follow-up to Saturday Night Fever was the Spirits Having Flown album. It yielded three more hits: "Too Much Heaven" (US No. 1, UK No. 3), "Tragedy" (US No. 1, UK No. 1), and "Love You Inside Out" (US No. 1).[25] This gave the act six consecutive No. 1 singles in the US within a year and a half, equalling the Beatles and surpassed only by Whitney Houston.[53]

In January 1979, the Bee Gees performed "Too Much Heaven" as their contribution to the Music for UNICEF Concert at the United Nations General Assembly, a benefit organised by the Bee Gees, Robert Stigwood, and David Frost for UNICEF that was broadcast worldwide. The brothers donated the royalties from the song to the charity. Up to 2007, this song has earned over $11Â million for UNICEF.

During the summer of 1979, the Bee Gees embarked on their largest concert tour covering the US and Canada. The Spirits Having Flown tour capitalised on Bee Gees fever that was sweeping the nation, with sold out concerts in 38 cities. The Bee Gees produced a video for the title track "Too Much Heaven", directed by Miami-based filmmaker Martin Pitts and produced by Charles Allen. With this video, Pitts and Allen began a long association with the brothers.

The Bee Gees even had a country hit in 1979 with "Rest Your Love on Me", the flip side of their pop hit "Too Much Heaven", which made Top 40 on the country charts. It was also a 1981 hit for Conway Twitty topping the country music charts.[54]

The Bee Gees' overwhelming success rose and fell with the disco bubble. By the end of 1979, disco was rapidly declining in popularity, and the backlash against disco put the Bee Gees' American career in a tailspin. Radio stations around the US began promoting "Bee Gee-Free Weekends". Following their remarkable run from 1975 to 1979, the act would have only one more Top 10 single in the US, and that would not come until 1989.

Barry Gibb considered the success of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack both a blessing and a curse:

Fever was No. 1 every weekÂ ... It wasn't just like a hit album. It was No. 1 every single week for 25 weeks. It was just an amazing, crazy, extraordinary time. I remember not being able to answer the phone, and I remember people climbing over my walls. I was quite grateful when it stopped. It was too unreal. In the long run, your life is better if it's not like that on a constant basis. Nice though it was.[50]

Robin co-produced Jimmy Ruffin's Sunrise released in May 1980, but the songs were started in 1979; the album contains songs written by the Gibb brothers.[55]

In March 1980, Barry Gibb worked with Barbra Streisand on her album Guilty. He co-produced, and wrote or co-wrote all nine of the album's tracks (four of them written with Robin, and the title track with both Robin and Maurice). Barry also appeared on the album's cover with Streisand and duetted with her on two tracks. The album reached No. 1 in both the US and the UK, as did the single "Woman in Love" (written by Barry and Robin), becoming Streisand's most successful single and album to date. Both of the Streisand/Gibb duets, "Guilty" and "What Kind of Fool", also reached the US Top 10.

In October, the Bee Gees regrouped to record songs that would go on to their upcoming album, but it wasn't continued, and Weaver, Kendall (who returned in 1987), and Bryon left the group. The brothers later recruited some studio musicians.

In 1981, the Bee Gees released the album Living Eyes, their last full-length album release on RSO. This album was the first CD ever played in public, when it was played to viewers of the BBC show Tomorrow's World.[56] With the disco backlash still running strong, the album failed to make the UK or US Top 40—breaking their streak of Top 40 hits, which started in 1975 with "Jive Talkin'". Two singles from the album fared little better—"He's a Liar", which reached No. 30 in the US, and "Living Eyes", which reached No. 45.

In 1982, Dionne Warwick enjoyed a UK No. 2 and US Adult Contemporary No. 1 hit with her comeback single, "Heartbreaker", taken from her eponymous album written largely by the Bee Gees and co-produced by Barry Gibb. The album reached No. 3 in the UK and the Top 30 in the US, where it was certified Gold.

A year later, Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers recorded the Bee Gees-penned track "Islands in the Stream", which became a US No. 1 hit and entered the Top 10 in the UK. Rogers' 1983 album, Eyes That See in the Dark, was written entirely by the Bee Gees and co-produced by Barry. The album was a Top 10 hit in the US and was certified Double Platinum.

The Bee Gees had greater success with the soundtrack to Staying Alive in 1983, the sequel to Saturday Night Fever. The soundtrack was certified platinum in the US, and included their Top 30 hit "The Woman in You".

Also in 1983, the band was sued by Chicago songwriter Ronald Selle, who claimed the brothers stole melodic material from one of his songs, "Let It End", and used it in "How Deep Is Your Love". At first, the Bee Gees lost the case; one juror said that a factor in the jury's decision was the Gibbs' failure to introduce expert testimony rebutting the plaintiff's expert testimony that it was "impossible" for the two songs to have been written independently. However, the verdict was overturned a few months later.[57]

In August 1983, Barry signed a solo deal with MCA Records and spent much of late 1983 and 1984 writing songs for this first solo effort, Now Voyager.[58] Robin released three solo albums in the '80s, How Old Are You?, Secret Agent and Walls Have Eyes. And Maurice released his second single to date, "Hold Her in Your Hand", for the first time since 1970.

In 1985, Diana Ross released the album Eaten Alive, written by the Bee Gees, with the title track co-written with Michael Jackson (who also performed on the track). The album was again co-produced by Barry Gibb, and the single "Chain Reaction" gave Ross a UK and Australian No. 1 hit.

The Bee Gees released the album E.S.P. in 1987, which sold over 3Â million copies. It was their first album in six years, and their first for Warner Bros. Records. The single "You Win Again" went to No. 1 in numerous countries, including the UK,[59] and made the Bee Gees the first group to score a UK No. 1 hit in each of three decades: the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.[60] The single was a disappointment in the US, charting at No. 75, and the Bee Gees voiced their frustration over American radio stations' not playing their new European hit single, an omission which the group felt led to poor sales of their current album in the US. The song won the Bee Gees the 1987 British Academy's Ivor Novello award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically, and in February 1988 the band received a Brit Award nomination for Best British Group.[61][62]

On 10 March 1988, younger brother Andy died, aged 30, as a result of myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle due to a recent viral infection. His brothers acknowledge that Andy's past drug and alcohol use probably made his heart more susceptible to this illness. Just before Andy's death, the brothers had decided that Andy would join them, which would have made them a four-member group. Instead, the Bee Gees got together with Eric Clapton to create a group called 'the Bunburys' to raise money for English charities. The group recorded three songs for The Bunbury Tails: “We’re the Bunburys”, “Bunbury Afternoon”, and “Fight (No Matter How Long)”. The last song reached No. 8 on the rock music chart and appeared on The 1988 Summer Olympics Album.[63] The Bee Gees' following album, One (1989), featured a song dedicated to Andy, "Wish You Were Here". The album also contained their first US Top 10 hit (No. 7) in a decade, "One" (an Adult Contemporary No. 1). After the album's release, the band embarked on its first world tour in 10 years.

In 1990, Polydor Records issued the box set Tales from the Brothers Gibb: A History in Song, which contains all singles released (except 1981's "Living Eyes"), rare B-sides, unreleased tracks, solo material and live performances. Many songs received new stereo mixes by Bill Inglot, and some songs made their CD debut. At the time of its release, Tales was one of the first box sets issued in the music business, and it was considered an honour for a group to have one.

In the UK, Polydor issued a single disc hits collection from Tales called The Very Best of the Bee Gees, which contained their biggest UK hits. The album became one of their best selling albums in that country, and was eventually certified Triple Platinum.

Following their next album, High Civilization (1991), which contained the UK top five hit "Secret Love", the Bee Gees went on a European tour. After the tour, Barry Gibb began to battle a serious back problem, which required surgery. In addition, he suffered from arthritis, which at one point was so severe that it was doubtful that he would be able to play guitar for much longer. Also in the early 1990s, Maurice Gibb finally sought treatment for his alcoholism, which he had battled for many years with the help of Alcoholics Anonymous.

In 1993, the group returned to the Polydor label and released the album Size Isn't Everything, which contained the UK top five hit "For Whom the Bell Tolls". Success still eluded them in the US, however, as the first single released, "Paying the Price of Love", only managed to reach No. 74 on the Billboard Hot 100, while the parent album stalled at No. 153.

In 1997, they released the album Still Waters, which sold over four million copies and reached No.2 in the UK (their highest album chart position there since 1979) and No.11 in the US. The album's first single, "Alone", gave them another UK Top 5 hit and a top 30 hit in the US. Still Waters would be the band's most successful US release of their post-RSO era.

At the 1997 BRIT Awards held in Earls Court, London on 24 February, the Bee Gees received the award for Outstanding Contribution to Music.[64] On 14 November 1997, the Bee Gees performed a live concert in Las Vegas called One Night Only. The show included a performance of "Our Love (Don't Throw It All Away)" synchronised with a vocal by their deceased brother Andy and a cameo appearance by Celine Dion singing "Immortality". The CD of the performance sold over 5 million copies. The "One Night Only" name grew out of the band's declaration that, due to Barry's health issues, the Las Vegas show was to be the final live performance of their career. After the immensely positive audience response to the Vegas concert, Barry decided to continue despite the pain, and the concert expanded into their last full-blown world tour of "One Night Only" concerts.[24][page needed] The tour included playing to 56,000 people at London's Wembley Stadium on 5 September 1998 and concluded in the newly built Olympic Stadium in Sydney, Australia on 27 March 1999 to 72,000 people.[24][page needed]

In 1998, the group's soundtrack for Saturday Night Fever was incorporated into a stage production produced first in the West End and then on Broadway. They wrote three new songs for the adaptation. Also in 1998 the brothers recorded Ellan Vannin for Manx charities. Known as the unofficial national anthem of the Isle of Man, the brothers performed the song during their world tour to reflect their pride in the place of their birth.[65]

The Bee Gees closed the decade with what turned out to be their last full-sized concert, known as BG2K, on 31 December 1999.

In 2001, the group released what turned out to be their final album of new material as a group, This Is Where I Came In. The album was another success, reaching the Top 10 in the UK (being certified Gold), and the Top 20 in the US. The title track was also a UK Top 20 hit single. The album gave each member of the group a chance to write in his own way, as well as composing songs together. For example, Maurice's compositions and leads are the "Man in the Middle" and "Walking on Air", while Robin contributed "Déjà Vu", "Promise the Earth", and "Embrace", and Barry contributed "Loose Talk Costs Lives", "Technicolour Dreams" and "Voice in the Wilderness". The other songs are collaborative in writing and vocals. They performed many tracks from This Is Where I Came In, plus many of their biggest hits, on the live televised concert series Live by Request, shown on the A&E Network. The last concert of the Bee Gees as a trio was at the Love and Hope Ball in 2002.

Maurice, who had been the musical director of the Bee Gees during their final years as a group, died unexpectedly on 12 January 2003, at age 53, from a heart attack, while awaiting emergency surgery to repair a strangulated intestine.[66] Initially, his surviving brothers announced that they intended to carry on the name "Bee Gees" in his memory, but as time passed they decided to retire the group's name, leaving it to represent the three brothers together.[67]

The same week that Maurice died, Robin's solo album Magnet was released. On 23 February 2003, the Bee Gees received the Grammy Legend Award, they also became the first recipients of that award in the 21st century. Barry and Robin accepted as well as Maurice's son, Adam, in a tearful ceremony.[68]

Although there was talk of a memorial concert featuring both surviving brothers and invited guests,[69] nothing materialised. Barry and Robin continued to work independently, and both released recordings with other artists, occasionally coming together to perform at special events.

In late 2004, Robin embarked on a solo tour of Germany, Russia and Asia. During January 2005, Barry, Robin and several legendary rock artists recorded "Grief Never Grows Old", the official tsunami relief record for the Disasters Emergency Committee. Later that year, Barry reunited with Barbra Streisand for her top-selling album Guilty Pleasures, released as Guilty Too in the UK as a sequel album to the previous Guilty. Robin continued touring in Europe. Also in 2004, Barry recorded his song "I Cannot Give You My Love" with Cliff Richard, which became a UK top 20 hit single.[70]

In February 2006, Barry and Robin reunited on stage for a Miami charity concert to benefit the Diabetes Research Institute. It was their first public performance together since Maurice's death. The pair also played at the 30th annual Prince's Trust Concert in the UK on 20 May 2006.[71] In October 2008, Robin performed a couple of songs in London as part of the BBC Electric Proms Saturday Night Fever performance. This involved various other performers and the BBC Concert Orchestra, and was screened on the BBC and BBC interactive services.

In an interview with Easy Mix radio host Tim Roxborough on 1 September 2009, Barry's 63rd birthday, Barry commented on future tours saying that "they will be back"; but in an agreement with Warner/Rhino they would not make an announcement at that time.[72][73] On 7 September 2009, Robin disclosed to Jonathan Agnew that he had been in touch with Barry and that they had agreed that the Bee Gees would re-form and "perform again".[74]

Barry and Robin performed on the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing on 31 October 2009[75] and appeared on ABC-TV's Dancing with the Stars on 17 November 2009.[76] On 15 March 2010, Barry and Robin inducted the Swedish group ABBA into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.[77] On 26 May 2010, the two made a surprise appearance on the ninth-season finale of American Idol.

On 20 November 2011 it was announced that Robin Gibb, at 61 years old, had been diagnosed with liver cancer, a condition he had become aware of several months earlier. He had become noticeably thinner in previous months and had to cancel several appearances due to issues with severe abdominal pain.[78]

On 13 February 2012, Robin joined British military trio the Soldiers for the Coming Home charity concert at the London Palladium, in support of injured servicemen. It was his first public appearance for almost five months and his final.[79]

On 14 April 2012, it was reported that Robin had contracted pneumonia[80] in a Chelsea hospital and was in a coma.[81] Although he came out of his coma on 20 April 2012, his condition deteriorated rapidly,[82] and he died on 20 May 2012 of liver and kidney failure.[83] With Robin's death, Barry became the last surviving Gibb brother, and the Bee Gees dissolved as a musical group.

In September and October 2013, Barry performed his first solo tour "in honour of his brothers and a lifetime of music". In addition to the Rhino collection, The Studio Albums: 1967–1968, Warner Bros. released a box set in 2014 called The Warner Bros Years: 1987–1991 that included the studio albums E.S.P., One and High Civilisation as well as extended mixes and B-sides. It also included the band's entire 1989 concert in Melbourne, Australia, available only on video as "All For One" prior to this release.[84] The documentary The Joy of the Bee Gees is aired on BBC Four on 19 December 2014.[85][86]

In 2015, 13STAR Records released a box set 1974â€“1979 by March 23 which included the studio albums Mr. Natural, Main Course, Children of the World and Spirits Having Flown. A fifth disc called The Miami Years includes all the tracks from Saturday Night Fever as well as B-Sides. No unreleased tracks from the era were included.[87]

After a hiatus from performing, Barry Gibb returned to solo and guest singing performances. He occasionally appears with his son, Steve Gibb, who declined to use the Bee Gees brand mainly because of his much more different style.[88] In 2016, he released In the Now, his first solo effort since 1984's Now Voyager. It was the first release of new Bee Gees-related music since the posthumous release of Robin Gibb's 50 St. Catherine's Drive. The Bee Gees have signed a new distribution deal with Capitol Records, bringing them back to Universal.[89]

The Bee Gees were influenced by the Beatles, the Everly Brothers, the Mills Brothers, Elvis Presley, the Rolling Stones,[90][91] Roy Orbison[92] the Beach Boys[93] and Stevie Wonder.[94] On the 2014 documentary The Joy of the Bee Gees, Barry claimed that the Bee Gees were also influenced by the Hollies and Otis Redding.[95][96]

Brian May of Queen said: "Of course I was, and am a huge fan of the Bee Gees' creations in music. Undoubtedly at the pinnacle of song-writing considered over the last—30 years, is it?! My fondest recollections are not of the SNF days, which were really a re-birth in the Bee Gees' popularity, but the early ground-breaking songs ... I remember singing these [songs] with my pal Tim Staffell [of Smile] and Freddie [Mercury] in the real old days." May also praised the song "You Win Again" as one of the greatest songs of the '80s.[97]

In his 1980 Playboy magazine interview, John Lennon praised the Bee Gees, "Try to tell the kids in the seventies who were screaming to the Bee Gees that their music was just the Beatles redone. There is nothing wrong with the Bee Gees. They do a damn good job. There was nothing else going on then".[98]

Michael Jackson, who was also influenced by the Bee Gees said, "I cried listening to their music. I knew every note, every instrument".

Paul McCartney recalled, "It was the 'Mining Disaster' song that Robert Stigwood played me, I said'sign them, they're great'".[97]

Ringo Starr said, "The Bee Gees from our era were quite important, especially the harmonies."[97]

In a 2007 interview with Duane Hitchings, who co-wrote Rod Stewart's 1978 disco song "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?", noted that the song was:[99]

"a spoof on guys from the 'cocaine lounge lizards' of the Saturday Night Fever days. We Rock and Roll guys thought we were dead meat when that movie and the Bee Gees came out. The Bee Gees were brilliant musicians and really nice people. No big egos. Rod, in his brilliance, decided to do a spoof on disco. VERY smart man. There is no such thing as a "dumb" super success in the music business."[99]

Kevin Parker of Tame Impala has said that listening to the Bee Gees after taking mushrooms inspired him to change the sound of the music he was making in his album Currents.[100]

Barry Gibb once said: "When we first came out, Jimi Hendrix said we were two-year old Beatles. He was just giving an opinion at the time. People just like to have go at other artists. But we are very good friends with Jimi now". Years later, Gibb recalled: "He was a great mate of mine. He came to my twenty-first birthday. He was an extremely polite bloke. I never knew about the drugs then. I thought he was acting a bit weird and saying kind of remote things, but I was too naive to even consider that it might be drugs, I never caught on with Jimi and the drugs. I saw him drunk a few times because I remember thinking he was always really quiet until he had a few drinks"..[101]

The English indie rock band the Cribs was also influenced by the Bee Gees. Cribs member Ryan Jarman said: "It must have had quite a big influence on us â€“ pop melodies is something we always revert to. I always want to get back to pop melodies and I'm sure that's due to that Bee Gees phase we went through".[102]

Following Robin's death on 20 May 2012, Beyoncé remarked: "The Bee Gees were an early inspiration for me, Kelly Rowland and Michelle. We loved their songwriting and beautiful harmonies. Recording their classic song, 'Emotion' was a special time for Destiny's Child. Sadly we lost Robin Gibb this week. My heart goes out to his brother Barry and the rest of his family.[103]

Singer Jordin Sparks remarked that her favorite Bee Gees songs are "Too Much Heaven", "Emotion" (although performed by Samantha Sang with Barry on the background vocals using his falsetto), and "Stayin' Alive".[104]

Carrie Underwood said, about discovering the Bee Gees during her childhood, "My parents listened to the Bee Gees quite a bit when I was little, so I was definitely exposed to them at an early age. They just had a sound that was all their own, obviously, [it was] never duplicated".[104]

Other artists who were influenced by the Bee Gees include: The Pet Shop Boys, George Michael, Billy Joel, Paul Simon of Simon & Garfunkel, David Bowie, Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, Debbie Harry of Blondie, Madonna, Andy Bell of Beady Eye, Noel Gallagher and Elton John.[105] The electropop/synth-pop band Hyperbubble even released a dedicated EP, Christmas with The Bee Gees.

The Bee Gees have sold in excess of 220Â million records worldwide.[2][106]

At one point in 1978, the Gibb brothers were responsible for writing and/or performing nine of the songs in the Billboard Hot 100.[108] In all, the Gibbs placed 13 singles onto the Hot 100 in 1978, with 12 making the Top 40. The Gibb brothers are fellows of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA).[109] At least 2,500 artists have recorded their songs.[110]

Singer-songwriter Gavin DeGraw spoke to the Bee Gees' influence with their own music as well as their songwriting:

"Let's talk about the Bee Gees. That's an iconic group. Not just a great band, but a great group of songwriters. Even long after the Bee Gees' success on the pop charts, they were still writing songs for other people, huge hit songs. Their talent went far beyond their moment of normal pop success. It is a loss to the music industry and a loss of an iconic group. The beauty of this industry is that we do pay tribute and every artist coming up is a fan of a generation prior to it, so there's a real tradition element to it".[104]

Among the artists who have covered their songs are Michael Bolton, Boyzone, Eric Clapton, Billy Corgan, Destiny's Child, Faith No More, the Flaming Lips, John Frusciante, Al Green, Engelbert Humperdinck, Elton John, Tom Jones, Janis Joplin, Demi Lovato, Lulu, N-Trance, the Pet Shop Boys, Elvis Presley, Nina Simone, Percy Sledge, Robert Smith, Status Quo, Steps and Take That.

In 2009, as part of the Q150 celebrations, the Bee Gees were announced as one of the Q150 Icons of Queensland for their role as "Influential Artists".[111]

In October 1999 the Isle of Man Post Office unveiled a set of 6 stamps honouring their native sons' music. The official launch took place at the London Palladium where the stage show of Saturday Night Fever was playing. A similar launch was held in New York shortly after to coincide with the show opening across the Atlantic. The songs depicted on the stamps are "Massachusetts", "Words", "I've Gotta Get A Message To You", "Night Fever", "Stayin' Alive" and "Immortality".

In 1978, following the success of Saturday Night Fever, and the single "Night Fever" in particular, Reubin Askew, the Governor of the US state of Florida, named the Bee Gees honorary citizens of the state, since they resided in Miami at the time.[112] In 1979, the Bee Gees got their star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. They were inducted in 1994 on the Songwriters Hall of Fame, as well as Florida's Artists Hall of Fame in 1995, ARIA Hall of Fame in 1997. Also in 1997, the Bee Gees were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2001, they were inducted on the Vocal Group Hall of Fame.[113] After Maurice's death, the Bee Gees inducted in Dance Music Hall of Fame in 2001, London's Walk of Fame in 2006 and Musically Speaking Hall Of Fame in 2008. And on 15 May 2007, the Bee Gees were named BMI Icons at the 55th annual BMI Pop Awards. Collectively, Barry, Maurice and Robin Gibb have earned 109 BMI Pop, Country and Latin Awards.[114]

All three brothers (including Maurice, posthumously) were appointed Commanders in the Order of the British Empire in December 2001 with the ceremony taking place at Buckingham Palace on 27 May 2004.[115][116] On 10 July 2009, the Isle of Man's capital bestowed the Freedom of the Borough of Douglas honour on Barry and Robin, as well as posthumously on Maurice.[117] On 20 November 2009, the Douglas Borough Council released a limited edition commemorative DVD to mark their naming as Freemen of the Borough.[118]

On 14 February 2013, Barry Gibb unveiled a statue of the Bee Gees, as well as unveiling "Bee Gees Way" (a walkway filled with photos of the Bee Gees), in honour of the Bee Gees in Redcliffe, Queensland, Australia.[119][120][121][122]

Barry Gibb played rhythm guitar. During the early 1970s, Robin Gibb played piano and violin occasionally, after which, he only played strings and keyboards privately. Maurice Gibb played bass guitar, acoustic guitar, lead guitar, harmonica, piano, organ, mellotron, keyboard, synthesizer and drums. From 1966 to 1972 he played multiple instruments on many records. During the late 1970s he played mainly bass guitar. From about 1986 onward he usually played keyboards and guitars. Maurice was credited by the brothers as being the most technologically savvy member of the band.

These musicians were considered members of the band:[130][131][132]

Soundtracks Saturday Night Fever (1977) and Staying Alive (1983) contain music not released on their original albums. All their officially released albums included on this list; A Kick in the Head Is Worth Eight in the Pants have not been included on the list because it only appeared on numerous bootlegs and was not officially released.

The Gibbs gained ownership rights[when?] to their back catalogue, returning distribution rights to Warner Music Group (which had purchased Atco), where they subsequently reissued digitally remastered versions of Saturday Night Fever, their later Bee Gees Greatest album, and a new boxed set: The Studio Albums: 1967â€“1968 under the Reprise Records/Rhino Records labels.

Additionally, more recent titles such as Still Waters and This Is Where I Came In were among the first batch of re-releases. The band's three Warner Bros. releases, E. S. P., One and High Civilisation were also made available on iTunes for the first time since the albums went out of print in North America in the mid-90s. According to Robin Gibb's website, three more reissues were planned for the 2008 holiday season: Best of Bee Gees, Best of Bee Gees, Volume 2 and Love Songs. The double album Odessa was released on 13 January 2009 in a special 3-disc deluxe edition complete with the original red velvet cover with remastered stereo and mono versions of the album as well as alternate versions and unreleased tracks.

Since the remastered release of Odessa, Rhino has stopped reissuing original Bee Gees albums and there has not been any announcement as to when the remaining albums will be remastered. In December, 2016, Capitol Records assumed distribution rights for the entire Bee Gees catalog.

Ellan Vannin was recorded in 1997 as a 1,000 quantity limited edition single for Isle of Man charities. The song was featured in the Bee Gees World Tour and on ITV's "An Evening WithÂ ..." but to date has not been released generally. The single was subsequently also available as part of the 1999 Bee Gees Stamp issue.

In conjunction with the 50th anniversary of the Bee Gees (when they started calling themselves "Bee Gees" in 1959), Rhino Records have released two new collections. Mythology is a four-disc collection highlighting each brother, including Andy, with tracks personally selected by Barry, Robin, Maurice's wife Yvonne (with his children Adam and Samantha), and Andy's daughter Peta. Maurice's disc contains two unreleased tracks called "Angel of Mercy" and "The Bridge". Andy's disc contains the unreleased track "Arrow Through The Heart". Mythology also features a scrapbook of family photos, many never-before published, along with tributes from artists such as George Martin, Brian Wilson, Elton John, Graham Nash and the band's longtime manager Robert Stigwood.

The second collection, The Ultimate Bee Gees, is a more modest two-disc 40-track collection highlighting their biggest hits and includes a bonus DVD of unreleased videos, previously unreleased television appearances, live performances and promo videos. Each disc is themed, with the first disc being the more upbeat songs called "A Night Out" and the second disc being more ballad-focused called "A Night In".[133]


when was the first televised college football game

College football games have been broadcast since 1939, beginning with the 1939 Waynesburg vs. Fordham football game on September 30 in New York City.[1] College football telecasts were historically very restricted due to there being only three major television networks and also because the NCAA controlled all television rights and limited the number of games that aired to protect attendance. A 1984 ruling declaring the NCAA's television restrictions illegal, along with the introduction of sports-specific television networks has increased the amount of air-time available for coverage. Today, dozens of games are available for viewing each week of the football season. Other coverage includes local broadcasts of weekly coach's programs. These programs have become an important sources of revenue for the universities and their athletics programs.

College football on television

College football on television includes the broad- and cablecasting of college football games, as well as pre- and post-game reports, analysis, and human-interest stories. Within the United States, the college version of American football annually garners high television ratings.

Coverage is dependent on negotiations between the broadcaster and the college football conference or team. The televised games may change from year-to-year depending on which teams are having a strong season, although some traditional rivalry games are broadcast each year. Some games are traditionally associated with a specific event or holiday, and viewing the game itself can become a holiday tradition for fans. Post-season bowl games, including the College Football Playoff, are presently all televised, most of them by the ESPN networks.[2]

Universities found to have seriously violated NCAA rules have occasionally been penalized with a "television ban"; the effect can equal that of the "death penalty". The sanction is rarely applied except for the most egregious of circumstances, such as the Southern Methodist University football scandal.

College football games have been broadcast on radio since 1921, beginning with the 1921 West Virginia vs. Pittsburgh football game on October 8 in Pittsburgh.[3]

Prior to that, various other means of communication were used. For example, in 1911, more than 1,000 people gathered in downtown Lawrence, Kansas, to watch a mechanical reproduction of the 1911 Kansas vs. Missouri football game while it was being played. A Western Union telegraph wire was set up direct from Columbia, Missouri, to relay the action.[4]

The first televised college football game occurred during the "experimental" era of television's broadcasting history, when a game between Fordham University and Waynesburg College was broadcast on September 30, 1939.[1] One month later, Kansas State's homecoming contest against the University of Nebraska was the first homecoming game to be broadcast on October 23, 1939.[5][6] The following season, on October 5, 1940, what is described as the "first commercially televised game" between the University of Maryland and the University of Pennsylvania was broadcast by Philco. Fairly sporadic broadcasts continued throughout World War II.

By 1950, a small number of football schools, including Penn (ABC) and the University of Notre Dame (DuMont Television Network), had entered into individual contracts with networks to broadcast their games regionally. In fact, all of Penn's home games were broadcast on ABC during the 1950 season under a contract that paid Penn $150,000. However, prior to the 1951 season, the NCAA – alarmed by reports that indicated television decreased attendance at games – asserted control and prohibited live broadcasts of games. Although the NCAA successfully forced Penn and Notre Dame to break their contracts, the NCAA suffered withering attacks for its 1951 policy, faced threats of antitrust hearings, and eventually caved in and lifted blackouts of certain sold-out games. Nonetheless, the first national broadcast of a live college football game, which was also the first coast-to-coast live broadcast of any sports contest, was Duke at the University of Pittsburgh on September 29, 1951 on NBC.[7][dubious – discuss] Bowl games were always outside the control of the NCAA, and the 1952 Rose Bowl at the end of that season was the first national telecast of a college bowl game, on NBC.[8]

For the 1952 season, the NCAA relented somewhat, but limited telecasts to one nationally-broadcast game each week[9]. The NCAA sold the exclusive rights to broadcast the weekly game to NBC for $1,144,000. The first game shown under this contract was Texas Christian University against the University of Kansas, on September 20, 1952. In 1953, the NCAA allowed NBC to add what it called "panorama" coverage of multiple regional broadcasts for certain weeks – shifting national viewers to the most interesting game during its telecast.[10] NBC lost the college football contract beginning in 1954, prompting it to carry Canadian football instead. There were some attempts at workarounds during this time frame; ABC Sports ran some Notre Dame Fighting Irish football games, condensed to remove time between plays and featuring Harry Wismer at the microphone, in fall 1953. The Notre Dame games were filmed and broadcast the night after they were played; the service would not continue beyond that year.

The NCAA believed that broadcasting one game a week would prevent further controversy while limiting any decrease in attendance. However, the Big Ten Conference was unhappy with the arrangement, and it pressured the NCAA to allow regional telecasts as well. Finally, in 1955 the NCAA revised its plan, keeping eight national games while permitting true regional telecasts during five specified weeks of the season. This was essentially the television plan that stayed in place until the University of Oklahoma and the University of Georgia filed suit against the NCAA in 1981, alleging antitrust violations.

Bowl games were always exempt from the NCAA's television regulations, and the games' organizers were free to sign rights deals with any network. Mizlou Television Network, for instance, carried many of the bowl games (mostly lower-end bowls) despite not holding any regular season rights.

On June 27, 1984, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in NCAA v. Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma that the NCAA's television plan violated the Sherman Antitrust Act. As a result, individual schools and athletic conferences were freed to negotiate contracts on their own behalf. The year after the Supreme Court decision, nearly 200 games were televised, compared to the previous year's 89.[11] College football's television ratings slumped due to market saturation, and the price of a 30-second advertisement plunged from $57,000 in 1983 to $15,000 in 1984, while the combined take from network television fell more than 60 percent.[12] Despite the monetary suffering of the universities, the additional coverage had a positive impact for fans of college football. "Everyone talks about money, but no one seems to care about the football fan. He is the one who benefited from deregulation. And he isnâ€™t complaining", said Chuck Neinas, the former commissioner of the Big Eight Conference.[13] Together with the growth of cable television, this ruling resulted in the explosion of broadcast options currently available.

However, in the immediate wake of the ruling, most schools still decided to jointly negotiate their television contracts through the now-defunct College Football Association.[14] The Big Ten Conference and Pacific-10 Conference were not members of the CFA, opting to negotiate their own TV deals.[14]

Television exposure has been used as a selling point in recruiting high school athletes. "We’re recruiting all over the country, and it's nice to be able to go in someone's home and say, ‘You can turn on the TV and watch the Buckeyes six to eight times a year", said former Ohio State head coach John Cooper.[13]

Television money and generous donors have allowed universities to provide modern facilities and luxurious amenities to college football teams. The Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium at the University of Texas offers fans the opportunity to lease suites for $88,000 a year. The suites include theater-style seats, televisions, kitchenettes, and bars. The athletes ride to practice in chartered buses and dress beneath a three-dimensional 20-foot lighted longhorn in a locker room that includes a nutrition center, players’ lounge, and "state-of-the-art" ventilation system.[15]

Nationally televised games also brought new notoriety, revenue, and growth for leagues that had rarely appeared on television. As the cable networks grew and expanded, they sought more games to fill time. Former Mid-American Conference (MAC) Commissioner Rick Chryst attributes his league's expansion to a deal that put several MAC games per year on ESPN.[13]

In the 1950s, conventional wisdom suggested that television allowed football fans to watch their favorite teams for free from the comfort of their own homes, and this was to blame for falling attendance. A 1948 study conducted by the Crossley Corporation at the NCAA's request found that fans thought watching televised games was equal or superior to watching from the stands. In 1950, a study by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago said that attendance at college football games would have been 40 percent higher if no games had been televised.[16] In the long term, the publicity provided by college football telecasts helped to give the sport exposure to potential ticket buyers, increasing ticket sales. The popularity of televised college football has been accompanied by a growth in game attendance. In 1949, when the U.S. population was around 150 million, 17.5 million spectators attended a college football game.[17] By 2012, after the population had doubled, attendance had grown proportionally higher, at nearly 50 million people.[18]

When Notre Dame left the CFA to sign an exclusive deal with NBC in 1991, it shocked the college football world and marked the true beginning of the modern era.[19] Even though Notre Dame would prove to be an outlier since no other individual school would secure a national television contract in the following years, by 1995, the CFA had fallen apart completely.

One of the most significant side-effects of the changes in television policy since 1991 has been the sharp decrease in independent schools and realignment of athletic conferences,[citation needed] as schools sought to pool and increase their bargaining power. Television has also driven the trend of universities (generally mid-majors) playing football on weekdays rather than the traditional Saturdays, in order to have their games broadcast.

The pursuit of television money has provided financial independence to many big-time university athletic programs, since they can independently auction their "product" to the highest bidder. Some universities have limited authority over the athletic directors and coaches. In 2009, Florida President J. Bernard Machen said that due to the presence of ESPN money, the university no longer had control of its athletics department.[20] Studies have also shown that success of big-time sports programs alters studentsâ€™ academic behavior, reducing the amount of activity at the library and lowering men's grade point averages with each victory.[21]

Television and cable networks control the schedule of football games. ESPN broadcasts nationally televised college football games on Thursday nights each week, making it the college equivalent of the NFL's Monday Night Football.[22] The energy and excitement of such an atmosphere generally benefits the home teams, which have a winning record on Thursday nights.[23] The midweek games are scheduled with no consideration of academics, rest, and recovery for athletes and university logistical issues such as competition for parking between faculty, students, and fans.[24] For example, the logistical issues are such a problem for the University of Georgia that midweek home games are forbidden.[25] However, most coaches are happy to tackle the logistical issues for the sake of TV scheduling and money.

In the 2010s, networks began experimenting with new technologies to expand beyond the standard two-dimensional television system. ESPN 3D carried a number of games in 3D television during its lifetime, beginning in 2011 and ending with the channel's shutdown in 2013; a lack of 3D television adoption was blamed for the program's failure. Fox began a series of virtual reality broadcasts in 2016, which were made available to dedicated VR headsets and smartphones with stereoscopes.[26]

ABC has been airing college football since acquiring the NCAA contract in 1966. Chris Schenkel and Bud Wilkinson were the number one broadcast team through 1973. Keith Jackson, its best-known college football play-by-play man, announced games from 1966 through 2005 on ABC (and for 14 years before that for various outlets), and was considered by many to be "the voice of college football." Jackson was ABC's lead play-by play man for 25 years, from 1974 through 1998. He originally was to retire after the 1999 Fiesta Bowl, but agreed to remain on a more restricted schedule (primarily broadcasting West Coast games) and remained with ABC through the 2006 Rose Bowl.

In 1954, 1960 and 1961, and then from 1966 through 1981, ABC was the exclusive network home for regular season NCAA football telecasts. In 1982 and 1983, ABC and CBS split the package. In 1984, after the NCAA television contract was invalidated by the U.S. Supreme Court, ABC began a three-year deal televising CFA games, featuring most major college teams except members of the Big Ten and Pacific-10, the Atlantic Coast Conference and the University of Miami, the games of which were televised by CBS. From 1987 to 1990, ABC televised Big Ten and Pacific-10 games. Since 1991, ABC has had contracts with most of the major BCS conferences, which leads it to broadcast many of its games regionally. ABC began airing a weekly Saturday night primetime football game in the fall of 2006, when the network's sports division converted to ESPN on ABC. Nearly all regional ABC games that air on a given Saturday (and a very large number of other, exclusive games) are also available as part of a pay-per-view package called ESPN GamePlan, and online via ESPN3.

NBC broadcast the Rose Bowl beginning in 1952 until the 1988 Rose Bowl when ABC took over. It had the Orange Bowl from 1965 through 1995. (The 1971 contest held the distinction of being the very last sporting event on US television to carry cigarette ads.) NBC also aired the Fiesta Bowl from 1978 through 1995, and the Cotton Bowl from 1993 to 1995. NBC also contracted with the NCAA to broadcast regular season games in 1952–1953, 1955–1959 and 1964–1965.

NBC has an exclusive contract with Notre Dame, which began in 1991. Since that time, NBC has carried nationally all of Notre Dame's home games, paying at least $9 million per season for broadcast rights. Recently, Notre Dame's ratings have been down significantly due to relatively poor play and because NBC does not telecast a game every week as CBS and ABC do (when Notre Dame plays away, NBC has no college football, and thus the network has no set regular schedule); Notre Dame games on NBC drew less than half the ratings that CBS and ABC averaged for their college football games in 2008.[27] NBC was long the home of the annual "Bayou Classic" between Grambling State University and Southern University at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, but NBC has since moved the game to its NBCSN cable network. The game is well known for its Battle of the Bands between the schools at halftime.

CBS contracted with the NCAA to broadcast regular season games in 1962 and 1963. CBS shared the NCAA package with ABC in 1982 and 1983 and was also required to locally broadcast four Division III contests each year as part of that contract. (For the 1982 season, these four contests were instead aired nationwide and produced using the staff of the NFL on CBS, which had been idled due to a players' strike that year.) From 1984 to 1986, CBS televised games involving the Big Ten, Pacific-10, and Atlantic Coast Conferences, plus the University of Miami. From 1987 to 1990, CBS televised CFA, ACC and Miami games. CBS broadcast several important games in the 1980s, such as the classic Boston College–Miami game that ended with Doug Flutie's Hail Mary on November 23, 1984, and the "Catholics vs. Convicts" showdowns between Notre Dame and Miami from 1987 to 1990. CBS did not televise any regular season college football games from 1991 to 1995. The network aired Big East games from 1996–2000, and since 1996 has broadcast SEC games. CBS currently holds the right for the first pick for any game where an SEC team is at home, along with the rights to televise the SEC Championship game. The network also broadcasts the annual Army–Navy Game, the Navy–Notre Dame game in even-numbered years (where Navy is the home team and chooses to play in a larger stadium), the Air Force Academy's games vs. Army and Navy, and the Sun Bowl on New Year's Eve. CBS has broadcast the Sun Bowl (currently one of the few bowls not on an ESPN network) every year since 1968. From 1958 to 1992, CBS broadcast the Cotton Bowl annually. CBS aired the Fiesta Bowl from 1975 to 1977 and again after the 1995, 1996 and 1997 seasons, and also broadcast the Orange Bowl from 1996 to 1998.

Although its regional networks also air games, until 2012, Fox did not air any regular season college football games. It did, however, air the Bowl Championship Series from 2006 to 2009 (excluding any event held at the Rose Bowl, whose rights were held by ABC) and has aired the Cotton Bowl Classic since 1999. In 2011, it began airing the Big Ten Football Championship Game, and the Pac-12 Championship Game (alternating with ESPN).[28] In 2012, Fox began airing regular season college football games from the Pac-12 and Big 12 conferences.[29]

Beginning with the 2017 season, Fox will receive tier 1 rights for Big Ten regular season games, including the rights to the Michigan–Ohio State game.[30]

PBS briefly carried the Ivy League in the 1980s, produced by WGBH-TV Boston,[31] while many other state networks carried the games of their partner universities. Eventually, the airing of sports on public television became unworkable: most public television outlets operated under non-commercial educational licenses, which prohibited them from selling advertising, and the collection of retransmission consent violated the purpose of public television, to provide a free service in the public interest. As the cost of rights began to skyrocket, these stations lacked the necessary revenue streams to keep up with the commercial networks; independent public stations could not afford rights, and state-owned networks got shut out when the state universities opted to make more money by selling the rights (usually in conjunction with their athletic conferences) to commercial networks.

The America One television network, which has historically focused primarily on lower-end sports, held the broadcast rights to the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference, both in Division II. It did not usually broadcast those games on its linear channel; instead, America One offers the events through pay-per-view Internet television. America One also holds Internet rights to the Big Sky Conference. In 2015, America One merged with Youtoo TV to form Youtoo America, which carries no sports content, and the PSAC and RMAC broadcasts are now handled by the ESPN networks.

In addition, Raycom Sports, ESPN Plus and Sports Fever syndicate games to broadcast stations and regional sports networks on a market-by-market basis. Many conferences also run their own syndicated network. Included in these are the Sun Belt Conference and the Western Athletic Conference who run the Sun Belt Network and the WAC Sports Network.

Sinclair Broadcast Group, in 2014, launched the American Sports Network, which includes broadcasts of Division I FBS and FCS games across its properties. Conference USA, the Colonial Athletic Association, the Big South Conference, the Southern Conference, Southland Conference and Patriot League are part of ASN's package; the league also carries Mid-American Conference games through a sub-licensing deal with ESPN that allows Sinclair's local stations to carry their hometown college teams (for example, Buffalo Bulls college football is on Sinclair's WNYO). ASN was integrated into the multiplatform network Stadium in the 2017 offseason.

TBS became the first cable station to nationally broadcast college football live when it began airing games during the 1982 season. The games were aired under a special "supplemental" television contract with the NCAA.[32] ESPN followed later the same year, starting with a simulcast of the Independence Bowl match-up between Kansas State and the University of Wisconsin on December 11, 1982, which was the first college football game shown live on ESPN. (TBS subsequently left the field for several years, but again broadcast college football games from 2002â€“2006, showing Big 12 and Pac-10 matchups sublicensed from Fox Sports Net.)

In the wake of the 1984 Supreme Court ruling that broke the NCAA monopoly, ESPN immediately began airing regular season games live, starting with a contest between Pittsburgh and BYU on September 1, 1984.[33] The network aired a 48-game package that year.[34] ESPN2 began broadcasting live games in 1994, ESPNU began in 2005.

ABC gets first choice of games over the ESPN networks, especially from the American Athletic Conference, Big Ten, and ACC, because ABC and ESPN are owned by the same company. Many marquee games will still air on ESPN so they can air in prime-time, without being limited to regional viewers or GamePlan subscribers, but not giving non-cable owners a chance to see the games (unlike the NFL, games on ESPN are not required to be simulcast on over-the-air stations in local markets). This also occurs because CBS, not ABC, owns broadcast TV rights to the SEC, and thus only the ESPN networks can air the second and third-choice games (normally on Saturday nights); CBS having made the first pick. Likewise, FSN is the cable partner for Big 12 and Pac-12 games, and so only ABC can air games from those conference packages (it normally has the first pick), aside from a handful of games from each conference that ESPN purchases each year.

FSN sublicensed games to TBS from 2002–2006 from the Big 12 and Pac-10 Conferences and to Versus from 2007–2010. In 2011, FSN moved those games to FX. Joining the Big 12 and Pac-12 Conferences on FX will be Conference USA. Those games moved to Fox Sports 1 upon the channel's launch in 2013.

BET carried college football games from historically black colleges and universities under the Black College Football banner from 1981 through 2005 (in later years, the coverage was co-produced by CBS). This ended after the breakup of CBS and Viacom. Black college football games are now seen on the ESPN networks and on Aspire (Aspire also reruns select classic HBCU games from years past); Bounce TV had previously aired HBCU games in 2012 and 2013 before dropping them.

In the early 2000s, entire networks devoted to college sports, including college football, began to appear. Fox College Sports began in 2002. College Sports Television (now CBS Sports Network) debuted in 2002, becoming a CBS subsidiary in 2005. ESPNU began in March 2005. In the late 2000s, networks devoted to a single conference (e.g. Big Ten Network, MountainWest Sports Network) or team (Longhorn Network) began to appear.

Regional cable networks have long devoted coverage to one or two conferences. The Pac-12 and Big 12 have had deals with FSN since 1996, which airs games on its regional family of networks. As noted above, Fox Sports 1 and ESPN have also acquired the rights to certain games. The Mountain West Conference entered into an arrangement with CBS Sports Network and Comcast that developed the "MountainWest Sports Network" or "the mtn" that was devoted to broadcasting the league's games.[35] The contract also placed 8 MWC football games and 5 men's basketball games along with the MWC Men's and Women's Basketball Tournament Championships on Versus (now NBC Sports Network). MountainWest Sports Network ceased operations on May 31, 2012. The Big Ten also has a similar regional network, with the Big Ten Network having made its debut in August 2007. The Texas Longhorns debuted the Longhorn Network in the fall of 2011, and the Pac-12 debuted the Pac-12 Network and Pac-12 Digital Network in fall of 2012. While it isn't a national network, the Western Athletic Conference and Learfield Sports started the WAC Sports Network in 2010 to broadcast games to local affiliates.[36]

Some Division 3 college football games are locally shown live or on tape on public-access television channels in the community in which the home team's campus is located.

Canadian university football has had some national coverage of regular season games by terrestrial networks over the last 30 years, but the vast majority of broadcasts are on community channels, community TV networks or sports specialty channels. This is in part due to the sport's structure in Canada, where it is divided strictly into regional conferences and inter-conference play is much rarer than in the United States, reducing the sport's national appeal.

Coverage of U.S. college football is available to an extent in Canada; individual U.S. stations are available over-the-air and on television providers, Big Ten Network and CBS Sports Network can be carried by Canadian television providers, while the networks of TSN often simulcast games aired by ESPN networks (ESPN owns a minority stake in TSN).

Two of the country's four conferences (OUA and Canada West) distribute telecasts via Internet television, although the quality of these broadcasts is often significantly below that of a professional telecast (typically involving airing the team's radio broadcast over a single-camera feed of the game).

In the early years of TSN during the late 1980s and early 1990s, the network broadcast some regular season games along with the OUAA or OQIFC finals.

Hamilton-based CHCH carried Ontario (OUA) university football games (typically involving the hometown McMaster Marauders) through the 1990s until 2001.[37] From 2003 to 2013, The Score had offered a Saturday game of the week and the Yates Cup under the brand OUA University Rush. After The Score was acquired by Sportsnet and became Sportsnet 360, the company canceled its OUA coverage due to low ratings, and no other broadcaster picked up the rights.[38] In 2015, OUA reached an agreement with CHCH to carry the OUA playoffs in a multi-year deal, one that survived the station's bankruptcy later that year.[39] CITY-TV, which like Sportsnet is owned by Rogers Communications, ran a four-game trial run of OUA regular season games (three of which involved the OUA) in 2016.[40]

A series of community TV stations carry games throughout Ontario. Rogers outlets in Ottawa, Guelph, Kitchener-Waterloo and London broadcast games. TV Cogeco outlets in Windsor, Hamilton and Kingston also broadcast games. Kingston broadcasts of Queen's Gaels football are tape delayed for same day broadcast, while all other games are distributed live.

RSEQ games are broadcast nationally in French on Radio Canada on a weekly basis, including the playoffs and the Dunsmore Cup in the 2011 and 2012 seasons. The contract is up for renewal in 2013.

Previously, RDS broadcast a game of the week package during the regular season. The rights for the Uteck Bowl, Mitchell Bowl and Vanier Cup belonged to RDS in 2011 and 2012. For 2013 onward, Radio Canada carried the national playoffs nationwide.

In the AUS, Eastlink had a long-standing agreement to carry a game of the week up to and including the Loney Bowl which expired in 2014. The games have since been carried on Bell Alliant TV1.

In 2017, Canada West will broadcast a game of the week on SaskTel throughout Saskatchewan. Games produced by SaskTel will be sahred by Telus in BC and Alberta and Bell-MTS in Manitoba to 1.5 million customers.

In the early years of TSN during the late 1980s and early 1990s, the network broadcast some regular season games along with the Canada West final.

Games in Canada West games were carried throughout the Shaw TV system to 2.7 million subscribers through most regions of Western Canada and parts of Northern Ontario. In southern and central Saskatchewan the broadcasts are shared with Access Communications customers. Krown Produce Canada West Football on Shaw was available from 2006-2016.

Since 2010, the games have been available to 790,000 Shaw Direct subscribers nationally on channels 299 and 499.

In 2012, Shaw simulcast the games in anamorphic HD for free access on HD 303 on their systems.

Shaw lost the rights to the Canada West Championship when the conference reached an agreement with MRX and Associates to broadcast the final on TSN in 2011 and 2012. Shaw regained the Hardy Trophy no later than the 2014 season, after TSN abandoned Canadian university football broadcasts.

Canada West renewed a three-year agreement with Shaw TV before the 2012 season. In 2015, Canada West expanded its coverage nationwide with an agreement with Global Television Network, a sister company to Shaw.[41]

There were also local broadcasts produced for Manitoba Bisons home games by Shaw TV Winnipeg, and Regina Rams games by Access.

Shaw also produced a weekly, 30-minute CIS highlight and features show called the Krown Canadian University Countdown.

The Vanier Cup has had a wide and varied history on Canadian TV.

In the early 1970s, CBC Television broadcast the game. From the mid-1970s through to the mid-1980s the CTV Network broadcast the national final. TSN gained broadcast rights to the final in the late 1980s. On occasion, the network would broadcast a conference game nationally, but would mainly stick with conference finals, national semifinals (a.k.a. bowl games) and the national final.

TSN lost the rights to The Score in 2006 and 2007 for national bowl games and the Vanier Cup, but regained them between the 2008 and 2012 seasons.

In May 2013, CIS, since renamed U Sports, signed a six-year agreement with Rogers Sportsnet to carry the Uteck Bowl, Mitchell Bowl and Vanier Cup.[42]

In contrast to the National Football League, which uses the visiting team's conference affiliation to determine who broadcasts afternoon games, college football telecasts are assigned based on the home team's conference affiliation.

There are four conferences in Canada, plus a national playoff.

Regional and national coverage in 2017:

CBS Sports Network is also available in Canada (the only cable sports service from the U.S. to be carried in the country), as are most U.S. broadcast networks.

National semifinals and final managed by U Sports

Some games are traditionally played on a specific date (often a holiday), and are nationally-televised every single year. These include:

The Bowl Championship Series, which operated from 1998 through the 2013 season, was driven from the start by television revenue. In 2007, the Fox Broadcasting Company started broadcasting all the BCS games with the exception of the Rose Bowl. ABC previously aired two full cycles of the BCS between 1998 and 2006. Before this, CBS aired the Bowl Coalition and the Bowl Alliance, with the exception of the Sugar Bowl from 1995–1997. The Rose Bowl aired on ABC from 1989 to 2010. All BCS games shifted to cable in 2010–11 as ESPN began a four-year deal.

The College Football Playoff replaced the BCS starting with the 2014 season. ESPN acquired rights to the entire CFP package, consisting of six bowl games and the College Football Playoff National Championship, through the 2025 season.

Note: All ABC crews may appear on ESPN and vice versa.


what is the hearts of stone expansion pack

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt â€“ Hearts of Stone is the first expansion pack for the 2015 video game The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Developed by CD Projekt RED, Hearts of Stone was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on 13 October 2015. The expansion follows Geralt of Rivia coming in contact with a mysterious man known as Gaunter O'Dimm, and his connections to Olgierd von Everec, a cursed nobleman.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Hearts of Stone

Geralt takes up a contract sent out by a noble named Olgierd von Everec, who tasks him with eliminating a giant toad monster in the sewers of Oxenfurt. While hunting the monster, Geralt runs into Shani, a medic and an old acquaintance of his, whom he has the option of romancing. Geralt then kills the toad monster, only to find it was actually a cursed Ofieri prince. The prince's guards capture Geralt with the intention of executing him. While awaiting his execution en route to Ofier, Geralt is approached by the mysterious Gaunter O'Dimm. O'Dimm helps Geralt escape, but in return Geralt must help O'Dimm recover a debt from von Everec, who had set up Geralt knowing the toad monster was an Ofieri prince. O'Dimm tells Geralt that according to terms of his contract with von Everec, he must fulfill three of von Everec's wishes. Geralt confronts von Everec and discovers that von Everec had obtained immortality at the cost of his emotions, giving him a "Heart of Stone." He admits to cursing the Ofieri prince since he was arranged to marry his true love, Iris, and that he wished for immortality in order to be with her. He then tells Geralt his three wishes: to entertain his brother Vlodimir for one night, to get revenge on the Borsodi family by obtaining Maximilian Borsodi's house, and to obtain the violet rose he had given to Iris. O'Dimm tells Geralt that the three tasks are meant to be impossible, as Maximilian Borsodi's house is kept in a highly secure vault and both Vlodimir and Iris have been dead for years, but in spite of that, he agrees to assist Geralt.

With O'Dimm's help, Geralt allows Vlodimir's spirit to possess his body for one night, allowing him to attend a wedding party and fulfilling the first wish. Geralt then participates in a heist to steal Maximilian Borsodi's house from its vault, and finds that it contains a will that would grant the entire Borsodi fortune to charity, fulfilling von Everec's revenge and second wish. To obtain Iris' rose, Geralt enlists the help of demonic entities to gain access to a supernatural realm where he witnesses von Everec and Iris' past. There, he learns that due to his "Heart of Stone," von Everec could not truly love Iris and she died neglected and unhappy. Geralt, based on the player's choice, can either obtain the rose from Iris' spirit in order to free her from being "pinned" into the world or let the rose remain with her. Either way, Geralt fulfills von Everec's last wish and goes to meet with him. Along the way, he learns that O'Dimm is in fact an ancient satanic entity of pure evil that relishes tricking people into trading away their souls in return for granting wishes that, unknown to the recipients, contain harmful side effects. When Geralt meets with von Everec, the three wishes are fulfilled and O'Dimm arrives to collect von Everec's soul.

At this point, Geralt has the option of allowing O'Dimm to take von Everec's soul or intervening to save von Everec. If Geralt does nothing, O'Dimm kills von Everec, takes his soul, and rewards Geralt with one wish. If Geralt intervenes, he challenges O'Dimm by wagering his own soul to save von Everec. After Geralt solves O'Dimm's riddle, O'Dimm is forced to release both Geralt and von Everec from their pacts. Von Everec, now mortal again, regains his emotions and immediately feels regret for his past actions and mistakes. He gives Geralt his family sword, and promises to start a new life free from O'Dimm's control.

On 7 April 2015, CD Projekt announced two expansion packs for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt—the first expansion being Hearts of Stone and the second being Blood and Wine.[1] Hearts of Stone was released on 13 October 2015.[2]

Hearts of Stone received positive reviews from critics, with all three platforms garnering "generally favorable reviews", according to the review aggregator website Metacritic.[3][4][5] The game scored a 9/10 from reviewers at both IGN and GameSpot.[3][4][5][6][7]