Manx-born Barry Gibb is being given a prestigious award by an American organisation.
The John F. Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts announced the selection of five people who will receive the 46th Kennedy Centre Honours for lifetime artistic achievements.
Recipients to be honored at the annual national celebration of the arts in Washington D.C. this December.
The other people to be honoured are actor and comedian Billy Crystal, acclaimed soprano Renée Fleming; rapper, singer, and actress Queen Latifah; and singer Dionne Warwick.Barry Gibb, who was born in Douglas in 1946, rates among the most prolific, influential, and acclaimed musicians ever to have lived, the Kennedy Centre said.
Guinness World Records and Billboard list Gibb alongside only Paul McCartney as one of the two most successful popular songwriters of all time.
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As a member of the Bee Gees with his brothers Robin and Maurice, the trio sold over 220 million records, while writing 21 different songs to top the U.S. or U.K. charts.
Bibb is a nine-time Grammy Award winner and an inductee into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Songwriters Hall Of Fame.
When Wayne Newton covered the 18-year-old Gibb’s They’ll Never Know in 1964, he became the first of hundreds of American artists to record Gibb-written songs—everyone from Al Green, the Foo Fighters, Snoop Dogg, Elvis Presley, and Destiny’s Child.
The Bee Gees came to fame internationally in 1967 with early classics like To Love Somebody, Massachusetts, and Words.
In the 70s they became superstars. with tracks like Stayin’ Alive, Night Fever and How Deep Is Your Love.
The Kennedy Centre says: 'The Bee Gees combined harmony and melody with the rarest of abilities to move the heart as well as the feet.'
Gibb also wrote Frankie Valli’s Grease and his younger brother Andy’s I Just Want To Be Your Everything.
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Both were solo compositions, both became U.S. number ones.
The hits continued in the 80s and 90s, as well as entire albums of platinum-coated, Gibb-crafted songs for the likes of Barbra Streisand (Woman In Love), Dionne Warwick (Heartbreaker), Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton (Islands In The Stream), and Diana Ross (Chain Reaction).
The centre says: 'From equalling the Beatles’ six consecutive U.S. number one singles, to being the only songwriters to have five songs simultaneously in the U.S. top 10, the music of Sir Barry Gibb and his brothers is—and forever will be— etched into the very fabric of American life.'
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Gibb said: 'This is a wonderful honour! It’s hard to be proud and humble at the same time. It is one of the most special moments in my life and something that I will always cherish.
'When I think back over 50 years to our beginnings in Redcliffe, Queensland, I could never have expected this to happen in my life.
'Receiving the Kennedy Centre Honours is something that everyone hopes might happen one day. I’ve often thought about but never dreamed it could come true.
'Thank you to all those who made this dream a reality. I wish my brothers were here so that they could’ve shared in this special moment.'