It’s hard to imagine a time before the Bee Gees were the tall, mullet-sporting, facial-haired trio.
But everybody’s got to start somewhere, and the Gibb brothers did too.
The Bee Gees; Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb were kids born on Britain’s Isle of Man when they learned how to sing.
The brothers learned to harmonize from a young age, which proved crucial when they pursued music as a career later on.
Known for their iconic, high-pitched head voices, the Gibb brothers sang higher than most male singers ever could – save for maybe A-Ha’s Morten Harket.
But you may never have guessed the Bee Gees were British just from their songs.
There’s not exactly an audible accent in “Stayin’ Alive”.
But look up any interview with them and you should hear the British accent loud and clear.
And there’s still plenty of videos out there of the brothers performing as kids – like this one from 1963.
You may notice that Maurice and Robin look almost like twins in this video.
That was, in fact, part of an inside joke among the brothers.
They joked that they were actually triplets, and Barry was just deformed.
And just how did they sound in their earlier years?
Spoiler: they sound pretty good.
The harmony that they’re so known for is right there.
Maurice and Rob are no older than 14 here.
I wonder if they knew just how big they would get – and I’m not talking about height.
Barry plays the guitar to back up their voices.
That signature high falsetto isn’t here yet. No, they wouldn’t hone that until later in their career.
Seeing where it all started for the brothers feels surreal, considering that Barry is now 77 and the only surviving member of the group.
The Gibbs didn’t have it easy growing up.
They moved to Australia when Barry was still a teen.
With their sister Leslie and their parents, the family needed to make ends meet.
Music became the brothers’ way of supporting the family, playing at small shows to raise pocket money.
If those pocket-money shows were half as good as this cover of “Alexander’s Ragtime Band”, then they deserve all the change that people gave them.
Performing for money ain’t easy, but a young boy probably gets one hell of a kick out of it.
So singing on national TV must have been a huge milestone for the brothers after singing for pocket money.
The other song they’re covering is “My Old Man’s A Dustman” by Lonnie Donegan.
Barry has to strum a lot more aggressively, owing to the faster pace of the song.
But it’s nothing the music-loving brothers can’t handle.
The eldest one, Barry, outlived his two younger brothers.
Seeing them this young makes it hit just a little bit harder.
We’ll always cherish the era-defining music that the Bee Gees gave us, and I hope Barry knows that if he doesn’t already.
Listen to the young Bee Gees perform down below. If you enjoyed reading this article, do give it a share too!
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