Some Back Ground Info
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Some back ground info (source: The internet). Dennis Bryon and Blue Weaver first met in the mid sixties in a group called Brother John & The Witnesses. In 1966 Blue Weaver and Dennis Bryon joined a group from Cardif called Amen Corner. This septet, complete with saxes, was led by Andy Fairweather-Low, who at that time was only 16 years old. The group got a recording contract with Deram Records in 1966 and had many big hits during the next four years. These included "Gin House Blues," "Bend Me, Shape Me," and "High In The Sky" for Deram, after signing with Immediate Records they had further hits such as "(If Paradise Is) Half As Nice". During the four years of their existance they recorded three albums. After the end of Amen Corner, Andy Fairweather-Low founded a new, more progressive group, which he simply called Fairweather. The musicians of the new group were the same musicians that made up Amen Corner except for the horn section, which was missing. The first single release "Natural Sinner" was a big hit. After only one year the group broke up in 1971. After the failure of "Life In A Tin Can" the Bee Gees started to restructure the group and their sound. At first they found a new drummer. Dennis Bryon had previously played with Amen Corner and now joined the group. The next step for the Bee Gees was to find a new sound. Together with Atlantic producer Arif Mardin they worked on a modern form of rhythm'n'blues music. At first they added more rock'n'roll to their music. The new songs began to develop more in a real rock band style. The vocals by Barry Gibb were more powerful then ever, and Dennis Bryon brought a straight rock'n'roll drive For the first time the Bee Gees became a sextet by adding the keyboard player Geoff Westley. Maurice Gibb now could concentrate on his bass playing and only occasionally played some keyboard parts. All three brothers now had more time for their harmony singing. Europe seemed to lose interest in the Bee Gees. Neither the single releases nor the album "Mr. Natural" were successful. In Australia and Asia though the group seemed to be bigger than ever. Arif Mardin was convinced that the group was able to create something completely new and therefore he arranged more recording sessions for 1975. Geoff Westley did not participate in the 1975 recording sessions, even though he often played with the Bee Gees in concerts as additional keyboard player up till 1979. The new keyboard player was Blue Weaver, who also had played with Amen Corner and later with the Strawbs. Blue Weaver was able to bring some fresh ideas to the group. More than any other non Gibb member of the group he participated in song writing and arrangements. The new lineup of the Bee Gees was the longest lasting Bee Gees band ever and many believe that this also was the most successful time for the group. Even though many people called the years from 1975 to 1979 the disco period, a lot of the songs released during these years have nothing in common with disco music. The Bee Gees continued to record their typical ballads, but the trademark of this period and also of many years after were the falsetto vocals. The Bee Gees were able to be successful again all over the world. At the same time they also wrote and produced songs for other artists. When RSO ended the cooperation with Atlantic records in America this ment that the Bee Gees could no longer use Arif Mardin as their producer. The Bee Gees chose to produce themselves, with Barry Gibb taking the lead. Karl Richardson and Alby Galuten were responsible for the engineering. Together with Barry Gibb they became a very successful team. When Vince Melouney and the Bee Gees parted ways in 1968 some people thought that they would never meet again, but in 1976 Vince Melouney visited the group in England and lateron they met in Australia and recenly again during Barry's concert in Hollywood 2014. To reproduce the strings and the synthetic sounds that the group used in the studio they got Geoff Westley back in the live line-up. In 1977 they recorded some shows and put them together for the first ever Bee Gees live album. Even though the material was strongly based on the new songs the group also included many of the old hits, even though in shortened versions. Without Geoff Westley the Bee Gees recorded the songs for the Saturday Night Fever film. September 1977 to January 1978 put the live activities on a hold, as the brothers Gibb concentrated on the shooting of the film "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band". Most of 1978 was spent recording the next studio album and writing songs for other artists. In 1979 the Bee Gees undertook a farewell tour for their longest lasting band. The Bee Gees touring band was the biggest band the group had employed ever. In addition to Blue Weaver, George Bitzer and Harold Cowart were playing the keyboards. Joey Murcia was added as additional guitar player and Joe Lala occasionally played percussion. They had planned to change their touring schedule after the "Spirits Having Flown" tour. While Barry Gibb concentrated on producing Dionne Warwick first and then Kenny Rogers, Robin and Maurice Gibb started work on the album "How Old Are You". Even though the album was released as a Robin Gibb solo album it is a duo album by the twins. Robin Gibb sings all the lead vocals, while Maurice Gibb contributes backing vocals and instrumentals, arrangements, and production. Dennis Bryon and Alan Kendall return and the keyboards are handled by George Bitzer. The duo comes up with a good album. Robin Gibb is very successful in Germany, and also in England, and he fails in the US. In late 2001 Dennis Bryon started to produce the singer songwriter Kayte Strong. When he also accompanied her during some concerts they were billed as STRONG & BRYON. They recorded three albums together so far. Later on Kayte became his wife after Dennis' first wife Jenny unfortunately died much to young several years before. .