Barry Gibb: Bee Gees Were Told ‘Don’t Leave Australia, You’ll Never Make it’

Barry Gibb was interviewed on TODAY by Matt Luaur, who asked him for his views on Justin Bieber’s recent antics.

Gibb, at 67, reflected upon the time when he, himself, was a hot item on the pop music scene, “If you’re a teenage idol and all the young girls love you, you can lose that pretty quick.

Referring to Bieber, he said:

“Things don’t really change much, do they? You can lose perspective, but you can also lose them in the long run if you’re not a role model… Hopefully what he does on stage and the way he dances and the way he sings, he will apply that to his real life. There’s a discipline in what he’s doing. Apply that discipline to how you want to behave.”

Barry Gibb, is starting a tour in May in which he will sing some of the old Bee Gees favorites. He told Luaur that and his brothers never felt like they were on top of anything, commenting that they lived “life in a tin can.” He added:

“I’ve always thought that the odds were always against us. Maybe because we were brothers and we were kids on Australian television so maybe some people thought we were precocious, but we were just kids. And when we came to England, they told us, ‘Don’t bother to leave Australia. You’ll never make it.'”

The Brothers Gibb – hence “Bee Gees” – proved they were wrong. Even today, their music is still influential because disco never dies, and the Bee Gees had a truly unique sound.

Barry Gibb’s tour, called “Mythology,” launches in Boston on May 15 – which happens to be a Thursday.

The “Saturday Night Fever” doesn’t kick in until two days later for Barry Gibb!