5 Things You Didn’t Know About Andy Gibb, Pop Idol & Baby Brother of the Bee Gees
On March 10, 1988, I was a sales girl at The id, sipping an Orange Julius on my lunch break, when I heard that Andy Gibb had died and burst into sobs right there in the middle of the mall. I was 22. Andy was now forever 30. I had loved him from afar for a decade and had still secretly hoped that — even though he was into older women like Pam Dawber and Victoria Principal — he’d marry me someday, and “(Our Love) Don’t Throw It All Away” could be about me when I got mad at him for leaving his socks on our bedroom floor.
Sadly, Andy’s freckled-faced, “baby brother of the Bee Gees” charm hid a host of personal demons from addiction to depression — wounds that even international fame couldn’t salve. Though his famous brothers and worried lovers tried hard to intervene, his breakup with Principal sent Andy back to alcohol, and finally, his broken and damaged heart gave out.
Some 37 years after his death, here are a few things you might not know about Andy Gibb.
1 He has an older sister named Lesley
View this post on Instagram
Like most folks, you may think that Barry is the eldest Gibb sibling. But the boys’ sister Lesley is actually one year older. Never one for the spotlight, Lesley, now 80, only sang once with her brothers. She preferred married life with her Aussie husband Keith Evans and their seven kids. Andy credited Lesley, a dog trainer, for introducing him to his future wife, Kim Reeder, at a dog show.
2 He dropped out of school when he was just 13
Andy’s mom, Barbara, reported that she’d dutifully send him off to school every day, only to find that he was snoozing in the family stables when he should have been in class. In a vain attempt to keep him out of trouble, big brother Barry gave him a guitar; Andy would busk at tourist spots in Spain and on the Isle of Man when his family lived in each spot.
3 His only marriage happened when he was 18 … and he never met their daughter
Lynn Goldsmith/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images
A predictor of his future preference for older women, Andy married Kim on July 11, 1976, not long before his career took off. He was 18 and Kim in her early 20s. Determined to make both marriage and stardom work, Andy moved them nearer to his brothers in Hollywood, where, Kim said, “Cocaine became his first love.” Though she was pregnant with their only child, Reeder returned to Australia, where daughter Peta, now 47, arrived 10 days after the pair’s 1978 divorce. Peta said her dad would call from time to time, including once when he told her he’d introduce her to Michael J. Fox if she’d visit. It never happened. “As I grew, I learned that he was famous, and that he had famous siblings,” Peta said, “but for me he was just a guy on the end of the telephone line.”
4 He became the first male solo artist to chart three consecutive Billboard No. 1 hits.
And he still hadn’t even turned 21. Andy was only 19 when “I Just Want to Be Your Everything” hit the top spot in July, August and September 1977. ”(Love Is) Thicker Than Water” — which he penned with Barry — followed, displacing his brothers’ “Stayin’ Alive,” in March of 1978 and launching a chart war between the Gibb brothers. (Fun fact: Eagles bad boy guitarist Joe Walsh played guitar on both tracks.) A collaboration between all of the Gibb brothers, “Shadow Dancing,” the title track from Andy’s album of the same name, was released in April of 1978 and remained at Billboard’s No. 1 pop hit for seven weeks in a row beginning in mid June.
5 He blew off Bob Hope
A popular performer on Bob Hope‘s televised specials and USO tours, Andy said the most embarrassing moment of his life happened when Hope called to personally invite him to take part another special and Andy didn’t show. “I was spaced out on cocaine,” Andy lamented. “I was supposed to do his TV special, and I didn’t turn up. Consequently, I was blacklisted by NBC for a long time. I damaged my career, and almost ruined my whole life.”
Remind
Where Are They Now - The Seventies
June 2022
Who can forget all the great TV shows, movies and music of the ‘70s?
Buy This Issue