STAYIN’ ALIVE with the #1 BEE GEES Tribute Band

While many memorable artists have dominated the world of popular music throughout the decades, the musical trio known as The Bee Gees managed to cultivate a level of success unheard of in the industry.

Formed by brothers, Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb back in 1958 when they were all still teenagers, the trio achieved a longevity that outlasted The Beatles, re-invented themselves to prominently define the Disco era in the mid to late ‘70s, wrote all their own original material, and are regarded s one of the most important and influential acts in pop music history, selling an estimated 250 million records worldwide, which places them among the best-selling musical artists of all time.

On Friday, October 24^th, fans will be able to absorb the kinetic excitement and shimmering melodic harmony of this legendary trio in a special one-night only performance of STAYIN’ ALIVE: One Night of the Bee Gees at Saginaw’s Dow Event Center - the ultimate tribute to the brothers Gibb that offers to audiences the songs and sights of a full Bee Gees playlist, singing blockbusters such as “Night Fever,” “Jive Talkin’,” “How Deep Is Your Love,” “You Should Be Dancing,” along with poeticl ballads such as “I Started a Joke,” “Massachusetts,” “Words,” and “To Love Somebody” among other great hits.

STAYIN’ ALIVE is the largest and most definitive production of its kind, offering big screen video clips, photos and dazzling imagery. It has played intimate settings as a six piece band and huge venues with a 62-piece orchestra.

Featuring Tony Mattina  as Barry Gibb  (Lead Vocals and Guitar)  while it is rare to find any singer who can attempt the vocal styling and tone of Barry Gibb given the unique identifiable nature of it, Tony says he takes great pride in the way audiences embrace his translation of Barry’s vocal character, noting how “Barry is truly one of the greatest vocalists of our time.”‍

Filling the shoes of vocalist & keyboardist Maurice Gibb is George Manz, who began playing the piano by ear at the age of five and knew that music was what he wanted to do in his life. From there, he studied with the Royal Conservatory of Music. After graduation, George moved to Toronto playing and touring domestically as well as internationally with many groups and recording acts. “I love portraying the character of Maurice,” he reflects. “Maurice  was such a great guy with that ‘class-clown’ happy attitude about him, and it’s a real pleasure to bring his persona to the audiences we play for and to see eyes light up when that connection is made.”

Last but certainly not least is Todd Sharman in the role of Robin Gibb. Todd has been a mainstay in the Toronto music scene for many years and fronted many tribute acts from Tom Petty to the Tragically Hip as well as numerous original bands.

In advance of their October 24^th performance at The Dow Event Center, I sat down to chat with Sharman about the joys and formidable challenges involved with capturing the musical nuances and dynamics of such a singularly inimitable group as The Bee Gees.

REVIEW: What were the steps in your musical journey that led to your involvement with the top Bee Gees Tribute band currently touring the nation?

Todd Sharman:  For me it started when my parents bought me a guitar. They heard me singing along with songs on the radio and at that time The Partridge Family was a big thing on TV, so I was probably 10 or 11 years-old at the time when I started learning how to play it, but it wasn’t until I was 14 that I got more serious about it. I started fooling around the guitar with another friend at that time, only he wasn’t as serious about music so by the time I was 16-years old I was in a band and we were playing bars even though I was underage, and music mostly came naturally for me.  The only reason I started singing was because nobody else in the band wanted to try, and I never had any formal lessons at that point.

By 1977 I was playing in different cover bands and started writing songs with other musicians, achieving minor success, and you can find some of my music on Spotify under Cat House Dogs. Then in 1992 I entered into the Tribute world, starting a Tom Petty tribute called Full Moon Fever.  That band morphed into a tribute to The Tragically Hip (a huge band in Canada).  And then in 2001, I joined up with Anthony Mattina to start Stayin’ Alive: One Night of The Bee Gees and have been going strong ever since.

REVIEW: You started exploring the world of creating Tribute Bands two decades before many of them started to emerge. What was it about The Bee Gees that made you want to thread such an ambitious tribute group together?

Sharman: We were trying to break through with the original band and trying really hard to go down that road, but ultimately we hit a wall and nothing happened and some in-fighting ensued so we broke up. The drummer and I wanted to keep playing, so we started this Tom Petty Tribute.

The Bee Gees Tribute caught me a bit off guard. I was approached about doing this with Anthony, who I didn’t know at the time, so I listened to the music and thought I would give it a try, only wasn’t sure it would fit in my wheel-house at the time because I was mostly a different type and genre of music, so when I joined STAYIN’ ALIVE I had to kind of flip my way of thinking vocally to be more of a harmony singer as opposed to strictly a lead singer, which was great because it made me sing and listen differently.

At the time we started in 2001 there was only one other Bee Gees Tribute group out there; and honestly, when I was first asked about doing it I was concerned about how was going to sound like Barry Gibb, but Anthony truly nails that role down and it kind of uncanny. Once we realized we could truly sing this material great, it kind of went from there.

REVIEW: The Bee Gees were remarkable in the sense they were so prolific as both songwriters and recording artists, and were constantly in the studio. After The Beatles released Sgt. Pepper, the Bee Gees released their 2-album orchestral opus ‘Odessa’, and they also clocked as many Top 10 hits as The Beatles and The Supremes, prior to re-inventing themselves for the Disco era.  What do you feel distinguishes them the most from the long list of Rock’s musical talents?

Sharman:  What I find since performing their music with this band it how they still stand so strongly as a real testament to great songwriting and how well written their songs are. They still stand up strong today and while there were similarly great songs from other artists in the 1960s and 1970s that came out at that time, you rarely hear them anymore - and if you do, you realize they may not be as good as you thought they were.

But when you put on songs by the Bee Gees, or hear their music in a film soundtrack, you realize one of the reasons you’re still hearing them today is because they were so well-written.

REVIEW: The Bee Gees were also known for their tight yet fluid and very distinct vocal harmonies, and while groups can buy a certain brand of amplifier or instrument to get a particular sound, the one thing most groups cannot replicate is the quality of the vocal harmonies that comes from a band of brothers like the Gibbs, or the Wilsons from The Beach Boys, or The Everly Brothers. Do you think there’s something about that genetic link that makes their sound difficult to replicate?

Sharman; I think that’s very true. It’s a tough sound to emulate because they are brothers so their tonality is going to be distinct and unique - mainly in the timbre of the delivery - because you’re drawing from the same gene pool. I remember listening to Anne Murray talking about how she would often get her brother to come in to sing harmony with her on albums for that very same reason - because it’s hard to duplicate.

REVIEW: So how many shows do you perform each year and how hard is it on your voice?

Sharman: We probably do anywhere from 80 to 100 shows per year and yes, it can be difficult. You have to be very disciplined, get your rest, and even then if we’re doing six or seven shows in a row and traveling, you get a little bit burned out.  Sometimes we have to massage the set list a little bit if someone’s not feeling quite up to doing a particular song on a certain night. Fortunately, there’s enough great songs to choose from.

REVIEW: What for you is the most challenging component involved with touring?

Sharman: The shows are actually the easy and fun part, but the challenging part for me is traveling and trying to book shows so that we have enough time off to regenerate and take some time for ourselves. That’s why in the summertime we kind of pump the brakes a bit to regenerate.

STAYIN’ ALIVE: One Night of The Bee Gees is happening at The Dow Event Center on Friday, October 24^th at 7:30 PM. Ticket start at $40.00 and can be obtained by clicking this link: https://www.doweventcenter.com/events/bee-gees-tribute/