Barry Gibb and Linda Gray in 2013. (Getty)
Barry Gibb, the last surviving member of The Bee Gees, recently released In The Now, his first released solo album since 1984’s Now Voyager. He has been married to his second wife, Linda Gray, since 1970.
They tied the knot a few months after Gibb and his first wife, Maureen Bates, divorced the same year. Linda was born in Scotland and is a former Miss Edinburgh. The two first met when the Bee Gees were on Top of the Pops in 1967 and she was jut 17.
The 70-year-old Gibb performed on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Today in October. Gibb also appeared on CBS This Morning, during their “Saturday Sessions” segment. On April 16, Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb’s music is the subject of CBS and the Recording Academy’s Stayin’ Alive: A Grammy Salute to the Music of the Bee Gees.
Here’s a look at Barry and Linda’s relationship.
1. Barry & Linda Have Been Married for 46 Years & Have 5 Children
Barry Gibb with his wife Linda and Robin Gibb in 1971. (Getty)
Barry and Linda Gibb have been married since 1970, but Gibb told The Roxborough Report that they were living together for a couple of years before then. They have five children and seven grandchildren.
“Linda, along with me, has seen everything you can see if you’re a pop group on the rise. She never missed anything and that’s something to take great comfort from,” Gibb told the Roxborough Report. “We can talk to each other about any single instance in our lives and what happened to the group and she was there.”
In that same interview, Gibb called Linda a “tower of strength” who is “always right behind me and she’s either going to give me a top on the head or a kick up the ass.”
“I’ve got seven grandchildren. I get to re-live watching Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. I spend a lot of hours being happy about what happened to us, because it may never have happened, any of those hits,” Gibb told the Guardian in 2013.
2. The Couple Once Owned the Home of Johnny & June Carter Cash, but Sold the Property in 2014
Barry Gibb and Linda Gibb in 2015. (Getty)
In 2006, Barry and Linda Gibb bought the Tennessee home once owned by the late Johnny Cash and his wife, June Carter Cash. They paid $2.3 million for the home, which was built in 1968, The Tennessean reported in 2014.
The Gibbs planned on renovating the home and were almost finished when it caught fire in April 2007. They then decided to build a new home and preserve the original foundations.
In March 2014, the couple completed a sale of the lakefront property to Lakehouse Holdings LLC for $2 million.
Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash both died in 2003.
3. Barry & Linda Live in Miami & Have a Mansion in Beaconsfield, England
(Getty)
Barry and Lina have a home in Miami, where they have lived since the 1970s, and are U.S. citizens. However, they do still have a home in England. The Daily Mail notes that they have a nine-bedroom mansion in Beaconsfiled, England on a 90-acre property.
The Daily Mail interviewed Gibb at his Beaconsfield mansion in July 2013, when he went to England to pick up a lifetime achievement honor. It was the first time he had gone to his brother Robin Gibb’s tombstone since the funeral. Gibb is the last surviving member of the group. Maurice Gibb died at age 53 in 2003 and Robin Gibb died in 2012 at age 62.
“Maurice’s death in 2003 and Robin’s last year had been a huge trauma for me and everyone in our family. Before that, in 1988, we’d lost our kid brother Andy, who had his own solo career, and my father, Hugh, died soon after,” Gibb told the Daily Mail in 2013. “Robin’s much more recent passing had made me depressed, and there were times when I’d felt that nothing was worthwhile any more.”
However, Gibb went on a successful solo tour of Australia, which reinvigorated him. “Now it has begun to feel like the sun has finally come out again,” he said.
4. Barry Gibb Has an Estimated Net Worth of $90 Million
Although the Bee Gees are best known for their disco hits during the 1970s, the group began turning out hit singles in the mid-1960s. It’s estimated that the group has sold over 220 million records worldwide. Gibb himself has an estimated net worth of $90 million, Celebrity Net Worth estimates.
In a 2003 profile by the New York Times that focused on the Bee Gees’ finances, the Times reported that the music publishing revenue from the songs the Gibbs wrote generates $8 million a year (about $10.4 million in 2016 dollars).
Although Gibb has only released two solo albums in his career (along with several recordings bootlegged by fans, demos released on iTunes and non-album singles), he has also been busy as a producer and songwriter. Among his most famous collaborations is Guilty, the 1980 album he co-produced for Barbra Streisand. He co-wrote every song on the album and even appeared on the album cover.
5. Barry Says Steve McQueen Nearly Stole His Wife
In an October 2016 interview with the New York Post, Gibb claimed that that the late actor Steve McQueen once tried to ‘steal’ his wife in Los Angeles.
“One time we were at the Record Plant in Los Angeles and Steve McQueen tried to take off with Linda on the back of his motorbike! She’s a very beautiful woman, and had just as many opportunities as me,” he said.
Gibb also said that he’s avoided temptations. “I do remember [Australian tennis star] Evonne Goolagong tried to get me to go out with her about 25 years ago,” he recalled. “She asked me if she could come over!”
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Linda Gibb, Barry’s Wife: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know