LONDON (Reuters) - The
Bee Gees are collecting up their greatest hits and heading off around the world hoping to give a golden sunset to their platinum careers.
With more than 110 million records sold, the brothers Barry, Maurice and Robin Gibb rank with The Beatles, Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson as one of pop's longest-running success stories.
Now the Bee Gees are combining all their greatest hits on a double album being released worldwide on November 20. Then they embark next January on a 100-show tour around the globe.
"We are very ambitious for it worldwide," said Lucian Grainge, chairman and chief executive officer of Universal Music UK, revealing exclusively to Reuters release details of the album that looks set to be an international number one.
The economic downturn and the September hijack attacks in the U.S. have pounded already weak sales in a music industry grappling with rampant CD piracy. But Grainge refused to be downcast.
"Our market has been very buoyant and we have had a solid and gratifying year," he said. "I anticipate we will have a very good Christmas."
The Bee Gees' album provides a golden marketing opportunity and Grainge, true to industry hype, pledged: "We will hit the ball with every single inch of the wood we have got."
The world tour should also work wonders with sales.
The Bee Gees have gone in and out of fashion over the last four decades, mocked as much for Barry's falsetto voice as they were for their disco look, big hair and gleaming white teeth.
But they and their songs have survived the test of time, as frequent cover versions of their tunes on the U.K. pop charts attest.
"Saturday Night Fever" is the best-selling movie soundtrack ever. They have garnered seven Grammy Awards and 10 lifetime achievement Awards around the world. They had their first number one in 1966 and over 60 hit singles since then.
Grainge wouldn't talk figures but he is convinced that the Bee Gees album will now run and run in the charts: "There is hardly a consumer anywhere who has not listened to, bought or danced to a Bee Gees song."
