Bee Gees Statue

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  • Location: Loch Promenade, Douglas, Isle of Man IM1
  • Opening times: 24 hours
  • Entry: No charge.
  • Access: Parking on street.

The Bee Gees surely need no introduction, whether it be for their melancholy chamber pop of the 1960s (New York Mining Disaster 1941’, ‘To Love Somebody’, ‘Massachusetts’) or as world-conquering disco gods in the 1970s (‘You Should Be Dancing’, ‘Night Fever’). It is in the latter guise that they now strut the promenade in Douglas in statue form, looking as if they have just stepped out of the video shoot for ‘Stayin’ Alive’.

‘Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk / I’m a women’s man, no time to talk’. Left to right is Maurice, Barry, and Robin Gibb. I personally preferred the late ’60s iteration of the Bee Gees, when the line-up included drummer Colin Peterson and guitarist Vince Melouny. Although I liked some of the songs from the disco era I hated the falsetto vocals Barry adopted at the time, not least because it robbed us of his far superior natural voice and of any more songs led by Robin’s even more distinctive, vibrato-laden vocals. The Bee Gees themselves, or at least their bank balances, would disagree, however, as it was that falsetto that made them the best-selling act of the late seventies.

The sculpture (2021) is the work of Andy Edwards, who, as the above photos attest, did an excellent job in capturing the likeness of each Gibb brother. Edwards is also the creator of the equally fabulous statue of the Beatles at Pier Head in Liverpool, as well as sculptures depicting Frederick Douglas (at the University of Maryland), Bob Marley (also Liverpool), Alex Ferguson (Aberdeen), and Lemmy (Burslem).

Andy Edwards said the statue represents a homecoming for the Gibb Brothers as they walk “back into town, coming back from across the sea”.

The Bee Gees were all born on the Isle of Man, Barry in 1946 and twins Robin and Maurice in 1949, and lived in the house above until the family relocated to Manchester in the mid-fifties before emigrating to Queensland, Australia in 1958. The address of their Isle of Man home, 50 St. Catherine’s Drive, served as the title of Robin Gibb’s final solo album, released posthumously in 2014.

‘ah ha Ha HA stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive’.

Destination or Diversion?

The sculpture is a brilliant portrayal of the Bee Gees at the height of their fame, but it is a statue and therefore no more than a diversion.

Another notable Douglas resident is captured in bronze sitting outside the Sefton Hotel, next door to the Gaiety Theatre. Norman Wisdom was a hugely successful comedic actor n British films in the 1950s, 1960s, and, thanks to television screenings of his films, the 1970s. He inevitably played a character called Norman in a series of comedies, beginning with 1953’s Trouble in Store. Wisdom first came to the Isle of Man for a summer residency at the Gaiety in 1977, but loved the island so much he lived here from 1980 until his death in 2010.

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