How Barry Gibb Went Undercover to Write 'Islands in the Stream' and Gave the Bee Gees a Comeback

Coming up, they were the hottest group in music. The Bee Gees were coming off a decade where they had 14 top 10 hits and 9 #1 songs. And then pretty much overnight the band couldn’t buy a hit. The Bee Gees were poison and radio wouldn’t play them. They were totally uncool. So they hid…their lead singer Barry Gibb went undercover and wrote a song for somebody else called Islands in the Stream. It was recorded by one of the hottest singers of the time… Kenny Rogers. But a few days after Kenny cut it, he started having second thoughts. In fact, he started to despise it. But out of nowhere a solution came in the form of a beautiful blonde named Dolly Parton who turned the song into a duet that became one of the biggest hits of its time... Giving this legendary singer-turned-writer a comeback hit that most still don’t know he even wrote…It’s a tale of fantastic serendipity… and a master class in creative collaboration including an interview with Kenny Rogers, next on Professor of Rock. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .