There was no band more popular in the late ’70s than the Bee Gees, who generated one falsetto-powered disco smash after another, including songs like “Jive Talkin’,” “Night Fever,” and “Stayin’ Alive.” Arguably the only challenger to the Bee Gees’ status as the kings of danceable soft rock in that time was Andy Gibb, the teen idol younger sibling of the Bee Gees’ Gibb brothers, Barry, Robin, and Maurice. He placed six songs in the top ten on Billboard‘s Hot 100, including three no. 1 hits: “I Just Want to Be Your Everything,” “(Love Is) Thicker Than Water,” and “Shadow Dancing.” But when disco declined, Gibb’s fortunes suffered. He shifted to Broadway, starring in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and he co-hosted the music show Solid Gold … but was fired from both because he frequently didn’t show up, as reported by People.
By 1986, Andy Gibb had kicked a long-term drug habit (a reported addiction to cocaine) and moved to Miami, Fla. where his famous older brothers lived, according to People magazine. But by then, any fortune the singer had accumulated had dwindled down to nothing. In October 1987, he filed for bankruptcy, citing $1.5 million in debts, $1 million of which he owed his manager. Just five months later, and mere days after celebrating his 30th birthday, Gibb checked into a hospital with chest pains and died a few hours later from an inflamed heart muscle.
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