Michael Putland/Getty ImagesWe got a little preview of it on Sunday night’s Grammy Awards, but today, the upcoming special Stayin’ Alive: A GRAMMY Salute to the Music of The Bee Gees will be taped at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. The special will feature some of today’s biggest names all paying tribute to the legendary group, and also will include an appearance by the last surviving Bee Gees member, Barry Gibb.
“I’m floating,” Gibb told reporters over the weekend when asked about the tribute. “Y’know, [we’ve had] many, many years of sort of being up and down and up and down…this is wonderful.” Gibb was referring to the anti-disco backlash that the group faced following Saturday Night Fever.
“I get to be amongst the people I love,” he continued, noting all the stars who’ll be participating. “Ed Sheeran and Celine Dion and John Legend and Demi Lovato, that’s great. And they’re celebrating records that were real records, y’know? And I think whether it’s us, or The Beatles, or other groups, it was real. You had to play.”
The special’s executive producer, Ken Ehrlich, explains that the event will celebrate two major 2017 milestones.
“The big reason, and what we’ve kinda hooked the show on, is it’s the 40th anniversary of Saturday Night Fever,” says Ehrlich. “Saturday Night Fever really changed our culture: our film culture, our music culture, it made a star out of John Travolta, who’ll be with us to celebrate. And it’s also the 50th anniversary of The Bee Gees, of their first hit.”
Ehrlich adds with regard to The Bee Gees’ decades of hits. “Those songs are so wonderful. And we’ve got a number of contemporary acts that will be with us to celebrate: Keith Urban, Tori Kelly, Demi Lovato, Celine… it’s a pretty great list of people, and the show will air sometime in March or April.”
On the Grammys, you saw country group Little Big Town, Kelly, Lovato and R&B singer Andra Day belting out classics like “How Deep Is Your Love,” “Stayin’ Alive,” “Night Fever” and “Tragedy.” Other stars on the tribute’s bill include Pentatonix and DNCE.
The Bee Gees have sold more than 200 million records worldwide, and won five Grammys. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997.
Copyright © 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.