When the FBI investigated the Bee Gees: “I warned and warned you”
When I think of the Bee Gees, three things come to mind. Falsetto harmonies, wide-legged flares and John Travolta. The explanation for why these three things are synonymous with the band is barely needed, for cultural iconography has ensured we all know exactly why.
As a band, they embodied the opulence of 1970s disco, and as such, there were plenty of sticks by which their critics could beat them. Upon their emergence, disco wasn’t yet a “hip” pocket of subculture, and as the fresh-faced representation of that, neither were the Bee Gees.
As such, they became a perfect commercial vehicle upon which conservative sensibilities could be bestowed on them. Families weren’t as concerned about having cardboard cutouts of the Gibb brothers in their children’s bedrooms as they were a picture of Ozzy Osbourne, thrusting a devil horn in the air.
Minus the odd lyric about their fiery libidos, generally speaking, their lyrical content was relatively inoffensive. Adult themes were wrapped up in the universal metaphors, which ultimately meant that all generations could get arm in arm on the dancefloor and sing the songs in unison.
But behind the spiralling beauty of the band’s colourful disco melodies lay a much darker reality. One that outdid the chaotic unpredicability of say an Ozzy Osbourne or even an Iggy Pop. One that eventually, encouraged the FBI to get involved.
Back in 1980, Gibb’s 14-year marriage with Molly Hullis came to a bitter end, and it seemed as though the softly spoken singer took matters into much darker realms. By this point, the musician was grappling with the growing pressures of fame, thrust upon him from their standout album Spirits Having Flown the year before, as well as an increasingly serious addiction to speed. The swirling dramas of both these problems forced Gibb to lose his grip on reality, and his marriage took the brunt of it.
Despite having several affairs of his own, he became hellbent on exposing Hullis as having done the same. When divorce proceedings eventually took place, Gibb was convinced Hullis was preparing a smear campaign against Gibb that would ultimately end in a legal payout. A string of dramatic events that included Gibb breaking into her home to steal documents that would confirm his paranoia, finally ended in what can only be perceived as a death threat.
A copy of a telegram that Gibb allegedly sent to Haymon & Waiters, the legal firm acting for Hullis, was revealed to have said: “What you have done is just about the limit. I warned and warned you. The situation is now very serious. Know [sic] one walks all over me… I have had enough. I have taken out a contract. It is now a question of time.”
Hullis’ lawyers eventually reported the telegram to the FBI, who then launched an official investigation into the musician. The case was eventually dropped a year later when Hullis judged that Gibb wouldn’t have actually hired a hitman, and the long-running saga was brought to an end.
