Few people realize that at the height of their fame in the late 1970s, the Bee Gees found themselves caught in a scandal that led to them being shunned in their own homeland—the United Kingdom.
It all started with a lawsuit. The Bee Gees were accused of plagiarism over their hit How Deep Is Your Love by a Chicago-based songwriter named Ronald Selle. Though the Bee Gees ultimately won the case, the controversy sparked intense media scrutiny, particularly in the UK, where some critics were already questioning the group’s shifting national identity—born in the UK, raised in Australia, and megastars in America.
The situation worsened when Robin Gibb left the group, citing artistic differences with his brother Barry Gibb. The British press, always eager for a family feud, sensationalized the split, with headlines suggesting the band was falling apart due to ego and control issues.
For years afterward, the Bee Gees were largely ignored by British media. They were rarely invited to perform in their homeland, and their contributions were downplayed compared to other UK acts. It wasn’t until the 1990s, during a disco revival and a reassessment of their legacy, that the Bee Gees were finally embraced again by the British public.
This chapter remains one of the most ironic footnotes in music history: the Bee Gees—global icons of harmony and disco—were, for a time, out of tune with their own country.