Bee Gees, ‘Saturday Night Fever’ to get 40th anniversary Grammy salute
Disco lives.
John Legend, Andra Day, Celine Dion and other pop, R&B, rock and country stars will pay homage to the Bee Gees and the group’s blockbuster 1977 soundtrack album “Saturday Night Fever” in an all-star Grammy Awards-related salute from the Recording Academy, CBS and AEG Ehrlich Ventures.
For the record:
5:52 p.m. April 19, 2024An earlier edition of this post described the Bee Gees as an Australian group. The Gibb brothers were born in England and achieved their first musical success after their family moved to Australia. Additionally, Ed Sheeran was originally listed among the participants, but he is not on the latest lineup provided by the Recording Academy.
“Stayin’ Alive: A Grammy Salute to the Music of the Bee Gees,” marking the 40th anniversary of the album that spent 24 weeks atop the Billboard sales chart in 1977-78, also will feature Keith Urban, Tori Kelly, Pentatonix, DNCE, Little Big Town, Demi Lovato and others.
The modern-day stars will be joined by Bee Gees founding member Barry Gibb during a Feb. 14 concert at the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles and recorded for broadcast later this year. Maurice Gibb died in 2003 and Robin Gibb in 2012.
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Describing the “Saturday Night Fever” soundtrack as “an emblem of 1970s pop culture,” Recording Academy President Neil Portnow also said in a statement, “With expert harmonies, undeniable groove and a personal charisma matching their on-stage persona, the iconic band of brothers defined not just a genre, but a generation.”
Longtime Grammy Awards telecast executive producer Ken Ehrlich told The Times on Wednesday, “They had a remarkable impact on several generations of music. Their harmonies certainly influenced generations to follow. I have always been a huge fan, and I’m really glad we’re going to be doing this.”
He said that while the music from “Saturday Night Fever,” album, which spawned hits including “Stayin’ Alive,” “How Deep Is Your Love” and “Night Fever,” will form one anchor of the show, performers will also delve into other facets of the group’s musical legacy, which dates to 1967 with the Bee Gees’ first U.S. hit, “New York Mining Disaster 1941.”
“Saturday Night Fever” collected an album of the year Grammy Award. The Recording Industry Assn. of America has certified sales of 15 million copies in the U.S. alone.
The salute follows in the recent tradition of spinoff specials featuring many of the artists who attend the Grammy Awards ceremony itself, as performers, presenters, nominees or audience members. Tickets for the concert will be available at www.axs.com.
The first such special was “The Beatles: The Night That Changed America” in 2014 on the 50th anniversary of the group’s watershed performance on “The Ed Sullivan Show.”
That was followed early in 2015 by “Stevie Wonder: Songs in the Key of Life” and then “Sinatra 100: An All-Star Grammy Concert” in December of that year. Unlike the Beatles and Wonder specials, which tied in with Grammy ceremonies both years, the Sinatra tribute was shot separately in Las Vegas.
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