Contrary to what social media whispers, Barry Gibb is indeed still with us! The internet spun a different tale over the weekend, when a Facebook page titled "R.I.P. Barry Gibb" surfaced, spreading a false message about his demise. According to TMZ, the page received a staggering number of nearly a million likes. However, Barry's family quickly debunked the rumors, assuring that the musician is "healthy, happy, and living life to the fullest at his Miami-area home."
Despite the page being removed by late Tuesday, numerous posts continued to proliferate on Facebook, claiming that he had passed away. These included statements like "BREAKING NEWS: Family mourns the passing of Barry Gibb" and "With a heavy heart, The family brings sad news about Bee Gees singer Barry Gibb." Some of these posts were as old as 48 weeks, accompanied by AI-generated images of the singer in a hospital bed or even a coffin.
Celebrities are, of course, frequent targets of death hoaxes, and some of the ones about Barry were almost a year old. Entertainment Weekly reached out to Meta (Facebook's parent company) and a representative for Barry Gibb for clarification.
Barry rose to fame as part of a trio with his brothers Maurice and Robin, who passed away in 2003 and 2012, respectively. (The youngest Gibb brother, Andy, was not part of the band but achieved solo success as a singer and died at age 30 in 1988.) Now 79, Barry is the last surviving member of the group that brought hits like "To Love Somebody," "Night Fever," "You Should Be Dancing," and many more to audiences in the '60s. Their sound is forever linked to disco – they helped make the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack a massive success – but their catalog extended to soul music and beyond.
Barry has spoken about the intense pressure he and his brothers experienced during their peak years. "There's fame and there's ultra-fame, and it can destroy," he told The Guardian in December 2020. "You lose your perspective; you're in the eye of a hurricane and you don't know you're there. You don't know what tomorrow is; you don't know if what you're recording will be a hit or not. And we were kids, don't forget."
The Bee Gees were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997 by Raphael Saddiq and Brian Wilson.
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