TO LOVE THE BEE GEES Charity Record Launches Kickstarter Campaign

By: Jan. 30, 2015
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The Bee Gees have sold more than 120 million records worldwide, making them one of the world's best-selling music acts of all time and members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame since 1997.

"To Love the Bee Gees: A Tribute To The Brothers Gibb" is a collection of well-curated, new and exclusive recordings of Bee Gees songs reflecting the magic of the originals and the breadth of musical styles Barry, Robin and Maurice created throughout the past fifty years.

The producers of "To Love the Bee Gees" launched a fundraising Kickstarter campaign yesterday, January 29th, to finish the recording of the album and release it to the public in the Fall. The eventual release of the album will raise money and awareness for The Foundation To Be Named Later and their Peter Gammons Scholars program serving disadvantaged youth.

Here's the Kickstarter link: www.kickstarter.com/projects/tolovethebeegees/to-love-the-bee-gees-a-tribute-to-the-brothers-gib.

The creation of this project came from the record's producers, Todd Bisson and Bennett Freed. Both are music business executives with more than twenty years' experience in their chosen field. They have funded the initial recordings for the album themselves which includes songs from power pop legend Emitt Rhodes (ending a forty year absence from releasing music), former Boo Radleys' guitarist Martin Carr, former Belle & Sebastian founding member Isobel Campbell, Stones Throw Records recording artist Myron & E, Warner Brothers recording artist Dylan Gardner, Django Unchained's Elayna Boynton, producer/artist Chris Price, and Latina chanteuse Jess Delgado.

Here's a current list of finished recordings for "To Love the Bee Gees":

"How Do You Mend A Broken Heart" - Emitt Rhodes
"Stayin' Alive" - Martin Carr
"How Deep Is Your Love" - Isobel Campbell
"Jive Talkin'" - Myron & E
"Massachusetts" - Dylan Gardner
"To Love Somebody" - Elayna Boynton
"I Can Bring Love" - Jess Delgado
"Please Read Me" - Chris Price

The Kickstater crowdfunding campaign for "To Love the Bee Gees" will run for thirty days and the money raised will be used to complete the album release it in the Fall of 2015. All net profits from the project will be donated to FTBNL and their Peter Gammons Scholarship program, which has thus far sent 46 young people with high financial needs and high educational potential to the college of their choice. In addition to this financial contribution, the producers will work with FTBNL to involve some of the Gammons' Scholars in a hands-on learning project during the completion and marketing of the album.

According to producers Bisson and Freed, "Once we decided that our album would be donating all the net profits to charity, we sought to find not just a destination for that money, but an organization we could partner with and integrate into the fabric of what we are doing." They continue, "We have known about the work that the Foundation has done over the past ten years so we are truly pleased to be able to support them as we bring this unique album of music to the public."

"I'm thrilled to use two of my favorite pastimes, music and baseball as a way to raise much-needed funds for The Foundation To Be Named Later, and help send deserving youth to college," said Hall of Fame baseball columnist and part time guitarist Peter Gammons. "'To Love the Bee Gees' provides us with a creative platform to continue to raise awareness for the FTBNL and help support our nonprofit partners."

The worldwide devotion for The Bee Gees has continued and grown new generations of fans as witnessed during Barry Gibb's sold-out 2014 "Mythology" tour. The band's music has been covered live and on record by both chart-topping and developing artists for decades, and yet, there has not been a truly representative, diverse tribute album to their brilliant songbook, until now. "We are knocked out by the caliber and individuality of the songs recorded thus far, and are very ambitious about the music we want to bring to the project once the crowdfunding campaign completes," says Bisson. "The possibilities are nearly endless and we already have a couple of surprises up our sleeves."

Several aspects of this project are unique. With the crowdfunding campaign, there will be no lag time between when the public contributes and when they get to hear the music they have helped create. To launch the album, Isobel Campbell's version of "How Deep Is Your Love" is available now as a free download via Noisey/Vice.com and two more songs will be sent digitally to contributors once the Kickstarter campaign ends successfully. These three songs will not be available to the rest of the world until the official album release, tentatively scheduled for the early Fall of this year.

Here's the link for Isobel Campbell's "How Deep Is Your Love": http://noisey.vice.com/blog/hear-isobel-campbells-how-deep-is-your-love

The physical album that Kickstarter contributors receive for a contribution of $50 or more will be an exclusive deluxe version containing at least seven alternative versions of the songs on the standard album. These tracks will only be made available physically via this crowdfunded album. The standard version of the album will be released and sold to the general public, physically and digitally, through the producer's own distribution company approximately one month after the contributors receive their deluxe albums.

For more information on "To Love the Bee Gees: A Tribute To The Brothers Gibb" visit www.facebook.com/lovetheBeeGees or www.tolovethebeegees.com.

ABOUT FOUNDATION TO BE NAMED LATER - The Foundation To Be Named Later (FTBNL) was founded in 2005 by then Red Sox Executive Vice President and General Manager and current Chicago Cubs' President of Baseball Operations, Theo Epstein and his twin brother Paul, a social worker in the Brookline public school system. Inspired by Paul and Theo's commitment to creating positive opportunities for disadvantaged children and families in the Boston area, the Foundation expands the impact of youth-focused nonprofits by raising awareness and critical resources. Over the past seven years, the Foundation has invested over $6.5 million in grants and in-kind donations to local organizations and has sent more than 4,000 children to Red Sox and Celtics games. Central to FTBNL's work are strategic partnerships with a team of nonprofits that serve disadvantaged children and families, including BELL (Building Educated Leaders for Life); Citizen Schools; City Year Boston; The Home for Little Wanderers; Horizons for Homeless Children; Roxbury Youthworks; Steps to Success; and West End House Boys & Girls Club. With the generous support of RISO, FTBNL also created the "Peter Gammons College Scholarship," named for the beloved Hall of Fame sports journalist and humanitarian, to provide 30 college scholarships to exemplary Boston area students who have overcome tremendous disadvantages but have great potential. Visit www.ftbnl.org for more information.



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