The career of the Bee Gees singer Sir Barry Gibb has been honoured on a new set of stamps in the Isle of Man.
Gibb, 75, was born on the island in 1946 before moving to Manchester in 1955. He and his brothers Robin and Maurice sold more than 200m albums worldwide in a career spanning five decades.
The seven stamps show Gibb at various stages of his career between 1969 and 2019. A statement hailed his “peerless musical career” and “tireless charitable work”.
One stamp shows him on the set of the 1978 film Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, while another is of him on stage at Glastonbury in 2017. Others show him at home and on stage in locations around the world.
Gibb said he was “very proud” of his Manx roots. “I was born and bred on the ancient, mystical, magical Isle of Man, and I have very fond memories of growing up there, so to appear on a set of its stamps is not only a wonderful surprise, but also an honour and a privilege,” he said.
President of Tynwald, Laurence Skelly, said the Bee Gees were “arguably the most famous Manx export”.
“Throughout their careers they have all been outstanding ambassadors of the Isle of Man and so proud of their birthplace and I believe this issue and commemoration is fitting for the last surviving brother, Sir Barry Gibb,” he said.
At the request of Gibb, the stamps will raise money for the music therapy charity Nordoff Robbins. It follows the unveiling of a statue of the Bee Gees on the Isle of Man in July.
