On this day in 1949,  twin brothers Robin and Maurice Gibb are born. Together with their brother Barry, they later formed the Bee Gees (for Brothers Gibb) and scored a record-breaking number of hits.

The Australian brothers began performing together as children in the late 1950s. They signed with Festival Records of Australia in 1962, when Barry, the oldest, was 15 and his twin brothers were 13. They released two albums during the next five years, writing all their own material. The brothers hosted an Australian television show, but their music didn’t become famous until they moved to England in 1967 and added drummer Cohn Peterson, bassist Vince Melouney, and manager Robert Stigwood. The group began racking up such hits as To Love Somebody (1967), Holiday (1967), Words (1968), and I’ve Got to Get a Message to You (1968).

In 1969, the non-family members left the band, and the brothers began fighting. Robin branched off into a solo career while Barry and Maurice recorded duos. The three reunited for a few more hits, then recorded a series of duds. In the mid 1970s, the group hired a new producer, moved to Miami, and altered their style into a funkier R&B-type sound just in time for the rise of disco. In 1978, the group recorded music for the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, which sold 30-million copies. The album won the Best Album Grammy in 1978, and the Bee Gees won the Best Pop Group Grammy. They scored three consecutive No. 1 hits from the album. Meanwhile, their 18-year-old brother, Andy Gibb, also climbed the charts in 1977 and 1978 with songs like I Just Want to Be Your Everything and Love Is Thicker than Water, written with help from his brothers.

By 1979, the Bee Gees had recorded five platinum albums and some two-dozen hit singles. They again pursued individual ventures when the band’s popularity began to wane, but they reunited and released another album in 1987. When Andy Gibb died in 1988 of a heart condition purportedly brought on by drug and alcohol abuse, the devastated Bee Gees retired temporarily. They began releasing albums again in the early 1990s and also wrote and produced songs for other artists, including Kenny Rogers, Diana Ross, and Barbra Streisand. During a history spanning more than 30 years, the group achieved nine No. 1 hits, more than any other rock group in history except the Beatles and the Supremes, and received Lifetime Achievement awards from the American Music Awards, Brit Awards, German Bambi Awards, Australian Record Industry, and World Music Awards.

In 1994, both Robin and Maurice Gibb were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. The Bee Gees were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997.

Maurice Gibb died on January 12, 2003, after suffering cardiac arrest.