Footnotes

Provenance
Offered from the family of Stuart Grundy.

This guitar was gifted to BBC Radio 1 producer and documentary presenter Stuart Grundy. He worked for the broadcaster for 25 years interviewing leading musicians such as David Bowie, members of The Who, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Iggy Pop and Eric Clapton. In the accompanying letter, he states that he knew Maurice Gibb well having worked with the band on numerous occasions. This included the 1987 series The Bee Gees which he wrote and produced discussing the band's lives and careers.

Maurice Gibb and the Rickenbacker Bass guitar are synonymous. It was his favoured make and model that he used throughout his career and there are many images of him on stage playing similar guitars. On inspection, this Rickenbacker could be a special order guitar or an early experimental one as it has a very rare 21-fret fingerboard (usually a 20-fret fingerboard). Additionally, it appears the colour choice for this model replicates a faded sunburst and is not a standard finish found in Rickenbacker's catalogue.

The autographed typescript letter from Maurice Gibb that accompanies this lot is on Gibb Bros Music headed paper. The letter is dated December 4, 1991 and it states; Just a short note to verify that the Rickenbacker Bass Guitar Serial No. 143...I played on the Bee Gees' tracks that appear on the 'Saturday Night Fever' soundtrack album.

The Bee Gees were well-established throughout the 1960s, and following a reformation of the band in the early 1970s their music was brought to international attention once again. Having their songs featured in the 'Saturday Night Fever' film release starring John Travolta, they experienced huge international interest. Initially, the Bee Gees music was not included in the film and they were brought in during post-production. Driven by the film's huge success, the soundtrack broke multiple industry records, becoming the highest-selling album in recording history. More than 40 million copies sold, and since then Saturday Night Fever is still among music's top five best-selling soundtrack albums of all time. The album epitomised the disco phenomenon on both sides of the Atlantic and was an international sensation that still resonates in today's Popular Culture. The soundtrack album included the iconic disco anthems; Stayin' Alive and Night Fever and How Deep Is Your Love. In 2014 the album was added to the National Recording Registry in the Library of Congress for being culturally significant.