The Hee Bee Gee Bees was a fictitious pop group which parodied pop groups and performers in the early 1980s, consisting of

Angus Deayton Gordon Angus Deayton (; born 6 January 1956) is an English actor, writer, musician, comedian, and broadcaster. He was the original presenter of the satirical panel game '' Have I Got News for You,'' the host of British panel show '' Would I Lie ...

Michael Fenton Stevens Michael Fenton Stevens (born 12 February 1958) is an English actor and comedian. He is best known for being a founder member of The Hee Bee Gee Bees and the voice behind the ''Spitting Image'' 1986 number 1 hit "The Chicken Song". He also starred ...

, and

Philip Pope Philip R. J. Pope is a British composer and actor. He is best known for role as Tony Angelino in Only Fools And Horses. He was educated at Downside School and New College, Oxford. Performer Pope appeared in the Oxford Revue in Edinburgh Festiv ...

of the UK radio series ''Radio Active''. Their first single was "Meaningless Songs (in Very High Voices)" by the Hee Bee Gee Bees, a parody of the

Bee Gees The Bee Gees were a musical group formed in 1958 by brothers Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio were especially successful in popular music in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later as prominent performers in the disco music era in ...

. The 'band' consisted of the three Cribb (Gibb) brothers; Garry (Barry), Norris (Maurice) and Dobbin (Robin), performed respectively by Deayton, Fenton Stevens, and Pope. It was written by Pope and

Richard Curtis Richard Whalley Anthony Curtis (born 8 November 1956) is a New Zealand-born British screenwriter, producer and film director. One of Britain's most successful comedy screenwriters, he is known primarily for romantic comedy films, among them '' ...

, released by Original Records in 1980, reached number two in the

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n singles chart and made an appearance on the UK Indie Charts. Two albums were subsequently released under the ''Hee Bee Gee Bees'' name, featuring parodies of various pop groups that had originally been featured on ''Radio Active''. Tracks included parodies of

Supertramp Supertramp were an English rock band that formed in London in 1969. Marked by the individual songwriting of founders Roger Hodgson (vocals, keyboards, and guitars) and Rick Davies (vocals and keyboards), they are distinguished for blending pro ...

("Scatological Song" by Supertrash),

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

("Up the Wall" by Jack Michaelson),

Status Quo is a Latin phrase meaning the existing state of affairs, particularly with regard to social, political, religious or military issues. In the sociological sense, the ''status quo'' refers to the current state of social structure and/or values. W ...

("Boring Song" by Status Quid),

The Police The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. For most of their history the line-up consisted of primary songwriter Sting (lead vocals, bass guitar), Andy Summers (guitar) and Stewart Copeland (drums, percussion). The Police ...

("Too Depressed to Commit Suicide" by The PeeCees),

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

("Quite Ahead of My Time" by David Bowwow),

Gary Numan Gary Anthony James Webb (born 8 March 1958), known professionally as Gary Numan, is an English musician. He entered the music industry as frontman of the new wave band Tubeway Army. After releasing two albums with the band, he released his d ...

("Are Trains Electric?" by Gary Inhuman) and others. The first album was recorded in the

Strawberry Studios Strawberry Studios was a recording studio in Stockport, England. Founded in 1968, it operated until the early 1990s. Formation The facility was originally called Inter-City Studios and located above a music store in the town centre. In early ...

Stockport Stockport is a town and borough in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt and Tame merge to create the River Mersey here. Most of the town is within ...

, and featured

10cc 10cc are an English rock band formed in Stockport in 1972. The group initially consisted of four musicians – Graham Gouldman, Eric Stewart, Kevin Godley and Lol Creme – who had written and recorded together since 1968. The group featured t ...

and

Sad Café Sad Café are an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1976, who achieved their peak of popularity in the late 1970s and early 1980s. They are best known for the UK top 40 singles "Every Day Hurts", "Strange Little Girl", " My Oh My" and "I ...

studio musicians. The second album was recorded in and mixed at Silo Studios in London, with Les Davidson (guitar) Steve Shone (bass) and

Dave Early Dave Early (5 April 1957 – 14 October 1996) was an English drummer and percussionist. He was best known as the original drummer for Sade. He also worked with Chris Rea, Van Morrison, The Chieftains, Mary Black, Ananta, and others. Later he moved ...

(drums). The music was written by Pope, with lyrics by Deayton and other ''Radio Active'' scriptwriters. Fenton Stevens and Pope later collaborated on the parody song "

The Chicken Song "The Chicken Song" is a novelty song by the British satirical comedy television programme ''Spitting Image'' (series 3, episode 6). The nonsensical lyrics were written by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor; the music was written by Philip Pope, who also ...

", which reached number 1 in the UK in 1986.

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

External links

Radio Active web site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hee Bee Gee Bees, The English pop music groups Bee Gees British parodists Parody musicians