"More Than a Woman" is a song by 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 ...

, written by

Barry Barry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Barry (name), including lists of people with the given name, nickname or surname, as well as fictional characters with the given name * Dancing Barry, stage name of Barry Richards (born c. 19 ...

, Robin, and

Maurice Gibb Maurice Ernest Gibb (; 22 December 1949 – 12 January 2003) was a British musician. He achieved fame as a member of the pop group Bee Gees. Although his elder brother Barry Gibb and fraternal twin brother Robin Gibb were the group's main le ...

for the soundtrack to the film ''

Saturday Night Fever ''Saturday Night Fever'' is a 1977 American dance drama film directed by John Badham and produced by Robert Stigwood. It stars John Travolta as Tony Manero, a young Italian-American man from the Brooklyn borough of New York. Manero spends his ...

''. It became a regular feature of the group's live sets from 1977 until Maurice Gibb's death in 2003 and was often coupled with "

Night Fever "Night Fever" is a song written and performed by the Bee Gees. It first appeared on the soundtrack to ''Saturday Night Fever'' on RSO Records. Producer Robert Stigwood wanted to call the film ''Saturday Night'', but singer Robin Gibb expressed ...

Recording and release

The Bee Gees started to record the song from February to March 1977 in the

Château d'Hérouville The Château d'Hérouville is a French 18th century château located in the village of Hérouville, in the Val d'Oise département of France, near Paris. The château was built in 1740 by "Gaudot", an architect of the school of Rome, from the r ...

, Hérouville in France, continued it in

Criteria Studios Criteria Studios is a recording studio in North Miami, Florida, founded in 1958 by musician Mack Emerman. Hundreds of gold, platinum, and diamond singles and albums have been recorded, mixed or mastered at Criteria, for many notable artists and ...

in Miami in April, and later in September, the song was finished in Cherokee Studios, Los Angeles. The soundtrack includes two versions — one by the Bee Gees and the other by

Tavares Tavares may refer to: Places Brazil *Tavares, Paraíba *Tavares, Rio Grande do Sul *Rodovia Raposo Tavares, the longest highway in São Paulo *Tavares Bastos (favela), a favela in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil *Tavares River Jamaica *Tavares Garden ...

. Both versions are featured in the film as well. The song has been recorded and performed by various artists but in different forms. The song by the Bee Gees was not released as a single in the US and the UK, but only in some other territories like Italy and Australia. Despite that, it has remained a staple on radio, and is one of their best known songs. An abridged live version of the song, performed by the Bee Gees in 1997, is available on both the DVD and CD versions of '' One Night Only''. The song has also been included on Bee Gees compilations such as ''

Tales from the Brothers Gibb ''Tales from the Brothers Gibb: A History in Song'' is a box set compilation released by the Bee Gees in 1990. Originally released on four cassettes and four compact discs, ''Tales'' is a summary of the Bee Gees output from their third album, ...

'' and '' Their Greatest Hits: The Record''. The very first British pressings of ''Their Greatest Hits: The Record'' featured the song with a mastering fault, with the audio noticeably dipping to the right briefly during the first verse. This was corrected after several thousand copies had been distributed. A new remix of the song was done by British DJ

SG Lewis SG, Sg or sg may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * SG (song), "SG" (song), a 2021 song by DJ Snake, Ozuna, Lisa, and Megan Thee Stallion * Gibson SG, an electric guitar manufactured by Gibson Guitar Corporation * SG Wannabe, a South Korean ...

, which was released in 2021 in response to the

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craze.

Personnel

Credits adapted from the album '' Saturday Night Fever: The Original Movie Sound Track''. *

Barry Gibb Sir Barry Alan Crompton Gibb (born 1 September 1946) is a British musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. He rose to worldwide fame as a member of the Bee Gees, one of the most commercially successful groups in the history of popul ...

– vocals, guitar *

Robin Gibb Robin Hugh Gibb (22 December 1949 – 20 May 2012) was a British singer and songwriter. He gained worldwide fame as a member of the Bee Gees pop group with elder brother Barry and fraternal twin brother Maurice. Robin Gibb also had his o ...

– vocals *

– vocals, bass guitar *

Alan Kendall Alan Kendall (born 9 September 1944) is an English musician and was the lead guitarist for the Bee Gees, in an unofficial capacity from 1971 until 1980, and again from 1987 until 2001. Career His first recording was "Don't Play That Song (You ...

– guitar *

Dennis Bryon Dennis Bryon (born 14 April 1949 in Cardiff, Wales) is a Welsh rock drummer from Cardiff, best known for his work with the Bee Gees from 1974 to 1979. He also worked with Amen Corner and co-produced Robin Gibb's 1983 album, '' How Old Are You?' ...

– drums *

Blue Weaver Derek John "Blue" Weaver (born 11 March 1947) is a Welsh rock keyboardist, session musician, songwriter and record producer. Career Weaver's career as a musician began as a co-founding member of 1960s Welsh rock band Amen Corner and its succ ...

– keyboards *

Joe Lala Joseph Anthony Lala (November 3, 1947 – March 18, 2014) was an American musician and actor. In 1966, he co-founded the rock band Blues Image. Life and career Lala was born in Ybor City, Tampa, Florida, to parents from Contessa Entellina (an e ...

– percussion

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Tavares version

"More Than a Woman" was also recorded by

in 1977, and also appeared in ''

'' and on

the soundtrack album ''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...

. It also featured on their 1978 album '' Future Bound''. Their version charted at number 32 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and number 7 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

911 version

In 1998, British boy band

911 911 or 9/11 may refer to: Dates * AD 911 * 911 BC * September 11 ** 9/11, the September 11 attacks of 2001 ** 11 de Septiembre, Chilean coup d'état in 1973 that outed the democratically elected Salvador Allende * November 9 Numbers * 91 ...

recorded "More Than a Woman" for their third studio album, '' There It Is'' (1999). Produced by Phil Harding and Ian Curnow, this version was released on 12 October 1998 as the album's lead single and peaked at number two on the

while also charting in France and New Zealand.

Release and reception

911's version of "More Than a Woman" was added to

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

's As Featured playlist on 7 September 1998; by the end of the month, it had been upgraded to the station's A-list. On 12 October 1998,

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldwid ...

released the song in the United Kingdom as two

CD single A CD single (sometimes abbreviated to CDS) is a music single in the form of a compact disc. The standard in the Red Book for the term ''CD single'' is an 8 cm (3-inch) CD (or Mini CD). It now refers to any single recorded onto a CD of any si ...

s and a

cassette single A cassette single (CS), also known by the trademark cassingle, or capitalised as the trademark Cassette Single, is a music single supplied in the form of a Compact Cassette. The cassette single was first introduced in 1980. History The debu ...

. Six days later, the song debuted and peaked at number two on the

, becoming the band's highest-charting single in the UK until the follow up, a cover of

Dr. Hook Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show (shortened to Dr. Hook in 1975) is an American rock band, formed in Union City, New Jersey. The band had commercial success in the 1970s with hit singles "Sylvia's Mother", " The Cover of 'Rolling Stone'" (both 1972) ...

's "

A Little Bit More "A Little Bit More" is a song written and performed by Bobby Gosh, released on his 1973 album ''Sitting in the Quiet''. The first hit version was recorded by the band Dr. Hook; their version was released as a single in 1976. It charted at numbe ...

, topped the UK chart in January 1999. For most of the week, "More Than a Woman" outsold

Spacedust Spacedust were the British production duo of Paul Glancy and Duncan Glasson. They had a number one hit single in the UK Singles Chart in 1998 with "Gym and Tonic". The track was technically a cover of Bob Sinclar's single "Gym Tonic," althoug ...

's "

Gym and Tonic "Gym and Tonic" is a single released by British production duo Spacedust. The song was originally recorded by French record producer Bob Sinclar as "Gym Tonic", with co-production by Thomas Bangalter and a 12-minute section of improvised funk b ...

", but the latter song slipped ahead to become the number-one song of that week despite mediocre sales. "More Than a Woman" spent four weeks in the top 40 and 15 weeks in the top 100. On the

Eurochart Hot 100 The European Hot 100 Singles was compiled by '' Billboard'' and ''Music & Media'' magazine from March 1984 until December 2010. The chart was based on national singles sales charts in 17 European countries: Austria, Belgium (two charts separately ...

, the cover reached number 18 on 31 October 1998 as that week's Sales Breaker. Elsewhere in Europe, the song charted in France in March 1999, when it appeared on the SNEP Singles Chart for a single week at number 94, becoming the band's only single to chart there. In New Zealand, the song became 911's third of four songs to reach the top 50 on the

New Zealand Singles Chart The Official New Zealand Music Chart ( mi, Te Papa Tātai Waiata Matua o Aotearoa) is the weekly New Zealand top 40 singles and albums charts, issued weekly by Recorded Music NZ (formerly Recording Industry Association of New Zealand). The Music ...

. After debuting at number 20 on 14 March 1999, it rose to its peak of number eight the following week to become the band's highest-charting song in New Zealand. It spent a further seven nonconsecutive weeks in the top 50.

Track listings

UK CD1 #"More Than a Woman" (radio edit) – 3:11 #"Nothing Stops the Rain" – 3:34 #"Forever in My Heart" – 4:02 #"Interactive element UK CD2 #"More Than a Woman" (radio edit) – 3:11 #"Nothing Stops the Rain" – 3:34 #"More Than a Woman" ( Dave Lee's 54 Mix) – 7:59 UK cassette single #"More Than a Woman" (radio edit) – 3:11 #"Nothing Stops the Rain" – 3:34 #"More Than a Woman" (Dave Lee's Rare Mix) – 6:37 European CD single #"More Than a Woman" (radio edit) – 3:11 #"Nothing Stops the Rain" – 3:34

Personnel

Personnel are adapted from the UK CD1 liner notes. *

– writing *

– writing *Tony Remy – guitar *Henry Thomas – bass *Mikeal J. Parlet – flute, saxophone *Michele Chiavarini – keys *Robert Anderson – percussion * Phil Harding – production *Ian Curnow – production *Dave Lee – additional production and mix *K-Boy Brooks – engineering *John O'Donnell – engineering *Joe @ Virgin Art – artwork design *Richard McLaren – photography

Charts

References

{{Authority control 1977 singles 1977 songs 1998 singles Bee Gees songs Tavares (group) songs 911 (English group) songs Capitol Records singles Disco songs EMI Records singles Number-one singles in Scotland Polydor Records singles RSO Records singles Song recordings produced by Barry Gibb Song recordings produced by Robin Gibb Song recordings produced by Maurice Gibb Song recordings produced by Phil Harding (producer) Songs from Saturday Night Fever Songs written by Barry Gibb Songs written by Maurice Gibb Songs written by Robin Gibb Virgin Records singles