Thaindian News

London, May 4 (ANI): Bee Gees singer Barry Gibb has refused to let a cover version of their hit song Staying Alive be used for an anti-AIDS TV ad because it was too much like the original.

The cast of touring concert show Thank You For The Music, meant to be a major public health notice in Eastern Europe, had prepared a re-recorded version of the chart topping number.

But Barry, who lent his squeaky vocals to the original Seventies hit, feared viewers would not be able to distinguish the original from the cover version, as per singer Martin Spooner, who plays Robin Gibb in the show.

“I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry,” the Daily Express quoted Spooner as saying.

“Although we miss out on a lucrative TV deal we take this as a back-handed compliment that we sound so much like the Bee Gees but it’s disappointing, too, ­because it was a major campaign for a worthwhile cause,” he added.

Spooner continued: “It never occurred to us there would be a problem. We have been portraying the Bee Gees in our stage show for 10 years.” (ANI)