Colin ‘Smiley’ Petersen and Dennis Bryon, the most important drummers of the Bee Gees’ career, die

Frederick Colin Petersen was born in March 1946 and spent the first five years of his life in Kinagroy, Queensland. He later attended Humpybong School in Redcliffe, as did the Gibb brothers. But before becoming a drummer, he rose to fame as child actor for his role in the 1956 Australian film ‘Smiley’, from which arose the nickname by which he would be known throughout his life, and he also acted in several other films alongside Richard Attenborough, Max Bygraves and Dana Wilson.

After school he picked up drumsticks to learn to play the drums, played with various bands including Steve and the Board, and in 1966 moved to London. They also traveled there that same year. Gibb brothersand being an old acquaintance, they invited him to show his skills with the band they had put together. That first original lineup, completed with guitarist Vince Melouney, recorded the first five albums by The Bee Gees, ‘Bee Gees’ 1st’, ‘Horizontal’, ‘Idea’, ‘Odessa’ and ‘Cucumber Castle.’

In the late summer of 1967, Petersen and Melouney were almost deported to Australia for failing to get their visas right, but the problem was solved by the group’s manager, Robert Stigwood. However, this would be the cause of Petersen’s departure shortly after, when the drummer (who, like Melouney, was considered a full member of the group) He questioned whether the band’s manager was the owner of their recordings.. According to Petersen, this led to his being fired in August 1969, while the group was making a television movie based on the ‘Cucumber Castle’ album.

Petersen, who was replaced by drummer of Pentangle, Terry Coxjoined forces in 1970 with Jonathan Kelly to form Humpy Bong (a play on the name of the school Petersen and the Gibb brothers attended in Australia), and despite the fact that they managed to appear on the television program Top of the Pops , they separated that same year without giving any explanation. Decades later, having become a painter, he lost a lawsuit against his former colleagues in which he demanded royalty payments.

After Petersen’s departure, the drummers lasted a sigh for the Bee Gees. Terry Cox lasted only a few months, then they signed Geoff Bridgford, who was between 1971 and 1972, and then Chris Karan, who also did not go beyond 1972. Then he joined the group Dennis Bryonwho would become the band’s most important and lasting drummer, as he stayed for eight years, until 1981.

Welsh by birth, Bryon was a reference of his instrument and had played with Kenny Rogers, Jimi HendrixSteve Marriott and even the London Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as with his own teenage band, the Blue Jets. With him, the Bee Gees achieved massive and global success, largely thanks to his rhythmic contributions to the soundtrack of ‘Saturday Night Fever’ (1977) and all the studio albums recorded in the seventies: ‘ Mr. Natural’ (1974), ‘Main Course’ (1975), ‘Children of the World’ (1976) and ‘Spirits Having Flown’ (1979). After leaving the Bee Gees, he played drums for stars like Barbra Streisand and Dionne Warwick in the eighties.

Bryon died in Nashville on November 14 2024, at the age of 75. His Amen Corner bandmates, Blue Weaver and Andy Fairweather Low, announced his death on Facebook, and four days later, former Bee Gees drummer Colin Petersen also died.