When Barry Gibb tenderly kissed Barbra Streisand live on stage at the 1981 Grammy Awards
14 April 2022, 15:03
This is the moment women all over the world went green with envy when Australian heart-throb Barry Gibb kissed Barbra Streisand at the 1981 Grammy Awards.
Bee Gees star Barry Gibb and singing sensation Barbra Streisand were presenting a Grammy Award when the Australian superstar gently kissed the Funny Girl actress as the world watched on.
The pair were Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Male at the 23rd annual Grammy Awards in 1981 when the beautiful moment took place.
After an introduction from Simon & Garfunkel's Paul Simon, Barbra and Barry walk on stage holding hands and to a standing ovation and to give a little presentation of their own.
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"Barry," Barbra begins, "do you feel guilty?" she says, in a tongue in cheek nod to their famous song.
"No," Barry says gently.
"No?" Barbra says, staring into his eyes, "I do."
"Why would you feel like that?"
"I don't know," she says, "I feel like i'm cheating on Neil Diamond," as the audience roars with laughter.
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Then, in a moment that seems completely off script, Barry gently says: "Give me a kiss" and leans forward to lock lips with Streisand.
Accompanied by wolf-whistles from the delighted crowd, Barry doesn't miss a beat and pulls away to then seamlessly announce the nominations for the Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Male, as Barbra smiles and looks on.
The kiss came just months after the pair released their smash-hit duet 'Guilty', and earlier in the evening Gibb and Streisand had won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for the historic song.
The writing and producing pair were a musical force to be reckoned with, already winning 15 Grammys between them.
At the time, Barbra Streisand had been awarded 12 Grammys, including Album of the Year and Song of the Year and Barry had won three: two for previous albums and once for Producer of the Year.
Barbra approached Barry Gibb to write songs for her new album, Guilty, in the late '70s, but what was supposed to be a collaboration on a handful of songs proved so successful that Barry ended up co-writing and producing the whole album.
The two duets were released by Barry and Barbra from the album were widely acclaimed.
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'Guilty' was released as the album's second single and had huge success, eventually peaking at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 and 'What Kind of Fool' was in the top ten chart for ten weeks.
Guilty was the 22nd studio album by Streisand and is her best-selling album to date internationally, with sales of over 15 million copies worldwide.
Barry Gibb Kissing Barbra Streisand on Grammy 1981
Barbra Streisand & Barry Gibb - Guilty - Live 1986 HQ - (With Lyrics)
In 2005, Barry Gibb and Barbra Streisand paired up once again to release Guilty Pleasures, a follow-up to their 1980 album featuring live performances and remastered audio to mark its 25th anniversary.
Speaking to Diane Sawyer upon the launch the follow-up album, the pair discussed their long writing career and close friendship.
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“Working with an artist like Barbra is one in a lifetime, and I really thought it was once in a lifetime!” Barry joked about their new collaboration.
“Barbra takes a song and does it her way, and there’s no real way to put that into words," he said, adding: “There the ten greatest female artists…and then there’s Barbra Streisand. That’s the truth.”
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While the chemistry between the pair is undeniable - despite their decades of collaboration - the duo have never been in a relationship.
Streisand has been married twice. Her first husband was MASH actor Elliott Gould, and they were married from 1963 to 1971 and her second husband is actor James Brolin, whom she married in 1998.
Barry Gibb was married to Maureen Bates from 1966 to 1970. Later that year he married former Miss Edinburgh, Linda Gray, and the pair celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary on September 1, 2020.
