5 Songs You Didn't Know The Bee Gees Wrote For Other Famous Musicians

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The Bee Gees knew how to write near-perfect songs that should be required listening for younger generations. While they were incredible musicians in their own right and produced an unstoppable train of hits, they also contributed music to other famous artists, such as Diana Ross, Kenny Rogers, and Dolly Parton. Many of these songs turned out to be big tracks for these musicians, proving that the Gibb brothers had something of a Midas touch when it came to mixing words and melodies.

The history behind these songs is as important as the music itself, showcasing the inner workings of the creative process as well as music industry dynamics. In some instances, it demonstrated the Bee Gees' uncanny ability to check their egos at the door. They understood that some of these tracks were better suited for others and handed them off. Here are the five songs you didn't know the Bee Gees wrote for other famous musicians.

The "Saturday Night Fever" soundtrack features no shortage of boogie bangers to give every listener a serious case of disco inferno. One song that refuses to quit is "If I Can't Have You," which is performed by the sublime singer with the voice of velvet Yvonne Elliman. It's a track all about the declaration of love, making it clear there's a one and only here, but it also has an easy singalong chorus that catapults it to the top as a karaoke classic.

In 1977, the Bee Gees gave up this disco song for an even bigger smash hit. Appearing on Manx Radio in 2025, Barry Gibb revealed that "Saturday Night Fever" producer Robert Stigwood reached out to the group about possibly contributing to the soundtrack. The good news was that they had been working on a few tracks. "I had a song called 'Staying Alive,'" Gibb said. "I had [songs] called 'Night Fever,' 'More Than a Woman,' 'If I Can't Have You.'"

According to Elliman's comments to PopMatters, she "was offered 'If I Can't Have You' or 'How Deep Is Your Love,'" though there is another account that Stigwood wanted the Bee Gees to do "How Deep Is Your Love" specifically. Whichever way, it turned out to be a stroke of genius for everybody involved, as Elliman's rendition of "If I Can't Have You" soared to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The Bee Gees also released their own version of the song.

Sometimes, the creative process requires a little to and fro before settling on an idea, such as when the Bee Gees gave "Chain Reaction" to Diana Ross. Barry Gibb worked as a producer on Ross' 1985 album, "Eaten Alive," but he initially thought the Bee Gees-penned track wouldn't go down well with Ross because of its similarity to the Supremes' music.

"It was, in fact, the last song we cut," Gibb said in the 2002 book "The Bee Gees: Tales of the Brothers Gibb." "We'd done the whole album and she said, 'Well, we still need one more song from somewhere.' We'd had 'Chain Reaction' all along but hadn't the nerve to play it to her because it was so Tamla Motown-ish that we were scared she wouldn't want to go back there."

While Ross had her reservations about revisiting her old musical stomping grounds, she recorded "Chain Reaction" anyway. The song didn't top the charts in the U.S., but it was successful in other countries. Looking back on it now, there's a natural groove and unrelenting melody to "Chain Reaction" that makes it an unforgettable number; it's an underrated gem from Ross' seam-bursting catalog of hits.

This is a well-known example of how the Bee Gees wrote a song for a certain artist, but it ended up in the hands of another. It might be impossible to imagine "Islands in the Stream" being sung by anybody but the dynamic country duo of Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton, but it was once supposed to be for another famous musician, though there are varying accounts of who it actually was.

Robin Gibb claimed the track was meant for Marvin Gaye, while Barry Gibb affirmed on a few occasions that it was created for Diana Ross. "'Islands in the Stream,' for instance, was written for Diana Ross, but when I agreed to work with Kenny [Rogers], he wanted to do a duet with Dolly," Barry told Billboard in 2021.

Regardless of who was supposed to sing it originally, there can be no doubt that Rogers and Parton brought the country magic to "Islands in the Stream" and left their unmistakable stamp of quality on the exquisite song, which crossed the great divide to find a mainstream audience. As a matter of fact, it became the first-ever country song to top the Billboard Hot 100 in 1983.

As demonstrated by "I Say a Little Prayer," her iconic '60s love song that went gold, Dionne Warwick has a powerful voice that's capable of raising any song's level and transforming it into a must-listen. In 1982, she released the album "Heartbreaker," which features the hit single of the same name. Unsurprisingly, the sensational track sizzled the soul and peaked at No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, staying on the chart for an impressive 22 weeks.

Warwick has the Bee Gees to thank for "Heartbreaker," as it's a tune that the Gibb brothers composed. However, the story behind it became equally famous since it was revealed that Warwick turned down the song at first.

Warwick laughed about it with Albumism in 2021. "I didn't want to do 'Do You Know the Way to San Jose?' either," she said. "I had no criteria. But, with the insistence of both Hal David with 'San Jose' and Barry [Gibb], who said, 'You will record this song,' I said, 'Okay, okay ... I'll record the song. Okay.' But I gave it the best effort I could, and as it turned out, they were two of the biggest hits I've ever had!"

Considering Barbra Streisand's pedigree, it says something that Robin and Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees created one of her greatest songs ever. Streisand could make a best-of compilation for each decade she's released music in, but many fans keep coming back to the Billboard Hot 100-topping "Woman in Love," which is off her 1980 album, "Guilty."

Striking a balance between ballad and raw emotional release, "Woman in Love" doesn't sound outdated or irrelevant, remaining a stirring love song with lyrics that resonate with lovers around the world. However, Streisand admitted in her memoir "My Name Is Barbra" that she wasn't the biggest fan of the words the Gibb brothers had written. "I do remember having reservations about one particular song, 'Woman in Love,” she wrote. "Not the melody, which I liked ... It even sounded vaguely Hebraic, with its progression of minor chords. It was the lyric. And I started questioning it, forgetting my resolve to just go with the flow."

According to Streisand, when she saw her record company react positively to the song, she decided to not make a big deal of it. Looking back at the success and legacy of "Woman in Love" now, everybody is probably grateful that she didn't.