Colin Petersen, Bee Gees original drummer, dead at 78
Colin Petersen, the original drummer for the Bee Gees, died Monday, Fox News Digital has confirmed. He was 78.
The news of his death was “sadly” confirmed by Evan Webster of Best of the Bee Gees, a tribute band that Petersen played with.
“It is with a heavy heart we announce the passing of our dear friend Colin ‘Smiley’ Petersen,” Webster wrote on the band’s Facebook page. “He enriched our lives and bound our group with love, care and respect. Not sure how we can go on without his glowing smile and deep friendship. We love you Col. Rest in Peace.”
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Colin Petersen, inset, the original drummer for the Bee Gees, has died. He was 78. (Getty Images)
Petersen played on the albums “Bee Gees’ 1st,” “Horizontal,” “Idea,” “Odessa” and, although uncredited, “Cucumber Castle.”
He performed hits including “To Love Somebody,” “Massachusetts” and “Words.”
While Petersen was an acclaimed musician, he initially found fame at a young age as a child actor, starring in the 1955 film “Smiley” with Sir Ralph Richardson.
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The film gave him his nickname – “Smiley” – and additional opportunities in the industry, including roles in “Strange Affection” and “A Cry from the Streets.”
Colin Petersen, bottom right, performed on a number of Bee Gees tracks. (GAB Archive)
Colin Petersen found fame at a young age as a child star in “Smiley.” (LMPC)
Petersen met the Gibb brothers while attending school on the Redcliffe Peninsula in Australia and would listen to the Bee Gees recording sessions, eventually playing on early releases of the brothers’ records.
It was not until Petersen met up with the Gibbs in England that he became the first non-Gibb brother of the Bee Gees.
“I was really quite imaginative with my playing, but there were a lot of drummers at the time that were technically much more advanced than I was,” he told the “Strange Brew” podcast in 2022 of his work with the Bee Gees. “Look, Chuck Berry only probably knew four chords, right? So, sometimes when you’re limited, you’ve got to be creative … I think you can overdo the technique and you get to a stage where you can’t see the wood for the trees. I’ve always been a song guy with drumming.”
He officially left the band in 1969, explaining on the podcast that he had issues with the band’s manager, Robert Stigwood. He accused him of “taking a bigger piece of the pie than he was entitled to” and declined to explain further.
Colin Petersen moved to England to pursue music, where he met up with the Gibb brothers. (Keystone)
After cutting ties with the Bee Gees, Petersen formed a band called Humpy Bong with singer Jonathan Kelly. The band was short-lived, and after it disbanded, he managed Kelly’s solo career for a time.
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In 1974, Petersen returned to his homeland of Australia with wife Joanne Newfield. They raised their two sons, Jaime and Ben, in Sydney. He worked in production and management in the music industry for several years before he was approached by the Best of the Bee Gees band five years ago.
Australian musician Colin Petersen, the drummer for the Bee Gees, with his wife Joanne Newfield at their home in London, circa 1968. (Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
In 2022, he admitted in an interview with the Fassifern Guardian that he was “a little bit reluctant at first” to get involved with the tribute band.
“I went to see the show,” he explained. “It would have been about the third song in, and I thought to myself, bloody hell, this band is really great, and the voices were so close, and it was well presented and they all seem really comfortable on stage and enjoying it, which is really important.”
When they asked him to play with them, he was nervous since it had been so long since he played the drums – as a self-proclaimed perfectionist, he was determined not to make any mistakes.
Pop group the Bee Gees posed on a street in London in 1967. Members of the band are, from left to right, Colin Petersen, Maurice Gibb, Barry Gibb, Vince Melouney and Robin Gibb. (Ivan Keeman/Redferns)
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The band sent him a drum kit, and he began practicing, pushing himself to get through the songs without any errors. He said, “After six weeks of this, I put my hand up, and I love it. It’s really great.”
With Petersen’s death, Barry Gibb is the last living original member of the Bee Gees.
