The Isle of Man has been celebrating the 80th birthday of one of its most famous sons this week, but did you know Sir Barry Gibb was behind some of the biggest songs recorded by other artists?

Douglas Mayor Steven Crellin recorded a special birthday message at the Bee Gees statue on the Promenade, joined by singer Shay Marsden and local pipers performing the Manx folk song Ellan Vannin.

Sir Barry’s cousins Hazel and Justine Gibb have also been on the island with six American Bee Gees fans, visiting places associated with the brothers and their music.

But alongside the Bee Gees’ own enormous catalogue, Barry Gibb also wrote a string of hits which became famous through other performers.

Perhaps one of the most well known is Islands in the Stream, the 1983 Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton duet. Originally written by Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb, it became one of country music’s best-known duets.

Then there is perhaps more surprisingly, Grease, the title song from the 1978 film, famously recorded by Frankie Valli and written by Barry Gibb.

Barbra Streisand’s Woman in Love was another major Gibb composition, co-written by Barry, Robin and Maurice. It became a UK number one for Streisand and helped make the Gibbs the first songwriting team to achieve UK number ones across five consecutive decades.

Diana Ross also took the Gibbs’ Chain Reaction to number one, while Dionne Warwick recorded their Heartbreaker and Céline Dion performed Immortality, written by the three brothers.

Barry Gibb was born at the Jane Crookall Maternity Home in Douglas on September 1, 1946.

The Bee Gees went on to sell around 180 million albums worldwide, but their remarkable songwriting legacy means the music of this Manx-born legend has reached far beyond the group itself.