Vince Melouney

Vincent Melouney (born 18 August 1945) is an Australian musician. He is best known as an official member of the Bee Gees from 1967 to 1969 during the group's initial period of worldwide success.

Before becoming a member of the Bee Gees in March 1967, he founded the bands The Vibratones (1963), The Aztecs (1964), Vince And Tony's Two (1965), and The Vince Maloney Sect (1966). Billy Thorpe later joined The Aztecs. Melouney assembled the Australian "supergroup" Fanny Adams in 1970. Along with Tony Worsley and The Blue Jays in 1965, Ashton, Gardner and Dyke in 1969, and The Cleves in 1971, he also had brief stints with each group.

Vince Melouney was born in Sydney on 18 August 1945 and attended Normanhurst Boys High School from 1958 to 1961. Maloney was a founding member of Billy Thorpe & the Aztecs, whose cover of "Poison Ivy" kept The Beatles from the Number 1 spot on the Sydney music charts at the very moment that the Fab Four was making its first and only tour of Australia. Melouney was the band's lead guitarist from 1963 to 1965, playing on five Top Ten hits. This was followed by a short-lived duo with fellow Aztec Tony Barber, called Vince & Tony's Two. In 1966, he released two singles by The Vince Maloney Sect including the Garage Rock classic "No Good Without You" along with a solo single, "I Need Your Lovin' Tonight" and its B-side, "Mystery Train"; Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, and Maurice Gibb sing backup vocals on both songs. Melouney also played guitar with The Beatles' mentor Tony Sheridan and the Joe Meek-produced artists Heinz and Screaming Lord Sutch when they toured Australia in the 1960s.

In late 1966, Melouney relocated to London where (after the Gibbs arrived there in early 1967) he was invited to join the Bee Gees, becoming an official member and partner, along with Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb and Colin Petersen. As a member of The Bee Gees, Melouney played on seven US Top 20 singles; "New York Mining Disaster 1941," "To Love Somebody," "Holiday," "Massachusetts," "Words," "I've Gotta Get A Message To You" and "I Started A Joke", plus four US Top 20 albums: Bee Gees' First, Horizontal, Idea and Odessa. Tracks featuring Melouney also appear on the Bee Gees' platinum album Their Greatest Hits: The Record and their gold albums Best of Bee Gees, Number Ones and Ultimate Bee Gees.

His television appearances with the Bee Gees include The Ed Sullivan Show, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In in the US, How On Earth and Top of the Pops in the UK and Beat Club in Germany.

The Bee Gees' songs involving Melouney have been covered by Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Tom Jones, Rod Stewart, Janis Joplin, Leonard Cohen, Nick Cave, Nina Simone, Gram Parsons, Dusty Springfield, Blur, Noel Gallagher, The Flaming Lips and many other artists.

In June 1968, while he was a Bee Gee he wrote and sang lead on "Such a Shame" (the only song on a Bee Gees album that was not written by one of the Gibb brothers). The song was released on the UK version of the album Idea, but on the US version, it was replaced by "I've Gotta Get a Message to You".

Melouney prefers the Gibson Les Paul guitar and can be seen playing this model (and occasionally a Gibson SG or a Fender Telecaster) in numerous Bee Gees videos and live performances from 1967 and 1968. Melouney endorsed Vox Amplification beginning in 1963, using an AC30 at performances and on all recordings (including "Bee Gees' First") until late 1967 when he received an endorsement from Marshall Amplification (initially using a 100 watt Super Lead) and has mostly used Marshall amps ever since, with the occasional use of a Vox AC30 for shows and an AC10 for recording.