Editing Robin Gibb (section)

===1969–1970: Solo career===
On 19 March 1969, he announced that he was leaving the Bee Gees the same day as the band recorded "[[Tomorrow Tomorrow (Bee Gees song)|Tomorrow Tomorrow]]", their first single without Robin.<ref name="february"/> In his solo career, Gibb was initially successful with a number 2 UK hit, "[[Saved by the Bell (song)|Saved by the Bell]]", which sold over one million copies and received a [[music recording sales certification|gold disc]].<ref name="The Book of Golden Discs">{{cite book
| first= Joseph
| last= Murrells
| year= 1978
| title= The Book of Golden Discs
| edition= 2nd
| publisher= Barrie and Jenkins Ltd
| location= London
| page= [https://archive.org/details/bookofgoldendisc00murr/page/259 259]
| isbn= 0-214-20512-6
| url-access= registration
| url= https://archive.org/details/bookofgoldendisc00murr/page/259
}}</ref> He performed that song on the German TV show ''[[Beat-Club]]''. Also in 1969, Gibb co-produced "Love for Living". The song was performed by [[Clare Torry]] and was released as a single.<ref name="february"/> He also started a mini-tour, making television appearances in a dozen countries to promote "Saved by the Bell". By 19 July 1969, ''New Musical Express'' announced "Tonight, [Robin Gibb] is fronting a 97-piece orchestra and a 60-piece choir in a recording of his latest composition, 'To Heaven and Back', which was inspired by the Apollo 11 moonshot. It is an entirely instrumental piece, with the choir being used for astral effects. The single will be billed as by 'The Robin Gibb Orchestra and Chorus' and it will be rush-released as soon as possible by [[Polydor Records|Polydor]]". At that time, he was doing a musical score for ''Henry The Eighth'' and making his own film called ''Family Tree''. Later, it was reported on ''NME'' that Gibb wrote dozens of songs for [[Tom Jones (singer)|Tom Jones]]. A meeting between Gibb and Jones was said to be arranged for Gibb's return from a three-day promo trip to Germany.<ref name="first"/>

On 31 January and 1 February 1970, Gibb performed in [[Auckland]], New Zealand at [[Redwood 70]], billed as the first modern music festival held in New Zealand. During the first night of the festival, Gibb and his 16-piece backing orchestra were pelted with cans and tomatoes from the crowd, making his backing band gradually leave during the performance.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.audioculture.co.nz/articles/redwood-70-national-music-convention |title=Redwood 70 National Music Convention |first=Andrew |last=Schmidt |publisher=AudioCulture |date=12 December 2013 |access-date=18 August 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nzonscreen.com/title/redwood-doco |title=Redwood 70 |publisher=[[NZ On Screen]] |date=12 December 2013 |access-date=18 August 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230301110224/https://www.nzonscreen.com/title/redwood-doco |archive-date=1 March 2023 |url-status=live }}</ref> Robin's first solo album, ''[[Robin's Reign]]'' (1970) was less successful and he soon found that being a solo artist was unsatisfying. Maurice played bass on the song "Mother and Jack", but was subsequently removed from the project by producer [[Robert Stigwood]]. Also in that year, [[Colin Petersen]] produced "Make a Stranger Your Friend" performed by [[Jonathan Kelly]], on which Gibb sang on the chorus with [[Mick Taylor]], [[Klaus Voormann]], [[Madeline Bell]], three members of [[The Family Dogg]], [[Jackie Lomax]], [[Peter Sellers]], [[Spike Milligan]] and others. By January 1970, Gibb started to record his second solo album ''[[Sing Slowly Sisters]]'' until February, but the album would go unreleased until 2015. He wanted "Great Caesar's Ghost" to be released as a single around 1970 with "Engines, Aeroplanes" as the B-side but the two songs were not included on that album and were unreleased to this day.<ref name="demo"/>

On 13 June, Gibb and Maurice reunited and they recorded four songs, with two of the four tracks released on their upcoming album ''2 Years On''. The session was originally for Maurice alone as he brought Gibb to the sessions. On 21 June sessions, the pair recorded another five songs.<ref name="demo"/>