Your large family emmigrated to Australia when you were quite young. How do you think your experience of travel and different environments influenced your taste and style of music?
I think it's helped me tremendously. Living in Australia, which was very heavily influenced by the American music scene, we got our first real taste of what was happening across the Atlantic. Having lived in England as well, we hadn't been confined to one culture of music and that was invaluable as a developing songwriter.

Do you think that is what gave The Bee Gees such a transatlantic appeal?
Definitely. From very young, we weren't afraid to take chances and experiment with different kinds of music. In those days we liked the idea of pushing things as far as possible, so we didn't get stuck in one genre.

Who would you say has influenced you most in life?
Musically, I would say The Beatles, Otis Reading and the whole Motown scene really. There aren't so many contemporary people that would influence me, as there are just far too many cover version artists. That's why I thought it important to work with new songwriters on the album.

Finally, in your amazing career, do you think you'd able to pinpoint one highlight?
Thank you. Ah, well there's just so many for me. Obviously there's been great moments both as a songwriter and as a performer. I think writing for Barbara Streisand and 'Woman In Love', 'Guilty' and 'Chain Reaction' for Diana Ross or 'Heartbreaker' for Dione Warwick are times I can be really proud of. I've always had personal favourites of our own songs too, like 'How Deep Is Your Love', 'Too much Heaven' and 'Tragedy'. For me they all represent different periods in my career and have different meanings.