Easy Theatres

Classic Bee Gees Seventies disco single Stayin’ Alive is set to hurtle back up the charts after being used on a British Heart Foundation advert starring actor and former soccer hard man Vinnie Jones.

The ad promotes the use of chest compressions to save victims of heart attacks. Stayin’ Alive was selected not only because of its lyrical content. The BHF suggests that pumping the chest at between 110 and 120 beats per minute – the same rate as the 1978 hit – is more effective than a poor breath resuscitation attempt.

The use of the single on the advert is in marked contrast to a previous attempt to use the song on a TV advert that involved the cast of hit stage show Thank You for the Music. It was reported three years ago that The Bee Gees had refused to allow a cover version of the song, performed by the stars of the touring concert show, to be used on a TV ad because it sounded too much like their original hit song!

A version of the million-selling hit single was recorded by the stars of touring tribute concert show Thank You for the Music for an anti-AIDS telly commercial.

“When Bee Gee Barry Gibb heard the song he objected that viewers wouldn’t know it was a cover version,” says Martin Spooner, who plays Robin Gibb in Thank You for the Music, which features the music of the Bee Gees and ABBA.

“I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Although we miss out on a lucrative TV deal, we take this as a massive compliment.”

Martin and his co-stars were asked to record a version of Stayin’ Alive by television commercial creators Mcasso. The London-based production company - responsible for eye-popping ads for the Ford Motor Company, Burger King, Ebay and the Times - was delighted with their version of Stayin’ Alive.

However, no one anticipated the reaction of the production company representing Barry Gibb when permission was requested for use of the song for the commercial’s soundtrack.

“We have been portraying the Bee Gees in the stage show Thank You for the Music for 12 years,” says Martin.

“Going into the studio to record Stayin’ Alive was like second nature. We recorded the song in a day.”

The Thank You for the Music cast claim they do more than just look like and sound like the Bee Gees. They claim to outperform the Gibb brothers in their heyday.

“We also sing chart toppers written by Maurice, Barry and Robin for other million-selling artists,” says Martin.