The Gibson Brothers are a French musical

group A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic iden ...

, originally from

Martinique Martinique ( ; or ; Kalinago language, Kalinago: or ) is an island in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the eastern Caribbean Sea. It was previously known as Iguanacaera which translates to iguana island in Carib language, Kariʼn ...

, who had their greatest success during the

disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...

boom of the late 1970s. Their best known hit singles included "

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

" and " Que Sera Mi Vida".

Career

The three brothers, Chris Francfort (born 20 June 1954,

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

), Patrick Francfort (23 February 1957 – 4 April 2020, vocals,

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a ...

s) and Alex Francfort (vocals, keyboards), were born in Lamentin Acajou on

. They traveled with their parents to Paris in the mid-1950s, and in 1969 joined the group Phalansters, formed by

Jean-Jacques Goldman Jean-Jacques Goldman (; born 11 October 1951) is a retired French singer-songwriter and record producer whose work remains hugely popular in the French-speaking world. Since the death of Johnny Hallyday in 2017, he has been the highest-grossing ...

. They also formed the group Martinique Express, who appeared on French television alongside

Guy Lux Guy Maurice Lux (21 June 1919 – 13 June 2003) was a French Television presenter, TV host and Television producer, producer best known for his 1961 creation of the game show ''Intervilles'' and its numerous spinoffs. During his 40 year career, ...

. They were seen by record producer

Daniel Vangarde Daniel Bangalter (, born 1947), known in his musical career as Daniel Vangarde, is a French former producer, lyricist and songwriter who co-wrote and produced several hit records in the 1970s and 1980s, including " Aie a Mwana" with Jean Kluge ...

, who changed the name of their group to The Gibson Brothers. They recorded their first single "Come to America" in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

in 1976, and both it and its follow-up "Non Stop Dance" made the

charts A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent t ...

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, where they toured successfully. The following year they released "Heaven", which was picked up by

TK Records TK Records was an American independent record label founded by record distributor Henry Stone and Steve Alaimo in 1972. and based in Hialeah, Florida. The record label went bankrupt in 1981. "TK" was inspired by the initials of sound engineer ...

in the

U.S. The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

In 1978 they recorded "

". In the UK it made No. 41 on its initial release, and No. 12 when reissued in 1980. Like most of their other hits, it was

written Writing is the act of creating a persistent representation of language. A writing system includes a particular set of symbols called a ''script'', as well as the rules by which they encode a particular spoken language. Every written language ...

and produced by Vangarde, and the Belgian producer

Jean Kluger Jean Joseph Kluger (born 31 March 1937) is a Belgian record producer, music publisher and composer. Biography Jean Kluger was born in Antwerp, Belgium, the eldest son of Jacques and Adela Kluger. His career started in 1957, working for his fathe ...

. The Gibson Brothers had three further big hits in 1979 and 1980 with " Ooh! What a Life", ”Mariana” and " Que Sera Mi Vida". Patrick Francfort, known as Patrick Gibson, died on April 4, 2020, from

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

External links

Official website

Official myspace page
* {{Authority control Eurodisco groups French musical groups Island Records artists Musical groups established in 1976 1976 establishments in France Family musical groups Sibling musical trios