Robert Stigwood | Bee Gees manager, 81

Robert Stigwood, 81, the impresario who managed the Bee Gees and produced 1970s blockbusters

Grease

and

Saturday Night Fever

, died Monday.

Born in Adelaide, Australia, in 1934, Mr. Stigwood moved to Britain in the 1950s and soon became an astute player in Britain's embryonic rock music industry.

In the 1960s, he managed rock group Cream and its guitarist Eric Clapton before signing brothers Barry, Maurice and Robin Gibb, collectively known as the Bee Gees, whose melodic folk-rock achieved late-'60s success before a career slump.

Mr. Stigwood moved into theater - bringing Broadway hit Hair to the London stage - and film, producing cinema versions of the Andrew Lloyd Webber-Tim Rice musical Jesus Christ Superstar and The Who's rock opera Tommy.

He also produced the 1977 dance floor drama Saturday Night Fever, with a soundtrack that brought the Bee Gees mega-stardom that reached a pitch as high as Barry Gibb's signature falsetto.

That film and the Stigwood-produced Grease, released in 1978, also made John Travolta into one of the decade's biggest stars. Mr. Stigwood's golden touch failed him with Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, a Beatles-based movie musical which was a critical and box-office flop in 1978.

Lloyd Webber paid tribute to Mr. Stigwood on Twitter, calling him a "great showman who taught me so much."

Spencer Gibb - son of the late Robin Gibb and Mr. Stigwood's godson - described him as "a creative genius with a very quick and dry wit."

"I would like to thank Robert for his kindness to me over the years as well as his mentorship to my family," Gibb wrote on Facebook. " 'Stiggy,' you will be missed." - AP