In the late 1970s, at the same time Pablo Escobar and the Cartel de Medellín were turning Miami, Los Angeles, and New York into dumping grounds for planeloads of cocaine, Andy Gibb, kid brother to disco giants Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb of the Bee Gees, was the biggest teen idol in America.
It proved to be an unfortunate confluence of events. By the early ’80s, in the aftermath of a failed relationship and derailed career, Andy was hoovering a thousand dollars of blow every day. Adjusted for inflation, that’s about $3300 per day in today’s money. But, for a time at least, before his long-abused heart gave out on March 10, 1988, the British-born, Australian–raised, Miami-and-LA-residing youth phenom could afford it.
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In 1977–’78 Andy, not even 20 years old, had three Billboard number-one hits in a row: “I Just Want
