Our heartfelt thoughts and prayers go out to his family. (kk)
From Ron Smith's OldiesMusic.com website:
Bee Gee Robin Gibb became the third member of
the singing Gibb family to die Sunday (May 20), succumbing to colon and liver
cancer at a Chelsea hospital. He was 62. Robin's twin brother, Maurice died of
complications from a twisted intestine in 2003. His younger brother Andy died
from a viral infection of the heart in 1988. Robin himself underwent surgery for
a blocked intestine in 2010 and the following year was diagnosed with colon and
liver cancer. He first attempted alternative medicine but eventually underwent
chemotherapy. In early March he declared his cancer in remission but later that
month he underwent emergency intestinal surgery, which led to pneumonia and fell
into a coma for more than a week. Born on the Isle of Mann, the Gibb family
moved to Manchester, England, then to Queensland, Australia, where Robin,
Maurice and older brother Barry honed their musical act. It was Aussie star Col
Joye that helped them get a recording contract. After twelve singles, including
the hit, "Spicks And Specks," the brothers returned to England, where they
hooked up with manager Robert Stigwood. He obtained contracts with Polydor
Records in the UK and ATCO Records in the U.S. Stigwood was rewarded with
fifteen top ten British hits and an equal number in the U.S. Early hits like
"How Can You Mend A Broken Heart" (#1 - 1971), ""Lonely Days" (#3 - 1971) and "I
Started A Joke" (#6 - 1969), with soft, intricate harmonies were replaced in later
years by a rhythmic, disco sound on tunes like "Jive Talkin'" (#1 - 1975) and
their hits from the movie "Saturday Night Fever" -- "Stayin' Alive" (#1 - 1978) and
"Night Fever" (#1 - 1978). In fact, the Bee Gees amassed six straight number one
hits from 1977 to 1979, before a disco backlash cooled their chart appearances
considerably. Robin also had a flourishing solo career -- usually concurrent with
his Bee Gees recordings. He charted four times in the U.S., including his
version of "Oh! Darling" from the movie, "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"
(in which he and his brothers starred), that reached #15 in 1978. His recording
of "Saved By The Bell" reached #2 in England in 1969. Robin was inducted into
the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1994 and the Bee Gees were added to the Rock
& Roll Hall of Fame three years later. The brothers received a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1979. In 2004 he was awarded Britain's Commander of
the Order of the British Empire medal by the Queen.
