Robin Gibb, one-third of the Bee Gees, died Sunday after a long
battle with cancer, his spokesperson has confirmed via a statement. Gibb
was 62 years old.
"The family of Robin Gibb, of the Bee Gees, announce with great
sadness that Robin passed away today following his long battle with
cancer and intestinal surgery," reads the statement. "The family have
asked that their privacy is respected at this very difficult time."
Two years ago, Gibb battled colon and liver cancer, but despite
making what he called a "spectacular recovery," a secondary tumor
recently developed, complicated by a case of pneumonia.
Gibb was born in Manchester, England, in 1949, along with twin
brother Maurice. (Maurice died in 2003 of complications from a twisted
intestine; eerily, Robin had surgery for the same medical issue in
2010.) Along with their older brother Barry, the brothers began
harmonizing as a trio in Australia, where the family moved in 1958.
Although the Bee Gees had some success in Australia – they hosted a
weekly variety show there – they didn't truly arrive until they returned
to England and signed with manager Robert Stigwood. Robin's quivering,
vulnerable voice was featured prominently on several of the group's
earliest and most Beatles-eque hits, including "New York Mining Disaster
1941," "I Started a Joke," "Massachusetts," and "I've Gotta Get a
Message to You."
Although he looked and sounded like the meekest Bee Gee, Robin grew
into the family rebel. By 1969, he and Barry were feuding over whose
song should be singles, and Robin, then 20, was declared a "ward of the
state" by their father when his drinking and partying seemed to take
over his life. "It happened so fast that we lost communication between
us," Gibb later recalled. "It was just madness, really."
But it also Robin who, in 1971, made the first call to Barry to
reunite with his brothers. Robin's solo career had stalled, and Barry
and Maurice's attempts to continue as the Bee Gees as a duo had
floundered as well. "If we hadn't been related, we would probably have
never gotten back together," Robin said at the time. Robin's voice was
heard, beautifully, on the chorus of their minor 1972 hit "Run to Me."
The Bee Gees' massive second wind arrived with their proto disco hit,
"Jive Talkin'," in 1975; two years later, their contributions to Saturday Night Fever
made them bigger stars than ever. Most of the hits from that era
featured Barry's falsetto voice, but the brothers' vocal blend remained
an indelible apart of their sound.
The group entered another fallow period during the early Eighties,
although during this time, Robin produced a semi-hit album by Jimmy
Ruffin, brother of the Temptations' David Ruffin. The last Bee Gees
album, This Is Where I Came In, was released in 2001. Two years
later, Maurice died, and with his passing the Bee Gees ended. (Their
other, younger brother Andy died in 1988.)
Robin and Barry reunited periodically – in 2010, they made an appearance on American Idol
and inducted ABBA into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame – and talked
about a duo tour, but nothing materialized. Robin, though, kept his hand
in music. With his son Robin-John, he wrote an ambitious piece, The Titanic Requiem, a mix of orchestral and vocal pieces telling the story of the doomed liner on the 100th
anniversary of its sinking. "It's a serious subject and it's not a rock
opera," Gibb said before its debut. "There are no backbeats. This could
have been written 300 years ago."
Featuring the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the work had its world
premiere in London on April 10th. But in a sign that Gibb's health had
taken a turn for the worse, he wasn't able to attend.
Source
Posted 05/2012
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