Sunday, May 20, 2012

Robin Gibb Has Died

After what can only be described as a miraculous recovery (after spending weeks in a coma), Bee Gee Robin Gibb has died.  Never really out of the medical woods (Gibb had numerous complications and health issues over the past couple of years), he truly was an inspiration to us all when he awoke a short month ago, while his family held vigil at his bedside, never giving up hope.  Robin was a fighter ... and vowed to sing again with his brother Barry ... but sadly it was not to be.
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.