Gibb, Robin Hugh (22nd December 1949-20th
May 2012)
He was a singer-songwriter who was born in Douglas, Isle
of Man, Great Britain
and the twin brother of Maurice Gibb
.His family moved to Manchester
while he was still young and then in 1958 they emigrated
to Australia.
Along with his brothers, Barry and Maurice, he
started singing and songwriting from a young age
and they became the Bee Gees in
1958.
He and his future wife both survived the Hither Green
rail crash on 5th November
1967, which killed 49 people. Because of drug problems a couple of
years later his parents threatened to make him a ward of court as he was
still only 19.
Constantly vying with Barry during
the late 60s he temporarily left the group in 1969 and released a solo
album called Robin's Reign which was unsuccessful.
He was indicted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame in
1994, was honoured with a CBE in the 2001/2002 New Year's Honours List and
also received an Honorary Degree from the University
of Manchester in 2004.
During the 1980s he released three further solo albums
and another was released in Germany
in 2003. In 2004 he went on a
solo tour of Germany,
Russia and Asia.A further tour of Latin
America happened in 2005.
He began getting health problems in 2010 while he was
touring in BelgiumHe had surgery in England
for a blocked intesting and went back to work but
was forced in 2011 to cancel several appearances.Late in 2011 there was an
announcement that he had liver cancer and early in the follow year he said
in interview that he had colon cancer which had spread to the liver.He underwent further treatment but
sadly passed away in May 2012 when he was 62 years old.
