London: Robin Gibb, singer with legendary British band, the Bee Gees, whose disco hits defined an era, has died at the age of 62 after a lengthy battle with cancer.
Obituary: Robin Gibb (1949-2012).
Robin, his twin brother Maurice and elder brother Barry, scaled the heights of the pop world in the 1970s with disco hits including How Deep Is Your Love, Stayin’ Alive, and Night Fever.
The trio became one of the biggest-selling groups of all time, notching up record sales of more than 200 million since their first hits in the 1960s.
Robin mostly sang lead in the 1960s, while Barry’s falsetto took the foreground in their 1970s disco period.
Tributes poured in from fellow musicians.
Simply Red frontman Mick Hucknall called him a “musical giant”, while DJ Paul Gambaccini said he was “talented beyond even his own understanding”.
“Everyone should be aware that the Bee Gees are second only to Lennon and McCartney as the most successful songwriting unit in British popular music,” Gambaccini said.
Robin lost his battle against cancer of the colon and the liver just a month after confounding doctors by emerging from a coma after suffering pneumonia.
He underwent surgery in August 2010 for a blocked intestine—the same condition that killed brother Maurice in 2003—but a tumour was found and he was diagnosed with cancer.
Robin enjoyed a career spanning six decades, from humble beginnings in the 1950s singing cinemas, to his first classical venture, The Titanic Requiem, penned with his son Robin-John.
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