Bee Gees singer Robin Gibb dies aged 62 after long battle with cancer
By SARAH FITZMAURICE and SARA NATHAN
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Bee Gees star Robin Gibb has died today aged 62
Bee Gees singer Robin Gibb has passed away today aged 62.
The musician died after undergoing intestinal surgery and due to his long battle with cancer.
'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. The family have asked that their privacy is respected at this very difficult time,' family spokesman Doug Wright said.
The father-of-three had been battling colon and liver cancer.
Fears for the star’s health were first raised last year when he appeared looking gaunt on a TV show to promote his single for Poppy Day.
But Mr Gibb tried to allay any rumours about his health after admitting he had cancer – but claiming he had beaten it, saying doctors had told him: ‘It’s gone, they’ve told me they can’t see it no more, I’ve done it.’
Following a relapse last month, his wife Dwina, 59, spoke of her joy after the singer woke from a 12-day coma despite being given just a 10 per cent chance of survival by doctors.
She had been told to start making plans for the musician’s passing as he slumped into a coma after contracting pneumonia.
Hitmakers: Robin was part of one of the biggest groups of all time the Bee Gees with his brother Maurice, who passed away in 2003 and Barry who is now the only surviving member of the band
But Mr Gibb defied the odds and regained consciousness as music from his Titanic Requiem played.
Mrs Gibb and her family had held a constant bedside vigil for the star - and had been playing his favourite music to try and rouse him.
And she revealed that he cried when she played him Roy Orbison’s 1962 song Crying.
She said: ‘We played music to him for about ten days so we asked him if he wanted to listen to any more music and he said no - we’ve bombarded him with music for about 10 days. It was very interesting...’
Mr Gibb’s son Robin-John - known as RJ - said his father had woken up when they played the track they had composed together.
RJ, 29, told ITV news: ‘He woke up while we were playing the track which is a movement from the [Titanic] Requiem we have just written.
‘He is completely compos mentis now and the first thing he said to me was ‘Hi R-J, can you tell them my back hurts?’ so we got a nurse to turn him. We said we loved each other.
‘Two days before that they said they’d thrown the kitchen sink at him, that it was time to make plans because he was in God’s hands and such, but he beats the odds again and they gave him an under 10% survival chance and he has beaten the odds...he really is something else.’
Father and son had been due to premier their collaborative classical work, The Titanic Requiem, in April but the event went ahead without Mr Gibb due to his poor health.
Mrs Gibb said her husband was being ‘very naughty’, as she revealed: ‘He is fantastic at the moment. He is laughing, he is joking, he is really happy. He just wants to get out.
‘He has been very naughty because he pulled his feeding tube out so the nurses will have to put it back in again but he wants ice cream...he wants all kinds of things. It’s good anyway.’
Mr Gibb had surgery on his bowel 19 months ago for an unrelated condition, but a tumour was discovered and he was diagnosed with cancer of the colon and, subsequently, of the liver.
It had been thought his cancer was in remission as early as last month, but the latest deterioration in his health coincides with reports of a secondary tumour.
Mr Gibb’s twin brother and bandmate Maurice died from the same bowel condition that initially led doctors to operate on him.
His younger brother Andy, who was not part of the Bee Gees but a successful singer in his own right, died in 1988 from heart failure at 30.
Dr Andrew Thillainayagam, the multi-millionare’s private physician, revealed how had tried to prepare the Gibb family for the very worst, adding ‘the prognosis was very grave... I warned Robin’s wife, Dwina, son, Robin John and brother, Barry, that I feared the worst.’
He added: ‘As a team, we were all concerned that we might be approaching the realms of futility. It is testament to Robin’s extraordinary courage, iron will and deep reserves of physical strength.’
Robin was born in the Isle of Man in 1949.
The third eldest of five he went on to form the Bee Gees with his twin brother Maurice and his older brother Berry.
The group became one of the most successful pop acts of all time with estimated record sales of more than 100million.
His twin brother died in 2003 and the group subsequently disbanded.
Gibb leaves behind wife Dwina and their son, Robin-John, 29.
He also has two other children, Spencer, 39, and Melissa, 37, from his marriage to Molly Hullis.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2147335/Bee-Gees-singer-Robin-Gibb-dies-aged-62-long-battle-cancer.html#ixzz1vSJC7Ejb
