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Robin Gibb
Robin Gibb, was born into a very musical family. His mother was a singer and his father conducted an orchestra. He grew up in Manchester until he was 7 years old, where he, twin brother Maurice and older brother Barry gained first stage experience.
In 1958 the Gibb familiy emigrated to Australia, settling in Cribb Island, a Brisbane suburb. They received Australian citizenship, but returned to England in 1966.
Shortly after, the Gibb brothers gained popularity as the Bee Gees, with Robin as their lead singer. Their first single New York Mining Disaster 1941 reached the German Top 10 in 1967, and Massachusetts became a bestselling single in Britain, Germany and Austria the same year. It reached the 11th place in the United States where the band made it into the Top 10 with How Can You Mend A Broken Heart in 1971.
In 1969, the disputes between Robin and his brothers rose to an unacceptable level and he left the band to start a solo career. His debut album Robin’s Reign was released the same year and the single Saved By The Bell sold over 1 million copies.
After just 15 months, the Bee Gees reunited, catching up to their previous success and releasing several brilliant records such as Main Course or Children Of The World.
The peak of Robin's success with the Bee Gees was reached in 1977, when they wrote the major part of the soundtrack for the movie Saturday Night Fever starring John Travolta. It included mega hits like “Night Fever”, “Stayin‘ Alive”, “How Deep is Your Love”, “Jive Talkin’” and “You Should Be Dancing”.
The follow-up album Spirits Having Flown became a major success in 1979. The album, as well as three of its singles reached top position in the US charts.
After that, their career cooled down until 1987 when they had a sensational comeback with the album E.S.P. and its single “You Win Again”.
Robin had pursued his solo career again and in 1983, the single Juliet from his second album How Old Are You? reached No. 1 in the German charts. The three solo albums Robin further released until 2014, couldn't compete with the success of How Old Are You? though.
In August 2010, he had to undergo surgery due to intestinal obstruction. After a provisional recovery he performed live in New Zealand and Australia, but had to cancel his tour through Brazil in April 2011 due to recurring health problems.
In autumn it was reported, that he had been diagnosed with colon and liver cancer. After announcing that he had overcome his illness in February 2012, only three months later, Robin Gibb died from its effects on the 20th of May.
His twin brother Maurice had already died from a heart attack on the 12th of January 2003.