London: Robin Gibb, whose soaring vocals formed part of the unique Bee Gees sound, has died at the age of 62, leaving Barry as the sole surviving member from the band of brothers.
The high-pitched close harmonies, sharp songwriting and disco-defining sound of elder brother Barry, Robin and his twin brother Maurice made them one of the biggest-selling groups of all time.
Robin lost his battle against cancer of the colon and the liver yesterday, 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 Maurice in 2003 — but a tumour was found and he was diagnosed with cancer.
The singer looked gaunt in his last few months as he struggled against the relentless disease. Andy Gibb, their younger brother who was not in the Bee Gees, died in 1988 from cocaine addiction.
“I sometimes wonder if all the tragedies my family has suffered — like Andy and Maurice dying so young and everything that’s happened to me recently — is a kind of karmic price we are paying for all the fame and fortune we’ve had,” he told The Sun newspaper in March.
Robin enjoyed a musical career spanning six decades, from humble beginnings in the 1950s singing with his brothers in cinemas, to his recent first classical venture, ‘The Titanic Requiem’, penned with his son Robin-John.
Gibb was too ill to attend the April 10 premiere, where he had been due to perform the song “Don’t Cry Alone”. “It’s not about how complicated music is; it’s about how simple and relative to the human spirit it is,” Gibb said on his new composition.
The singer and his wife-to-be Molly Hullis survived the 1967 Hither Green rail crash in southeast London that killed 49 people.
“I do think it is easier for me to walk in the shoes of the people who were on the Titanic,” he wrote in The Mail on yesterday newspaper in January. “I know what it is to live through a mass disaster… it haunts me to this day.” Robin Hugh Gibb was born on December 22, 1949 on the Isle of Man, the British crown dependency, about half an hour before Maurice.
The singer who passed away today in London, had written to Indian Union HRD and IT Minister Kapil Sibal two years ago to ensure passage of Copyright Amendment Act, 2010, which is likely to be tabled in Lok Sabha soon.
“Indian film producers exploit works of creators through blanket buyouts, depriving them of their rights to control further use or collect royalties. Indian movie and record moguls launched a relentless lobbying campaign against the proposed amendments after their approval by the Indian cabinet in December 2009,” Gibb had written to Sibal in February 2010.
As president of the Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC) then, Gibb encouraged noted lyricist and writer Javed Akhtar’s efforts to secure rights for Indian songwriters and composers.
Akhtar had then addressed the World Copyright Summit (WCS) in Brussels and spoken about how the author’s rights are neglected in India. Gibb had commended Akhtar in his battle to give creators their rights.
“I have witnessed with great pleasure that India has taken major steps forward towards the recognition of authors’ rights, and I salute Javed Akhtar who has led the fight for this recognition,” Gibbs had said. The much delayed Copyright Amendment Bill, 2010, providing for certain important amendments to the Copyright Act was approved by Rajya Sabha last week.
The Bill will remove operational difficulties and address newer issues related to the digital world and internet.
The Copyright Amendment Bill, 2010, also seeks to bring Indian laws originally enacted in 1957 in conformity with international norms and World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). (PTI)