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Bee Gee lived his dream
Monday, January 13, 2003 Posted: 1:07 AM EST (0607 GMT)


Maurice (right) at the height of the Bee Gees` disco fame

MIAMI BEACH, Florida (CNN) -- At the tender age of five growing up in Manchester, England, Maurice Gibb said he and his brothers had a dream -- to be famous.
And unlike most kids with the same ambition they made it. Maurice Gibb, along with his twin brother Robin and older brother Barry hit it big as the Bee Gees, the brothers Gibb.
Their harmonising skills became a signature -- and the cue for hitting dancefloors in nightclubs across the world.
Maurice Gibb once said: "We used to do some of that lollipop and things like that, and just learned to harmonise. We sort of harmonised together automatically."
They started hitting the top of the charts in the mid-60`s before briefly splitting and coming back with a vengeance in the 1970s.
"Saturday Night Fever" sent both the Bee Gees and actor John Travolta`s careers into the stratosphere, surprising even them.
"Nobody knew exactly what it was going to do, I mean it didn`t have big promotion or anything, it just happened, " said Maurice.

Maurice Gibb: `I was lucky`

The album remains one of the best-selling movie soundtracks ever.
Among their disco hits on that album are "Stayin` Alive, " "More Than a Woman" and "How Deep Is Your Love."
At the time Maurice was a recovering alcoholic and says he was lucky to get through the period.
His younger brother Andy was not. Addicted to drugs, he died at the age of 30 from a heart infection.
The trio started out as a child act encouraged by their father, Hugh a band leader, and their mother Barbara, a former singer.
Their first real hit was "Massachusetts, " a chart topper in England that showcased their ability as arrangers.
In 1969 the Bee Gees split as a band and Maurice married the singer Lulu, who he had met in a BBC canteen.
While the marriage would only last four years the brothers reformed in 1970 and would go from merely famous to superstars with "Saturday NIght Fever."
Maurice Gibb lived in Miami Beach as did his older brother, Barry.
Away from the music industry Maurice owned a Miami Beach paintball shop called Commander Mo`s and took part in the 2002 World Paintball Championships.
The Bee Gees not only had their own hits, they wrote for Elvis, Barbara Streisand, and Otis Redding.
Maurice once said the Bee Gees` passion for writing was their lifeblood. "I think the songs have always kept us up there, " he would say.
Those songs earned the Bee Gees seven Grammys, 16 nominations and a place in the rock and roll hall of fame.



Bee Gee Maurice Gibb overleden
AP

MIAMI/LONDEN - Maurice Gibb (53), een van de leden van de popgroep de Bee Gees, is zondag in het Mount Sinai ziekenhuis in Miami Beach overleden aan een hartstilstand. Dat heeft zijn familie bekendgemaakt.
Gibb werd woensdag in het ziekenhuis opgenomen met een ernstige darmkwaal waarvoor hij donderdag een spoedoperatie onderging. Sinds de operatie was zijn toestand kritiek, maar stabiel.
Maurice Gibb was de bassist van de Bee Gees en speelde ook keyboards. De band bestond behalve uit Maurice Gibb nog uit zijn tweelingbroer Robin en zijn oudste broer Barry Gibb.
Het jongere broertje Andy Gibb, die succes had met een solocarrière, overleed in 1988 op 30-jarige leeftijd aan een hartafwijking, kort voordat hij als vierde Gibb tot de Bee Gees zou toetreden.
De Bee Gees zijn opgenomen in de Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. De groep brak door met popsongs in de jaren `60 en ontwikkelde zich tot een razend populaire discoband in de jaren `70. In 1977 maakten de Bee Gees met de filmmuziek van Saturday Night Fever de bestverkochte filmsoundtrack in de geschiedenis. De band is door de jaren heen onderscheiden met zeven Grammy`s.
De in Manchester geboren broers hadden in 1959 al hun eigen televisieshow in Australië, waar het gezin Gibb een jaar daarvoor naartoe was geëmigreerd. De drie broers Gibb keerden in 1967 terug naar hun geboorteland Engeland, waar ze onder contract kwamen bij Robert Stigwood.
Hun eerste albums waren al meteen succesvol met hitnummers als 1941 New York Mining Disaster en To Love Somebody. In 1971 scoorden zij met How Can You Mend A Broken Heart een nummer 1 hit in de Verenigde Staten. Enige jaren later vestigden de broers Gibb zich alledrie in het zuiden van Florida.

Bee Gees demand answers over brother`s hospital treatment
By Richard Alleyne
(Filed: 14/01/2003)
The brothers of Maurice Gibb, the bassist and singer with the Bee Gees, raised questions about his treatment in hospital yesterday hours after he died while undergoing emergency surgery.
Robin and Barry Gibb claimed that mistakes may have been made by doctors at Mount Sinai Medical Centre, in Miami, Florida, that may have led to their brother`s untimely death.


Brothers Gibb: left to right Robin, Barry and Maurice
They asked whether there was an unnecessary delay in his diagnosis and questioned the decision to continue with the operation.
Their remarks were made during an emotional interview to the BBC in Miami hours after they had watched their brother die.
Maurice Gibb, 53, a recovering alcoholic, had been taken from his Florida home to the hospital complaining of stomach pains on Wednesday evening.
He suffered a cardiac arrest at 4am but the operation for a twisted intestine continued. He had 80 per cent of his stomach removed. Maurice slipped into a coma for four days before regaining consciousness briefly and then went back into a coma. He died at 1am on Sunday.
In an interview less than a day later, his twin Robin and elder brother Barry said: "The fact that they had to operate on Maurice during the shock of cardiac arrest is questionable.
"We will pursue every factor, every element, every second of the timeline of the final hours of Maurice`s life. We will pursue that relentlessly. That will be our quest from now on."
They questioned why doctors had not been able to diagnose what was wrong with Maurice when he first arrived at hospital.
Barry said: "None of the sequence of events has yet made sense to us. Whatever happened and we allege, we don`t condemn, we allege that things went wrong."
Robin said it had been difficult for him as he was in Britain when Maurice first became ill and he had to keep abreast of events by phone. "We are both devastated, " he said. "We`ve actually been in shock for the last few days since Maurice was taken ill.
"I still can`t come to terms with it now. It`s like a nightmare that you wake up to every day. It`s going to take a long time even just for it to sink in."
Robin and Barry described their brother as a "sweet, generous and down to earth" person and called him "one of the world`s finest recording artists".
Robin said: "We`d just had a birthday. Maurice still had a future ahead of him and all I can say is he was just one of the most beautiful people in the world . . . a very gifted man and it`s a loss to the world, not just for us."
Meanwhile, fans sent flowers to the hospital and the brothers` homes in England, said Pete Bassett, a spokesman for Barry.
The Bee Gees, short for the Brothers Gibb, were known for their tight, high harmonies and original sound. Their younger brother, Andy, who had a successful solo career, died in 1988 at age 30 from a heart ailment.
Early plans were for a funeral in Miami before a memorial service in England.
Bee Gee Maurice Gibb dies at 53 after surgery
By Sally Pook
(Filed: 13/01/2003)
Maurice Gibb, the bassist, keyboard player and singer with the Bee Gees, died yesterday after suffering a heart attack during surgery.
The 53-year-old had been in a critical condition for several days after an emergency operation for a blocked intestine but his family had remained hopeful that he would recover.
Gibb briefly regained consciousness and squeezed his daughter`s hand but fell into a coma and died at 1am in Mount Sinai Medical Centre, in Miami. Maurice Gibb
Maurice Gibb, who was born on the Isle of Man, battled alcohol problems in his 20s and again in his 40s when his younger brother, Andy, died at just 30 of a heart condition
His marriage to the singer Lulu in 1969 ended after only four years but he fell in love again and married his second wife Yvonne, who he met at the Batley Variety Club in Yorkshire, where the band were performing.
She was at his side, together with their two children, Adam and Samantha, when he died. His older brother Barry and twin brother Robin, who had just arrived from London, were also at the hospital.
Pete Bassett, spokesman for Robin, said "It is just too shocking at this stage to think about. Everyone was just believing that Maurice was coming round and we woke up to this awful news.
"There is just complete and utter shock. This is an unbelievable blow."
In a statement, his family said: "To our extended family, friends and fans, with great sadness and sorrow we regretfully announce the passing of Maurice Gibb this morning. His love, enthusiasm and energy for life remain an inspiration to all of us. We will all deeply miss him."
Since their debut in the Sixties, the Bee Gees have sold more than 110 million records and were responsible for the music of the seminal Seventies film Saturday Night Fever, which became the best-selling soundtrack.
Paul Gambaccini, DJ and music industry commentator, said the future of the Bee Gees now lay in doubt. "Maurice was the talented multi-instrumentalist. I mean here is a guy who played keyboards, guitar, bass and percussion, so he was more on the musical side of the writing.
"On the vocal side, he was the high part of the three-part harmony. Therefore you can`t take him away from the other two. I am afraid that this beautiful Bee Gee sound without him can never be produced again."
Maurice Gibb
(Filed: 13/01/2003)
Maurice Gibb, who died yesterday in Miami aged 53, formed, with his brothers Robin and Barry, the Bee Gees, the trio that for more than 30 years was one of Britain`s most successful, and most creative, pop groups.
Although to many the Bee Gees are best known (and much parodied) for their falsetto voices, flashing white teeth, and glittery flared trousers, their talents lay also in composition, arrangement and production. Indeed, they were greatly respected within their profession and were able to ride out numerous changes in musical fashion.
In recent years, Maurice`s adoption of a hat and glasses on stage had made him more recognisable. But while the band`s music was always based on three-part harmonies, throughout their career it was his two brothers who took the lead vocals on such hits as Massachusetts (1967) and Stayin` Alive (1976), with Maurice supplying backing vocals as well playing bass and piano.
He was, however, integral to the band`s fertile song writing and producing partnership. "One of us is OK, " he would explain, "two of us is pretty good, but three of us together is magic." He also contributed to the many feuds and changes in personal fortune that wracked the group whose songs were covered by artistes ranging from Elvis Presley to Boyzone.
Maurice Ernest Gibb was born at Douglas, on the Isle of Man, on December 22 1949, an hour after the birth of his twin, Robin. Their brother Barry was three years older.
Both the boys` parents were musical, their mother being a former singer, while their father, Hughie Gibb, had his own dance orchestra. The boys grew up in Manchester and at Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Lancashire, but in 1958, shortly after the birth of another brother, Andy, their parents decided to move the family to Australia.
The brothers had already begun to make a name for themselves performing in local theatres, and once resettled at Brisbane they quickly landed an engagement at a local club. By 1962, now known as the Bee Gees (from Brothers Gibb), they had their own television programme, and were soon enjoying Top Ten hits in Australia.
Encouraged by the success of the Beatles - another band that wrote its own songs and was driven by close harmony vocals - Barry Gibb, who was still only 18, sent a copy of their first LP to London record companies, and in 1967 the band returned to England to be signed up by the promoter Robert Stigwood, a business partner of Brian Epstein, the Beatles` manager.
Their first release for Polydor, New York Mining Disaster, was a small hit and was followed by a series of ever more successful ballads that brought the band their first lengthy period of chart success - To Love Somebody, Words, and Massachusetts, which gave them their first No 1 in Britain, a position they claimed again in 1968 with I`ve Gotta Get A Message to You.
By the end of the decade, the Bee Gees were firmly established as stars in both Britain and America. They were acclaimed both for the near-choral beauty of their singing (led at this stage by Robin) and for their willingness to experiment with unusual musical styles.
Yet their lushly romantic music and clean image concealed increased tensions between the brothers, and their wholehearted embrace of drugs and alcohol. "Barry was the pothead, " Maurice Gibb would later reflect. "Robin was the pillhead. I was a real alky".
In 1969, disagreements between the brothers about their new album, Odessa, led to the band breaking up. Robin pursued a solo career, with limited success, while Maurice and Barry released one album together under the Bee Gees name, Cucumber Castle.
Soon, however, they too had gone their separate ways, with Maurice taking a part in a West End musical, unpromisingly titled Sing A Rude Song. He was also battling against alcoholism, a struggle that inevitably took a toll on his relationship with the singer Lulu, whom he had married in 1969. They were divorced in 1974.
But after patching up their differences and reforming in 1970, the Gibbs realised that their career had stalled in Britain, and when they enjoyed a big hit in America with To Love Somebody, they moved to Florida and decided to adopt a more up-tempo, American sound.
With Barry`s falsetto now to the fore, the emphasis of their music moved from ballads to dance records, just in time for the arrival of disco music. In 1975, their singles Jive Talkin` and You Should Be Dancing both reached No 1 in America. Both were then re-released on the soundtrack album for a film being produced by Stigwood, Saturday Night Fever.
The opening credits of the film, which depicted John Travolta`s character strutting along the street to the accompaniment of the band`s Stayin` Alive, served to confirm the Bee Gees` status as the prime movers of disco, and helped the album to sell more than 30 million copies. It was a this point that they were given a new image - disco flares and bouffant hair. The look was a gift to comics such as Kenny Everett, whose merciless mockery they rather enjoyed.
Between 1976 and 1979, the group had six consecutive No 1s in America, including How Deep is Your Love, Too Much Heaven, Night Fever and Tragedy. The Bee Gees remain the only band who write and produce their own music to have accomplished this feat.
The 1980s were less good to the brothers. As disco`s popularity was extinguished, so the band`s star fell. They had a notable success with the title track to the film Grease, performed by Frankie Valli, but their appearance in a film of their own, a version of Sgt Pepper`s Lonely Hearts Club Band, did not attract audiences.
They fell out - expensively - with Stigwood, and then in 1988 their younger brother Andy (himself a popular singer) died aged 30, an event that prompted Maurice once more to find consolation, and oblivion, in alcohol.
Yet despite their difficulties, the brothers made a second successful comeback, claiming their fifth No 1 in Britain in 1987 with You Win Again, and they also wrote two more chart-toppers of the period, Islands in the Stream (for Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton) and Chain Reaction, for Diana Ross.
Latterly, the Bee Gees have had relatively modest success with singles, although the LPs Still Waters (1997) and This is Where I Came In (2001) had had reasonable sales, and they had proved that they could still draw devoted audiences to their live performances. Their songs have also been recorded by younger bands such as Take That and 911.
Although he never complained publicly about being in the shadow of his brothers, Maurice Gibb was candid about his role within the band. "I used to be a little bit jealous of my brothers, " he recalled in 1995. "I suppose I had more anger in the old days. I`d be jealous if I didn`t get as many close-ups as Robin or Barry on Top of The Pops. Stupid, really."
Away from music, Maurice, the most approachable and gregarious of the three, was known for his wryly humorous temperament and fondness for practical jokes. He lived in Miami with his second wife, Yvonne, whom he married in 1975, and a large number of cats and dogs. He was unsentimental about the secret of the Bee Gees` success, explaining in 2001: "We`re persistent little buggers. We keep on trying and trying and trying."
In 2002 all three Gibb brothers were appointed CBE.
He is survived by his wife and by their son and daughter.

Related reports
Bee Gee Maurice Gibb dies at 53 after surgery
Cambridge attacked over Bee Gees exam question
By Rajeev Syal and Jasper Copping
(Filed: 08/07/2001)
CAMBRIDGE University has been accused of "dumbing down" after English students taking their final-year examinations were asked to comment on lyrics written by the pop group, the Bee Gees.
Undergraduates who took the compulsory paper on tragedy were told to discuss the proposition: "It`s tragedy . . . Tragedy/ when you lose control and you got no soul, it`s tragedy."
The words were taken from a song by Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb that reached No 1 in the pop charts in February 1979.
The question, one of 27 on the three-hour paper, has enraged campaigners for traditional values. Nick Seaton, the chairman of the Campaign for Real Education, accused the university`s academics of insulting the intelligence of its students.
He said: "I would have thought that a top-flight university such as Cambridge would concentrate on high culture rather than lower the tone to some poor pop group. It`s a symptom of trendy educational thinking. Tragedy is part of English literature that does not need to be soiled with pop lyrics."
More than 200 students took the paper in May. Those who answered the Bee Gees question should have referred to characters and plots from Greek and Biblical stories in addition to figures such as Nietzsche, Dostoevsky and Racine.
John Kerrigan, the chairman of the English finals examination board, said that the question was intended to examine the forms tragedy takes in the modern world.
He said: "We wanted to see how far tragedy survives into modernity; whether it has died in the face of science and rationalism. Tragedy is essentially an archaic form. We wanted to see if it had metamorphosed into different forms.
"There are elements to the Bee Gees songs that could have directed you to the great central canonical texts. The line in the Bee Gees song where he sings `the feeling`s gone and you can`t go on` is a fair summary of the end of King Lear, " he added.
A spokesman for the Bee Gees - singers noted for their big teeth and high voices - said the brothers would be proud at being compared to great literary figures. "They have been compared with songwriters such as Bob Dylan and Burt Bacharach, but never Ibsen and Shakespeare."
A cover version of Tragedy recently reached the top of the charts, performed by Steps, a band popular with children.
Bee Gees go back on the road - in the slow lane
By Alison Boshoff, Media Correspondent
THE Bee Gees, who set the frenzied pace of the disco generation, announced yesterday that they are going on tour again.
But they are limiting themselves to one or two concerts a month to prevent exhaustion. The brothers, who have been performing together for more than 30 years, admitted that they had set a limit of one continent and no more than two concerts a month.This is a leisurely pace compared with other bands who perform dozens of dates back-to-back.
Barry Gibb, 51, said: "We don`t feel that we should be constantly touring now. We have all got families and children, and they take priority."
His brother, Robin, who with his twin, Maurice, is 48, said: "Performances can be gruelling. If you do them back-to-back, you are not always on form. This way they will be more of an event."
Barry Gibb mused on the departure of Geri Halliwell from the Spice Girls. "We are brothers, " he said. "If you start as children as a group, you have a much greater chance of staying together for a lifetime. But if you are put together by somebody as a business proposition, you have much less chance of survival."
Maurice Gibb (1949-2003)