MAURICE GIBB: Maurice Gibb, who has died in hospital aged 53 following a heart attack, was a member of one of the all-time greatest acts in British pop music. The Bee Gees, with whom he was bassist and a vocalist, sold more than 110 million records, and scored 19 number-one hits, making them the most successful trio in pop history.
Though they suffered intermittent slumps in popularity, they displayed a remarkable capacity for bouncing back, both under their own names and as writers and producers for numerous other artists, from Diana Ross and Dolly Parton to Wyclef Jean and Celine Dion. They will be best remembered for their songs from the 1977 soundtrack album for Saturday Night Fever, a music industry phenomenon which sold more than 40 million copies - as well as for the bouffant hairstyles, glittering teeth and tight white suits that went with it.
The Bee Gees comprised Maurice, his twin brother Robin - born an hour earlier - and their sibling Barry, who was two years older. They were born in Douglas, on the Isle of Man, and a musical career was virtually a foregone conclusion; their mother, Barbara, was a singer, and their father, Hugh, was leader of the Hughie Gibb Orchestra. The family moved to Chorlton-cum-Hardy, and the brothers made their first paid appearance at the Gaumont cinema in Manchester in 1955, singing a version of Tommy Steele's Wedding Bells.
Shortly after the birth of the youngest brother, Andy, in 1958, the family emigrated to Australia, where the Brothers Gibb became well known through live performances, and radio and television appearances. The Bee Gees name apparently derived from the initials of the Brisbane disc jockey Bill Gates, who aired the trio's tapes on his show.
They achieved several hits in Australia, including a 1966 number one, Spick And Speck, but the centre of the pop industry lay on the opposite side of the globe. In London, in 1967, they signed a management contract with entrepreneur Robert Stigwood, who secured them a record deal with Polydor.
The group immediately began to churn out hits with almost mechanised efficiency. New York Mining Disaster 1941 was followed by To Love Somebody, Massachusetts (their first British number one), Holiday and Words. Their early albums, Bee Gees 1st, Horizontal and Idea, all cracked the top 10 on both sides of the Atlantic.
Nonetheless, not long after their second British chart-topper, I've Gotta Get A Message To You, in August 1968, Maurice was quoted as saying that it was "very probable the Bee Gees will be nonexistent in two years from now" - a remark indicative of the brothers' combustible relationship. Robin quit to pursue a solo career in 1969 and, by the end of that year, Barry had followed, following the release of the Cucumber Castle album.
Maurice had, by now, married the singer Lulu, who he met when they were both appearing on Top Of The Pops. They would split up in 1973, with Lulu lamenting that "I was incredibly sad, but it was never going to work. We were two spoiled little pop stars, each too used to having our own way." (Twenty-five years later, they were reunited on ITV's An Audience With Lulu, performing First Of May.) Maurice, meanwhile, whiled away the sibling-less days by performing in the stage musical Sing A Rude Song, at the Greenwich theatre, and released his own single, Railroad.
Then, at the end of 1970, the brothers were reunited. The split had slowed their momentum, but How Can You Mend A Broken Heart became a US number one in 1971. The rejection of the album A Kick In The Pants Is Worth Eight In The Head, however, signalled the urgent need for a rethink, and, in 1975, guided by soul producer Arif Mardin, the Bee Gees released the album Main Course, whose Americanised, soul-funk direction was signposted by the hits Jive Talkin' and Nights On Broadway.
Their 1976, disco-inflected chart-topper, You Should Be Dancing, prompted Robert Stigwood to ask them for songs for his Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. The Gibbs rose heroically to the challenge, contributing seven numbers (two were sung by other artists), including Stayin' Alive, Night Fever and How Deep Is Your Love.
Inevitably, the awesome success of Saturday Night Fever typecast the brothers as ambassadors of disco, with Barry's teetering, falsetto voice spurring the Hee Bee Gee Bees parody, Meaningless Songs In Very High Voices. By the early 1980s, they had become monumentally unfashionable. So, turning their hands to writing and production, the brothers masterminded the Dolly Parton/Kenny Rogers hit, Islands In The Stream, and Diana Ross's Chain Reaction, before bouncing back in 1987 with their own You Win Again.
Andy's death, in 1988, was a painful emotional blow, with Maurice admitting that it worsened his drink problem. But the group continued making hits into the 1990s, with the likes of One, Secret Love and For Whom The Bell Tolls. Their last album together, This Is Where I Came In, was released in 2001. Last year, they were each awarded the CBE.
Maurice is survived by his second wife Yvonne, whom he married in 1976, and their children Adam and Samantha.