Robin Gibb’s lost solo album Sing Slowly Sisters will be released 45 years after it was recorded.
The album forms part of a collection of albums capturing the late Bee Gee’s entire musical output at 19 years old, recorded over a 12-month period from 1969 to 1970.
Robin Gibb had planned to complete the album prior to his death from cancer in May 2012.
Saved by the Bell – The Collected Works of Robin Gibb: 1969-70 will be released on June 1st.
It features Robin Gibb’s first solo album, 1969’s Robin’s Reign, as well as Sing Slowly Sisters. The set also contains a variety of alternate takes and versions, demos, unreleased tracks and other bonus material.
Robin Gibb’s final song is to be released in September.
Sydney, which was produced by the late Bee Gees star in May 2012, will be the final track on a new album compiled by his wife and son.
The album will be called 50 St Catherine’s Drive, the address where Robin Gibb was born on the Isle of Man.
Dwina Gibb said the poignant last composition made her weep when she first listened to it.
“He cried when he wrote it,” she added.
“This fragment of song is poignant, wistful, beautiful and unfinished.”
Dwina Gibb said her husband wrote the song late at night and used keyboards in their bedroom and some iPad software.
He had intended to produce the track fully in the studio with his brother Barry, but ill health prevented him from completing the task.
Robin Gibb’s final song is to be released in September (photo Getty Images)
“He missed his twin brother Maurice who had passed away, but when he closed his eyes, the three young brothers were back in Sydney, Australia, happy together with their dreams and hopes for the future. Their future creations of course affected the world,” said Dwina Gibb.
Dwina Gibb has put together the 17-track album including song-by-song notes, which is due for release on September 29.
Robin and Dwina Gibb’ son, RJ, co-wrote three of the tracks with Robin Gibb.
Several of the songs are autobiographical in nature and were mainly written between 2006 and 2008, but never released.
Robin Gibb died at the age of 62 following a series of health problems.
He cancelled a series of shows in Brazil in April 2011, after suffering from abdominal pains.
Later that year, he was found to have cancer of the colon after having surgery on his bowel for an unrelated condition.
Robin Gibb was later also diagnosed with cancer of the liver, and underwent chemotherapy and surgery.
Shortly before his death, Robin Gibb fell into a coma after contracting pneumonia.
Along with his brothers, Barry and Maurice, Robin Gibb was one third of the Bee Gees, who produced a series of worldwide hits including Tragedy, Jive Talkin’ and You Win Again.
New reports have claimed that late singer Robin Gibb was investigated by the FBI after allegedly making death threats against his first wife’s divorce lawyer.
Robin Gibb separated from Molly Hullis in 1980 after 12 years of marriage and newly-released documents show just how ugly the split turned.
Staff at Haymon & Walters, the law firm representing Molly Hullis, reported Robin Gibb to authorities after receiving “numerous threatening telegrams from Gibb which threatened their lives”, the records show.
He told them he had hired a hitman to kill them, sparking a probe by investigators that could have led to jail.
Robin Gibb, who died from colon cancer in May, sent telegrams from his home in Miami, Florida to the law firm of Haymon & Walters.
In one, Robin Gibb wrote: “What you have done is just about the limit. I warned and warned you. The situation is now very serious. Know one (sic) walks all over me… I have had enough.”
He added: “I have taken out a contract on (name deleted by FBI). It is now a question of time.”
Robin Gibb was investigated by FBI after making death threats to ex-wife Molly Hullis' lawyer
The New York Post acquired the legal papers from the FBI after a Freedom of Information request following Robin Gibb’s death in May after a battle with liver and colon cancer.
They show that investigators considered taking further action and asking Western Union, who sent the telegrams, for further information.
Agents also discussed how to look into the allegations without tipping off Robin Gibb who was at the height of his fame with brothers Maurice and Robin after the success of the album Saturday Night Fever.
The matter was eventually dropped after Robin Gibb’s lawyers wrote to the FBI and said the singer “would not be foolish enough to carry out any threat, especially in view of his singing career”.
According to the New York Post, Robin Gibb’s accused his wife of tipping off the FBI in an attempt to embarrass the star as a negotiating tactic in their divorce.
Documents reveal that the FBI closed the file on Robin Gibb in March 1981 because Molly Hullis and her lawyers declined to press charges.
A spokesman for Gibb family said they had no comment to make.
Robin Gibb and Molly Hullis, who met when he was just 18, had two children by the time he was in his early 20s. But the marriage had began to fall apart when he became dependent on amphetamines to stay up recording.
In interviews before his death, he revealed he did not spend as much time with her as she wanted.
“She wanted more of a home and roots. Because of my nature and work, I needed to keep changing my environment,” he said.
As she raised their children in Surrey, England, he went on a one-night-stand rampage across the U.S., estimating he slept with more than 100 women.
“They were mostly a distraction, almost like notches on a belt,” he recalled.
After their bitter divorce and custody battle – where he was banned from seeing his children, Molly Hullis remained in the UK after their divorce while the Gibb brothers settled in Florida.
Robin Gibb married his second wife, artist and author Dwina Murphy, in 1985 and they went on to have a son. In 2008, his housekeeper Claire Yang gave birth to their love child.
Robin Gibb once revealed he and Dwina, who were married until his death, had an “open marriage” and she confirmed: “We have an open relationship. Robin has had flings with friends of mine and he talks to me about them.”
Bee Gees singer Robin Gibb refused to have scans that could have detected his fatal tumours before they developed – so he could go on a world tour.
Robin Gibb died in May, aged 62, after a long battle with colon and liver cancer.
His heartbroken widow, Dwina Gibb, 59, has told how he initially ignored doctors’ advice and her pleas to have the cancerous cells properly checked.
The cancer was spotted after the star had an operation to remove an intestinal blockage in October 2010.
Robin Gibb refused to have scans that could have detected his fatal tumours before they developed, so he could go on a world tour
But Dwina Gibb said she and son Robin John, 29, were unable to stop Robin continuing with his musical commitments.
She said: “He didn’t want to stop and I said, <<Please just have the scan>>. Despite all his wonderful ways, Robin could be very stubborn and he never liked bad news – he just didn’t want to know.
“He went to do a show in New Zealand as they’d just experienced an earthquake.
“Maybe it was very important for him to do that show, but it was still important for him to have his scans.”
Robin Gibb toured for more than two weeks during November 2010 and his wife said the cancer had developed to a secondary stage – when the tumor starts to spread to nearby blood vessels – by the time he had a check-up.
Before he died from pneumonia, Robin Gibb astonished doctors by pulling out of his coma for several weeks after Dwina Gibb played a symphony he had composed with his son to mark the centenary of Titanic’s sinking.
She said: “We ended up having a wonderful few weeks with him.”
First picture of tragic Bee Gee Robin Gibb with his housekeeper Claire Yang, who had his love-child, Snow Robin, has emerged to media.
A Robin Gibb’s family friend, who was at his funeral, said the story of the singer’s relationship with Claire Yang: “Snow and her mother Claire weren’t at the funeral. They were the elephant in the room.
“Everyone talked about Robin and his children but carefully made no mention of Snow. Then Barry just went ahead and did it. He just came out with it quietly and naturally.
“When Barry said the child’s name, it was as if a bullet went right through the church. We couldn’t quite believe our ears.”
On the day of singer’s funeral, Snow Robin Gibb was 25 miles away in a smart detached house in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, with her mother Claire Yang. Now three, Snow Robin is an enchanting young girl, with pale brown hair and chocolate eyes.
Neighbors often hear her playing and laughing in the garden. Claire Yang, who had been the Gibbs’ housekeeper, refused to say why she chose not to attend the funeral with Snow, acknowledged as Robin Gibb’s daughter.
It appears that she was influenced by stories suggesting Robin Gibb’s widow Dwina would “hate” it if she turned up.
So what is the truth about Claire Yang, now 37, and her romance with Robin Gibb? And what will she do now that he has sadly passed away?
News of Robin Gibb and Claire Yang liaison emerged only in February 2009, three months after Snow Robin was born at the private Portland Hospital in West London. But they are thought to have been involved romantically for some years before that.
The picture of Robin Gibb and Claire Yang, side-by-side in the lobby of the exclusive five-star Westin Bellevue Hotel in Dresden, is the first photograph to emerge of them as a couple. It was taken by a fan in September 2004 when the star was in the middle of a German concert tour.
Robin Gibb’s comment after Snow Robin’s birth was charmingly enigmatic: “New life is heaven sent and a blessing. That’s what I can say about children and life.”
To the surprise of many, Robin and Dwina Gibb remained married, and Claire Yang moved out to a rented property nearby. In the early weeks he was a regular visitor. Robin Gibb explained towards the end of 2009 that his having had a mistress and a baby outside the marriage had been irrelevant to his family life with Dwina.
The picture of Robin Gibb and Claire Yang, side-by-side in the lobby of the exclusive five-star Westin Bellevue Hotel in Dresden in September 2004, is the first photograph to emerge of them as a couple.
“Our relationship is rock-solid and that’s the most important thing to me,” the singer said.
Friends of the Gibbs say that this must have been intensely painful for Claire Yang to hear, because she had been desperately in love with her employer for years. Indeed, according to one friend who spoke on the condition of anonymity, she had actually hoped that Robin Gibb would eventually leave Dwina for her.
Born in Braintree, Essex, in 1975, Claire Yang is the daughter of Dick, a computer systems engineer, and Evelyn, a one-time bank clerk. And although she was a baby herself when the band found fame, she is also, significantly, a big Bee Gees fan.
Robin Gibb’s friend says: “She was a fan who was taken on as paid staff. And from there, of course, it was a dream come true to have a relationship with Robin.”
Claire Yang, who started out as a housekeeper, worked both at the couple’s 12th-century mansion in Thame and at their waterfront spread in Miami, Florida. Records show that she lived in Miami for a time.
The friend says: “She was absolutely and desperately in love with Robin. The word I would use is obsessively in love. My view is she probably thought she would run off into the sunset with him, but that was never going to happen. Dwina would never give him up, and they loved each other.”
Claire Yang started working for Robin Gibb in 2001, and it has been claimed there was a romance from the early days, although it only became obvious rather later.
Certainly, by 2004, when the picture was taken, she was already travelling abroad with her employer, and for some years she continued to join him at corporate engagements or concerts.
Dwina Gibb, it appears, was well used to his flings. They had married in 1985 and, as a bisexual former Druid priestess, she was far from a conventional person.
Robin Gibb once revealed they had an “open marriage” and she confirmed: “We have an open relationship. Robin has had flings with friends of mine and he talks to me about them.”
Yet this was not just a fling. The friend says: “When he travelled in those years, Claire would come out and look after him completely, she was devoted to his every need. It would not have gone as far as it did if it was some kind of a casual fling.
“They were all living very closely in gated grounds. Robin spent quite a bit of time with her and things developed. There was a relationship, a full relationship, and I guess that they were happy together. I think that Dwina didn’t mind too much until there was a baby, too. That was the step too far.”
Dwina Gibb, 59, is said to have asked Claire Yang to leave after learning that she was pregnant by her husband. But she didn’t go far, renting a house only five miles away. In the early days, Robin Gibb paid for the rent on the houses she lived in, and for a nanny and a car, too.
One of the great showbusiness eccentrics, with his lavender glasses and obvious wigs, Robin Gibb was the kind of person who did business on the basis of a handshake, and it seems that this applied to his relationship with Claire Yang, too. There does not appear to have been any formal support agreement.
But Robin Gibb’s friend confirms the romance cooled after Snow Robin was born.
He says: “Robin talked about her a lot, but that was more before she got pregnant than afterwards. I think there was a general feeling that once the baby had arrived it was to be the start of a new chapter for everyone, including Claire.
“That’s not to say he didn’t think of her. I remember in 2010 he was in Australia and he got a big toy koala for Snow. For quite a long time he was absolutely seeing the child.
“It wasn’t mentioned to Dwina. I know that he used to talk to Barry about Snow and Claire. Barry was probably one of the few people he could talk to. From what I heard, Claire was unhappy. The one thing she never wanted to lose was Robin and when the baby arrived, she did lose him. She was isolated. It is quite sad.”
This much is confirmed by an old neighbor, who lived next to the house which she rented for a year when Snow Robin was very young.
The neighbor said: “I never once saw anyone other than her or the baby coming or going from that house. I never saw Robin Gibb. She really kept to herself.”
When Robin Gibb’s health failed last year, Claire Yang seems to naturally have wanted to formalize their arrangement. With the end of their romance, it must have occurred to her that it would be wise to secure her daughter’s future.
It was reported that around spring of last year, when Robin Gibb was diagnosed with liver cancer, it was decided that Claire Yang would need an official settlement for Snow Robin. And it was the process of settling a lump sum which seems to have resulted in a final schism between them.
Robin Gibb had given his word that Snow Robin would be treated equally, just like his other children.
He had promised to provide for her – but it was settling the details of how this should be done which caused trouble.
Robin Gibb’s long-standing friend said: “It became impossible for them. It then became really difficult between him and Claire. In the end, when his health was bad, he found it intolerable. It was just a mess.”
One problem was working out what Robin Gibb, who died aged 62, was actually worth – his fortune is estimated at £140 million ($225 million).
The process of formally totting up his assets was complicated and lengthy and tempers frayed.
“It was the process which took its toll,” the friend says.
“Dwina found it distressing when Robin was ill and Robin found it all too much as well.”
It took a full year to hammer out a deal – at a time when Robin Gibb was very frail. He suffered an inflamed colon and pneumonia over the winter of last year, and yet still the fight between their respective sets of lawyers dragged on.
In the end, Claire Yang is understood to have accepted a relatively small sum, £4 million ($6.5 million), for the future education and maintenance of their daughter.
In April this year, she bought a house in Amersham, Bucks, for around £800,000 ($1.25 million). Four weeks later, Robin Gibb died. Peter Jones, who sold her the property, said: “She was quite elusive. It wasn’t a completely normal sale. I think I only met her once.”
Now there is a fear in the family that things might get complicated if there isn’t provision in Robin Gibb’s will for her and Snow.
Robin Gibb’s friend says: “There was apparently an agreement, but not everything was settled.”
Dwina Gibb, in particular, fears that Claire Yang might come back into her life and wants nothing to do with any of it.
She let it be known that she didn’t want to see Claire Yang at the funeral, but some of Robin Gibb’s friends feel that this might have been a mistake, as Claire is understood to feel upset at having been excluded.
Could Claire Yang have any legal recourse? Robin Gibb’s lawyer, Michael Eaton, declines to comment on any details of Gibb and his bequests. However, under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 in UK, any child is allowed to contest a will – or have it contested on their behalf – if they are excluded or if it is unfair.
Robin Gibb’s children from his first marriage – Spencer, 40, and Melissa, 37 – are thought to be included in it as, of course, is Robin John, 29, his beloved son by Dwina.
Barry Gibb yesterday revealed the solace he finds in knowing that his siblings, twins Robin and Maurice, have now been reunited – and that he will join them both one day too.
“They were both beautiful. And now they’re together,” said Barry Gibb, his voice trembling with emotion, as he addressed the congregation at Robin’s funeral.
Barry Gibb, 65, the only remaining member of the group he formed with his younger siblings in 1958 which went on to sell more than 200 million records worldwide, told mourners: “When you’re twins, you’re twins all your life. You go through every emotion.”
Robin Gibb died last month aged 62 after a long battle with colon cancer.
Maurice Gibb died of complications resulting from a twisted intestine in 2003 aged 53.
At yesterday’s service at St Mary’s Church in Thame, Oxfordshire, Barry Gibb spoke of Robin’s “magnificent mind and beautiful heart”.
Barry Gibb also read a poem he had written called Ode To Rob, which included the lines: “We will all be together one day. So fly away Rob, fly away.”
Among the 300-strong congregation were celebrities including Sir Tim Rice, Uri Geller, DJs Mike Read, Paul Gambaccini and David “Kid” Jensen, singer Peter Andre, actress Susan George and 88-year-old actor Leslie Phillips.
Robin Gibb’s widow Dwina, 59, an author and artist, read a poem called My Songbird Has Flown, including the words: “No music can be heard that is sweeter than the language of his love, no diamond is more precious than the memory of his twinkling eyes.”
Dwina and Robin Gibb’s son Robin-John, 28, kissed his father’s white coffin after telling mourners his “best friend and daddy” is “always only a song away”.
Absent from the service, however, was Claire Yang, the former housekeeper with whom Robin Gibb fathered a daughter, Snow, aged four.
Claire Yang was reportedly “unwelcome” and spent the day a few miles away at her home in Amersham, Buckinghamshire.
A source said that security guards had been briefed “to keep an eye out for her”.
However, Snow was mentioned by Barry Gibb at the end of his eulogy as “little Snow” in a list of close family members.
At yesterday’s service at St Mary’s Church in Thame, Oxfordshire, Barry Gibb spoke of Robin’s “magnificent mind and beautiful heart”
Barry Gibb also referred to the fourth Gibb brother, Andy, also a singer, who died aged 30 in 1988, saying that to have lost three siblings was “a very strange experience”.
And referring to the Bee Gees’ days of packing out arenas to adoring audiences across the globe, Barry Gibb said: “The three of us have seen a lot of crowds but I’ve never seen so much love in one crowd as I’m looking at today.”
The coffin was taken to the church in a glass-sided, horse-drawn carriage topped with red roses.
The coffin itself was draped with the flag of the Isle of Man, where all three Bee Gees were born.
Robin and Dwina Gibb’s home, a converted 13th century monastery, is opposite the church but the carriage travelled along the market town’s high street first as it was among Robin’s last wishes that he could “say a final goodbye to fans and his home town”.
The cortege was followed by Robin Gibb’s two Irish wolfhounds, Ollie and Missy.
The coffin entered the church to the sound of the Bee Gees’ hit How Deep Is Your Love.
Barry Gibb also spoke of his brother’s sense of humor: “There was no funnier man than Spike Milligan – apart from Robin.
“And his sharp, intuitive wit will live with us forever.
“You could stand Robin next to Spike Milligan and it would be a competition.”
He hinted at recent tensions between himself and Robin, however, saying: “We were laughing all the way. Sometimes crying. God knows how much we argued.
“Even right up to the end we found conflict with each other, which now means nothing. It just means nothing. If there’s conflict in your lives – get rid of it.”
Robin Gibb’s elderly mother, Barbara, left the church just before Barry gave his eulogy.
He told the congregation: “This is a very strange experience, having already lost two brothers and now Rob.
“I think there are an awful lot of things happening right now that maybe you won’t be aware of. And one is how many people came on such a terrible day. It is staggering.
“So many people loved this boy, so many illustrious people are here that loved him. And that is such a pleasure to witness.
“The three of us have seen a lot of crowds but I’ve never seen so much love in one crowd as I’m looking at today – for Rob, you know, for the music. And it’s an intense experience for me.
“I think it’s an experience none of us will forget. We will keep him in our hearts and minds forever.”
Robin Gibb’s family and friends were joined by hundreds of fans, who lined the streets as a glass horse-drawn carriage covered in red roses made its way down the town’s high street on the way to the funeral.
Family members including Robin Gibb’s wife Dwina, his children Spencer, Melissa and RJ, Barry, his wife Linda and his son Stevie, were pictured leading the procession on foot from the gate house of their estate to St Mary’s Church.
It had been Robin Gibb’s wish to “say a final goodbye to fans and his home town of Thame”, according to his family.
Robin Gibb died from kidney failure last month after fighting colon cancer and pneumonia.
Peter Andre, who was a close friend of the musician, was front and centre to place a rose on the coffin at the burial.
He announced last week that he plans to release a tribute single using music written for him by Robin Gibb shortly before his death.
“He very kindly wrote a song for me recently and I’m determined to finish working on it when I get back to the UK,” he said.
“I’m going to release it and make sure all the proceeds go to his favorite charity.”
St Mary’s church is opposite the home which the musician had shared with wife Dwina for 19 years.
Two candles flickered at the front of the church as some guests entered in tears, to take their places on wooden seats surrounded by pink and white flowers.
They were issued with an order of service printed with a black and white picture of Robin Gibb on the front cover, and images of red roses throughout.
An image of the three members of the Bee Gees – Robin, Maurice and Barry – was on the back.
The funeral of Bee Gees star Robin Gibb is to be held later in his home town in Oxfordshire.
Robin Gibb, who lived in Thame, died from kidney failure last month after suffering from cancer and pneumonia.
A glass-sided carriage, drawn by four horses, will travel through the town at about 13:30 BST followed by a private church service.
His son Robin-John said the Bee Gees hit I Started A Joke would be played at the church.
The track Don’t Cry Alone, which is one of Robin Gibb’s final compositions from his Titanic Requiem – premiered only weeks before his death – will also be played.
The funeral of Bee Gees star Robin Gibb is to be held later in his home town in Oxfordshire
His family said his wish was to say a “final goodbye” to fans and the town.
Radio presenter Henry Wymbs has known the Gibb family for a number of years as Robin Gibb’s wife Dawina was a fan of his Irish Eye programme.
Henry Wymbs said: “Part of my youth died with him because he created so many of the songs I loved.
“But I enjoyed meeting him. He was humble, down to earth, a very genuine man who wasn’t affected by fame or wealth.
“Apparently he had really become a part of the community in Thame and I can believe that because he was such a nice man.”
The carriage will leave from Priests End and travel along the High Street to the town hall.
It will then return through the High Street to St Mary’s Church where a private family service will be held.
Robin Gibb’s funeral will take place next week, on June 8, it emerged today.
Only “close family and friends” will attend the event, but a memorial service is being arranged for later in the year.
There has been speculation that this will take place at St Paul’s Cathedral in London.
The Bee Gees star, who racked up decades of hits, died 10 days ago after a lengthy battle with colon cancer at the age of 62.
Robin Gibb’s funeral will take place next week, on June 8
After having surgery for an intestinal problem Robin Gibb contracted pneumonia.
At one point he spent a short period in a coma, although he regained consciousness several days before his death.
Robin Gibb’ son RJ has since said that kidney failure was the cause of death.
In a statement the family requested that there should be no flowers but called instead for donations to two children’s charities on the Isle of Man, “both of which were close to the heart of Robin Gibb and his family”.
They asked for the money to go to Rebecca House hospice and Wish Upon A Dream.
Robin Gibb’s family said further details about the memorial will be announced “in due course”.
Although details of the funeral’s location have not been announced, it has previously been reported that it will take place near to where he lived in Thame, Oxfordshire, with a service including music by the Bee Gees and Roy Orbison.
Robin Gibb’s death led to tributes from across the music world, as well as from figures such as former prime minister Tony Blair, who was a friend of the star.
Lesley Evans, the Gibb brothers’ sister, called herself the fourth Bee Gee, but with a difference, only the most devoted fans know she even exists.
Lesley Evans, born Gibb, 67, has stayed in behind the scenes for most of Bee Gees career – apart from one amazing performance standing in for her brother Robin at a sell-out gig in 1969.
As she faces life with her only remaining brother Barry, 65, she has revealed some of her memories growing up in one of the most famous families in the world, and how she once came Robin’s rescue, saving his life.
Still deeply grieving for her brother Robin Gibb, who died last Sunday, the dog-breeder revealed how she pulled Robin from a river when he was just 18 months old in the Isle Of Man.
Lesley Evans, the Gibb brothers’ sister, called herself the fourth Bee Gee, but with a difference, only the most devoted fans know she even exists
Lesley Evans told The Sunday Mirror: “Robin just fell in. I remember him floating along with his eyes staring up.
“I went in up to my waist and grabbed him under the arms until people came to help us both out of the water.”
The mother-of-seven smiles as she recalls how a brotherly spat meant Robin Gibb refused to go on-stage in 1969 and she was forced to become his replacement.
As a new mother of two young children, Lesley Evans had to rehearse a month before the performance at the Talk of the Town.
She said: “I secretly became the fourth Bee Gee. It was amazing. I loved it on the night. I know Robin watched it and he said he felt very choked up about it.”
But Lesley Evans was destined to be in showbusiness, instead she met her husband, an Australian salesman Keith Evans, and went on to have her children.
And since Robin Gibb’s death her mind has been going back to her childhood and memories of her family.
She describes her childhood home as surrounded by music and love.
But Lesley Evans says her brother Robin Gibb was far from chilled out.
“We all used to say, <<Oh, ¬Robin’s a stuffed shirt>>, because he was always very pompous. He never called me Lesley. It was always sister. I would not see him for 10 years and I could walk into a room and he would say, <<Oh, hello sister. How are you?>>.”
The last time she saw Robin Gibb was in Sydney in 2010, just after he had emergency surgery and thought he looked extremely underweight.
Lesley Evans said in the days before Robin Gibb’s death Barry rang her and said her brother would not pull through.
And she adds her mother Barbara, 93, is devastated and can’t understand how she has lost three sons so young.
Maurice Gibb died at 53 while Andy passed away at 30 from heart inflammation.
Dwina Gibb, Robin Gibb’s widow, fears the mother of his love child fathered with their former housekeeper will demand more cash since his death – despite reportedly receiving a £4 million ($6.4 million) pay off.
After 12 months of legal wrangling Robin Gibb’s lover Claire Yang is said to have received the one off payment for three-year-old Snow Robin’s care.
But after Robin Gibb’s death the family are said to fear his former lover will demand a larger slice of his £140million ($225 million) fortune.
Dwina Gibb is said to be worried Claire Yang, 36, will seek legal advice despite agreeing to the one-off child maintenance deal in January.
A source close to the Gibb family told The Sunday Mirror the legal fight, which went on while Robin was undergoing hospital treatment, upset Dwina.
The source added: “If Claire does go to the funeral she will be ¬keeping her distance from Dwina and it will be awkward. Robin never walked away from his responsibilities and always made sure the child was fully provided for.
“Snow Robin is a Gibb child so will be treated exactly the same as the other three children. It is not about the money but it is the nature of the lengthy legal process which distressed Dwina and the family.”
After 12 months of legal wrangling Robin Gibb's lover Claire Yang is said to have received the one off payment for three-year-old Snow Robin's care
Robin Gibb, 62, who died from liver and colon cancer on May 20, had a long-term affair with Claire Yang but was asked to leave the Gibbs’ house by bisexual Dwina Gibb, 59, when she became pregnant.
Despite having an open relationship it is thought Dwina Gibb “hit the roof” when she discovered Claire Yang was pregnant.
Robin Gibb later brought his mistress a home five miles from his Thame home after paying her rent before his daughter was born.
Friends have spoken of Claire Yang’s love for Robin Gibb and the former housekeeper, who became known as the star’s companion, thought the pair could have a future together.
But Robin Gibb is thought to have told his mistress he would never leave his wife.
Speaking about her married life, Dwina Gibb famously said: “We have an open relationship. Robin has had flings in the past with friends of mine and he talks about them.
“It doesn’t worry me because I trust my friends. And I am, after all, his best friend as well as his wife and lover – and I’m sure we’ll be together.”
Robin Gibb and his twin brother Maurice formed the Bee Gees with their older brother Barry, now 63 in the late 50s.
The trio shot to mega-stardom after creating the soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever in 1977. Maurice Gibb died of a burst intestine in 2003 and their younger brother Andy died from a cocaine overdose aged just 30 in the 1980s.
Under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependents) Act 1975, any child in UK is allowed to contest a will.
Robin Gibb was the gaunt Bee Gee, the one with the tombstone teeth and extraordinary voice, a high, plaintive tenor.
But Robin Gibb’s voice and song-writing abilities, allied with the musical talents of his twin Maurice and older brother Barry, were to sell more than 220 million Bee Gees records in a career that was to last for nearly half a century.
As a song-writing partnership, the Gibb brothers were prolific, second only to John Lennon and Paul McCartney in their success. Not only did they write numerous hits for themselves, they also created hits for many other artists.
Even though after the death of Maurice, Robin Gibb never recorded again as a Bee Gee with Barry, he didn’t stop writing and recording.
A complex, often contradictory character, one of his passions was to highlight Britain’s debt to the country’s troops. Last year, he recorded a charity version of Gotta Get A Message To You with soldiers for the Poppy Appeal. Robin Gibb was also a major supporter and fund-raiser for the Bomber Command Memorial being built in London’s Green Park.
Barry Gibb would always be perceived as the leader, but the strength of the Bee Gees’ partnership lay in their musical equality. The three brothers complemented each other perfectly.
The Bee Gees in 1975
Yet their father, the leader of a small seaside hotel band, didn’t immediately spot the boys’ talents.
Barry Gibb once said: “One day, our parents heard us singing in harmony. They thought the sound must be coming from the radio.”
Robin Gibb explained: “Neither of our parents were aware we could harmonize instinctively. The only thing my brothers and I cared about was composing. We didn’t have any friends or many interests except music.
“In a way we were like the Brontes, complete in ourselves. We didn’t need outsiders. Composing made us happy. We loved it. It was never about money; it was about being recognized and liked.”
Robin and Maurice Gibb were just eight when they made their first public appearance at a children’s competition at the Gaumont Cinema in Manchester in 1957.
They’d planned to mime to an Everly Brothers record, but having dropped and broken it on their way to the cinema, they decided to sing live.
The output of original Gibbs’ songs was prodigious and astonishingly mature. Always highly sensitive, fastidious and reclusive, some of the subjects Robin Gibb chose to write about were very dark for a teenager.
Gotta Get A Message To You was inspired by a news story about a man about to be executed in the U.S. for murdering his wife’s lover.
The Bee Gees’ first British No 1, Massachusetts, was written on their first visit to New York.
“Ninety per cent of it is mental telepathy,” Robin Gibb explained.
“I’d had this line <<The lights all went out in Massachusetts>> in my head all day, and I mentioned it to Barry.
“He said <<I’ve already got the tune for it>> – so we wrote it that night. Maurice did the arrangement.”
The magic really struck in 1977. They were recording in Florida with U.S. producer Arif Mardin and had just come up with Jive Talkin’, an anthem for the disco craze, when their manager Robert Stigwood decided to produce the film Saturday Night Fever.
Within a few weeks, the brothers had recorded five classics – How Deep Is Your Love, Stayin’ Alive, Night Fever, If I Can’t Have You and More Than A Woman. It became one of the most popular movie soundtracks of all time.
The result was the reinvented Bee Gees of legend: the Florida tanned boys with the big hair, dazzling white teeth and suits, and Barry Gibb’s new, breathy falsetto.
In what were jokingly called the “helium years”, their success couldn’t have been greater.
Robin Gibb was an unusual pop star. He was more serious than his brothers and could be withdrawn. But as TV appearances in the last few years showed, he was political (a supporter of the Labour Party), intelligent, articulate and an enthusiastic charity fund-raiser.
Always his own man, the many songs he and his brothers created will outlive him by generations.
Robin Gibb never had much time for the real world and he preferred to live in his own musical never-never land, which, for him, transcended the vagaries of everyday life.
“I’m at my happiest when I’m absorbed in the creative process,” Robin Gibb once said.
“Art is about for ever, beauty and immortality. I don’t think of death. That’s for other people.”
Sadly, it wasn’t.
Robin Gibb, the Bee Gees’ brilliant lyricist, died on Sunday at the age of 62 after contracting pneumonia while battling against cancer of the colon and subsequently of the liver.
His wife Dwina, 59, daughter Melissa, 37, and sons Spencer, 40, and Robin-John, 29, were with him.
The sad irony of the timing of Robin Gibb’s death will not have been lost on his family. Over the past year he had worked feverishly to complete his first classical work, the Titanic Requiem, to mark the centenary of the sinking of the doomed ship. He fell into a coma in hospital on the 100th anniversary of the tragedy.
“I think it’s one of my best pieces. I’m very proud of it,” he said when he played the piece before its release.
Intense and fast-talking, Robin Gibb abhorred rules and for the most part lived outside them in his 11th- century former monastery home in Thame, Oxfordshire, where the tennis court had been ripped up and replaced with a druidic stone circle.
Robin Gibb drew a sense of calm from the property’s history. But his mind was rarely at rest.
With his twin Maurice (35 minutes his junior), who died from a ruptured intestine in 2003, and older brother Barry, the Bee Gees’ fertile imaginations gave us such pop classics as Stayin’ Alive, How Deep Is Your Love and Night Fever.
Robin Gibb once said: “An artist is someone who uses art to run away from reality. There are no rules and regulations in the creative world.”
Nor, it seems, in his 28-year marriage to bisexual Dwina, 59, a member of the Daughters of Brahma (a Hindu sect that teaches celibacy) and patroness of the order of the druids.
Three years ago, Robin Gibb fathered a daughter, Snow Robin, during an affair with the family’s housekeeper, Claire Yang. Not surprisingly, the child’s birth made headlines when it was made public.
Last night a friend said: “Robin adored all his children and there is no question that Snow Robin will continue to be cared for.”
The little girl and her mother were originally relocated to a luxury converted barn four miles from the Robin Gibbs’s mansion.
They then moved to a £1.5 million ($2.4 million) Tudor-style detached house in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, for which Robin Gibb paid the £2,590 ($4,100)-a-month rent, but are believed to be living in a converted barn on Gibb’s Oxfordshire estate.
Following the revelations, Dwina was painted colorfully with talk about her sexuality, reading fortunes with tarot cards and a belief in reincarnation. She spoke about little orbs she’d seen around the house, believing them to be spirits from another life.
Robin Gibb and his wife Dwina Waterfield in 1983
However, Robin Gibb didn’t share her beliefs.
“I don’t have a faith in an after-life,” he said.
“This is it. You’ve got to grab life.”
Indeed, Robin Gibb had set out to live his as colorfully as possible, creating with his brothers a world of music to escape a childhood of genuine, tummy-rumbling poverty.
Born on the Isle of Man, the Gibbs moved around Britain as their father, a struggling musician, sought work to feed his five children: daughter Lesley, Barry, Maurice, Robin and the youngest son, Andy.
Talking about the bond he shared with Barry and Maurice, Robin Gibb said: “The real world was just too real – and we didn’t want to be a part of normal life. We wanted to create a magical world for the three of us, and the only way we could do that was to lock ourselves away and be creative.”
Maurice and Robin Gibb started singing harmonies at the age of six, practicing in the bathroom. In 1958, the family emigrated to Australia, where the three elder brothers launched their recording career.
They sang on local radio and TV stations and were soon making records. Their song Spicks And Specks became a huge hit in Australia. Before long, they were supporting their entire family, and moved back to England in 1967.
After a first flurry of success, their popularity waned and they were reduced to touring northern working men’s clubs. By 1974 they thought they were finished.
Then they experimented with a new sound – the emphasis being on dance rhythms, high harmonies and a funk beat.
Barry Gibb sang falsetto for the first time, and with Jive Talkin’ they suddenly found audiences in love with their music. It shot to No. 1 and was the first of many hits.
Their songs brought them enormous wealth. Robin Gibb was worth £140 million ($225 million) and he owned a £3 million ($4.8 million) mansion in Florida, which he loaned to Tony and Cherie Blair for a holiday in 2006.
Personal happiness, however, was to prove more elusive.
Aged 18, Robin Gibb married his first love, Molly Hullis, a secretary in the office of The Beatles’ first manager, Brian Epstein. While courting, the couple survived the 1967 Hither Green train crash in South-East London, which killed 49 people.
Robin Gibb later recalled: “I remember it vividly – children were trapped, passengers were being given anaesthetics to have their limbs removed. It was horrendous, like Dante’s Inferno.”
The tragedy left him with the view that “the past is just a memory and tomorrow is only what we imagine”.
By the time Robin Gibb was in his early 20s, he and Molly Hullis – who was three years his senior – had two children. But he had become increasingly dependent on amphetamines to stay up all night recording.
He wasn’t eating or sleeping and his ‘medication’ made him increasingly paranoid and unpredictable. He was anxious about being mobbed by fans and ranted about erecting crush barriers everywhere that he and his brothers went.
His marriage began to fall apart. He admitted he hadn’t spent as much time with Molly as he should have done.
“She wanted more of a home and roots. Because of my nature and work, I needed to keep changing my environment.”
Robin Gibb later blamed his infidelity on his high sex drive.
“I didn’t have sex for love, just for fun,” he admitted
In a radio interview, he joked about having had threesomes and “cruising” for sex, not realizing it would make headlines around the world. (He would later give second wife Dwina a blue Jaguar sports car by way of an apology for causing her such embarrassment).
While Molly Hullis raised their two young children at their home in Surrey, Robin enjoyed countless one-night stands in America – more than 100 by his own estimation.
Robin Gibb recalled: “They were mostly a distraction – almost like notches on a belt.”
The couple’s divorce was acrimonious and a bitter custody battle resulted in Robin Gibb being banned by a court from seeing his children.
The singer shut himself away for two years, cried, slept all day and hit the bottle.
“At times, I felt as though I was going to die from complete misery. I felt I was on the verge of madness,” he said.
“Looking back, I realize I might not have come out of it alive. But I never took serious drugs like LSD or cocaine. I was scared stiff of them.”
Eventually Robin Gibb met Dwina, someone who did understand his need for space within a relationship.
He controversially claimed she had given her “blessing” to his many affairs.
“We don’t go round joined at the hip because we’re married. We’ve been liberal-minded, but I don’t think we’ve actually used the phrase open marriage,” Robin Gibb said.
“She gives me my individual freedom and space to be creative.”
The couple also indulged in voyeurism, with Robin Gibb watching as Dwina made love to lesbian partners. Robin Gibb once said: “I was thinking as I lay in bed last night, with my wife and her lover on either side of me, that I’m thoroughly spoiled.”
Dwina was understanding when he admitted to having had affairs with some of her friends, but he is believed to have hurt her deeply by fathering Snow Robin with their housekeeper.
For her part, Dwina has always refused to talk publicly about what happened, and stayed with Robin Gibb only after much soul-searching.
In fact, Robin Gibb would have crumbled without her. After all, she had supported him through the deaths of his younger brother Andy – a singer who died in 1988 aged 30 from a heart condition following years of drink and drug abuse – and his twin Maurice in 2003.
Pole axed by his final illness, Robin Gibb was someone who wanted desperately to live.
Despite his previous addiction to amphetamines, he had given up cigarettes, didn’t drink and ate more healthily, though he remained painfully thin.
In his last years, Robin Gibb sweated out toxins for 20 minutes a day in a detoxification hut.
“How does anyone protect themselves against illness?” he asked.
“I only smoked about three cigarettes a day.
“You can have the best lifestyle, do all the right things and still have these things happen to you.
“You get people who drink like a fish, eat rubbish food and they live long into their 90s without any problem.”
As the cancer began to take hold, he spent more and more time in his musical never-neverland with youngest son Robin-John and Dwina.
“I don’t think about the physical world and having a good time,” he said.
“I have a good time creating. The most important thing in life is to be what you want to be.”
Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees has died aged 62 after a lengthy battle with cancer, his family said.
The announcement was made, it said, with “great sadness”.
British-born Robin Gibb’s musical career began when he formed the Bee Gees with his brothers Barry and Maurice in 1958.
The group is among the biggest-selling of all time with hits spanning five decades, including Stayin’ Alive, How Deep Is Your Love, Massachusetts and Night Fever.
Robin Gibb’s family said in a statement: “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.”
Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees has died aged 62 after a lengthy battle with cancer
Broadcaster Paul Gambaccini described the singer as “one of the major figures in the history of British music”.
The Gibb brothers were born in the Isle of Man but grew up in Manchester, later moving to Australia.
The Bee Gees notched up album sales of more than 200 million worldwide since their first hits in the 1960s.
“Everyone should be aware that the Bee Gees are second only to Lennon and McCartney as the most successful songwriting unit in British popular music,” said Paul Gambaccini.
“Their accomplishments have been monumental.
“Not only have they written their own number one hits, but they wrote huge hit records for Barbra Streisand, Diana Ross, Dionne Warwick, Celine Dion, Destiny’s Child, Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers, the list goes on and on.
“What must also be said is Robin had one of the best white soul voices ever. He was singing lead on his first number one when he was 17, that was Massachusetts.”
Former BBC Radio 1 DJ Mike Read, who was a family friend of Robin Gibb, said: “Robin had the voice, the pathos, and he was a great writer.
“He had a gift for melody and a gift for lyrics and left a phenomenal legacy, a phenomenal catalogue.”
Referring to the Bee Gees, Mike Read said: “They had every award, every gold disc, every platinum disc, the Grammys the lot and had been doing it so long but were still so good at it.”
A statement from Sony Music on Twitter said: “Rest in peace, Robin Gibb. Thanks for the music.”
He had battled ill health for several years.
In 2010, Robin Gibb cancelled a series of shows after suffering from severe stomach pains while performing in Belgium. He went on to have emergency surgery for a blocked intestine.
His twin brother and band partner Maurice died in 2003 aged 53 following complications from a twisted intestine.
Robin Gibb cancelled a series of shows in Brazil in April 2011, after again suffering from abdominal pains.
Later that year, he was diagnosed with cancer of the colon after having surgery on his bowel for an unrelated condition.
He was later also diagnosed with cancer of the liver, and underwent chemotherapy and surgery.
His increasingly gaunt appearance prompted press speculation that he was close to death.
But in February he said he was making a “spectacular” recovery and he was feeling “fantastic”.
Last month the singer fell into a coma after contracting pneumonia.
After 12 days he regained consciousness and his son Robin-John said his father was “completely compos mentis”.
Robin Gibb had recently undergone intestinal surgery.
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