Robin Gibb died surrounded by his wife and children last night.
His family annouced with "great sadness" that Robin, 62, had lost his brave fight with colon cancer.
In a brief statement they said: “Sunday 20 May, 2012 at 10:46: 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."
His sons Robin-John and Spencer, daughter Melissa and wife Dwina had been at his bedside throughout at his stay in a Chelsea hospital.
His Bee Gee brother Barry, who has been supporting him throughout, was mourning from across the Atlantic as he'd recently flown back to America.
Robin was hailed last night as "one of the most important people in the history of British music," by Paul Gambaccini, who said the brothers were second best UK songwriters ever after the Beatles.
"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.
“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."
Gambaccini later described Gibb as one of the most influential British artists EVER. “He was one of the important figures in the history of British music - and I mean of all time, I don’t mean just the last few years or the rock era, I mean of all time,” he told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“He and Barry and Maurice wrote 23 number one records (with the exception of Maurice who wrote 22). They are the only song writers to have number ones in the last five decades. They did briefly have the number one album of all time - Saturday Night Fever. Something of this magnitude is bigger than just the last few years.”
Broadcaster and pal Mike Read, choking with emotion as he spoke, said the singer had an “incredible voice” and described him as a one-off talent.
“Robin had the voice, the pathos, and he was a great writer.
“In his head he could come up with some great melodies. I was delighted to work with him. He had a gift for melody and a gift for lyrics and left a phenomenal legacy, a phenomenal catalogue.”
Referring to the Bee Gees, the former BBC Radio One DJ said: “They had every accolade under the sun. They were able to write great commercial songs that touched people over a very long period of time. 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.”
In April, Robin slipped into a coma after contracting pneumonia and was given just days to live.
But he shocked doctors by staging a remarkable recovery and was even communicating again with his family.
His relatives sang to him and wife Dwina said that he had cried when she played him the song Crying by Roy Orbison.
At the time Dr Andrew Thillainayagam, of Imperial College, London, said: “It is testament to Robin’s extraordinary courage, iron will and deep reserves of physical strength that he has overcome quite incredible odds."
thesun
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