'I wish Mo was here'

Robin Gibb's last words saw him pay a touching tribute to his late twin brother Maurice. The Bee Gees singer lost his long battle with colon and liver cancer on Sunday night and paid tribute to Maurice, who died in 2003 after complications during an operation on a twisted intestine, on his deathbed.

Speaking to family members shortly before he passed away, the 62-year-old star said: 'I wish Mo was here, I can't believe he is gone.' His family, including wife, Dwina, daughter Melissa, 37, and sons Spencer, 39, and Robin-John, 29, had been keeping a bedside vigil at a London hospital in recent weeks, and family sources revealed the singer often talked about Maurice during his final few weeks.
Robin's twin brother and bandmate Maurice died from the same bowel condition that initially led doctors to operate on him.

But Robin never acknowledged the fact he might be dying, despite drifting in and out of a coma, and he 'constantly' spoke of the possibility of touring with his brother Barry. A friend told the Daily Mirror newspaper: 'We all knew he was seriously unwell, but his strength of character meant he never once mentioned the possibility he might not make it.

'Instead he talked constantly about touring again, working with his brother Barry and about how much he missed Maurice, or Mo as he always called him. 'It was very moving to hear him speak so lovingly of his twin brother - as though he had never quite accepted that he had gone and still felt the same amazing connection between the two of them that they'd always had.'

Robin's brother Barry, 65, is said to be heartbroken after hearing the news at his home in Miami, Florida, and he made plans to fly back to London with his 92-year-old mother Barbara to mourn with the family.
As well as paying tribute to Maurice, Robin made a dying wish for the Bee Gees classic 1977 hit How Deep Is Your Love to be the first song played at his funeral, asking Spencer to make it possible.
A close friend told The Sun newspaper: 'It's a beautiful song, penned by a beautiful person. It couldn't be more appropriate when we all say goodbye.'

The group - made up of Robin, his twin brother Maurice and Barry - sold over 220 million records in their career, but they also suffered heartache when their sibling Andy died of heart failure aged just 30.
A number of stars have paid tribute to the late singer including Duran Duran, Liam Gallagher, Stevie Wonder, Celine Dion, Diana Ross and John Travolta.

Sir Cliff Richard also paid tribute to the star and said the singer's legacy of songs with the group, was 'stunningly good'. He told the BBC: 'We are a fraternity of people who sing pop and rock and Robin is another one of us who's gone too soon, too early.

'So the legacy will be what the Bee Gees did, which was stunning, stunningly good stuff - right on a par with the Beatles.' Mr Gibb had surgery on his bowel 19 months ago for an unrelated condition, but a tumour was discovered and he was diagnosed with cancer of the colon and, subsequently, of the liver.
It had been thought his cancer was in remission as early as last month, but the latest deterioration in his health coincides with reports of a secondary tumour.

Mr Gibb's twin brother and bandmate Maurice died from the same bowel condition that initially led doctors to operate on him. His younger brother Andy, who was not part of the Bee Gees but a successful singer in his own right, died in 1988 from heart failure at 30.

Mr Gibb was married twice, to Molly Hullis, a secretary in the organisation of impresario Robert Stigwood, from 1968 to 1980, then to Dwina Murphy-Gibb, an author and artist. He had two children, Spencer and Melissa, from his first marriage, and a son, Robin-John, from his second.

He famously had an 'accepting' marriage with Dwina, which survived the star fathering a daughter with their housekeeper, Claire Yang. Miss Yang, 36, and Snow Robin, four, now live in Oxfordshire, five miles from the converted monastery where the Gibbs and their 28-year-old son Robin-John resided.
The Bee Gees will be forever known for providing the soundtrack to the 1970s in the form of the Saturday Night Fever album, one of the biggest-selling albums of all time.

Posing with toothy smiles, bouffant hair and tight white outfits on the album's cover, they captured the look of an era. And with their falsetto close harmonies hitched to a new dance floor-friendly sound, the trio's career was propelled to new heights.

The new-found reputation of the Bee Gees was far removed from their beginnings as a young trio performing in theatres in Manchester in the mid-1950s. Mr Gibb and his twin Maurice were born on the Isle of Man to English parents on December 22, 1949, three years after their brother Barry.

The trio started out as a child act encouraged by their father Hugh, a band leader, and their mother Barbara, a former singer, who is still alive. They continued performing when the family moved to Brisbane, Australia, in 1958.

They took the name Bee Gees, an abbreviation of Brothers Gibb, signed to the Australian label Festival Records and released a series of singles written by Barry while in their teenage years. After finding worldwide success, Mr Gibb admitted earlier this year, in one of his last interviews, that he felt his illness was 'karma' for his fame.

'I sometimes wonder if the tragedies my family has suffered are a karmic price for all the fame and fortune the Bee Gees have had.' He explained: 'The illness and the untimely death of my brothers made me conscious of the fact that - rather than just think about it - it's crucial that you do today what you want to do.

'Now I know how precious time is and you can't put it in the bank.
'I intend to make the most of every single second that I've got left.'

© Daily Mail, London