Maurice Gibb
|
|
Maurice_Gibb.jpg
Maurice Ernest Gibb (December 22, 1949 - January 12, 2003), was a musician and a member of the band the Bee Gees. He was born in Douglas, Isle of Man. The twin of Robin Gibb, Maurice was the younger by 35 minutes.
His family moved to Brisbane, Australia, where in 1958, he and brothers Robin and Barry, formed the Bee Gees, who would become one of the most successful musical groups of the 1970s and 1980s. In a career spanning four decades the group sold over 100 million records. Among their most well-known hits are "How Deep Is Your Love," "Night Fever", "Massachusetts", "Tragedy" and "Run to Me."
Maurice Gibb played bass and keyboard for the group, and was generally known as "the quiet one", although in his private life he had suffered from alcoholism. He was in fact the only one of the three who had not been in trouble with the police before the family emigrated.
He was famously married to the British pop star in 1969, Lulu, for four years, but they had no children, and the pressure of their respective commitments led to their divorce. During this period, Maurice made a brief attempt to break into acting, playing a minor role in a short-lived West End musical. The reviews of his performance were universally bad.
In 1994, Maurice Gibb was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Maurice's reputation as a mild-mannered stabilising influence continued into later life. When the Bee Gees walked out of their interview with British chat show host Clive Anderson, Maurice was last to leave, with the words, "I don't do impersonations of my brothers".
Maurice Gibb died at a Miami, Florida hospital on January 12, 2003, of cardiac arrest, during surgery to remove an intestinal blockage. He was only 53 years old. Together with his wife Yvonne he had two children, who were with him when he died as well as his twin Robin.
He played a lot of paintball and had a team which he called the Ranger Rat Royals which is reputed to be a reference to an award by Queen Elizabeth II and his time at the little river alcohol clinic from which cured patients were referred to as "little river rats".