Robin Gibb, one of three brothers who made up the disco group The Bee Gees, died Sunday, May 20. He was 62.

The Bee Gees, formerly known as The Brothers Gibb, pose in front of a Rolls Royce showroom in 1967.

Australian musician Colin Petersen, a drummer with the popular disco group The Bee Gees, tinkering under the hood of his car in 1965.

The Bee Gees pose in London in 1967. From left to right, Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, drummer Colin Peterson and Maurice Gibb.

The Bee Gees with a bear skin rug.

Robin Gibb, left, and brother Barry at London’s Heathrow Airport in 1967.

The Bee Gees sporting fashionable jackets in 1967.

The Bee Gees walk down a New York City Street in 1968. From left to right, bassist Vince Melouney, Robin Gibb, Barry Gibb, Maurice Gibb, and drummer Colin Peterson.

Singer Barry Gibb poses just after winning a Beau Brummell award for best-dressed personality in Britain.

Maurice and Barry Gibb rehearse for the TV show “Cucumber Castle” in 1969.

Maurice Gibb and his new bride, Scottish pop singer Lulu, exit Gerrards Cross Church in Buckinghamshire, England, on February 18, 1969.

From left to right, brothers Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb in 1970.

Maurice, Barry and Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees in 1973.

Robin Gibb sings on stage during a concert in London in 1975.

Robin, Barry and Maurice do a promotional shot for director Michael Schultz’s Beatles tribute film, “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” in 1977.

The Bee Gees pose with Barry Manilow at the American Music Awards in1979. Manilow won the award for Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist, and the Bee Gees won Favorite Pop/Rock Band, Duo, or Group.

Maurice, Barry and Robin in 1989.

The Bee Gees perform during the “One Night Only” concert at Stadium Australia in Sydney, Australia, in March, 1999.

Barry, Robin and Maurice pose at a New York press conference in 2001 announcing the release of the Bee Gees album “This is Where I Came In.”

Robin Gibb displays his World Artist Award for Lifetime Achievement during the 2003 World Awards in Hamburg, Germany. Gibb accepted the award on behalf of the Bee Gees.

Yusuf Islam (formerly Cat Stevens) and Robin Gibb arrive at the “Adopt-A-Minefield” benefit gala in support of landmine victims in 2005 in Neuss, Germany.

Robin and Barry Gibb arrive for The Ivor Novello Awards at the Grosvenor Hotel on May 25, 2006, in London, England.

Barry and Robin share the stage with Yvonne Gibb (wife of Maurice, who died in 2003) and BMI CEO Del Bryant at the BMI Pop Awards in Beverly Hills, California, in 2007.

Robin attends the World Music Awards in Monte Carlo in 2010.

Robin Gibb and John Travolta pose after Gibb announced Travolta as the winner of a Golden Camera media prize in Berlin in February 2010.

HIDE CAPTION

Bee Gees through the years

Bee Gees through the years

Bee Gees through the years

Bee Gees through the years

Bee Gees through the years

Bee Gees through the years

Bee Gees through the years

Bee Gees through the years

Bee Gees through the years

Bee Gees through the years

Bee Gees through the years

Bee Gees through the years

Bee Gees through the years

Bee Gees through the years

Bee Gees through the years

Bee Gees through the years

Bee Gees through the years

Bee Gees through the years

Bee Gees through the years

Bee Gees through the years

Bee Gees through the years

Bee Gees through the years

Bee Gees through the years

Bee Gees through the years

Bee Gees through the years

<<

<

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

>

>>

Reflecting on the career of Robin Gibb

Read what other celebrities said about Gibb on Twitter

Diagnosed with colon and liver cancer, Gibb had been in a coma as he battled pneumonia earlier this spring, representative Doug Wright said.

Doctors believe that Gibb had a secondary tumor, Wright said April 14, confirming a news account in the UK newspaper The Sun. Gibb had emergency surgery in 2010 for a blocked bowel and then had more surgery for a twisted bowel, Wright confirmed.

The only surviving member of the three Bee Gees is brother Barry, 65.

Robin’s twin brother, Maurice, died in 2003 from a twisted bowel. And younger brother Andy Gibb — who was not part of the group — died at 30 from a heart infection.

Robin Gibb’s death followed by just three days the loss of another major star of the 1970s disco era — Donna Summer, who died Thursday of lung cancer at 63.

“First Donna Summer passes and now another 70s icon, Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees passes,” actress Marlee Matlin tweeted Sunday.

Robin Gibb was born in 1949 on Isle of Man off the British coast, and the Gibb boys grew up in Manchester. The family later moved to Redcliffe, Australia, where their group performed on television as the B.G.’s — a moniker they later altered to the Bee Gees. Their father, Hughie, was a drummer and big-band leader.

The family returned to England in the 1960s, and they began to emerge on an international scale. Through the end of that decade and into the next, they crafted melodies that utilized their unique voices to gain acclaim thanks to songs like “To Love Somebody,” “Lonely Days” and “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart.”

By the mid-1970s, they transitioned to develop more dance-oriented hits such as “Jive Talkin’ ” and “Nights on Broadway.”

Yet for all these earlier successes, the Bee Gees skyrocketed to new heights with the 1977 release of “Saturday Night Fever,” a movie starring John Travolta that was built around the group’s falsetto voices and disco-friendly songs.

In the latter part of the 1970s, the Bee Gees “dominated dance floors and airwaves. With their matching white suits, soaring high harmonies and polished, radio-friendly records, they remain one of the essential touchstones to that ultra-commercial era,” the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame says on its website.

“Saturday Night Fever” and the group’s 1979 album “Spirits Having Flown” yielded six No. 1 hits, “making the Bee Gees the only group in pop history to write, produce and record that many consecutive chart-topping singles,” according to the Hall of Fame.

While often more in the background, Robin Gibb was the lead singer on several of the Bee Gees’ top tunes including “I Started a Joke” and “I’ve Gotta Get a Message to You.” He also recorded several solo albums during his career.

Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997, the Bee Gees sold more than 200 million albums, and their soundtrack album to “Saturday Night Fever” was the top-selling album until Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” claimed that distinction in the 1980s.

In a 2008 interview with Music Week, Robin Gibb shared one of his all-important rules for songwriting: “always keep a tape running,” in order to capture a moment of brilliance and inspiration.

“You never know in a three-hour writing session when you are going to come up with something and then if you’ll remember it completely,” he said. “All the ideas, everything, will be on tape and then you can always refer back at any time.

“Melodies will be born for the first time during writing and unless you have it on tape you haven’t got any way of remembering them. That is a cardinal rule.”

He also spoke of how he found it “good to have deadlines and pressure.”

“We certainly had a deadline with ‘Fever’ to write all those songs. I think, in one week, we wrote ‘How Deep Is Your Love,’ ‘Night Fever,’ ‘Stayin’ Alive,’ ‘If I Can’t Have You’ and the rest. Having a deadline sharpens you up, it gets you out of bed and it stops you going to bed, too,” Gibb said.

Gibb is survived by his wife, Dwina; his daughter, Melissa, and sons Spencer and Robin-John.

Protesters rally in Chicago on Sunday, May 20, the first day of the NATO summit. A week of demonstrations led up to the two-day meeting, which brought together the leaders of more than 50 nations.

A demonstrator displays an anti-NATO button on his bandana Sunday. Largely peaceful crowds chanted, waved signs and banged drums in Chicago.

Members of the anti-war group Code Pink demonstrate in Chicago on Sunday.

Two men rest against a tree before the start of protests on the first day of the NATO summit.

A police officer and a protester face off with cameras in Chicago during a demostration organized by National Nu
1000
rses United on Friday, May 18. Friday was the fifth day of protests leading up to the NATO summit.

Officers form a line to prevent protesters from crossing the Michigan Avenue Bridge during protests on Friday.

Protesters make their way through downtown Chicago in an impromptu demonstration.

Police clash with protesters attempting to cross the Michigan Avenue Bridge in Chicago.

Chicago police watch over protesters during demonstrations organized by National Nurses United in Daley Plaza in Chicago.

An Occupy Wall Street protester in Chicago covers himself with an American flag after a march through downtown Chicago on Friday.

A souvenir shop window reflects protesters in Chicago on Thursday as they demand an end to NATO violence ahead of the summit.

Police guard President Barack Obama’s national campaign headquarters in the Prudential Building in Chicago during protests on Monday, May 14.

HIDE CAPTION

NATO summit draws protests

NATO summit draws protests

NATO summit draws protests

NATO summit draws protests

NATO summit draws protests

NATO summit draws protests

NATO summit draws protests

NATO summit draws protests

NATO summit draws protests

NATO summit draws protests

NATO summit draws protests

NATO summit draws protests

<<

<

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

>

>>

Police hit protesters with batons as they pushed against a line of officers, video from CNN affiliate WLS showed. The clashes came toward the end of a day of peaceful protests.

At least 45 people were arrested Sunday and four officers were taken to the hospital with injuries, said Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy. One officer had been stabbed in the leg, he said.

“They rallied. They charged the cops and they assaulted the officers,” McCarthy said. “The finger should be pointed at the people who assaulted the cops.”

Occupy Chicago, one of the groups that helped organize the demonstrations, similarly reported that some people were injured.

“The police have several demonstrators detained behind their lines, calling for medics. Bloodied protesters being dragged out of sight now,” the group wrote on its Twitter page earlier in the day.

A city official, who was not authorized to talk to the media on police matters, told CNN that between 75-100 protesters had refused to leave the area after being told to disperse.

They threw bottles and other objects at police, the official said.

“Quite frankly, I think it’s been an incredibly successful event in spite of some of these issues,” said McCarthy, who offered high praise for his officers. “We’re not here to get battered.”

He accused some protesters of splashing red paint on themselves to make it look like they had been wounded.

The clashes took place just blocks from the NATO summit. Inside that meeting, U.S. President Barack Obama met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and hosted other world leaders. He stressed that more work must be done before NATO troops pull out of Afghanistan.

“There will be great challenges ahead. The loss of life continues in Afghanistan. There will be hard days,” Obama said at the summit. “But we are confident we are on the right track and (what) this NATO summit reflects is that the world is behind the strategy we’ve laid out. Now it’s our task to implement it effectively and I believe we can do so in part because of the tremendous strength and resilience of the Afghan people.”

Obama and other world leaders were expected to draw up a road map out of the war in Afghanistan. The summit comes at a key time for NATO countries, who are trying to figure out how to meet a 2014 deadline to withdraw from an unpopular war in Afghanistan while shoring up that nation’s security forces.

“There will be no rush for the exits. We will stay committed to our operations in Afghanistan and see it through to a successful end. Our goal, our strategy, our timetable remains unchanged,” NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Sunday.

“Once the Afghans have full responsibility by the end of 2014, our combat mission will come to an end. But we will not walk away,” he added later in the day.

Also Sunday, NATO leaders inked a deal to acquire five unarmed drones as part of “smart defense,” a term used to describe efforts to do more with less at a time when many nations’ defense budgets are being slashed, Rasmussen said. More than a dozen countries will help to buy the drones.

“NATO in itself is smart defense because it is about helping each other instead of re-nationalizing defense,” said the secretary general.

Security was tight at the summit following Saturday’s arrest of three men, described by authorities as anarchists who plotted to attack Obama’s Chicago campaign headquarters and lob Molotov cocktails at police during the summit.

Two other men, not believed to be part of the alleged plot, appeared in court Sunday to face charges from “related investigations,” authorities said.

Police insist there were no imminent threats to the leaders of more than 50 nations gathering at the summit.

The leaders are expected to formally adopt a timetable to transition security from the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force to Afghan forces, senior administration officials told CNN.

Why ordinary Afghans worry about NATO summit

NATO protesters set up media center

3 charged in NATO domestic terror plot

Zakaria: NATO flailing in current era

There is heightened security for the upcoming NATO summit in Chicago, Illinois. Officials estimated over 500 demonstrators came out to protest on Saturday.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity as a matter of practice, said the plan will also lay out NATO’s training and advisory role after 2014.

A small contingent of British forces could remain after NATO forces leave in 2014, a senior British official said. A senior U.S. official said the United Kingdom may keep some troops in Afghanistan post-2014 f
1000
or counter-terrorism purposes. Both officials requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

One of the key issues to be considered by the NATO leaders is who will pay for the buildup of Afghan forces as ISAF draws down its troops. Afghan security forces are expected to total 350,000 by 2015, according to CNN National Security Analyst Peter Bergen.

Afghan President Karzai, who is attending the summit along with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, can only afford to cover a fraction of the cost of building up his country’s forces. The cost of building up forces is expected to total roughly $4 billion annually by 2014, Bergen said.

Rasmussen said Sunday that he was optimistic that other countries will contribute.

“At the end of the day, it is less expensive to finance the Afghan security forces to do the combat than to deploy our own troops,” he told CNN’s “State of the Union.”

A user’s guide to the Chicago NATO summit

As expected, France’s new president, Francois Hollande, announced the withdrawal of French combat troops from Afghanistan by year’s end. As part of ISAF, French trainers will remain.

A Taliban spokesman said Sunday that Hollande’s declaration “is a decision based on realities and a reflection of the opinion of (his) nation.”

“We call upon all the other NATO member countries to avoid working for the political interests of American officials and answer the call of your own people by immediately removing all your troops from Afghanistan,” Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said in a statement, describing what he said was the “savagery” of troops in Afghanistan.

“The invasion of Afghanistan by America and its allies under the banner of ‘war of terror’ was an unjustified and tyrannical action which was only carried out for political and economical gains,” he said.

Also at issue at the NATO summit is Islamabad’s continued blockade of much-needed NATO supplies shipped over Pakistani roads to Afghanistan.

Pakistan closed the ground routes after a NATO airstrike in November killed two dozen of its soldiers. NATO insists the incident was an accident.

The United States and Pakistan have not come to an agreement on the price of opening the supply lines, according to senior administration officials.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met Sunday with Pakistani President Zardari to discuss the lines, reconciliation and Pakistani commitments to go after extremists, the officials said.

Without a deal, officials said Obama would not meet with Zardari at the summit. The two were scheduled to hold trilateral talks with Karzai on political reconciliation in Afghanistan. Pakistan’s support in reaching a deal with the Taliban is seen as critical in ending the war in Afghanistan.

U.S. Republican presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney was not at the summit, but he weighed in Sunday with an op-ed piece in the Chicago Tribune, arguing that many NATO countries have not contributed enough to the alliance. The Obama administration’s defense budget cuts have further fueled the problem, he said.

“The administration’s irresponsible defense cuts are clearing the way for
1000
our partners to do even less,” Romney wrote. “An alliance not undergirded by military strength and U.S. leadership may soon become an alliance in name only.”

CNN’s Jessica Yellin, Jim Spellman, Ted Rowlands, Paul Vercammon, Bill Kirkos, Katherine Wojtecki, Greg Morrison and Chelsea J. Carter contributed to this report.

Protesters rally in Chicago on Sunday, May 20, the first day of the NATO summit. A week of demonstrations led up to the two-day meeting, which brought together the leaders of more than 50 nations.

A demonstrator displays an anti-NATO button on his bandana Sunday. Largely peaceful crowds chanted, waved signs and banged drums in Chicago.

Members of the anti-war group Code Pink demonstrate in Chicago on Sunday.

Two men rest against a tree before the start of protests on the first day of the NATO summit.

A police officer and a protester face off with cameras in Chicago during a demostration organized by Nati
1000
onal Nurses United on Friday, May 18. Friday was the fifth day of protests leading up to the NATO summit.

Officers form a line to prevent protesters from crossing the Michigan Avenue Bridge during protests on Friday.

Protesters make their way through downtown Chicago in an impromptu demonstration.

Police clash with protesters attempting to cross the Michigan Avenue Bridge in Chicago.

Chicago police watch over protesters during demonstrations organized by National Nurses United in Daley Plaza in Chicago.

An Occupy Wall Street protester in Chicago covers himself with an American flag after a march through downtown Chicago on Friday.

A souvenir shop window reflects protesters in Chicago on Thursday as they demand an end to NATO violence ahead of the summit.

Police guard President Barack Obama’s national campaign headquarters in the Prudential Building in Chicago during protests on Monday, May 14.

HIDE CAPTION

NATO summit draws protests

NATO summit draws protests

NATO summit draws protests

NATO summit draws protests

NATO summit draws protests

NATO summit draws protests

NATO summit draws protests

NATO summit draws protests

NATO summit draws protests

NATO summit draws protests

NATO summit draws protests

NATO summit draws protests

<<

<

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

>

>>

Police hit protesters with batons as they pushed against a line of officers, video from CNN affiliate WLS showed. The clashes came toward the end of a day of peaceful protests.

Occupy Chicago, one of the groups that helped to organize the demonstrations, reported some people were injured.

“The police have several demonstrators detained behind their lines, calling for medics. Bloodied protesters being dragged out of sight now,” the group wrote on its Twitter page.

An official with the city, who was not authorized to talk to the media, told CNN that between 50-75 protesters had refused to leave the area and had thrown objects at police. Individuals identified as aggressors were “extracted,” the official said.

As violence raged outside, inside the NATO meeting U.S. President Barack Obama met with Afghan President Ham
1000
id Karzai and hosted other world leaders. He stressed that more work must be done before NATO troops pull out of Afghanistan.

“There will be great challenges ahead. The loss of life continues in Afghanistan. There will be hard days,” Obama said at the NATO summit. “But we are confident we are on the right track and (what) this NATO summit reflects is that the world is behind the strategy we’ve laid out. Now it’s our task to implement it effectively and I believe we can do so in part because of the tremendous strength and resilience of the Afghan people.”

Obama and other world leaders were expected to draw up a road map out of the war in Afghanistan. The summit comes at a key time for NATO countries, who are trying to figure out how to meet a 2014 deadline to withdraw from an unpopular war in Afghanistan while shoring up that nation’s security forces.

“There will be no rush for the exits. We will stay committed to our operations in Afghanistan and see it through to a successful end. Our goal, our strategy, our timetable remains unchanged,” NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Sunday.

Security was tight at the summit following Saturday’s arrest of three men, described by authorities as anarchists who plotted to attack Obama’s Chicago campaign headquarters and lob Molotov cocktails at police during the summit.

Two other men, not believed to be part of the alleged plot, appeared in court Sunday to face charges from “related investigations,” authorities said.

Sebastian Senakiewicz, 24, of Chicago, is charged with falsely making a terrorist threat, prosecutors said in a statement. Mark Neiweem, 28, also believed to be from Chicago, is charged with attempted possession of explosives or incendiary devices. Bond was set at $750,000 for Senakiewicz and $500,000 for Neiweem.

“While the cases that were charged in court today arose from related investigations, the two defendants are not charged with any involvement in the terrorist case from yesterday, and today’s cases are separate matters. The two defendants … each face their own charges arising from separate incidents,” prosecutors said.

Police insist there were no imminent threats to the leaders of more than 50 nations gathering at the summit.

The leaders are expected to formally adopt a timetable to transition security from the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force to Afghan forces, senior administration officials told CNN.

Why ordinary Afghans worry about NATO summit

NATO protesters set up media center

3 charged in NATO domestic terror plot

Zakaria: NATO flailing in current era

There is heightened security for the upcoming NATO summit in Chicago, Illinois. Officials estimated over 500 demonstrators came out to protest on Saturday.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity as a matter of practice, said the plan will also lay out NATO’s training and advisory role after 2014.

A small contingent of British forces could remain after NATO forces leave in 2014, a senior British official said. A senior U.S. official said the United Kingdom may keep some troops in Afghanistan post-2014 for counter-terrorism purposes. Both officials requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

One of the key issues to be considered by the NATO leaders is who will pay for the buildup of Afghan forces as ISAF draws down its troops. Afghan security forces are expected to total 350,000 by 2015, according to CNN National Security Analyst Peter Bergen.

Afghan President Karzai, who is attending the summit along with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, can only afford to cover a fraction of the cost of building up his country’s forces. The cost of building up forces is expected to total roughly $4 billion annually by 2014, Bergen said.

Rasmussen said Sunday that he was optimistic that other countr
1000
ies will contribute.

“At the end of the day, it is less expensive to finance the Afghan security forces to do the combat than to deploy our own troops,” he told CNN’s “State of the Union.”

A user’s guide to the Chicago NATO summit

France’s new president, Francois Hollande, is widely expected to announce the withdrawal of French troops from Afghanistan by year’s end.

A Taliban spokesman said Sunday that Hollande’s declaration “is a decision based on realities and a reflection of the opinion of (his) nation.”

“We call upon all the other NATO member countries to avoid working for the political interests of American officials and answer the call of your own people by immediately removing all your troops from Afghanistan,” Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said in a statement, describing what he said was the “savagery” of troops in Afghanistan.

“The invasion of Afghanistan by America and its allies under the banner of ‘war of terror’ was an unjustified and tyrannical action which was only carried out for political and economical gains,” he said.

Two senior U.S. officials said NATO leaders would agree Sunday to purchase shared surveillance drones as part of “smart defense,” a term used to describe efforts to do more with less at a time when many nations’ defense budgets are being slashed. Thirteen countries will buy the drones, while other NATO members will help with logistics and data analysis, the officials said.

Also at issue at the NATO summit is Islamabad’s continued blockade of much-needed NATO supplies shipped over Pakistani roads to Afghanistan.

Pakistan closed the ground routes after a NATO airstrike in November killed two dozen of its soldiers. NATO insists the incident was an accident.

The United States and Pakistan have not come to an agreement on the price of opening the supply lines, according to senior administration officials.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met Sunday with Pakistani President Zardari to discuss the lines, reconciliation and Pakistani commitments to go after extremists, the officials said.

Without a deal, officials said Obama would not meet with Zardari at the summit. The two are scheduled to hold trilateral talks with Karzai on political reconciliation in Afghanistan. Pakistan’s support in reaching a deal with the Taliban is seen as critical in ending the war in Afghanistan.

Still, a U.S. official said he was confident a deal would eventaully be reached.

“We believe we are moving in the right trajectory and that we can accomplish what is a shared objective with the Pakistanis, opening the resupply lines,” said Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes.

U.S. Republican presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney was not at the summit, but he weighed in Sunday with an op-ed piece in the Chicago Tribune, arguing that many NATO countries have not contributed enough to the alliance. The Obama administration’s defense budget cuts have further fueled the problem, he said.

“The administration’s irresponsible defense cuts are clearing the way for our partners to do even less,” Romney wrote. “An alliance not undergirded by military strength and U.S. leadership
1000
may soon become an alliance in name only.”

CNN’s Jessica Yellin, Jim Spellman, Ted Rowlands, Paul Vercammon, Bill Kirkos, Katherine Wojtecki, Greg Morrison and Chelsea J. Carter contributed to this report.