Photo: Robin Gibb. REUTERS/Luke MacGregor, 2008.

From multiple sources today: One of the three Bee Gees has died. Robin Gibb was 62 years old, and was diagnosed two years ago with colon and liver cancer that responded to treatment, then returned and spread.

"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," reads a statement from his spokesperson. "The family have asked that their privacy is respected at this very difficult time."

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Boing Boing editor/partner and tech culture journalist Xeni Jardin hosts and produces Boing Boing's in-flight TV channel on Virgin America airlines (#10 on the dial), and writes about living with breast cancer. Diagnosed in 2011. @xeni on Twitter. email: xeni@boingboing.net.

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http://www.facebook.com/ben.p.robinson Benedict Caspar Frederick Robi

NO. I refuse to accept this as fact. I shall forever be in denial of the Bee Gees’ Mortality. I feel for the poor souls who cannot find a way of dealing with this, but I’ll listen to their old records until I can deal with the world again, and carry on my merry way. May he rest in peace and his family have the privacy and support they truly deserve. (Insert chosen deity here) Bless. Ramen
- einsteinatthemall
  
  Of course, the easiest card to play regarding a Bee Gee death is the “DISCO SUCKS” card – anybody who plays this card has obviously never explored the vast, multi-layered Bee Gees output pre-1975 – it’s funny, the first Bee Gee’s “disco” song I ever heard was “Nights On Broadway” (when it first came out) and I heard it on one of our local hard rock stations, mixed in with Jethro Tull and Elton John. Other songs like “Jive Talkin” were considered POP and simply re-labeled a few years later on as disco. RIP ROBIN GIBB!
  - wrybread
    
    Totally agreed. Even in their disco era they were downright R&B. I recently found Spirits Having Flown [streaming link] on vinyl at a thriftshop, and can’t believe how good it is. They did it right after Saturday Night Fever so I was expecting it to be soaked in disco, but after the first 2 songs it isn’t at all. It almost sounds like Smokey Robinson. Must have sucked to be so pigeonholed as a disco band while they were making such amazingly creative and experimental music.
http://twitter.com/dexitroboper dexitroboper

With this and Donna Summer last week, it really is death to disco.
- einsteinatthemall
  
  Nope. Disco is still alive. One of the many franchised versions of the VILLAGE PEOPLE played our local PRIDE festival this weekend
  (“it’s fun to stay at the…Y-M-C-A! Ooh – Ooh!”)
rattypilgrim

Never a Bee Gees fan but, “Where are you now? Tears on my pillow” seems especially poignant.
cstatman

can not resist… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3b9gOtQoq4 (RIP Robin. Fuck Cancer)
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_OAUXAA362EXWLYVMPJOKLFB5JQ Incipient Madness

I knew it was gonna be this song under the fold.

And since it’s become something of a slogan around here: Fuck Cancer.
kringlebertfistyebuns

To pick a nit, it would be more accurate to say one of TWO Bee Gees is gone. The third, Maurice, died in 2003.
- dbergen
  
  It didn’t say ‘one of the three LIVING Bee Gees’.
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  Out of five Gibbs, one died at 62, one at 53 and one at 30. And all three from unrelated illnesses. WTF?
  - EnglebertFlaptyback
    
    There are five siblings? Andy, Maurice, Robin, Barry…? [googles] Ah, Lesley. How did she escape my notice, I wonder?
dbergen

Link to Stayin’ Alive? Really? Wow.

Michael Hutchence ‘Suicide Blonde’ much?
victorvictorian

while i do appreciate the title of the track you posted, i have a deep and abiding love for the first incarnation of the Bee Gees and must insist that the below linked is a more apropos song with which to sing this fine soul out from among us:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PLeNdfkoBI
cstatman

cancer is a horrible sickness, and the chemo to help you “survive” is almost as bad. Until you have gone through chemo? you really do not understand chemo. but I will tell you this. It gives you instant perspective of how fragile and fleeting life really is. AND? it gives you an insane sense of humor, as that is often the only tool to help you cope with the chemo.

(plus? with no eyebrows? i totally looked like Dr. Evil form Austin Powers)

and yes, I, I, I , stayin alive…. RIP Robin.
bbonyx

Fanny, be tender…
You know how easy it is to break me.

Miss your brothers already (don’t forget Andy), will miss you. Still owe you and your family for so many happy moments.

Robin Gibb, 1/3 of the Bee Gees, has died of cancer at 62

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