Personal Life
In 1968 Gibb married Molly Hullis, a secretary in Robert Stigwood's organisation. The couple had both survived the Hither Green rail crash, which killed 49 people on 5 November 1967. They had two children together, Spencer (b. 1972) and Melissa (b. 1974). The couple divorced in 1980 after years of living separate lives, with Gibb almost permanently in the U.S. and Hullis remaining in the UK.
Gibb's second marriage, from 1985 until his death, was to Dwina Murphy Gibb, an author and artist. She is interested in the Druidry religion and is a follower of the neo-Hindu Brahma Kumaris movement. The couple had a son, Robin-John (known as RJ (b. 1983). Gibb and his wife divided their time between their homes in Peel, Isle of Man, their mansion in Miami, Florida (which was as of November 2011 up for sale) and their main residence in Thame, Oxfordshire.
On 10 March 1988, younger brother Andy died in Oxford, England, of myocarditis. On 12 January 2003, twin brother Maurice died in Miami Beach, Florida of complications from a twisted intestine.
On 4 November 2008, he had a fourth child, Snow Evelyn Robin Juliet Gibb, born out of a private relationship with a housekeeper, Claire Yang.
Gibb was "an ardent vegan and teetotaller".
Politically, Gibb was a supporter of the British Labour Party and launched a rally in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, ahead of the 2005 General Election. He was a close friend of the former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair, who was criticised for staying over at Gibb's Miami mansion during Christmas 2006. In 2008 Gibb publicly stated that he continued to get on "like a house on fire" with Blair, and claimed that the then Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown regularly listened to the Bee Gees. "He listens to our music every day. Gordon likes our music and I like Gordon," he told The Times. In a tribute upon his death, longtime friend Tony Blair said: "Robin was not only an exceptional and extraordinary musician and songwriter, he was a highly intelligent, interested and committed human being. He was a great friend with a wonderful open and fertile mind and a student of history and politics."
Robin Gibb was also active in many charity occasions; He was for example the organiser of the Sunseeker Ball in aid of the Outward Bound Trust. For the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC), Gibb served as president from 2007 to 2012. He was also the longest serving president (2008-2011) of the Heritage Foundation, which honors figures of British culture and facilitated his campaign on behalf of the Bomber Command Memorial Appeal.
Read more about this topic: Robin Gibb
Famous quotes containing the words personal and/or life:
“Impartial. Unable to perceive any promise of personal advantage from espousing either side of a controversy.”
—Ambrose Bierce (18421914)
“... the precipitate of sorrow is happiness, the precipitate of struggle is success. Life means opportunity, and the thing men call death is the last wonderful, beautiful adventure.”
—Alice Foote MacDougall (18671945)