Bee Gee Barry: I have seen my brothers’ ghosts
THE last surviving Bee Gee believes his brothers may be stayin’ alive, after experiencing life-after-death visions of them.
In a moving interview with The Mail on Sunday’s Event magazine today, Barry Gibb says he and his wife, Linda, have seen deceased bandmate Robin as well as younger brother Andy – and found the manifestations disturbing.
Father-of-five Barry, 70, says: ‘It’s not fun because you’re not quite sure what it was about. If it was real. I saw Robin and my wife saw Andy. Maybe it’s a memory producing itself outside your conscious mind or maybe it’s real.’
He adds: ‘The biggest question of all is: is there life after death? I’d like to know.’
As the Bee Gees, Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb’s catalogue of hits includes pop classics Jive Talkin’, Stayin’ Alive, Night Fever, How Deep Is Your Love and Tragedy. Barry, the oldest of the three Bee Gee brothers, also went on to enjoy success outside the band, most notably on Guilty, his duet with Barbra Streisand.
He says the loss of three of his brothers had a devastating effect on those left behind, including his mother. His younger brother, Andy, a star in his own right but not part of the band, died aged 30 in 1988 after years of drug abuse.
There was further heartbreak in 2003 when Maurice, then 53, died in hospital after he suffered complications from a twisted intestine. And Robin died from cancer at the age of 62 in 2012.
Barry says: ‘Mo was gone in two days. Maybe that’s better than long and tortured? Which is what Robin went through. Andy went at 30. All different forms of passing and for our mum, devastating.’
The star admits he considered turning his back on music altogether following Robin’s death.
But after winning rapturous applause when he joined Coldplay on stage at this year’s Glastonbury Festival, he is looking forward to promoting In The Now, his first solo album in more than 30 years. And the star reveals that the pain of no longer being able to perform with his brothers has been eased by the fact that he now shares the stage with his son Stephen, 42.
He adds: ‘It’s not hard if your eldest son is standing next to you. He’s not a Bee Gee. He wouldn’t like that. He’s Stephen. He’s covered in tattoos. He’s a metalhead with a heart of gold.’