January 12: Maurice Gibb (CBE) of The Bee Gees died on this date in 2003...

... he was 53 when he passed away.

... he died on January 12, 2003 when he was 53 years-old.

Born Maurice Ernest Gibb on the Isle of Man, Maurice (pronounced "Morris,") along with his brothers Robin and Barry, formed the Bee Gees (Brothers Gibb), one of the most successful pop groups of all time. The trio got their start in Australia, and found major success when they returned to England.

Maurice was the twin brother of Robin Gibb, and was the younger of the twins by 35 minutes. In the 1950s, he and his family moved to Chorlton-cum-Hardy in Manchester before, in late 1958, the family, now including a baby brother - the late  Andy Gibb - moved to Brisbane, Australia, settling in one of the city's poorest suburbs, Cribb Island, which was subsequently demolished to make way for the Brisbane Airport.

Maurice was married to the Scottish pop star Lulu from 1969 to 1973.

Maurice Gibb's role in the group focused on melody and arrangements. He sang harmony and backing vocals, and played a variety of instruments.

In 1965 and 1966 he played lead guitar, but by 1966 he played other keyboard and string instruments in the studio. Bee Gees records from 1967 to 1972 feature Maurice playing piano and bass guitar, along with mellotron,  rhythm guitar, and other instruments.  He played  piano on songs including "Words" and "Lonely Days." On stage he usually played bass guitar, with an additional musician taking bass when Maurice switched to piano.

 

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Maurice was less influential in the disco Bee Gees sound of 1975 to 1979, when he played mostly bass guitar. After that time for the last 20 years of his life he played primarily electronic keyboard instruments on stage and in the studio, but occasional lead guitar, including the acoustic guitar given to him by John Lennon, on "This Is Where I Came In."

In the reunited Bee Gees from 1987 onward, Maurice was the group's resident expert on all technical phases of recording, and he coordinated musicians and engineers to create much of the group's sound.

As a songwriter, Maurice contributed mainly to the melody, with his brothers writing lyrics.  Maurice sang lead on average one song per album. He was sometimes known as "the quiet one." His reputation as a mild-mannered "stabilizing" influence with his two ambitious brothers continued through his life.

Away from the Bee Gees, Maurice recorded an unreleased solo album in 1970. He also appeared in a short-lived West End musical, Sing a Rude Song written by Caryl Brahms and Ned Sherrin that same year.

During the Bee Gees hiatus in the mid-1980s, he worked with both Barry and Robin on their solo projects, and did some instrumental writing and recording including the soundtrack for the film A Breed Apart. In 1986, Gibb produced and co-wrote an entire album for Swedish singer Carola. Of these and other projects, the only work released under his own name were two singles: "Railroad" in 1970 and "Hold Her in Your Hand" in 1984.

Maurice's last project was to produce an album's worth of songs written and sung by his daughter Samantha, which finally appeared in 2005 under the name M E G—Maurice's initials.

Maurice loved the sport of paintball, and had a team which he called the Royal Rat Rangers, a reference to his being named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, and to his time at the Little River AA group, where the members referred to each other as "river rats." He promoted the sport at every opportunity, and opened a paintball equipment shop, "Commander Mo's Paintball Shop," in North Miami Beach, Florida.

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Maurice Gibb died at a Miami Beach, Florida, hospital on 12 January 2003 of complications resulting from a twisted intestine (volvulus).

His brothers retired the Bee Gees for a time, declining to perform as a group. However, as time passed, they decided to perform occasionally under the Bee Gees name.

In 1994, Maurice Gibb was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and in 1997 was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

In 2002, Maurice was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), along with his brothers, but the awards were not presented until 2004, after Maurice's death; his son Adam accompanied Barry and Robin to Buckingham Palace for the ceremony, representing his father.

On 10 July 2009, Maurice was posthumously made a Freeman of the Borough of Douglas. The award, was also bestowed on Robin and Barry, therefore confirming the freedom of the town of their birth to all three brothers.

During their careers the Bee Gees have sold over 178 million albums and won multiple Grammy Awards. Their career spanned over forty years.

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