Bee Gees co-founder Robin Gibb passes away at 62

Washington, May 21 (ANI): Robin Gibb, who fought a long batter with colon and liver cancer, succumbed to his ailment on Sunday. He was 62.

Gibb's representative Doug Wright said that the singer's family announced in a statement saying "Robin passed away today following his long battle with cancer and intestinal surgery."

"The family have asked that their privacy is respected at this very difficult time," Fox News quoted the statement as saying.

As co-founder of Bee Gees, Gibb and his brothers were famed for the influential 1977 'Saturday Night Fever' soundtrack that became one of the fastest-selling albums of all time with its innovative fusion of harmony and pulsing dance floor rhythms.

The album remains a turning point in popular music history, ending the hard rock era and ushering in a time when dance music ruled supreme.

'Saturday Night Fever'-actually a compilation album featuring the Bee Gees but including songs by other performers-represented the pinnacle of Gibb's career, but he enjoyed more than 40 years of prominence as a Bee Gee, as a solo artist, and as a songwriter and producer for other artists.

Gibb had to cancel several engagements in 2011, including one with Prime Minister David Cameron, and he showed an alarming weight loss on his rare public appearances.

He was hospitalized briefly in 2011 with what doctors said was an inflamed colon, and had several intestinal surgeries to remove growths.

Gibb is survived by his second wife, Dwina, and four children, as well as his older brother, fellow Bee Gee Barry Gibb, and his sister Lesley Evans, who lives in Australia. (ANI)