September 26, 2015

With the latest Garden Party a great success, we all know that Robin is very much present at his beautiful Prebendel. His spirit and heart are there always. Today I’d like to share a story from a fan whose childhood remembrances of Robin are truly inspiring.

Emily-New York City

Robin Gibb’s music was always playing on the console record player in our living room. I was six and it was 1978 when my parents broke up. That is my first memory of my Mom crying, and my little brother Robert and I used to lie with our blankets on either side of my Mom on the big sofa in our living room and listen to Robin sing. She’d stop crying as soon as the music started.  She loved “Lamplight” and played it over and over again. Then I remember “Oh, Darling”, too, and “Run to Me” and “I Can’t See Nobody”. I learned all the words, and we’d sing along with Robin.

We would go with our Dad sometimes on weekends; and I didn’t know it at the time, but there was a big custody battle and as a kid, I didn’t understand STRESS, but I knew something wasn’t right. During these times, which seemed to last forever and did go on for years, Mom would always play Robin’s albums. They were lined up on top of the console (I loved Secret Agent), and she would talk to us about him all the time. I thought his voice really did sound like an angel and Mom would often say, “Oh, Robin, thank you for your angelic voice”.

We would look at his album covers as we listened to the music, and Mom would explain the songs to us. “Saved By the Bell” seemed to be such a sad song, but then when he made “Juliet” and some happier tunes, we would dance in the living room to those.

She also had my Grandpa’s music from the 50’s and 60’s and told us that the Bee Gees loved them, too. One was the Mills Brothers, and I loved the song “Till Then”. It’s funny how you remember certain songs and how the song could just make you forget the sad times.

Over the years no matter what the Bee Gees were doing, Robin was the most important Gibb in our house. I think he got my Mom through all of the bad times, even though she never let us know how hard a time she was having.

I understand now how his soulful and pathos-filled sounds were soothing to her. No one in the world can sing like Robin Gibb, and he just made the sadness go away. He was such a huge part of my life because of my Mom’s devotion to him, and my memories of his music are all happy ones. Mom protected us that way. He’ll never know what a difference he made to my Mom during tough times, but I know she thanked him every time she played a song. She raised us with love and music in our lives, and we were happy kids and that was the most important thing to her.