October 23, 2015

Well, today I thought I’d share a story from my files that I just put into my book. So many of the stories are old ones from many years back, and they bring the memories up to the surface once again. Hope you enjoy it……we truly love our twin Gibb boys now more than ever.

Allen

New York–2004

I am a twin, and my brother Austin and I were about five when we first started singing to Bee Gee music. We loved the music our mom played every day on the record player that sat in our living room. She used to tell us that we were twins like Robin and Maurice and then she’d show us their pictures. The albums would sit on top of the big console, and Mom would read us what was written on them like she was reading a storybook. Her favorite album is Main Course, and she still plays that all the time, singing every word to every song. Thinking back, I remember that I loved the Children of the World cover. I thought they must know how to fly planes and be pilots besides being singers. When I was a teenager, the one that I loved the best was the High Civilization album cover because there was so much to see on it, and I thought it was so unique. I was into art and loved to draw, so that cover is my favorite.

My Mom said we were just like Robin and Maurice, very different and still creative. She absolutely adored the two of them. Austin was an athlete and I was the artist and we had completely different interests, but we were really close and would finish each other’s sentences. He was more like Robin with a crazy wit, and I was the sensitive one like Maurice.

We were really poor during our growing up years, so we couldn’t go to their concerts until much later on, so it was a monumental night when we finally got to see “Mom’s twins” on stage. This first concert was during the “ONE” tour, and it felt like we knew them because we had been listening to them sing for so many years. We went with our Mom and her best friend Marie to Radio City Music Hall, and they cried all through the concert. It was strange to see Robin and Maurice and Barry after growing up with them as though they were part of our family. I was surprised that the twins really didn’t look anything alike on stage, but I kept watching Maurice glance over at his brother and nod to him once in awhile and smile. They had a connection that I recognized from experience with my twin. It was a night I will never forget. Those were my learning years from Mom, and Bee Gee music was always around me, and I’m grateful to my Mom for bringing their music into our lives.

Now that Maurice is gone, I know how hard it must be for Robin. I can’t imagine my life without my brother, and my heart is very heavy for this Bee Gee. On the home front, my Mom is still crying. It is hard to believe he is gone. I think it must have been hard for Barry, too, because twins have a bond that other siblings can’t really understand, and it’s hard to relate sometimes. We have an older brother Andrew who is great, but he knows that he is set apart from the two of us because we have a certain “vibe” that I can’t explain. It’s just a twin thing. I know some day the Gibb twins will be together again….you can’t really ever separate twins. You’re always a part of each other no matter what. A twin understands like no one else can.