Manchester, May 12: Bee Gees Robin and Barry Gibb return to their home town Wednesday to receive honorary degrees, with a posthumous one for their brother Maurice. The trio, who were awarded doctorates in music from Manchester University, were one of the best-selling pop acts of all time with 28 albums in a career spanning four decades.
Robin and Barry declared the band was over when Maurice died from cardiac arrest during emergency abdominal surgery at a Miami hospital on Jan. 12, 2003. The brothers will go to Chorlton-cum-Hardy, the Manchester suburb where they grew up, later in the day to open a school recording studio to be named in memory of Maurice.
Pupils at the school, Oakwood High, are due to sing a selection of their songs for Robin, 55, and Barry, 57, who live in the United States.

Bureau Report