Robin's twin brother, Maurice, died in 2003 from a twisted bowel. And younger brother Andy Gibb -- who was not part of the group -- died at 30 from a heart infection.

Robin Gibb's death followed by just three days the loss of another major star of the 1970s disco era -- Donna Summer, who died Thursday of lung cancer at 63.

"First Donna Summer passes and now another 70s icon, Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees passes," actress Marlee Matlin tweeted Sunday.

Robin Gibb was born in 1949 on Isle of Man off the British coast, and the Gibb boys grew up in Manchester. The family later moved to Redcliffe, Australia, where their group performed on television as the B.G.'s -- a moniker they later altered to the Bee Gees. Their father, Hughie, was a drummer and big-band leader.

The family returned to England in the 1960s, and they began to emerge on an international scale. Through the end of that decade and into the next, they crafted melodies that utilized their unique voices to gain acclaim thanks to songs like "To Love Somebody," "Lonely Days" and "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart."

By the mid-1970s, they transitioned to develop more dance-oriented hits such as "Jive Talkin' " and "Nights on Broadway."

Yet for all these earlier successes, the Bee Gees skyrocketed to new heights with the 1977 release of "Saturday Night Fever," a movie starring John Travolta that was built around the group's falsetto voices and disco-friendly songs.

In the latter part of the 1970s, the Bee Gees "dominated dance floors and airwaves. With their matching white suits, soaring high harmonies and polished, radio-friendly records, they remain one of the essential touchstones to that ultra-commercial era," the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame says on its website.

"Saturday Night Fever" and the group's 1979 album "Spirits Having Flown" yielded six No. 1 hits, "making the Bee Gees the only group in pop history to write, produce and record that many consecutive chart-topping singles," according to the Hall of Fame.

While often more in the background, Robin Gibb was the lead singer on several of the Bee Gees' top tunes including "I Started a Joke" and "I've Gotta Get a Message to You." He also recorded several solo albums during his career.