Singer Andy Gibb, Brother of the Bee Gees, Dies at 30

Singer Andy Gibb, who rose to fame in the 1970s in the footsteps of his three older Bee Gees brothers, died today in a hospital near Oxford. He was 30 years old.

The cause of death, which came five days after Gibbs’s 30th birthday, was not immediately announced.

“Andy Gibb was taken ill with stomach pains on Monday and was admitted to the hospital for observation. The reason for his death has yet to be announced,” a spokeswoman for Island Records said.

“His family has no public statement to make. They are making private arrangements for the funeral,” she said.

On Sept. 9, 1987, Gibb filed a personal bankruptcy petition in Miami claiming that he had less than $50,000 and more than $1 million in debts. He also had a lengthy drug abuse problem that reportedly brought on the end of his relationship with “Dallas” actress Victoria Principal and went through a rehabilitation program at the Betty Ford Clinic in 1985.

Moved to Britain

But Gibb, who had series of hit singles from 1977 to 1979, had been reviving his career lately. He had signed a deal with Island Records two months ago and had moved to Britain to work on a new album.

Gibb dropped out of school at 13 and later joined his brothers in Miami. He married Kim Reeder, a former receptionist, in 1976, but they were divorced two years later.

Gibb appeared on Broadway in “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” but missed so many performances that he was replaced.

The brown-eyed, blond-haired singer was a big hit with teeny-boppers and the disco set but once said: “I don’t see myself as a teeny-bopper idol. I don’t even like to dance.”

While his older brothers Barry, Maurice and Robin were becoming international stars in the mid-1960s with their group, the Bee Gees, Andy was in Australia, where he spent much of his youth, playing in amateur bands.

Bee Gees Peaked in ’77

A decade later, Andy signed with Bee Gees manager Robert Stigwood, whose RSO Records Inc. recorded his first album under brother Barry’s supervision.

The Bee Gees reached their peak in 1977 with their songs for the score of the movie “Saturday Night Fever,” a Stigwood production that brought television actor John Travolta to the big screen.

Gibb earned success with his hits, “I Just Want To Be Your Everything” and “Shadow Dancing.” But his later records failed to generate big record sales.