Gibb 'laughs off brother death faux pas'

Robin Gibb has been forced to put on a brave face after an interviewer believed his late brother Maurice was still alive.

The uncomfortable exchange occurred when Sky News presenter Steve Dixon presented the 60-year-old Bee Gee with a rare photo of his deceased bandmate and sibling without his trademark facial hair.

"Most of the time I [knew] Maurice he had a beard so that's one of the first pictures I've seen of Maurice without a beard because it goes way back," he remarked in the interview, causing Dixon to ask: "Is [Maurice] watching tonight?"

"He's not with us, he's gone! He died in 2003," a startled Gibb replied, before continuing to reminisce about his loved one.

"He was my twin brother but you can't tell. I've never had a beard but he had a beard for the whole of his adult life."

Addressing the mistake, he joked: "Well, there's three brothers you see, people often do get confused."

In 2003, Gibb branded Graham Norton "scum" after making a joke about his brother's death on his late-night chatshow.