The Bee Gees were always heavily influenced by black music. As a songwriter, it’s never been difficult to pick up on the changing styles of music out there, and soul has always been my favourite genre.

It makes us feel better that everyone out there is thinking of Maurice.

I think for anybody, any family, and I know there are families out there that are going through this even now, that it is the hardest thing in the world. Nobody is ever prepared for it.

We’ve been in each other’s pockets our entire lives.

I’ll never get used to living without Mo, but the painful things that surround what happened to him aren’t so painful any more-not so raw or so new.

You know, we’d just had a birthday, he was… you know, he still had a future out of him, and all I can is he was just one of the most beautiful people in the world… a very gifted man, and it’s a loss to the world, not just for us.

With Maurice suddenly going, I realised… I think I’ve matured. I don’t take things lightly any more.

Nobody will ever take Maurice’s place, and he’ll go on with us and he’ll go on our music. He’ll go on with us as the Bee Gees, and Maurice will always be with us.

When Maurice touched a keyboard, it was like something from a movie, magical. He would always give you something from a movie, and you’d go, what did you just play… immediately inspirational writings, amazing. That’s what we’re going to miss.

I’m not a party person or someone who likes to sit and drink in clubs all night, and never really have been. I have a good time through work.

It just felt like the right time to focus on solo material.

We said we’d fly the flag without him and carry on. I didn’t give him a kiss because I still hadn’t accepted what was happening. I was hoping that some miracle was going to happen. Of course, it didn’t. I wish I had kissed him now.

I hadn’t accepted he was seriously ill. The idea that someone so close to you couldn’t wake up was utterly incomprehensible. Then the doctor came in… Maurice had no brain left. There wasn’t any activity at all.

In the beginning, Barry and I couldn’t decide if we were going got go forward with the name of the Bee Gees or just as Barry and Robin. Now we’ve decided to continue as the Bee Gees because we feel we can, and Maurice would have wanted it.

You’re looking at the Bee Gees right now.

If the heart stops for more than two minutes, you have massive brain death. There are only two minutes between our conscious world and zero. That’s how fragile our consciousness is.

The Bee Gees, to us, was the three brothers. In Maurice’s name, we would respect that and not be the Bee Gees anymore.

Everyone’s looking to the urban scene for inspiration now.

We will pursue every factor, every element, every second of the timeline, of the final hours of Maurice’s life. We will pursue that relentlessly. That will be our quest from now on.

I’d never try to be that distinctive from the Bee Gees’ sound. I’m very proud of being a Bee Gee and am always aware that I’ll be identified as a Bee Gee.

The Bee Gees were always heavily influenced by black music. As a songwriter, it’s never been difficult to pick up on the changing styles of music out there, and soul has always been my favourite genre.

I haven’t really met anyone else who has influenced me, but you never know, it could happen next year or next month. I just like to go with the spur of the moment.

Music became an obsession, and eventually we felt more comfortable with each other then we did with anyone else. The three of us were like one person.

I don’t take things for granted, because everything feels more fragile. It’s made me wonder about mortality and how long you’ve got somebody in the world. I’m more fearful than I used to be.

I’m really happy that I got to work with such fresh talent. In a day when record companies are not particularly good at encouraging young, talented songwriters to come forward and get exposure, I think it’s important to give tomorrow’s songwriters the opportunity.

I find it very, very hard. He was part of the fabric of my life. We were kids together, and teenagers. We spent the whole of our lives with each other because of our music.

As the plane got closer to Miami, I had this terrible feeling he was dying. Maybe he was telling me that he was going. I felt anger, panic, despair and helplessness.