January 10, 2003 16:30

BEE GEES STAR CRITICALLY ILL AFTER HEART ATTACK

Maurice Gibb is in intensive care in a Miami hospital...

[/a] star MAURICE GIBB is critically ill in a MIAMI hospital this afternoon (January 10) after suffering a suspected heart attack.

Doctors operated on the 53-year-old, once married to Lulu, to remove an intestinal blockage, after the singer collapsed in his Miami home.

"Maurice has undergone surgery for an intestinal blockage. He is in a critical condition in intensive care," a spokesperson told the London Evening Standard.

"We are awaiting a full medical prognosis later today but everyone is very, very worried."

Gibb, together with twin brother Robin and older brother Barry, was one of the biggest pop stars of the 1970s as part of the [a].

He has been visited in hospital by Barry and Michael Jackson, with whom Barry had been working.

Maurice, the bass guitarist and keyboard player of the [a][/a], is known to fans as "the funny one" of the three brothers, and distinguished by his love for hats.