HE famously asked How Deep Is Your Love?

Yesterday the town of Thame showed how it had taken Bee Gees legend Robin Gibb to its heart.

There was a steady stream of townsfolk yesterday leaving flowers outside the singer’s home in Thame after learning he had lost his battle with cancer.

With brothers Maurice and Barry, he sold more than 200 million records worldwide and notched up dozens of hits.

He and wife Dwina had moved to Thame in 1983 and became a visible presence in the community.

Laying flowers outside his mansion in Priest End was Thame resident and nanny Sarah Whorton, 30, with Madeleine and Ethan Sawyer, aged four and two.

She said: “I’ve been a big fan of the Bee Gees ever since I was little.

“It’s just an awful shame and I thought I would come to pay my respects.

“He was a legend. And certainly a legend in Thame.”

The Bee Gees found fame with hits including How Deep Is Your Love and Stayin’ Alive.

Mr Gibb was a regular sight in Thame, turning on the Christmas lights in 2004 and donating prizes to the town’s annual festival.

Brian Pattinson, owner of The Book House, said: “He was the gentlest and nicest man you would ever meet and I had enormous time for him.

“We’ve known the family for 20 years and he was just lovely. It was desperately sad to hear the news he had died.”

The father-of-four had been ill for many months with a serious bowel condition and battled pneumonia and colon cancer.

David Manning, from M Newitt and Sons butchers in Thame, said: “We were all very sad to hear the news, we wish his family all the best.”

The singer fell into a coma last month but his family said he had “beaten the odds”, days after doctors gave him just a 10 per cent chance of survival.

His twin brother Maurice died of a heart attack in 2003, while his younger brother Andy, died at 30 from heart failure, in Thame in 1988.

Kirk Pollington from the Six Bells pub said: “Thame is a small place. There will be a lot of people here who knew him and will find this very sad.”

Deputy manager at the Thatch pub Evelin Rae added: “This is all Thame will be talking about this week. The news is starting to filter through to people, it’s very sad.”

Thame mayor Nigel Champken-Woods said: “We will miss him. But the legacy of the songs he wrote will live on forever.

“I met him when he switched on Thame’s Christmas lights and he was very pleasant, he made sure he spoke to people and signed autographs.”

Among scores of tributes from musicians and famous friends, former Prime Minister Tony Blair paid respects to his “great friend”.

He said: “Robin was not only an exceptional and extraordinary musician and songwriter, he was a highly intelligent, interested and committed human being.”

A family spokesman yesterday asked for the family’s privacy to be respected at a “very difficult time”.