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Robin Gibb, who died from cancer in May, refused to visit doctors for scans that could have detected his illness because he wanted to go on a world tour, his widow has revealed.
The Bee Gee, who was 62, lost his life after a long battle with colon and liver cancer.
Dwina Gibb, 59, told the Daily Mail Weekend magazine that the music star initially ignored her pleas and doctors' advice to have the cancerous cells fully checked.
The illness was discovered in October 2010 when surgeons operated to remove an intestinal blockage.
Mrs Gibb said she and her son Robin-John, 29, were unable to persuade him to drop his musical commitments.
She said: "He didn't want to stop and I said 'Please just have the scan'.
"Despite all his wonderful ways, Robin could be very stubborn and he never liked bad news - he just didn't want to know.
"He went to do a show in New Zealand as they'd just experienced an earthquake.
"Maybe it was very important for him to do that show, but it was still important for him to have his scans."
The songwriter toured for more than a fortnight during November that year and Mrs Gibb said the cancer had developed into a secondary stage.
By the time he had a check up the tumour had spread to blood vessels.
Mrs Gibb added: "No one could have had the courage that he had in the last couple of years.
"He carried on doing the things he had to do, almost as if there was an urgency to get things done.
"It was if he knew there was only a certain amount of time, but he didn't want to face the thought that perhaps time was running out."
Gibb was determined, for example, to finish his Titanic Requiem, his classical work commemorating this year's 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic.
He did so - but was in a coma when the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra performed the premiere in April.
His last days were cherished by his family.
"We ended up having a wonderful few weeks with him," Mrs Gibb said.
