The sole surviving member of the Bee Gees on Thursday revealed he and his brothers could easily have turned to crime rather than music as he unveiled a statue in their honour in Australia.

Barry Gibb, with brothers Robin and Maurice, grew up in Redcliffe in Queensland state, where the band was formed and they performed as the Bee Gees for the first time.

Barry unveiled on Thursday a walkway — Bee Gees Way — and a statue depicting the brothers aged nine to 12, recalling the simple joys of his childhood.

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“I think we were crazy, but it was okay to be crazy in those days,” he told thousands of people who gathered for the unveiling.

“I took Robin and Maurice down to the pier – we’d already been in Woolworths and we had pen knives in our pockets that we hadn’t paid for,” he added, according to Australian Associated Press.

“We made the decision to throw the pen knives off the jetty- – they’re out there somewhere — and to make the decision that it was either going to be a life of crime or a life of music.”

They never looked back, with the trio helping turn disco into a global phenomenon in the 1970s with hits such as “How Deep Is Your Love”, “Stayin’ Alive” and “Night Fever”.

Although originally from the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea, the brothers spent their childhood in Manchester and Australia.

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Maurice died in 2003 after suffering a cardiac arrest while Robin died in May last year after a lengthy battle against cancer.

A fourth brother, Andy, died from cocaine addiction in 1988.