A musician who begged the family of Bee Gee Maurice Gibb for a DNA test has finally got evidence the singer was his dad.
Nick Endacott sent a saliva swab to an online genealogy firm and was stunned when he received the result.
Unknown to Nick, Maurice’s son Adam had given his own DNA to the same website, , and they were a “100 per cent match”.
Nick told the Sunday Mirror: “I paid about £90 for the saliva test and the results came back about 10 days after I had sent the swab back to them.
“When I saw the results I was thinking, ‘Is this real?’. I felt an overwhelming sense of relief and completion in my life.
“I don’t know how it came about or for what reason Adam put his DNA on the website but I just want to thank him from the bottom of my heart. The website said he did it a few years ago.
“It has been such a long hard journey, but this has finally given me closure and I have a new found belief in myself from knowing my identity. It’s amazing.”
Nick, 51, was given up soon after his birth in 1968 and placed in a children’s home in Woolwich, South London.
His birth name was Aaron Conway, but he was renamed after his adoption and had a middle-class upbringing with three siblings in the Ashdown Forest, East Sussex.
In 2003 he was reunited with his biological mother Patti Nolder, who had mixed with the stars as a music studio manager and was a guest at Elton John’s 1984 wedding to her best pal Renate Blauel.
Patti, who now lives in Spain, initially told Nick his father was Chris Andrews, of 1960s rock band Fleur de Lys, but a DNA test ruled this out.
In 2010, Nick approached Patti’s sister who told him that Maurice was his biological father.
Maurice died in 2003 aged 53, and Robin died in 2012, aged 62, leaving Barry as the only surviving member of the Bee Gees.
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Two years ago Nick told the Sunday People how he sent three letters to Barry, now 73, begging him to have tests to confirm his ancestry.
By that time, Nick had taken a facial recognition test that showed it was highly likely he was related to Maurice.
Maurice’s widow Yvonne – mum to his son Adam and daughter Samantha – indicated she would be happy for a DNA test but later withdrew permission.
Nick, a professional musician who has been singing since he was six, said: “I just wanted to know the truth and to know my medical history.
“I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis last month, which Barry Gibb also suffers from and if I had known my family history sooner maybe I could have done something about it.”
The ancestry test also linked Nick to two other members of Maurice’s wider family, who it says are his cousins.
Maurice left his widow Yvonne and their children a huge estate with six homes around the world and all ownership to copyrights.
The Bee Gees have sold more than 120 million records like Stayin’ Alive, Night Fever and More Than A Woman.
But Nick, who lives in Hove, East Sussex, with partner Jacqui, added: “I’ve never been interested in money and as I was legally adopted I would have no claim anyway.
“I just wanted to know who my dad is. To finally have it in black and white feels unbelievable.
“I want my story to be a beacon of hope to other adoptees. Never give up, you never know what is going to happen.”
An agent for the Gibb family was unavailable for comment.
Patti Nolder has previously refused to talk about the story.
