Bee Gees star Barry Gibb has refused to let one of the band's songs be used in an AIDS awareness advertisement - insisting the cover version sounds too similar to the original.

A new recording of the Bee Gees' Staying Alive was made using the cast of touring stage show Thank You For The Music to be used as part of a major health campaign across Europe. However, the musician's representatives at the Warner music company have banned organizers from using the song in a conflict over publishing rights.

Martin Spooner, who plays Gibb's brother Robin in the stage show, says, "I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Although we miss out on a lucrative TV deal we take this as a back-handed compliment that we sound too much like the Bee Gees. But it's disappointing too because it was a major campaign for a worthwhile cause. It never occurred to us there would be a problem."

(This news article provided by World Entertainment News Network)