It is a story of the challenge of life and death, the story of conjoined twins that inspires the world and captures newspaper headlines, only to end in silence and bewildering silence.

According to the British Daily Mail website, the world's oldest conjoined twins, Laurie and George Chappell, died at the age of 62 in a hospital in Pennsylvania for undisclosed reasons.

The twins had defied doctors who told them they would not live beyond the age of 30, after their brains were partially fused, sharing 30% of the skull.

George enjoyed a successful career as a country singer, but Lori pursued her interests elsewhere as an award-winning bowler, the latter of whom also worked in a hospital for many years.

Lori arranged her schedule according to George's concert schedule, which took them to several countries around the world, including Germany and Japan, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.

The brothers were the first same-sex conjoined twins to identify as heterosexual after George, whose original name is Dory, came out as a transgender man in 2007, making headlines.