Robbie Williams
TAKE THAT
The 'boy' band, Take That, have become one of the most popular outfits in British history. Going from cheesy boy band pomp to well-respected songwriters and performers, in the music scene, at least. In 2008 Take That’s “The Circus” album sold 432,490 copies in its first week, which was the third highest opening week in history of the UK album chart. Take That are the solidified comeback kid’s, after a ten year hiatus from the pop charts, Take That shone through the shadow of former band member Robbie Williams to create their own piece of history.
Take That were formed in the spring of 1990 by artist manager Nigel Martin-Smith, as a British, boys next door, alternative to the American boy band ‘New Kids On The Block’. Martin-Smith advertised in the local newspaper for Singers and dancers for a new boy band, after meeting singer-songwriter Gary Barlow, who the band would initially be built around. The band consisted of five members; Gary Barlow (Lead Singer-Songwriter), Mark Owen (Singer/Dancer), Robbie Williams (Singer/ Dancer), Howard Donald (Dancer) and Jason Orange (Dancer). After Two years of extensive touring everywhere from gay clubs to high schools, Take That had there first U.K top 10 hit single, when a cover of ‘It Only Takes A Minute Girl’ reached number 7, this would mark the arrival of Take That and the beginning of what would turn out to be an extremely successful 4-5 years dominating the charts.
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For the next five years Take That had eight number 1 records including: “Pray”, “Everything Changes”, “Never Forget” and “Back For Good” to name a few of their hits (all penned by Gary Barlow). All was going swell until cheeky chappy Robbie Williams left the group on less than good terms. On the 13th of February 1996 the band split up. Gary Barlow would pursue a solo career, as did Robbie Williams. They did battle in the press, a battle that Robbie comprehensibly won, he would go on to become the most successful male artist of all time, Gary would disappear from the limelight.
In 2005, a biographical documentary called “For The Record”, catapulted Take That back into the limelight and re-sparked the publics interest in the band. In May 2006 Take That released the ‘Beautiful World’ album (without Robbie), which went straight to number 1 in the album charts and would eventually go on to sell 2.6 million copies.
Take That returned to the charts with a bang and followed this success with “The Circus” album and a record breaking live tour in the U.K. Unusually for a group like Take That, they were able to keep hold of the teenage fans they gained with their first bout of success (who have since grown up), as well as a new younger generation of fans, discovering their splendour for the first time.
Robbie Williams has rejoined the band and they continue to tour and release records
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Robbie Williams
Robbie Williams is one of the most successful British, male, artists of all time; he has sold more albums (55 million albums worldwide) and won more BRIT awards that any other solo artist to date, all at the tender age of 35. Having once been labelled “the fat dancer from Take That”, Robbie Williams has far exceeded expectations and has proved that he is one of the great performers of his generation.
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Robert P. Williams was born in the Staffordshire of Stoke-on-Trent in 1974. Williams grew up around music, his dad (Peter) was a local performer whom Williams often performed with, watching and learning from his dad gave him the inspiration to get into the music industry. In 1990, Robbie joined Take That after his mother heard about an advertisement on the radio, looking for singers and dancers for a boy band. Over the course of the next five years, Take That were the biggest act in the UK, scoring multiple number ones and selling out arenas across the UK and Europe.
On July 1995, Robbie left the Band, after reported drug abuse and musical differences with lead singer and songwriter Gary Barlow. Williams and Barlow went to war in the tabloids in a verbal slagging match that lasted two years, it seemed for a while as if only Gary could win this battle, until Robbie released the single “Angels” written with song writing partner Guy Chambers (In 2005 'Angels' was voted, best song of the last 25 years at the BRIT awards). The song was a huge success and catapulted Robbie’s, Debut album 'Life Thru a Lens' to No.1, and so, the Robbie Williams train had started moving and hasn’t stop moving since. By 1999 Gary Barlow retired as a solo artist.
Robbie Williams has since had seven No.1 albums in the UK and has had multiple No.1 albums across Europe and Latin America; in 2002 he signed the biggest music deal in British music history worth a reported £80 million with his record label EMI. The contract was signed with the incentive to dominate the American music market, the general consensus to date, is that Williams has never quite cracked the American market. It has been reported that Robbie is currently working on a new album with Grammy and BRIT award winning producer Trevor Horn, the album title is slated to be 'Reality Killed the Video Star' a play off of Horn's late 70's hit 'Video Killed the Radio Star'. With two pop music heavyweights at the helm no doubt Williams' next album has the potential to be something special.
Segun Murray Ogunsheye
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Take That
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TOM JONES
Born Thomas Jones Woodward on 7th June 1940 in the Welsh town of Pontypridd, Tom Jones is as synonymous with Wales as daffodils, coal and leeks.
Tom Jones sang from an early age; he was a member of his school choir, and he often sang at family gatherings. After leaving school with no qualifications, he joined a local beat group - Tommy Scott and The Senators - in 1963. Often performing in black leather, Tom Jones soon gained recognition in South Wales. However, The Senators were still unheard of in London.
The band recorded seven tracks with the legendary producer Joe Meek, but true to form, Meek refused to release the tapes. Tom Jones and the Senators returned to the Working Men’s Clubs and Dance Halls of South Wales, and it was in such a venue that London-based manager Gordon Mills spotted Tom Jones. Mills became Tom Jones’ manager, and managed to get him signed to the renowned Decca label.
Tom Jones’ first single Chills and Fever failed to chart when it was released in late 1964, but the following year, his next record It’s Not Unusual was a smash; hitting the number 1 spot in the UK Singles Chart and reaching the top 10 of the US Billboard Chart. 1965 ended with Tom Jones being awarded the ‘Grammy Award for Best New Artist’. A year later, his cover version of The Green, Green Grass of Home spent seven weeks at number 1 in the UK.
Tom Jones’ first international performance was at Las Vegas’ Flamingo Club in 1967. His performance at New York’s Copacabana Nightclub the following year saw him confronted by a swooning, screaming, knicker-throwing female horde. This marked the beginning of Tom Jones’ concentration on lucrative club performances, rather than on recording albums.
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The 1970s provided Tom Jones with multiple successes, including the records Daughter of Darkness, The New Mexican Puppeteer and She’s a Lady. He also starred in a number of variety shows on American television, including ‘This is Tom Jones’ and ‘The Tom Jones Show’. However - despite these numerous triumphs - his popularity began to wane towards the end of the decade. The 1985 single A Boy From Nowhere reached number 2 on the UK singles chart, and his cover of Prince’s Kiss (which charted at number 5) went some way to reintroduce Jones back into the public consciousness. His comeback truly arrived with the 1999 release of Reload, a selection of duets with several other high-profile artists including The Pretenders, Robbie Williams and Van Morrison. In 2000, Tom Jones was invited by the then president of United States Bill Clinton to perform at the Millennium celebrations at Washington D.C. That same year, Jones was presented with the BRIT award for ‘Best Male’.
He celebrated his 65th birthday in 2005. To mark the occasion, he performed a spectacular concert in Ynysangharad Park, Pontypridd (his first performance in his hometown since 1964), which saw a musical legend returning to where it all began.
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