Take That and Robbie Williams by Emily Herbert

Author:Emily Herbert [Emily Herbert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781843586951
Publisher: John Blake Publishing
Published: 2011-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

BACK TO THE BEGINNING

But who, exactly, were these bandmates that Robbie was edging closer to rejoining? And how had they come together to form Take That?

The undisputed leader of Take That, in both its first and second incarnations, is Gary Barlow. Born on 20 January 1970 to Marge and Colin in Frodsham, Cheshire, Gary has one older brother, Ian, and was something of a musical prodigy. Gary attended Weaver Vale school in Frodsham: like Robbie, he was an enthusiastic performer in school plays, taking the role of Joseph in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Gary recalled that he used to love watching Top of the Pops on television and that it was Depeche Mode’s ‘Just Can’t Get Enough’ that inspired him to learn to play the keyboards.

Indeed, music had Gary in its thrall. At the age of ten, his parents told him he could have either a BMX bike or a keyboard for Christmas: Gary went for the keyboard. ‘Within two weeks, I’d done everything on the keyboard and Dad had to buy me a better one,’ Gary said in a 1991 interview. It was money well spent. Even at that tender age, he was a regular performer at the Connah’s Quay Labour Club in north Wales: he would play gigs on Saturday nights, for which he was paid £18. Two years later, he made the acquaintance of a singer, Heather, and the two started touring locally. With this background, it was almost certain that Gary would soon be following a professional musical career.

But he still needed to pursue some education, so he went on to Frodsham High School, eventually leaving with six O-levels. This was a considerably better academic performance than Robbie’s but, even so, Gary’s music had pride of place. By the age of 14, he’d found another regular gig, this time at the Halton British Legion near Runcorn. He would play four times every weekend, finishing at about 2am, and it was beginning to bring in some money. At this stage, Gary was earning about £140 a week.

Matters went up to a new level the following year. BBC Pebble Mill was running a competition called ‘A Song for Christmas’: Gary wrote a song called ‘Let’s Pray for Christmas’ and asked his mother and music teacher, Mrs Nelson, to tell him what they thought. The former didn’t like it (‘too slow’) but the latter did and entered it in to the competition. After several silent weeks, Mrs Nelson heard back from them and had to go and find young Gary in the gym: Pebble Mill wanted Gary to go to the West Heath Studios to record the number, his first ever visit to a studio. He was still only 15.

In the event, the song didn’t make it past the semi-finals, but it opened several doors. For a start, Gary met Bob Howes, the songwriting partner of keyboard player Rod Argent, who’d written hits for The Zombies and Argent. Both provided advice and help in the early years.

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