Gary by Sean Smith

Author:Sean Smith [Smith, Sean]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781471102240
Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

15

Unravelling

Gary fired Nigel in November 1996. The manager had been his rock and mentor from the start of Take That, so this development was surprising and dramatic. Perhaps Nigel was preoccupied with the legal action he had begun, claiming unpaid fees from Rob, but it was still unexpected and the clearest evidence yet that Gary's usually sure touch had deserted him. After all they had been through together, the abrupt end came by fax from Gary's lawyers to Nigel's office; there wasn't even a phone call.

Gary didn't criticize his ex-manager publicly, even if in private he was disappointed that Nigel wasn't protecting him from being steamrollered by Arista. He merely said that he had to move on because it wasn't right any more, although he did concede that he might have broken Nigel's heart with his decision.

Nigel was gracious about the split, emphasizing that they had enjoyed ‘six great years together’. He added, ‘I created Take That around Gary and I have been heavily involved with his solo album. But he wants to spend more time in America and I don't like it there. I'm more interested in discovering new acts than dealing with the problems of Gary Barlow.’ The last observation was perhaps a subtle acknowledgement that Gary did have problems.

In retrospect, Gary made a big mistake ditching Nigel at this stage of his career but it looked like a forward-thinking move when he hired Simon Fuller, the manager of the moment, to take his place. Simon was guiding the career of the Spice Girls and they were the hottest property in music in the mid-nineties.

The whole world knows the name Simon Cowell. He is in the papers in his media-appointed role as the most influential person in music, but it is the other Simon who is considerably richer. The Fuller fortune is estimated at £375 million, whereas the deviser of The X Factor has to scrape by on £250 million. The men behind the scenes are invariably much wealthier than the performers in front of a microphone or camera.

When Simon Fuller took on Gary, he was in his mid-thirties and had been a millionaire for more than ten years. A dapper, permatanned figure with shiny black hair, he was the son of a primary school headmaster and was brought up in a middle-class household in Hastings. Like Nigel, he had a quietly imposing manner but he was no Svengali. He didn't create the Spice Girls nor would he have moulded five northern lads into Take That. He made his name as the manager of a musician called Paul Hardcastle, whose anti-Vietnam War song ‘19’ sold four million copies. Subsequently, all Fuller's companies have had the prefix 19, as in the 19 Entertainment Group.

When he met the Spice Girls, Fuller was best known as the manager of Annie Lennox and Cathy Dennis. His biggest skill was in building a brand behind the scenes. He would later turn the Beckhams into global superstars but in the mid-nineties he was maximizing the impact of the Spice Girls and their ‘Girl Power’ slogan.

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