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Take That

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File:TakeThat.jpg
Take That. Clockwise from top Robbie Williams, Mark Owen, Jason Orange, Howard Donald and Gary Barlow

Take That are an English pop boy band that originated in Manchester in 1990, widely known as the pioneers of the genre in the UK. Take That have sold 15 million records between the years of 1990-1996, then went on to sell another 50 million records to date. Between the band's first single release in 1991 and their breakup in 1996, the BBC described Take That as "the most successful British band since The Beatles, beloved of young and old alike". Take That's dance-pop tunes and soulful ballads dominated the British charts in the first half of the 1990s, spawning two of the best selling albums of the decade with "Everything Changes" 1993 and "Greatest Hits" 1996, and according to All Music Guide, "at this time were giant superstars in Europe with the main question about them not being about whether they could get a hit single, but how many and which would make it to number one". The band split in 1996 but, after a 2005 documentary and the release of a greatest hits album, they announced a 2006 tour around the United Kingdom, entitled The Ultimate Tour 2006. On May 9 2006, it was announced that Take That were set to record their first studio album in over 10 years.

A stage musical is also planned for 2007.

Biography

History

According to an article in Rolling Stone magazine by Stephen Thanabalan, Take That were a relatively new phenomenon when they first emerged as they were the first British boyband and in fact were the British answer by RCA and BMG to arguably one of the first and most successful boybands of the United States: New Kids on the Block. Proclaimed as the biggest male group since the Beatles, Take That's hype made it hard to distinguish the value of their material and it was not till some time after their break up that critics other than their legion of fans began to appreciate their albums of dance-pop and ballads. Sung by five young men, with a greater maturity than most boy band albums thanks to the writing by lead singer Gary Barlow, Take That were renowned around Europe for their fanatical female supporters and when they broke up in 1996, the British authorities set up large numbers of telephone help-lines to assist distraught fans.

Take That members included songwriter Gary Barlow, Mark Owen, Howard Donald, Jason Orange, and Robbie Williams. Take That had a total of eight number one hits in the UK singles chart and the success of the band as both an act and a formulaic format inspired a cycle of manufactured pop acts that came to dominate the UK music industry of the next decade, including East 17, Boyzone, Blue, Westlife and A1.

Their first single was "Do What You Like". The promo video featured the band getting naked and smearing jelly over themselves. At this point, the band were touring endlessly. Their revealing leather outfits gained them a huge following in the gay clubs of the UK, where a large number of their performances took place.

Follow-up singles "Once You've Tasted Love" and "Promises" barely scraped the UK Charts. Their first hit single was a cover of Jonathan King's "It Only Takes A Minute", which reached #7 on the UK charts. This was followed by the Gary Barlow ballad "A Million Love Songs" and "I Found Heaven" - both top 20 hits.

Their cover of the Barry Manilow and Donna Summer disco hit "Could It Be Magic" gave them their biggest hit to date, and secured them a place in the public consciousness.

Their first album, "Take That and Party," was released in 1992, and contained the above hit singles.

1993 saw the release of Take That's most successful original album "Everything Changes". Amazingly four UK number one singles were spawned by it - "Pray", "Relight My Fire", "Babe" (beaten to Christmas number one by Mr Blobby), and the title track "Everything Changes". The fifth single "Love Ain't Here Anymore" reached number three on the UK charts. "Everything Changes" also saw Take That become an international success, although the USA market still proved elusive ("Love Ain't Here Anymore" was even remixed for American release with a more rhythm & blues sound but did not garner much attention).

The promotion for "Nobody Else", their 1995 album, was launched by the release of what would become their biggest hit single, (and only American hit) "Back For Good". The album was also noted for its cover, which (outside of North America) was a parody of the cover of The Beatles Sgt. Pepper cover sleeve.

At the peak of their powers, the band's demise started in July 1995, when Robbie, wanting to get rid of his clean-cut image, went out partying hard with Oasis at Glastonbury. A mixture of management issues and disagreements due to this resulted in Robbie walking out on the band. Take That continued to promote "Nobody Else" as a four piece, scoring further hit singles with "Sure" and "Never Forget" (subsequently released as a single in a Jim Steinman remix version).

On 13 February 1996, Take That announced that they were splitting. This would break the hearts of millions of fans worldwide - to an extent that hotlines were actually set up around the UK to cope with fans' grief.

This was followed by the "Greatest Hits" Compilation in 1996, which contained a new recording, a cover of The Bee Gees "How Deep Is Your Love", which went on to become a final number one for the band.

Career outside of Take That

Soon after the group broke up, Gary Barlow recorded a solo album Open Road (1997) with his single Forever Love going to number 1 in the UK charts. After this and his second album, Twelve Months, Eleven Days he has moved into more of a songwriting and production role.

Robbie Williams released his debut solo effort in 1997 with Life Thru A Lens. His first single, Freedom '90, is a cover of a George Michael song. He achieved much greater success with his follow-up single "Angels", which has become his signature tune. Since then, he has released many successful solo albums including I've Been Expecting You, Sing When You're Winning and Escapology, in 2005 he was named the best selling artist of the new millennium in the United Kingdom and of the most successful male solo artists in British history with album sales standing over 45 million worldwide.

Mark Owen has released three solo albums to date - Green Man, In Your Own Time and How the Mighty Fall He has toured extensively in Europe and the UK, and visited Japan in early 2006, where he has secured a publishing deal.

Howard Donald made a single but it was not released. He is now a successful DJ playing mostly in the UK and Germany.

Jason Orange had two acting roles, he played DJ drug dealer Brent Moyer in Lynda La Plante's Killer Net (shown on UK Channel 4 and now on DVD) and he appeared in the play Gob which was performed at the King's Head Theatre in London.

Reformation

On Wednesday 16 November 2005, Take That got back together for a TV documentary in which they aired their views over the split and what they had been up to during the last 10 years. Finally on Friday 25 November 2005, there was an official press conference by the band announcing that the post Robbie Williams lineup were going to tour in 2006. The tour, entitled The Ultimate Tour 2006, started with just 11 dates booked but after record sell outs, a further 19 dates were added, totalling 30 arena and stadium concerts around Britain and Ireland and ran from April to June 2006. The tour features a guest appearance by British soul singer Beverley Knight who replaces Lulu's vocals on the song "Relight My Fire". Lulu did appear during the Arena shows on "Relight My Fire" and "Never Forget". The American girlband Pussycat Dolls supported the group at their Dublin concert, and the Sugababes support the group on the final five dates of the Stadium leg.

While Robbie Williams will not be part of the tour, the other members of the band have extended an open invitation for him to join them on stage if he wishes to: "The door’s always open for Rob. If ever he’s bored one day and we’re on the road and he wants to come and sing a song, we’re always ready to do that. We’ll have a spare mic ready for him on stage."[1] According to Jason Orange, Robbie Williams has also given his blessing to the reformation: "He’s absolutely given us his blessing. He’s in a place where he’s comfortable with himself and his own career. But I should imagine he might have mixed feelings - he’s delighted for us but he might be a bit wistful as well. But he’s cool, this won’t offend him. He won’t be upset by this."[2] In the recent gigs Robbie features in "Could it be Magic" as a 20ft hologram which he recorded recently. The show itself begins with "Once you've tasted Love" and ends with a fitting "Never Forget". The show contains many spectacular sights ranging from a fire display in "Relight my Fire", a reenactment of the "Back For Good" video with rain on stage, a 20ft hologram of Robbie in "Could it be Magic", a robotic dance for a feature in making the perfect boy band and a Beatles medley. At the Metro Radio Arena, the NEC, Wembley Arena and the Manchester Evening News Arena they even attempted walking through the crowd.

On 19 May 2006, Williams announced to Jonathan Ross on his late night chat show that he would join his former bandmates for a rendition of "Could It Be Magic" during the tour, if Ross should beat him at a game of tennis in the week following the broadcast. It remains to be seen what the outcome of this was.

A new compilation of their hit singles plus a new previously unreleased song also made the top end of the UK charts. The new song "Today I've Lost You" (recorded in September 2005) was originally written as the follow up to "Back For Good". This track is the only track from the album which isn't available to download.

On May 4 2006, Tony Mortimer of East 17 criticized Take That during an interview with The Sun, describing them as "a Village People tribute band who covered Barry Manilow". He also went on to claim that East 17 had "sold more albums world-wide", however this is not true as Take That's global chart success was much higher in the 1990s. Further proof of the difference in popularity between the two acts was shown when East 17's one-off show took much longer to sell out than the whole Take That tour.

Subsequently, on May 9 2006, it was announced that Take That would record their first new studio album in more than 10 years after their current tour, The Ultimate Tour 2006, finished. Mark Owen said the band were looking forward to making "a great record, the best record we've ever made". The deal was reportedly worth £3 million. It emerged on June 29 2006 that Robbie may be joining the band to record some of the album. Howard Donald said "We speak all the time now and he knows the door is always open if he wants to come and record with us or relive his Take That days in any way. We would love him to be on the album."

Patience & Beautiful World

The News Of The World announced on Sunday 10th September 2006 that Patience is the name of their comeback single. Music industry figures are raving about it and saying it's "worth the wait".[citation needed]

It is due to be released on 20th November 2006, with a special event launching it on 5th November (Bonfire Night).


On Friday the 6th October Gary Barlow told Jonathan Ross on his late night show "Friday Night With Jonathan Ross" that Take That's first single "Patience" would be played for the first time by Chris Moyles on BBC Radio One on Tuesday 10th October. Barlow then announced that the UK release date for 'Beautiful World' is the 27th November.

Discography

Albums and their singles

Album Information
Take That and Party
 Take That and Party
Everything Changes
 Everything Changes
  • Released: October 11, 1993
  • Singles:
    • "Why Can't I Wake Up With You" (February 1993) #2 UK
    • "Pray" (July 1993) #1 UK
    • "Relight My Fire" (October 1993) #1 UK
    • "Babe" (December 1993) #1 UK
    • "Everything Changes" (April 1994) #1 UK
    • "Love Ain't Here Anymore" (July 1994) #3 UK
File:Nobody else.jpg
Nobody Else
 Nobody Else
File:Greatest hits,take that.jpg
Greatest Hits
 Greatest Hits
Never Forget - The Ultimate Collection
 Never Forget - The Ultimate Collection
Beautiful World
  • Released: 2006
  • Singles:
    • "Patience" (November 2006)

Videos & DVD's

  • 1992 Take That & Party
  • 1993 Take That - The Party / Live at Wembley
  • 1994 Take That - Everything Changes
  • 1994 Take That - Live in Berlin
  • 1995 Take That - Hometown / Live at Manchester G-Mex
  • 1995 Take That - Nobody Else / The Movie
  • 1996 Take That - Greatest Hits
  • 2005 Never Forget - The Ultimate Collection (DVD)
  • 2006 Take That - For The Record (Official Documentary) (DVD)
  • 2006 Take That - Ultimate Tour (DVD)


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