Take That

Take That were assembled by the duet of Gary Barlow and Mark Owen from one side and the dance tandem of Jason Orange and Howard Donald from the other. The fifth member of the band, Robbie Williams did not have music background and was the last one to join them. Young and inexperienced, the lads followed the directions of manager Nigel Martin-Smith who intended to create a successful project based on the model of the American outfit New Kids on the Block. Most big places rejected to have Take That gave performances due to their inexperience. Therefore, the band had their first concerts primarily at gay clubs. With the track list consisting of pop music covers, the young men dressed oddly to fit the specific audience they sang for. Regular appearances of Take That before the members of sexual minorities and the strange video for Do What You Like featuring them half nude, earned the musicians an unpleasant label of gay band. This reputation hindered the sales of their first singles and was difficult to get rid of.

Take That signed a contract with a big company in 1992. The promo video for It Only Takes a Minute presented the new image of the group. The artists finally parted with the gay-like look and grabbed their own place in the limelight. The subsequent singles A Million Love Songs, and I Found Heaven hit Top 20. However, the biggest song of that period was the following Could It Be Magic All these singles were presented on the band’s debut album Take That and Party (1992), running second in the album charts of the UK. Take That evolved with their second release Everything Changes, produced in 1993. This one was the charts topped for several consecutive weeks and spawned four singles, each hitting number one. These were smashes Pray, Relight My Fire, Everything Changes, and Babe. Barlow wrote the largest part of the new songs as the group moved towards preferring their own compositions to covers. The second studio work made Take That the national icons and one of the most respected and known UK groups in the world. After a streak of impressive shows in Europe, Take That went to the studio to present their third long player, Nobody Else, released in 1995. Its single Back for Good became the band’s first big hit in the USA, which gave them the opportunity to produce the album there. The US edition of Nobody Else had a different cover and modified tracklist comprising some of the group’s old songs.

1995 saw some first signs of the inner conflicts inside Take That with Robbie Williams as the main troublemaker. He was not happy about the good guy role he had on the band. Besides, Robbie demanded he be the center of the audience’s attention shadowing the other members. As the leaders of the group, Martin-Smith and Barlow could not take it and Robbie soon quit the band. Despite the unexpected circumstances, Take That continued the touring scheduled to promote their last album. It appeared an unbeatable task, which lead to the band’s collapse in 1996. To sooth the pain of their numerous fans, the artists released the greatest hits collection with one new song, How Deep Is Your Love. Robbie Williams was the only participant of Take That who managed to rise to fame as a solo artist after the fall of the band. However, due to the contract obligations, the musicians had to record another album and launch a supporting tour. The first step to the reunion was the making of the documentary about Take That. Huge public attention to this film strengthened the confidence to restore the band. After The Ultimate Tour, the reborn Take That, with only Robbie Williams absent, recorded the new album, Beautiful World (2006). Its single Patience was the band’s ninth song to top the UK charts. In December 2008, Take That The Circus album was released. In 2009 the musicians issued their very first live album titled The Greatest Day: Take That Present The Circus Live. That record debuted at number 3 on the UK Album Chart, which proves the quality of the album. The new studio long play entitled Progress (2010) was released a year later and it peaked at the very top of the UK chart practically in no time. Take That managed to create another extremely strong album in their easy recognizable manner, which is so much loved by millions of listeners all around the world. However, as the critics stated, the band keeps on developing, so their sound gets some new and original elements all the time.