Robert Peter Williams is an English singer, songwriter and actor. He was a member of the pop group Take That from 1990 to 1995 and again from 2009 to 2012. He has also had commercial success as a solo artist.
Background
Williams was born on 13 February 1974 in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. His parents, Janet (née Farrell) and Peter Williams (also known as Pete Conway), ran a pub called the Red Lion in Burslem, before his father became the licensee at the Port Vale FC Social Club; this led to Williams' lifelong affinity for the team. His maternal grandfather was Irish and hailed from Kilkenny.
Education
Williams attended St Margaret Ward Catholic School in Tunstall, before attending dance school UKDDF in Tunstall. He participated in several school plays, and his biggest role was that of the Artful Dodger in a production of Oliver!, the musical adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel Oliver Twist.
After graduation from school in 1990, Robbie got a part-time job as a seller of double-glazed windows. Fortunately, he listened to his mother’s advices and soon sent the application to auditions in the new boys’ band.
He sang «Nothing Can Divide Us» by Jason Donovan at the casting and, to his surprise, was chosen one of the five singers of boys’ band called «Take That». Robbie was given the role of hooligan among other participants. He recorded 3 very successful discs alongside Gary Barlow, Howard Donald, Mark Owen and Jason Orange: «Take that and party», «Everything changes» and «Nobody else».
On July, 1995, he spent the weekend with Noel and Liam Gallaher at the Glastonbury Festival, after which Robbie announced his leaving from the band. «People were staring at me just because I’m one of Take That!» – he said to explain his decision. In the documentary film released in 2010, «Take That: Look Back, Don’t Stare», Robbie said that one of the reasons of his leaving became his inconstant rivalry with Gary Barlow which just overstepped all the bounds. Later he even dedicated a song to Gary, called it «Ego a Go Go». According to another version, other participants of Take That presented him an ultimatum – he had to either stop drinking alcohol and using drugs or leave the band.
In 1996 Williams signed the contract with Chrysalis Records and released his first solo single «Freedom», cover by George Michael. In March he started recording his first solo-album «Life Thru a Lens» with co-author Guy Chambers and released the disc in September of the same year. The album scored a UK Album Chart No 1 – the single «Angels» was just a bombshell and was sold with more than million copies just in the Britain. The results of the singles «Old Before I Die», «Lazy Days» и «South of the Border» were little lower.
In the beginning of 1995 Robbie started the work over the next album «I've Been Expecting You». The first single of it, «Millenium», became very popular in Europe – more than 400 thousands of copies were sold. Shortly after the release of the album in October 1998 the singer signed the contract with American company Capitol Records and released a collection of songs «The Ego Has Landed», especially for an American market. But the release was met without enthusiasm, being placed only at 63 position in U.S. Billboard Albums.
His next album «Sing When You're Winning» (2000) happened to be more successful. Single «Rock DJ» became one of the best-selling songs in Great Britain and was nominated as the best single of the year on MTV Europe Music Awards and BRIT Awards. It is noteworthy, that in the music video to this song Robbie is dancing striptease, tearing off the skin and muscles from him. This video received MTV VMA award for the best special effects.
In summer of 2001 Robbie managed a big tour in support of the album. Sales of it were estimated at 2, 4 million copies in Great Britain and 4 million copies in Europe. It became one of the best-selling discs in the British music’ history with platinum status gained 8 times.
In 2001 Williams released his fourth album «Swing When You're Winning» that features songs in the swing genre. Nicole Kidman took part in the recording. After the release the album became a hit just in a moment, and it sales counted more than 7 million copies. A song «Beyond The Sea» was included in the soundtrack to «Finding Nemo» animated film. In October of 2001 Robbie performed on the stage of Albert Hall in London.
In 2002 Robbie Williams signed the contract on 80 million pounds with EMI label – he became the highest-paid pop-singer this way. Only Michael Jackson could have got more profitable contract in 1991. After that he bought the mansion in LA and started conquering of the American musical market.
The sixth album by Robbie Williams was released in 2005 by the title «Intensive Care». It was recorded co-working with a composer Stephan Duffy. In November of 2005 Williams received the title as The Best Male singer at MTV Europe Music Award ceremony.
In 2006 Robbie started recording his next album, «Rudebox». The disc became the most unsuccessful in his career even with two platinum titles. Exactly that time Take That reunited with success, and Robbie being disappointed by all of that facts, made a decision to undergo the treatment in the rehab in order to get rid of a drug addiction. The life-turning decision was made on his 33th anniversary.
Having been cleaned from his bad habits, Robbie began putting his life in order: he met a girl and started serious relationships with her even calling her his wife and confessing that she changed his life. Together they moved to England, and in 2009 Williams had came back on stage with the disc «Reality Killed the Video Star», after which two albums of The Best hits followed. The last one contains a song «Shame», which was recorded with Gary Barlow.
In October of 2011 Robbie signed the contract with Universal, and the release of «Take the Crown» in autumn of 2012 became the great result of that cooperation. In June 2013, Robbie Williams started promoting of the album with a big tour.
In 2016 the singer released «The Heavy Entertainment Show» where the song «Party like a Russian» was included. In the music video to it Robbie made fun of the local entertainment culture, especially how Russian oligarchs prefer to take a rest. There is an opinion that Robbie was so inspired by Roman Abramovich’ party where he performed in 2014 that he wrote this sarcastic lyrics.
Robbie Williams is the best-selling British solo artist in the United Kingdom and the best selling non-Latino artist in Latin America. Six of his albums are among the top 100 biggest-selling albums in the United Kingdom – four albums in the top 60 – and in 2006 he entered the Guinness Book of World Records for selling 1.6 million tickets of his Close Encounters Tour in a single day.
It has been claimed that Williams has sold more albums in the UK than any other British solo artist in history and has won more BRIT Awards than any other artist to date.
Quotations:
"I met Courtney Love and she said she'd like to sleep with me, but she couldn't cos of my "pop-star thing"… so I said to her I couldn't sleep with her either - cos of her 'ugly thing'..."
"I can do anything I want to do really, I might as well."
"If you're willing to change the world let love be your energy."
"You don't want the truth. Truth is boring."
"I know I'm gonna die so my revenge is living well."
Personality
Robbie got the reputation of homosexual in the times of Take That success and due to ambiguous lyrics of his songs. Williams just used it from time to time to attract more attention. As it occurred later, Robbie is a true womanizer, so he was very irritated by the contract conditions on which the singers of boys’ band couldn’t dated anyone openly.
Physical Characteristics:
Williams has a number of body tattoos, most of which are related to British culture: image of an Ace of Spades – commemorating heavy metal band Motörhead, a Fez – common headwear of comedian Tommy Cooper, logo of The Saint – tribute to Roger Moore who played the titular character on the TV show, spectacles logo of The Two Ronnies – commemorating the comedy sketch show of the TV double act of Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett, image of the “skip dance” pose of Morecambe and Wise – another TV comic double act Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise, image of a Staffordshire knot – Williams ancestors are from Staffordshire, logo of his former band Take That, coat of arms of Burslem – town in Stoke-on-Trent where Williams grew up, and the notes and words of the first line of the chorus of the Beatles song “All You Need Is Love” are tattooed on his lower back.
Quotes from others about the person
Caroline Sullivan of The Guardian wrote Williams is “a perfect meeting of ego, self-deprecation and hits”, adding “there really is nobody else, in pop music anyway, who combines monumental hamminess and bone-deep vulnerability quite so effectively.”
“I'm bemused by the whole Robbie Williams aspect of British pop. Posh Spice? It all looks like cruise ship entertainment to me.” - David Bowie
Interests
Williams has a strong interest in UFOs and related paranormal phenomena, and has pursued this interest during his 2007–08 sabbatical.
Sport & Clubs
In 2005, Williams founded a soccer team called LA Vale FC. Williams formed the club with other celebrity friends after building his own soccer pitch at his home in Los Angeles.
Athletes
Williams is a lifelong supporter of football club Port Vale, based in his home town of Stoke-on-Trent. In February 2006, he bought £240,000 worth of shares in the club, making him the majority shareholder.
Connections
Since May 2006, Williams has been in a relationship with the American actress Ayda Field. She was featured in the UFO documentary that Williams did for BBC Radio 4 in April, and took part in a field investigation he did in Trout Lake, Washington in August 2008. She and Williams wed at his home in Mulholland Estates in Beverly Hills on 7 August 2010.
Father:
Peter Williams
Robbie's dad Pete was a comedian and singer who was entertainments manager at Carmarthen Bay Holiday Village in Kidwelly for four seasons.
1993 - "Could It Be Magic" - British Single of the Year;
1994 - "Pray" - British Single of the Year, British Video of the Year;
1996 - "Back for Good" - British Single of the Year;
1999 - "Angels" - British Single of the Year;
1999 - "Millennium" - British Video of the Year;
2000 - "She's the One" - British Single of the Year, British Video of the Year;
2001 - "Rock DJ" - British Single of the Year, British Video of the Year;
2001 - Robbie Williams - British Male Solo Artist;
2002 - Robbie Williams - British Male Solo Artist;
2003 - Robbie Williams - British Male Solo Artist;
2005 - "Angels" - British Song of Twenty Five Years;
2010 - Robbie Williams - Outstanding Contribution to Music;
2011 - Take That - British Group;
2017 - Robbie Williams - Icon Award.
1993 - "Could It Be Magic" - British Single of the Year;
1994 - "Pray" - British Single of the Year, British Video of the Year;
1996 - "Back for Good" - British Single of the Year;
1999 - "Angels" - British Single of the Year;
1999 - "Millennium" - British Video of the Year;
2000 - "She's the One" - British Single of the Year, British Video of the Year;
2001 - "Rock DJ" - British Single of the Year, British Video of the Year;
2001 - Robbie Williams - British Male Solo Artist;
2002 - Robbie Williams - British Male Solo Artist;
2003 - Robbie Williams - British Male Solo Artist;
2005 - "Angels" - British Song of Twenty Five Years;
2010 - Robbie Williams - Outstanding Contribution to Music;
1994 - Take That - Best Group;
1994 - Take That - Best Live Act;
1999 - Robbie Williams - Best Male;
2000 - "Rock DJ" - Best Song;
2002 - Robbie Williams - Best Male;
2005 - Robbie Williams - Best Male;
1994 - "Babe" - International Viewer's Choice Award for MTV Europe;
2001 - "Rock DJ" - Best Visual Effects;
1994 - Take That - Best Group;
1994 - Take That - Best Live Act;
1999 - Robbie Williams - Best Male;
2000 - "Rock DJ" - Best Song;
2002 - Robbie Williams - Best Male;
2005 - Robbie Williams - Best Male;
1994 - "Babe" - International Viewer's Choice Award for MTV Europe;