Robbie Williams
Robbie Williams is one of those rare artists whose down to earth personality and brutal honesty have helped him sustain a career through addiction, scandal and the occasional flop of an album. Though he has yet to make an impact on the US market, he has had a massively successful career in Europe, Australia and Latin America.
Robbie joined boyband Take That when he was just 16 and was a member of the group until 1995. He left amidst arguments with the band’s management and, most famously, Gary Barlow and subsequently spent time in rehab for alcohol and drug addiction before launching his solo career. His first single, a cover of the George Michael track ‘Freedom’ reached number two in the UK charts, which seemed to bode well for future releases. However the first three singles from his debut album Life Thru a Lens failed to ignite in the way he had hoped and his future as a solo artist seemed to hang in the balance.
And then came the smash hit Angels. The track, co-written by Guy Chambers was a massive hit in the UK and Europe (though it failed to reach the UK top spot) and introduced Williams to a whole new fan base. Album sales rocketed as a result of the single’s success and suddenly Robbie Williams was a force to be reckoned with. Subsequent albums went straight to the top of the charts and Robbie Williams concert tickets became very valuable commodities. By 1999 he was selling out stadiums and huge outdoor venues and was the one pop star it was cool to like no matter what your musical preferences. His energetic performances and easy banter with the crowd ensured that fans went home happy after every performance, and when in 2002 he signed a record breaking £80 million record deal with EMI, it seemed he could do no wrong.
However what goes up must come down and the release of Rudebox in 2006 seemed to indicate that Williams’ star was about to crash back to earth with a painful landing. Having teamed up with producers Mark Ronson, Joey Negro, William Orbit and Neil Tennant of the Petshop Boys, the album showcased a very different sound to the one fans had become accustomed to. It wasn’t as well received as his previous efforts and sold fewer than 500,000 copies in the UK, making it his poorest performing album in his home country. He had much greater success with the record in Europe howeve,r where it went double platinum and was the fastest selling album of 2006.
Williams’ latest album Reality Killed the Video Star marks a return to form by the star and has been well received by both critics and fans alike. After a somewhat erratic performance on Simon Cowell’s UK show The X Factor, Williams then went on to wow the fans with a vintage performance at the BBC Electric Proms on October 20th 2009, proving that there’s life in the old dog yet. He currently splits his time between LA and the UK and has been dating actress Ayda Field since 2007.
