Take That

Take That (formed 1990)

Take That are an English pop band that achieved great success in the 1990s. Although the band split in 1996, they reformed over a decade later to renewed commercial success.

Take That: The Forming of the Band

Take That were formed in 1990 by their manager Nigel Martin Smith in Manchester. The five band members were Mark Owen, Gary Barlow, Jason Orange, Howard Donald and Robbie Williams.

The band's first release to find commercial success was a cover version of Tavares' song 'It Only Takes A Minute,' which reached number seven in the UK singles chart. The follow-up tracks, 'I Found Heaven' and 'A Million Love Songs' (written by Gary Barlow) were both top 20 hits.

Take That: Hitting The Big Time

The band's cover of Barry Manilow's 'Could It Be Magic' was their biggest success so far in their career. The single reached number three in the UK singles. In 1992, Take That's debut album was released. Entitled Take That & Party, the album included all the band's singles up until that point.

In 1993, the band released a new album, Everything Changes, which contained original tracks written by Barlow. The single 'Pray' was their first number one single. Disappointingly for the band, their single 'Babe' was beaten to the highly coveted Christmas number one slot by Mr. Blobby, a character from Noel Edmonds' family entertainment show.

Although the band began to garner international acclaim with the release of Everything Changes, they failed to find success in the United States.

A new album Nobody Else was released in 1995 and went to number one in the UK album charts. 'Back To Good' was the second release from the album and was their biggest-selling single. The track reached number one in 31 countries across the world and also gained the band their only US chart entry.

Take That: Robbie's Departure

Robbie Williams announced that he was leaving Take That in 1995. The band continued to promote Nobody Else as a four piece and completed the Nobody Else Tour without Williams.

In February of the next year, the band announced that they would be splitting up. The announcement was followed by the release of their Greatest Hits album. A cover of The Bee Gees' 'How Deep Is Your Love?' was the band's last number one single success until they reformed in 2005.

Take That: The Reunion

A new compilation of Take That's' hit singles was released in November 2005. Never Forget - The Ultimate Collection reached the top of the UK. A new song on the album, 'Today I've Lost You' had originally been intended as the follow-up to 'Back For Good' but the band spilt before a recording was made. At the same time as the album release, an ITV documentary about the band was aired. TAKE THAT: For The Record showed the band speaking out about the split and their activities over the last 10 years. Later that month, they announced that they would be touring the next year, without Robbie Williams.

The tour was named the Ultimate Tour and featured guest slots from Beverley Knight and Lulu. Support bands for the tour included The Pussycat Dolls and the Sugababes.

In May 2006, Take That signed a record deal with Polydor Records. The contract is reported to be worth £3 million. The first album to be released under the new contract was Beautiful World, which sold over £1.5 million in the UK. 11 of the 12 songs on the album had been written by professional songwriters, unlike their previous albums, which had largely been penned by Gary Barlow. The remaining song, 'I'd Wait For Life' was a joint composition attributed to the whole band.

The first single from the album was 'Patience'. The song reached number one in the UK in its second week on sale. Take That followed up the success of the single with a performance at the BRIT Awards, where they won the Best Single award. The second single, 'I'd Wait For Life' fared less well, reaching number 17 and then falling from the Top 40 the next week.

Beautiful World finished up as the fourth best-selling album of 2007 and the band signed another record contract, this time with Interscope, who would release their album in the US and Canada - territories in which they had so far had little success.