Nigel Martin-Smith's Plan
Take That were not an accident. They were a plan. Nigel Martin-Smith, a Manchester-based talent manager, had watched the success of New Kids on the Block in America and decided that Britain needed its own version. He wanted five lads, good-looking, who could sing and dance and appeal to a teenage audience that was being ignored by the indie-dominated British music scene of the early 1990s.
He found Gary Barlow first. Barlow was from Frodsham in Cheshire, a prodigiously talented songwriter and pianist who had been performing in working men's clubs since he was a teenager. He had already been writing songs for years and had the musical ability to anchor the entire project. Martin-Smith then recruited Mark Owen from Oldham, Howard Donald from Droylsden, Jason Orange from Crumpsall, and Robbie Williams from Stoke-on-Trent. Williams was 16 years old.
Their early performances were in Manchester's gay clubs, particularly on Canal Street. It was a deliberate strategy. The gay club scene was the one place where a boy band doing choreographed dance routines would get a warm reception rather than a bottling. They performed at venues including the Apollo and Piccadilly nightclubs, learning their trade in front of audiences that were enthusiastic and forgiving. It worked. By the time they broke into the mainstream, they already knew how to work a crowd.
The Rise
Their first single, "Do What U Like," was released in July 1991 on Dance UK Records. The video, which featured the band covered in jelly, was memorable for all the wrong reasons. The single barely charted. Their second, "Promises," stalled at number 38. Their third, "Once You've Tasted Love," peaked at number 47. Three singles in and they were going nowhere.
Then came "It Only Takes a Minute," a cover of the Tavares track, released in June 1992. It reached number seven. Something had shifted. The screaming started. The fan letters arrived in sacks. "I Found Heaven" reached number 15. "A Million Love Songs," a Barlow original written when he was just 15, reached number seven. "Could It Be Magic," their take on the Barry Manilow track, went to number three in December 1992. Take That had arrived.
"Pray" was released in July 1993 and went straight to number one. It was their first chart-topper and it opened the floodgates. "Relight My Fire," featuring Lulu, hit number one in October. "Babe" went to number one in December, though it was knocked off the Christmas top spot by Mr Blobby. "Everything Changes" hit number one in April 1994. Four consecutive number ones. The mania was total. They were the biggest pop act in the country, and the screaming was so loud at their concerts that nobody could hear the music.
Robbie Leaves
Robbie Williams was always the one who didn't quite fit. He was the youngest, the most charismatic on stage, and the most restless off it. While Barlow was the songwriter and the musical brain, Williams was the entertainer, the one the cameras followed, the one who made the chaos look like fun.
By 1995, the cracks were showing. Williams was partying hard, missing rehearsals, and openly clashing with Martin-Smith and with Barlow. The dynamic within the group had become toxic. On 17 July 1995, Robbie Williams left Take That. He was 21 years old.
What followed was one of the most spectacular solo career launches in British pop history. Williams went on to sell over 75 million records worldwide, has had 16 UK number one albums, and became the best-selling solo artist in UK chart history. The rivalry between Williams and Barlow dominated the tabloids for years and became one of pop music's great feuds.
Take That continued as a four-piece. "Never Forget" reached number one in August 1995. Their Greatest Hits compilation was released in March 1996 and went straight to number one. "How Deep Is Your Love," their final single of the original era, also reached number one. But the momentum was gone. On 13 February 1996, they announced the split. The Samaritans reportedly set up a dedicated phone line. It sounds like a joke, but it wasn't.
"Five men in their late thirties, singing and dancing in front of audiences that were louder than they had been in 1993."
The Comeback
In November 2005, Take That reunited as a four-piece: Barlow, Owen, Donald, and Orange. Williams stayed away. Nobody expected what happened next.
The reunion documentary, For the Record, aired on ITV and reminded the country why they had cared in the first place. The Ultimate Tour sold out arenas across the UK in minutes. Beautiful World, their comeback album, was released in November 2006 and went to number one, selling over 2.8 million copies in the UK alone. "Patience," the lead single, reached number one. It was the comeback nobody had predicted and everybody wanted.
The Circus followed in 2008, debuting at number one with first-week sales of over 432,000 copies. The Circus Live tour was seen by over a million people. Then, in 2010, the impossible happened. Robbie Williams came back. Progress, the album featuring all five members, was released in November 2010 and became the fastest-selling album of the 21st century in the UK at the time, shifting over 235,000 copies on its first day.
The Progress Live tour in 2011 grossed over £100 million and sold 1.34 million tickets. It was one of the highest-grossing concert tours in history. Five men in their late thirties and early forties, singing and dancing in front of audiences that were louder than they had been in 1993. The screaming, it turned out, had been waiting.
Still Standing
Williams departed again after Progress. Jason Orange quietly left the band in 2014, stepping away from public life entirely. Take That continued as a three-piece: Barlow, Owen, and Donald. They released III in 2014, Wonderland in 2017, and This Life in 2023. The albums charted. The tours sold out. The three of them proved that Take That could exist in any configuration as long as the songs were good enough.
Gary Barlow emerged as one of the most respected songwriters and performers in British pop. He was awarded an OBE in 2012. He has written musicals, judged on The X Factor, organised the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Concert in 2012, and built a reputation as a consummate professional who never stopped working. The kid from Frodsham who wrote "A Million Love Songs" at 15 grew into one of the most prolific and commercially successful British songwriters of his generation.
Take That have sold over 45 million records worldwide. They have had 12 UK number one singles and nine number one albums. They went from manufactured boy band to national institution in the space of three decades. They survived the split, the feuds, the tabloid years, the wilderness, and the comeback. They started on Canal Street, performing choreographed routines in gay clubs to audiences of a few dozen. They ended up filling stadiums.
Manufactured, yes. But what they built lasted. And nobody who was there on 13 February 1996, when half the country's teenagers wept into their pillows, would deny that it was real.