Take That ** Take That ** Take That ** Take That

IT was the largest gathering of newspaper hacks and TV crews I had ever seen in one place. Prison riots, air crashes and royal visits had provoked less media interest than the announcement made at the Hilton International Hotel, near Manchester Airport, on February 13, 1996.

“The rumours are true,” said Gary Barlow, with a mock tremble of the lip, declaring Take That were no more. Hundreds of callers bombarded telephone helplines, distraught teenagers wept hysterically in the streets of Italy, the budding womanhood of half the western world, it seemed, was in mourning.

All because Take That had hung up their shiny hotpants and called it a day.

“My dream is that, after five to 10 years, we could come back and do it all again,” Gary mused at the time.

Reunion

Ten years on, we’re still waiting for that Take That reunion.

“It is not even something we have really discussed,” says Take That’s Mark Owen today. “Everybody’s doing their own thing and they’ve moved on with their lives.”

But the release of a greatest hits album and a DVD yesterday, and the showing of a documentary on ITV1 tomorrow, bringing all five of Take That’s members together to reminisce, puts the spotlight back on the boy band which created the mould from which Boyzone, Westlife and all the rest were formed.

One fascinating aspect of this documentary is the enduring animosity between Robbie Williams and Take That’s manager, Nigel Martin-Smith. Williams has frequently issued on-stage insults directed at Martin-Smith and the documentary makes it clear there is still bad blood between them.

By contrast, Mark Owen says Martin-Smith “guided us in the best way he knew how.”

Looking back on his Take That years, he says: “I did go through a phase where, for years, I would not watch any of the videos. I was moving away from it musically and everything. But when I actually put the videos on again, there were a few cheesy moments but – you know what? – we were great.”

Vision

TAKE That were the vision of Manchester entrepreneur Nigel Martin-Smith, inspired by American heartthrobs New Kids On The Block. First to come his way was Gary Barlow, a Frodsham lad who had done the clubs playing Barry Manilow songs, entered (but not won) the Manchester Evening News Search For A Star competition and had a brief, unsuccessful recording career under the name of Kurtis Rush.

Mark Owen was an Oldhamer who had done Elvis impressions as a small child and was a handy footballer, having trials for Manchester United and Rochdale.

Howard Donald and Jason Orange were breakdancers from Manchester, and Robbie Williams, youngest of the group, was an aspiring actor from Stoke-on-Trent.

Take That cultivated a following in the gay clubs, and – an inspired, much-copied idea – did a tour of schools. The hits started coming in 1992. When they did a signing session at the HMV store, in Manchester, in August that year, 3,000 youngsters turned up and the fivesome had to be smuggled out of the shop disguised as policemen. Girls tracked down the boys’ home addresses and staked them out, sometimes dozens at a time.

“We were young lads and we had fun on the road,” says Owen. “We were growing up and at times we were stupid, at times we drank too much. We had parties. We were just like anyone else of 17 to 21 on a Friday or Saturday night.”

Girlfriends

Despite this, they were portrayed as the most squeaky-clean of bands, said to have been instructed by Martin-Smith not even to have regular girlfriends.

Eight number one singles were racked up and millions of albums sold. Back For Good became the fastest-selling single of all time, with pre-release orders of half a million. To launch their 1995 album, Nobody Else, Take That flew dozens of journalists into Munich from all over the world, unveiling the new disc in an opera house. As they faced the press, one truculent Take Thatter seemed at odds with his perma-smiling brethren. The man from Loaded magazine nudged me and pointed to Robbie, predicting: “He’s the one to watch. He’s the Loaded lad”.

Then, as Take That prepared for the summer tour in 1995, Robbie quit. The foursome soldiered on, their 10 dates in Manchester and London entailing, it was said, the biggest movement of people around Britain since the Second World War. Fans descended on the city from all over Europe to see a show with the spectacle of a Broadway musical and the pyrotechnics of a rock concert. But it was only a few months later that the fateful press conference at Manchester Airport was called.

DID Take That quit too soon? “No, it was a good time for me and for the band,” says Owen today. “I don’t think Rob leaving was the reason we split, but it did feel different. We were a bit tired by the end. We had not really stopped for five years.

“For me, the highs were always the live shows. Being on stage was what made Take That for me. We did amazing shows – the theatrics, the fireworks, the choreography – a great band, a great audience and great songs. It was like a music school to me. I went in there, listening to Boyz II Men, and came out listening to Radiohead. It was an interesting journey in that respect.”
Owen – Take That’s “cute one” – was, surprisingly, the first to launch a solo career and in 2002 he was given a boost after he won TV’s Celebrity Big Brother. Aged 33, he now lives in the Lake District and releasing his music on his own label, having been twice dropped by major record companies.

Donald, aged 37, lives in Ramsbottom with his girlfriend and young daughter and is now a DJ, while Orange, aged 35, is an actor, still seeking a really meaty role to make his name. The smart money said Gary Barlow had the best chance of a solo career. But, by the time he released his second solo album, Barlow was suffering a huge media backlash, not helped by Robbie Williams’ regular vitriolic haranguing of his former bandmate. Barlow, aged 34 – married with two children, living in a Cheshire mansion – is now a songwriter and producer, working with some of the biggest names in pop.

Biggest

AFTER winning more headlines, initially for his drink and drug problems and yo-yoing weight, Williams’s Christmas 1997 hit, Angels, started Robbie – now 31 and living in Los Angeles – on his way to becoming the biggest pop act in Britain. The man from Loaded was right – he was the one to watch.