Coordinates | 42°04′″N48°17′″N |
---|---|
name | Gary Barlow |
background | solo_singer |
birth name | Gary Barlow |
born | January 20, 1971Frodsham, Cheshire, England |
instrument | Vocals, piano, keyboards |
occupation | Singer-songwriter, pianist, record producer |
genre | Pop |
years active | 1988–present |
label | Sony Music, Polydor,San Remo, Future Records |
website | |
associated acts | Take That }} |
Gary Barlow (born 20 January 1971) is an English singer-songwriter, pianist and record producer. He is the lead vocalist of British pop group Take That and is the head judge on The X Factor. Barlow is one of Britain's most successful songwriters. He has had two Number 1 singles and a Number 1 album as a solo artist, and has had sixteen top 5 hits, eleven Number 1 singles and seven Number 1 albums with Take That. He is a five-time recipient of the Ivor Novello Award and was voted the greatest British songwriter of all time in a national 2009 poll organised by OnePoll.
"I was one of those kids that's forever dancing in front of the TV looking at my reflection."
He said he enjoyed watching Top of the Pops on television, and when he was ten years old, he watched an episode of the programme in which Depeche Mode were performing their new single "Just Can't Get Enough". Barlow was mesmerised by the sound and decided he wanted a keyboard for Christmas. For the next few years, he spent most of his spare time teaching himself to play his favourite songs.
In 1986 Barlow entered a BBC Pebble Mill at One competition called A Song For Christmas with a song called "Let's Pray For Christmas". After getting through to the semi-finals, he was invited to London's West Heath Studios to record his song. This inspired Barlow to perform on the northern club circuit, singing cover versions and his own songs. Barlow's first performance was at the Connah's Quay Labour Cub in the late eighties and he was paid £18 per performance on Saturday evenings.
In 1989 he appointed Wigan show business agent Barry Woolley to be his manager and recorded a single ("Love Is in the Air") which was never released commercially. Barlow was eventually put in touch with casting agent Nigel Martin-Smith who was interested in starting a boyband. Martin-Smith decided to use Barlow as the lead-singer after being impressed by his self written material including an early demo tape of Barlow's "A Million Love Songs" concluding that the band will be built around Barlow's vocals and songwriting skills.
Barlow, who wrote the majority of the group's songs, is generally recognised as the musical talent behind Take That. After choosing Barlow as the group's lead-singer, Nigel Martin-Smith introduced Howard Donald, Jason Orange, Mark Owen and finally Robbie Williams to the fold. The UK group were signed to RCA records, and after a number of top 40 hits, eventually secured their first Number 1 with Barlow's "Pray". Previous hits included "A Million Love Songs", "It Only Takes a Minute" and "Could It Be Magic".
The debut album Take That & Party was released on 17 August 1992. It reached number 2 on the UK Album Chart. The following year saw the release of their second album, Everything Changes based on Barlow's own material. It went straight in at number 1 in the UK Album Chart and spawned four number 1 singles, as well as "Why Can't I Wake Up With You" and "Love Ain't Here Anymore" hitting number 2 and 3 respectively. Barlow received an Ivor Novello Award for Best Contemporary Song in 1994 for the number 1 hit song "Pray" included on the album. Their third album Nobody Else, again based on Barlow's own material, went straight to number 1 and was to be their last studio album of the 90s. The album had three number 1 singles, including Barlow's "Back for Good" which peaked at number 7 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and was brought forward an unprecedented 6 weeks before its official release such was the demand for the single. A Greatest Hits collection followed again reaching number 1. The album featured the band's eighth number 1 single "How Deep Is Your Love". This was to be the first single released by Take That as a four piece (without Robbie Williams) and it was their last single until they reformed in 2005. In 1994 Barlow alongside Rick Astley did backing vocals for Elton John's version of Can You Feel the Love Tonight from The Lion King.
In 2008, the band were nominated for four Brit Awards (Best British Group, Best British Album, Best British Single and Best British Live Act). They won Best British Single and Best British Live Act. After great success in 2006, Take That released the single "Greatest Day" which went straight to number 1 and became their eleventh number 1 single in the UK. The week after they released their second album since their reunion in 2006, The Circus which was the most preordered album of all time. The Circus album was also a great success for Take That going straight to the top of the UK album chart and selling over 2.2 million copies across the country, going multi platinum within 4 days of its release. In June and July Take That performed a record breaking tour named Take That Present: The Circus Live throughout the United Kingdom selling sold over 1 million tickets in just 5 hours.
It was announced that Barlow was in the process of writing Take That's much anticipated sixth studio album, set for release in late 2010. The album, Progress, was the first to feature the original line-up since their 1995 album, Nobody Else. The band also announced a stadium tour entitled Progress Live which will take place in 2011. The tickets for the tour went on sale on 29 October 2010. Due to unprecedented high public demand for tickets, ticketmaster websites across the UK and Ireland crashed and all initial tour dates sold out in under 15 minutes. It was reported that a record breaking one million tickets were snapped up on the first day of sale, resulting in Take That smashing the previous box office record of tickets sold which was set in 2008 by Take That Present: The Circus Live. Due to unprecedented demand Take That added more dates to their tour, finishing in the UK with a record breaking 8 consecutive nights at Wembley Stadium after which the tour will then commence throughout Europe with an estimated 1.75 million people expected to attend the shows.
The lead single from Progress was announced as "The Flood". The single debuted at number 2, selling over 500,000 copies since release. On the first day of the release of Progress, the album sold over 235,000 copies across the UK, making it the fastest selling record of the century. On 21 November 2010, Progress debuted at number one in the United Kingdom, becoming the band's seventh number-one album. By the end of its first week on sale the album sold over 520,000, making it the second fastest-selling album of all-time in UK chart history. To date Progress has sold 2.8 million copies in the UK and has achieved similar chart success across Europe.
The media have widely acknowledged Barlow's talent and labelled him as the mastermind behind the unprecedented success of Take That's comeback and the new musical direction they have taken.
In October 2007, Barlow founded San Remo Live Publishings as an independently run management company to establish and support artists and songwriters.
Gary Barlow has recently signed a new 5 year song writing publishing deal with Sony music. He has also been voted as the greatest British songwriter of all time, ahead of Paul McCartney and John Lennon of The Beatles.
Gary's charity efforts in 2009, including his organising of the BT Comic Relief Kilimanjaro Climb and his organising of 'Children In Need Rocks', raised in excess £6 million. In addition to the charity events organised by Gary, the pop star has also shown support for fellow artists' charity efforts including that of Ronan Keating. The pair belted out Take That's Back for Good written by Barlow at Ronan's Emerald and Ivy Ball in Battersea, South London, on Saturday. The starry bash raised £650,000 for Cancer Research UK.
His organisation of a very special event at the Royal Albert Hall went ahead in November 2009 and was broadcast the following week. This saw a meeting of Take That with Robbie Williams on stage and a number of unusual duets (including Dame Shirley Bassey with Dizzy Rascal and Take That with Lily Allen). Gary dedicated the band's song "Rule the World" to "everyone whose lost someone – Dad, this is for you". It was a very special night raising £2M and ending with Gary seeming to promise it could be an annual event.
It was announced in December 2009 that Barlow had been awarded the prestigious Blue Peter Gold Badge, awarded for outstanding achievements and inspiring children to realise their talents and achieve.
To celebrate his 10th wedding anniversary Gary invited family and many friends to a special event in London. It was a rare event that Gary allowed a popular magazine to photograph the event. A highlight was a special Bingo session hosted by Gary. Money raised at the event was donated to Barnardo's.
Towards the end of 2009, there has been a huge Twitter campaign to 'Get Gary Knighted' for all of his charity work over the years. The campaign has been mentioned and endorsed by many celebrities, including Chris Moyles of Radio 1.
At the beginning of May 2010, it was announced that Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II had asked Gary Barlow to organise her 85th birthday and her Diamond Jubilee celebrations in 2012. A source said: "Her Majesty has been made well aware of his charity work and the events he has put together. She knows that Gary has got the power to pull in the big names across the music industry and to ensure it's a party to match the occasion".
Barlow appeared at Twickenham Stadium to perform the hit single "Shame" alongside Robbie Williams in aid of the Help for Heroes charity on 12 September 2010.
Gary Barlow has also donated the original handwritten lyrics to his number 1 hit single Back for Good to help raise money for the Teenage Cancer Trust. Barlow wrote the song in 1995 and it went on to top the charts across the world as well as becoming a top ten hit in America.
It was announced in December that Gary Barlow would be organising a special show, named GB40, at Shepherd's Bush Empire to celebrate his 40th birthday. This event will see him take to the stage on his own for the first time in over eleven years as he performs songs that span a his 20 year career in music. He has also announced that all of the profits from the show will go to charity.
It has been announced that Gary Barlow is planning to organise a charity walk to the North Pole to raise money for BBC Sport Relief.
In his autobiography My Take, Barlow mentions he was on the Edgware Road tube train that was one of the targets of the 7 July 2005 London bombings.
In 2009, Barlow named "Don't Give Up", the 1986 duet between Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush, as the song that had most inspired him. He said: "I don't think you can listen to this song without feeling inspired, it could save anybody. The lyrics are so inspirational. Specifically I was having a very low moment in the 1990s and the song came on the radio. There have only been a very few times when I've had to pull the car over to listen to a song – this was one of them."
Barlow's father Colin died aged 71 on 15 October 2009. The singer rushed back to his parents' home in Frodsham, Cheshire, and cancelled an engagement to launch his celebrity-packed Children in Need show, whilst also postponing the launch of the Take That edition of Singstar.
During the 2010 General Election the Conservative Party announced their intention to encourage musical achievement amongst young people in schools with a competition called School Stars. Barlow appeared at a school staged campaign event and sang "Greatest Day", backing the introduction of the programme by Conservative Party leader, David Cameron.
Category:1971 births Category:Living people Category:English male singers Category:English singer-songwriters Category:English keyboardists Category:Ivor Novello Award winners Category:People from Frodsham Category:Musical groups from Cheshire Category:Take That members Category:The X Factor (UK) Category:The X Factor judges
da:Gary Barlow de:Gary Barlow es:Gary Barlow fr:Gary Barlow it:Gary Barlow ka:გერი ბარლოუ arz:جارى بارلو my:ဂယ်ရီ ဘားလိုး nl:Gary Barlow ja:ゲイリー・バーロウ pl:Gary Barlow pt:Gary Barlow fi:Gary Barlow sv:Gary Barlow th:แกรี บาร์โลว์ tr:Gary BarlowThis text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
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