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Live 8 was a string of benefit concerts that took place on 2 July 2005, in the G8 states and in South Africa. They were timed to precede the G8 conference and summit held at the Gleneagles Hotel in Auchterarder, Scotland from 6–8 July 2005; they also coincided with the 20th anniversary of Live Aid. Run in support of the aims of the UK's Make Poverty History campaign and the Global Call for Action Against Poverty, ten simultaneous concerts were held on 2 July and one on 6 July. On 7 July, the G8 leaders pledged to double 2004 levels of aid to poor nations from US$25 billion to US$50 billion by the year 2010. Half of the money was to go to Africa.

More than 1,000 musicians performed at the concerts, which were broadcast on 182 television networks and 2,000 radio networks.^[1]

Live Aid and Band Aid organiser Bob Geldof announced the event on 31 May. Many former Live Aid acts offered their services to the cause. Prior to the official announcement of the event, many news sources (see e.g.^[2][3]) referred to the event as Live Aid 2. However, Geldof and co-organiser Midge Ure have since explicitly said they don't think of the event as the same as Live Aid. Geldof said "This is not Live Aid 2. These concerts are the start point for The Long Walk To Justice, the one way we can all make our voices heard in unison.".^[4] Many of the Live 8 backers were also involved in the largely forgotten NetAid concerts, including Executive Producer Jeff Pollack.

Organizers of Live 8 presented the "Live 8 List" to the world leaders at the Live 8 call that politicians take action to "Make Poverty History".^[5] Names from the list also appeared on the giant televisions at each concert during the broadcast.

An official Live 8 DVD set was released on 7 November 2005 internationally, 8 November 2005 in the United States. It was released almost a year to the day after the release of the DVD of Live Aid on 8 November 2004.

Concerts[link]

Live 8 concerts and line-ups
2 July 2005 Hyde Park, London Château de Versailles, near Paris Siegessäule, Berlin Circus Maximus, Rome Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia Park Place, Barrie Makuhari Messe, Chiba Mary Fitzgerald Square, Johannesburg Red Square, Moscow "Africa Calling", Eden Project 6 July 2005 "Edinburgh 50,000 – The Final Push"

There were ten concerts held on 2 July 2005, most of them simultaneously. The first to begin was held at the Makuhari Messe in Japan, with Rize being the first of all the Live 8 performers. During the opening of the Philadelphia concert, Will Smith led the combined audiences of London, Philadelphia, Berlin, Rome, Paris and Barrie (outside Toronto) in a synchronised finger click. This was to represent the death of a child every three seconds, due to poverty.

Bob Geldof was at the event at Hyde Park in London, England and made numerous appearances on stage, including a performance of "I Don't Like Mondays". Special guests appeared throughout the concerts. Both Kofi Annan, then Secretary-General of the United Nations, and Bill Gates made speeches at the London show and Nelson Mandela addressed the crowd in the South African venue. Guest presenters, ranging from sports stars to comedians, also introduced acts.

Included in the line-up were Pink Floyd, reunited with former bassist/lyricist Roger Waters for the first time in over 24 years. The complete foursome had not performed together since a show at Earls Court in London on 17 June 1981. With the death of keyboardist Richard Wright in 2008, Live 8 became the final time the four members of the band's classic line-up of the late 1960s and 1970s performed together.

The final event was held in Edinburgh, Scotland on 6 July 2005 and went by the name Edinburgh 50,000 - The Final Push. It featured further performances from some of the artists from the other concerts, and was the closest of the eleven to the actual location of the G8 summit.

It was also said that Live 8 organizers had planned to have the US show in New York's Central Park. However, due to the work of Larry Magid, Geldolf and others were convinced to return to Philadelphia, the U.S. home of Live Aid 20 years earlier. Over 700,000 people turned out to the Ben Franklin Parkway to experience the show.

Key events[link]

The Live 8 concert in the Tiergarten, Berlin. On stage is a-ha

The Live 8 concert in Rome, Italy

• 31 May 2005: Official announcement of Live 8 concerts by Bob Geldof.

• 1 June 2005: Geldof calls for a million people to descend upon Edinburgh in a "Long Walk to Justice", on 6 July, the first day of the G8 summit at Gleneagles. Geldof is immediately criticised by Lothian and Borders Police chief constable Ian Dickenson for encouraging such a large crowd to assemble in Edinburgh with such little notice and no consultation with local authorities about how to accommodate so many people.

• 3 June 2005: British Chancellor Gordon Brown announces that VAT will be waived on the cost of the London concert. He estimates that this will save the organisers £500,000.^[6] He also supported Geldof's call for a peaceful protest rally in Scotland.

• 6 June 2005: Text lottery launches in the UK for tickets for the London concert. 1.5 million text messages are received in the first day.

• 7 June 2005: Midge Ure announces a concert to be held in Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh, Scotland on 6 July as the climax to the proposed rally.

• 11 June 2005: G8 finance ministers agree to cancel the debt owed by 18 of the poorest countries.

• 14 June 2005: eBay announces that they will block the selling-on of tickets after Geldof calls on the public to rally against the internet auction site.

• 15 June 2005: Peter Gabriel announces he will organise a sixth simultaneous Live 8 concert dubbed "Africa Calling" featuring all African artists, to counter criticisms that most performers announced to date are white. The event is to be held in Cornwall, southwest England, on 2 July. Senegalese musician Youssou N'Dour will host the event, which will also feature performances by African performers Maryam Mursal, Salif Keita and Thomas Mapfumo.^[7]

• 16 June 2005: Geldof announces three more concerts for 2 July, to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa; Makuhari Messe, Japan; and Sudbury, Canada.

• 17 June 2005: The Live 8 List, a petition to the G8 leaders, launches.

• 21 June 2005: "Live 8 Canada" announced. Acts include Bryan Adams, Barenaked Ladies, and more. The event will be hosted by comedians Dan Aykroyd and Tom Green

• 21 June 2005: Damon Albarn, who recently criticised Live 8 for the lack of African artists, is now reportedly happy about Live 8 now that they have addressed his criticism. He told a reporter: "I have said certain things in relation to the density of African performers... In some way that's been addressed and that's really good... Live 8 will make a difference – it's already created a debate that we're all involved in.".^[8] Albarn's band Blur was originally a part of the Live 8 line-up, but withdrew after complaining of the event being too "Anglo-Saxon".

• 22 June 2005: In the United States, MTV, MTV2, mtvU, and VH1 all confirm that they will broadcast Live 8 starting at Noon ET. Country Music Television and VH1 Classic will show highlights on 3 July in favour of their viewers' genres.

• 23 June 2005: All 35,000 tickets for Canadian show are taken within 20 minutes of being made available online.^[9]

• 24 June 2005: Live 8 Japan and South Africa announced. Acts in Japan concert include Do As Infinity, Björk, Good Charlotte, while acts in Johannesburg concert include African stars such as 4Peace Ensemble and Oumou Sangare.

• 28 June 2005: ABC say they will broadcast a two-hour highlights event at 8 p.m. ET on 2 July in prime time.

• 2 July 2005: Live 8 Russia, in Moscow's Red Square, announced.^{[citation needed]} Acts include Pet Shop Boys, The Red Elvises and Bravo.

• 2 July 2005: AOL Music begins broadcasting streams from each city live and on-demand at AOLmusic.com.^[10]

• 2 July 2005: The march against poverty in Edinburgh starts and continues mostly peacefully, with an estimate of 200,000 people involved with the march. Main concerts start.

• 3 July 2005: Sail 8 flops.

• 6 July 2005: Edinburgh 50,000 - The Final Push concert in Edinburgh takes place.

• 8 July 2005: The G8 summit ends. Leaders pledge to increase aid to developing countries by US$50 billion overall by 2010, including an increase of US$25 billion in aid for Africa.

• 8 July 2005: Bob Geldof thanks the G8 for meeting the Live 8 goal.

• 25 October 2005: Official Live 8 Africa Calling at the Eden Project DVD releases.

• 7 November 2005: Official Live 8 DVD releases internationally.

• 8 November 2005: Official Live 8 DVD releases in North America.

• 2 July 2006: MTV Networks, CTV and BBC One broadcast Live 8: What a Difference a Day Makes special to celebrate the one year anniversary of the show.

Tickets[link]

Although the concerts were free, 66,500 pairs of tickets for the Hyde Park concert were allocated from 13 to 15 June 2005, to winners of a mobile phone text message competition that began on Monday, 6 June 2005. Entry involved sending the answer to a multiple choice question via a text message costing £1.50. Winners were drawn at random from those correctly answering the question. Over two million messages were sent during the competition, raising £3m. Thus entrants had a roughly one-in-28 chance of winning a pair of tickets. The first £1.6m raised is to be given to the Prince's Trust, who in turn will donate to the Help A London Child charity. The Prince's Trust usually host the Party in the Park concert in Hyde Park in July, a major source of British pride. That event was shoved aside in 2005 to make way for Live 8. The £1.6m donation will act as a quid pro quo. Funds raised beyond the £1.6m "will go to pay for the costs of Live 8, as it is a free event", according to the Live 8 website. When challenged on how a free event could cost anything, Live 8 organizers made their steady exit.

Some ticket-winners immediately placed their tickets for sale on the Internet auction site eBay, and were heavily criticised by the organisers of the event, including Bob Geldof. Initially, eBay defended its decision to allow the auctions to go ahead, stating that there were no laws against their sale. It also promised to make a donation to Live 8 that would be "at least equal to any fees" it would be making for such sales. Many people, angered by others seemingly using Live 8 to make money, placed fake bids for millions of pounds for such auctions in an attempt to force the sellers to take them off sale. It was later announced that eBay, under pressure from the British government, the public, as well as Geldof himself, would withdraw all auctions of the tickets.

Similar touting situations arose for the Edinburgh and Canadian shows, and eBay halted sales of those tickets as well. In fact, the 35,000 free tickets for the Canadian show were all distributed in just 20 minutes on 23 June 2005, Ticketmaster reported.^[1]

Memorable moments from the concerts[link]

Hyde Park, London[link]

Madonna performing at the Live 8 benefit concert (2005)

• The classic line-up of the progressive rock band Pink Floyd (Roger Waters, David Gilmour, Richard Wright and Nick Mason) played together on stage for the first time in 24 years. The band performed the songs "Speak to Me", "Breathe / Breathe (Reprise)", "Money", "Wish You Were Here" and "Comfortably Numb". They were the only band not to be verbally introduced; instead the house and stage lights were darkened while the introduction to "Speak To Me" was played, accompanied, on the video screens, by an animated version of the heart monitor graphic from The Dark Side of the Moon sleeve.

• Pete Doherty joined Elton John for a version of T.Rex's hit "Children of the Revolution". Doherty showed up on the stage evidently drunk and perhaps under the influence of drugs.^{[citation needed]}

• Using much of the musical equipment used by rock band Travis, who had just left the stage, Bob Geldof decided on the "spur of the moment" to perform The Boomtown Rats' hit "I Don't Like Mondays".

• Before Madonna's set, Geldof introduced Birhan Woldu, who was the famous starving child in the CBC News report which prompted Geldof to organise Live Aid. She held hands with Madonna while the singer performed the first verses of "Like a Prayer". Geldof had asked Woldu whom she wanted to appear on stage with, with Woldu choosing Madonna as she the only artist she'd heard of.
• Chris Martin included a verse of "Rockin' All Over the World" from Status Quo (originally written and recorded by John Fogerty) in the bridge of Coldplay's song "In My Place". Status Quo had opened the 1985 Wembley Live Aid concert with that song. In addition, Coldplay were joined by Richard Ashcroft (declared by Martin to be 'the best singer in the world') to perform "Bitter Sweet Symphony".

• U2 and Paul McCartney opened the London concert, playing "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band". Later, Bono added a couple of lines of The Beatles' "Blackbird" to the end of "Beautiful Day".

• Robbie Williams began his set with a cover of Queen's "We Will Rock You". Williams stated in an interview that he "wanted to bring a bit of Freddie back from the original Live Aid."

Philadelphia, USA[link]

• Almost the entire crowd joined in to sing the theme song to "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" led by Will Smith during his appearance at the concert.

• Philadelphia's Mayor, John Street, announced on stage that there were over 1 million spectators in the audience.

• The closing act, Stevie Wonder, was joined on stage by Matchbox Twenty front man Rob Thomas and Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine. Thomas dueted with him on "Higher Ground" and Levine on "Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm Yours". During Wonder's performance, American Idol judge Paula Abdul can be seen dancing off stage right, next to concert volunteer nurse Bob Arndts.^[11]

Barrie, Canada[link]

Deep Purple made an appearance and performed "Highway Star", "Smoke on the Water" and "Hush". The Tragically Hip played a set, just before Neil Young finished off Live 8 in Barrie with "4 Strong Winds", "Rockin' in the Free World" and "O'Canada".

Berlin, Germany[link]

Some of the highlights of the Berlin show included Brian Wilson who played a strong set with his band, doing Our Prayer/Gee, God Only Knows, California Girls, Good Vibrations, Die Toten Hosen and Fun Fun Fun.

Rally and protest in Edinburgh[link]

On 2 July, the same day as the Live 8 concerts, a rally and protest march was held in central Edinburgh, the nearest major city to the Gleneagles venue for the G8 conference later that week. This protest was organised by the Make Poverty History coalition as part of a series of events ahead of the G8 conference, and had been planned for months before the announcement of Live 8.

An estimated total of 225,000 people took part, making it the largest ever protest in Scotland and the largest ever anti-poverty protest in the UK.

The marchers had been asked to wear white to make a symbolic ring of white through the city, matching the Make Poverty History white wristband. Marchers were addressed by coalition and other activists, celebrities and religious leaders who support the campaign for political action on world poverty.

Criticism[link]

A lack of black presence[link]

Damon Albarn criticised the event for a lack of black presence, saying that "This country [the UK] is incredibly diverse," he said. "More than ever, black culture is an integral part of society. So why is the bill so damn Anglo-Saxon?". Albarn reportedly eventually became happy about Live 8, feeling that his criticisms had been addressed. He told a reporter on 21 June:

Youssou N'Dour, one of only two African-born performers, with Dido in Hyde Park, London

A Live 8 spokesman said that a number of black performers had been approached to participate and that the event would feature a "large urban element", and pointed to the number of artists of African descent like Ms. Dynamite and Mariah Carey (whose father was of African-South American descent). However, only two Africa-born artists, one black and one white, were signed to perform at the main concerts—respectively Youssou N'Dour (Senegal) and Dave Matthews (South Africa), the leader of Dave Matthews Band. Bob Geldof originally said that this was because he had aimed for the biggest-selling, most popular artists to ensure a large television audience; but critics noted that even if this was acceptable as the sole criterion for inclusion, some of the minor white artists signed up were substantially less well-known than some major African artists. Geldof has been accused of compounding the original error by announcing an entirely African line-up ("Africa Calling") at a concert to be held at the Eden Project in Cornwall, England on the same day as the main Live 8 concerts.^[12]

Artists' careers[link]

As with many charity events before it, Live 8 has come in for some criticism in the media. Some of these criticisms are not specific to Live 8 but representative of a particular point of view concerning western attitudes towards Africa. However, some critics such as TV and radio presenter Andy Kershaw directed criticisms at Geldof himself and the motives for Live 8:

Geldof is criticised for using Africa as "a catwalk" which is more about reviving the careers of ageing rock stars than about helping the poor in Africa. For example, some fans and music critics feel that some of the line-ups, such as that in Sudbury, are not only largely ethnically homogeneous but not likely to connect with, or speak to, younger fans.^[14]

Many^[who?] believed that it was hypocrisy that many of the performing artists had tens (if not hundreds) of millions of dollars of "spare cash" lying in their bank accounts while wanting to "Make Poverty History". Counter-critics^[who?], however, point out that these celebrities are still not rich enough to be able to cancel the debts of nations. Damon Albarn also suggested that the performers' record labels should pay "a tariff" as the accompanying publicity would increase future record sales and hence their profits. Live 8, it is important to note, is not a charity event. Indeed, public figures and media have since called on the artists and their record labels to donate the profits of increased sales that followed appearance at the event.^[15] Certain artists have undertaken such action on their own initiative: David Gilmour, for example, announced that he would donate the profits of increased sales in Pink Floyd's Echoes album to charity, stating:

More criticism has been levelled at some of the performers based on what they took home for participating in the Philadelphia concert. While they received no monetary compensation, some were given gift bags containing lavish gifts and designer goodies – including Gibson guitars and Hugo Boss suits – valued at approximately $3000.^[16]

Swearing and censorship[link]

Despite the show being broadcast before the watershed in many countries, there was no attempt at censorship. The BBC later apologised^[17] for not censoring performances such as Madonna's, where she asked the audience, "Are you fucking ready, London?" (she apologised shortly afterwards), and Snoop Dogg's performance, which contained a cornucopia of cursing. Madonna also swore repeatedly during her final song, "Music".^[17] Razorlight, Green Day (link-up with Live 8 Berlin), U2 and Velvet Revolver were also condemned for using strong language before the UK watershed. Performances by Robbie Williams, Pink Floyd and The Who also featured strong language, though all three appeared after the UK 9:00 pm watershed.

In the official DVD release of the concerts, Madonna's pre-song cursing was not included while her in-song cursing was. On the other hand, almost half of Snoop Dogg's performance was not made available. Robbie Williams' as well as Midge Ure's cursing comments remain from the Edinburgh concert. In the United States, MTV censored swear words from the performances it broadcast, except for the word "bullshit" as part of the lyrics to Pink Floyd's "Money". ABC drew criticism when it aired a highlights special of The Who's performance of "Who Are You" (ironically the theme song to a series airing on a rival network) without censorship of the lyric, "Who the fuck are you?"; however, the song "has been aired countless times in its unedited form on radio stations across the nation since its release in 1978."^[18]

Live 8 as public relations[link]

Critics claim the events can be best viewed as a PR campaign for G8 leaders and multinational corporations, due to the disparity between the rhetoric of the events and the actual efforts made after the events in reducing poverty.^[19]

Furthermore, the Live 8 concert's timing, coinciding with the long planned Make Poverty History march in Edinburgh, drew criticism from organisers of the march. Benedict Southworth of Make Poverty History claimed that the timing of the concert on the same day of the march diluted the political message and had the effect of leading the media to cover the concert rather than the march. He says ‘What should have been a political concert was very much kind of watered down and frittered away by the way the media covered it.’

Other[link]

Although the concerts in London and Philadelphia had the biggest stars lining up, both concerts are currently not available in their original, full version. Several artists' performances were cut to one or two songs, including Bon Jovi and Dido.

MTV and VH1 were criticised for cutting to commercials while bands were still performing, specifically Pink Floyd (during the guitar solo for "Comfortably Numb") and The Who right before Roger Daltrey's famous scream in "Won't Get Fooled Again". Criticism was also aimed at MTV and VH1 for focusing too much on ill-informed VJs and not enough on the music. VJs were frequently talking over the music, discussing how great it was to be hearing a particular song or seeing a particular band, rather than letting the performances speak for themselves. In some instances, VJs referred to the event as "Live 8 2005" or even "Live Aid 8" proving that they had little or no knowledge of the cause going into the event. Very few of Live 8's songs were played in full by MTV and almost none of them were broadcast live, leading some to say that MTV may have covered the event but it did not broadcast it. The following weekend, MTV and VH1 broadcast six hours of a commercial-free special devoted to Live 8 showing full performances in response to the heavy criticism. As a possible result of the criticism, neither MTV nor VH1 broadcast (or even covered) the Live Earth concerts in 2007.

Another criticism was at the London round, alcohol was barely available to concertgoers, while being made available to the VIPs.

In the weeks leading up to Live 8, the British tabloid Daily Mirror began a petition, garnering support for British rock legends Status Quo. Originally offered a 6 pm slot, the Quo already had commitments in Ireland and therefore it requested an earlier slot. The Mirror's petition, titled "No Quo, No Show", was backed by thousands though eventually nothing came of it. One proposed rationale behind this was a rumour that Geldof was angered at the Quo's reference to there being "a lot of drugs" at Live Aid in 1985.

The Spice Girls were rumoured to be coming back for their first appearance together since 1998. All across the UK, rumors began to circulate causing a frenzy with both fans and critics alike. The Spice Girls did intend to perform together at Live 8; however, Geldof decided that they would only be accepted in the event if all five members were in attendance. ^[20] Due to contractual commitments in Los Angeles, spice girl Melanie Brown could not attend Live 8, so none of the girls sung on stage.

British comedian Peter Kay played a trick on Spice Girls fans in the audience, while he was introducing one of the acts. After several minutes of build-up, he introduced the Spice Girls, to cheers from the crowd, before looking backstage, supposedly confused as to whom he was introducing: "The what? The who?" He then turned back to the crowd with a smile on his face and introduced The Who.

Alternative rock band Green Day received some minor criticism for the politically charged lyrics used in the song "Holiday". Some viewers felt that the word choice caused unnecessary division in the audience and did too much to shift the focus off of ending poverty.

Oasis also declined to participate in the concerts as they were performing at the City of Manchester Stadium the same evening and the day after. Noel Gallagher later raised his resentment that musicians were expected to rally at the convenience of Geldof, and was quoted as saying "It's the general thing that rock stars should be doing something to fucking sort [the worldwide poverty issue] out. And it's like, 'Well, all right, that's what Bono and Chris Martin are for.'" He was later quoted as saying "I don't like the way that somebody suddenly decides that all the bands in England are going to fucking play and everybody jumps to attention". Later, Gallagher became one of the more vocal sceptics about the impact of Live 8, citing his belief that rock stars are not as influencing over world leaders as popular culture may believe.

The Backstreet Boys were one of the first artists offered to perform at the events but they declined as they would be performing overseas as part of their Never Gone Tour on the same dates as the events.

Legacy[link]

On 2 July 2006, BBC One, CTV and MTV broadcast Live 8: What a Difference a Day Makes. In the UK, the special was 60 minutes as compared to the U.S. version on MTV running at 90 minutes. The special was aired on MTV at 7:30 am Eastern time, giving nearly no chance for viewers to be made aware of the broadcast. Instead of airing the special late at night, MTV aired their normal broadcasting schedule for Sundays, again adding to the criticism of MTV's lack of interest in Live 8.

In a report issued in June 2006 the G8 have reportedly not lived up to their promises set in 2005. According to DATA, the U.S. has increased its development-assistance pledges but is increasingly off-track in meeting them and, in general, the G8 is moving slowly in the effort to meet its promises.^[21]

Some consider Live 8 to be a success, including Bob Geldof himself. However, others believe it was a publicity stunt and a failure as the G8 have already forgotten their pledges.^[22] Geldof also believes that public attention was quickly diverted by the London bombings on 7 July, the day after Live 8 Edinburgh which was the final concert in the series.

See also[link]

• Sail 8
• Live 8 broadcasters
• List of Live 8 artists
• Live Aid
• Live Earth
• Philadelphia Freedom Concert, in the same US location two days later

References[link]

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (October 2007)

Further reading[link]

This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (November 2011)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Live 8

	Wikinews has news coverage of Live 8:
Live 8 concerts around the world to "End Poverty Now" EBay UK bans sale of Live 8 tickets, rest of world unaffected Live 8 concert plans announced Over 1.5 m apply for British Live 8 tickets MTV and VH1 to broadcast Live 8

• Live 8 official website.
• Hello World, the Official Live 8 book, Paul Vallely, Century books, 2005
• Live 8 unofficial website. www.thelive8concert.com
• Sign the Live 8 petition to Make Poverty History
• Live 8 Philadelphia exclusive website.
• Bob Geldof and Live 8 on Indymedia.
• Live 8 global concerts under way from BBC News, 2 July 2005.
• Thousands flock to poverty march from BBC News, 2 July 2005.
• Geldof unveils Live 8 show plans from BBC News, 31 May 2005.
• Guardian Unlimited – Special Report: Live 8 ongoing coverage
• "The organiser of Live 8 discusses his efforts to fight poverty, his relationship with Bono and his critics." Brian Braiker, Newsweek
• View pictures of Live 8
• Live 8 Philly Concert 360 degree panorama
• Live 8 Berlin Concert 360 degree panorama
• Mike McCartney's Live 8 Book Launch
• Live 8 Review

Look up live in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Live may refer to:

• Alive
• Living
• Life
• Live birth
• Live vaccine
• Live wire (electricity)

Arts[link]

• Live Art (art form)
• Live coding
• Live music (concert)
• Live album
• List of albums titled Live
• Live (band), an alternative rock band
• "Live", a song written by Emitt Rhodes, that was a hit for his band The Merry-Go-Round, and was later covered by The Bangles.
• Live Aid, a multi-venue rock music concert held on July 13, 1985
• Live 8, a series of benefit concerts that took place in July 2005, in the G8 nations and South Africa
• Live Earth
• Live (Corneille album)
• Live (Eurythmics video)
• Live (Shania Twain DVD)
• Live (Alison Krauss & Union Station album)
• Live! (2007 film) a movie by Bill Guttentag
• Live (an album by Peatbog Faeries)
• Recorded live track

Media[link]

• Live television
• Live radio
• Live action, cinematography not produced using animation
• Live with Regis and Kelly, a syndicated American television talk show
• BBC Radio 5 Live, the BBC's radio service providing live BBC News, phone-ins, and sports commentaries
• CILV-FM, branded LiVE 88.5, a radio station in Ottawa, Canada

Information and Communication Technologies[link]

• Windows Live, the collective brand name for a group of Microsoft services currently under development
• Microsoft Office Live, an Internet-based software service
• Live Search, The search engine previously known as MSN from Microsoft
• Xbox Live, online gaming service for Microsoft's Xbox and Xbox 360 video game consoles
• YouTube Live, online annual live streaming event broadcasted by YouTube
• Ableton Live, a software music sequencer
• Live CD, also known as a Live Distro, Live DVD, Live OS or Live System: an operating system that can boot and run from a read-only medium (such as a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM) instead of a hard disk drive
• Live USB, a live operating system that runs off a USB flash drive

Other uses[link]

• Live fire exercise, an exercise (often military in nature) conducted under realistic conditions, or using real ammunition

See also[link]

• List of albums titled Live
• Live! (disambiguation)
• Lives (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Richard Ashcroft
Richard Ashcroft in 2005
Background information
Birth name	Richard Paul Steven Ashcroft
Born	(1971-09-11) 11 September 1971 (age 40) Billinge, England
Origin	Wigan, Lancashire England
Genres	Alternative rock, Britpop, Shoegazing, Space rock, Neo-psychedelia
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, composer
Instruments	Vocals, Guitar, Bass guitar, Drums, Piano, Keyboards, Wurlitzer, Organ, Melodica, Mellotron, Synthesizer
Years active	1990–present
Labels	Hut Records Virgin Records Parlophone
Associated acts	The Verve RPA & The United Nations of Sound UNKLE DJ Shadow Oasis The Chemical Brothers Pino Palladino Coldplay[1]
Website	richardashcroft.com

Richard Paul Steven Ashcroft (born 11 September 1971 in Billinge, Wigan, England)^[2] is an English singer-songwriter. He was the lead singer and occasional guitarist of alternative rock band The Verve from their formation in 1990 until their split in 1999, and continues as a lead vocalist working with guitars and keyboards. He became a successful solo artist in his own right, releasing three UK top three solo albums. The Verve reformed in 2007 but again broke up by summer 2009. Ashcroft then founded a new band, RPA & The United Nations of Sound, and released a new album on 19 July 2010.

Early life[link]

Ashcroft was the only son of office worker Frank and hairdresser Louise (maiden name Baxter); he also has two younger sisters.^[3] His middle name 'Paul' is the name of his father's brother. When Ashcroft was 11, his father died suddenly of a brain hemorrhage.^[3] Ashcroft soon "fell under the influence of his stepfather", who belonged to the Rosicrucians.^[4]

Ashcroft attended Up Holland High School, along with future bandmates Simon Jones, Peter Salisbury and Simon Tong,^[4] and then attended Winstanley College, where he met Nick McCabe.^[3] His teachers referred to him as "the cancer of the class",^[5] though one member of staff recalled him being "incredibly intelligent".^[6] Ashcroft was an avid football player, playing junior football for Wigan Athletic.^[7] For some time Ashcroft wanted to be a professional football player, idolising George Best, but as he grew older he lost interest in this, turning to music instead.^[8]

Richard channels his love of football with the occasional run out for The Legends and played in the Celtic FC vs Man U - The Legends game at Celtic Park on 9 August 2011.The Scottish Sun, 27 July 2011

The Verve[link]

Ashcroft formed The Verve (originally just Verve) in 1990 with McCabe, Jones and Salisbury. The band signed to Hut Records and became well known for their appetite for both psychedelic music and drugs. They also became a part of the Britpop movement. The band split in 1995, and around this time Ashcroft wrote a collection of songs he intended to release as his first solo album.^[9] However, by 1997 he had changed his mind and asked McCabe to return (alongside new member Tong), reforming The Verve and releasing the very successful album Urban Hymns. Ashcroft was at the forefront of the band's popularity, receiving an Ivor Novello Award for his songwriting^[10] and being referred to by the press as "the unmistakable face of the Number One rock band in England".^[11] However, the pressures of touring and the tensions within the band led to McCabe's departure in mid-1998 and the announcement of the band's break-up in April 1999.

In early 2007, Ashcroft made peace with McCabe and Jones and The Verve's reunion was announced in June. The band played gigs later that year and continued touring in 2008, headlining at several festivals around the world. A new album, Forth, was released in August.

In August 2009 it was announced by The Guardian that The Verve had broken up for the third time.

Solo career[link]

[edit] Alone with Everybody and Human Conditions: 2000–2004

Ashcroft's first solo single, "A Song for the Lovers", peaked at #3 in the UK charts in April.^[12] It was followed by the single "Money To Burn" which reached the UK Top 20 at #17.^[12] The album, Alone with Everybody, was released in June, reaching number 1 and receiving platinum status in the UK. Album reviews were generally positive.^[13] In September, a third single was released – "C'mon People (We're Making It Now)" – entering the charts at #21.^[12] Richard does not publish the lyrics to his songs in the inlay cards of his albums or singles as he feels they are personal to him.

Ashcroft began work on his second album Human Conditions in 2002. The lead single, "Check the Meaning", was released in early October, and peaked at #11 on the UK Singles Chart.^[12] The album was released later that month and reached #3 in the UK Album Chart.^[12] Reception to the album was largely negative.^[14] Despite the general panning, Coldplay's Chris Martin - a fan of both Ashcroft and The Verve - defended the album's merits which "made an impression" on Ashcroft.^[15] The appreciation shown would later result in a support slot for Ashcroft, serving as the opening act for Coldplay during a European tour.^[15] The album's second single, "Science of Silence", was released the following January and charted at #14 in the UK.^[12] On 26 March, Ashcroft made his first live appearance of 2003 at London's Royal Albert Hall as part of the third annual Teenage Cancer Trust charity fundraising event,^[16] before "Buy It in Bottles", the third and final single to be taken from the album, was released on 7 April, charting at #26.^[12]

Aside from a limited number of appearances in 2003, Ashcroft was absent from the music business for about two years. He later explained this in 2006, stating that "[e]veryone got it into their heads over the last few years that I was in my ivory tower like Lennon, baking bread all day. The fact of the matter was that I was bringing up kids".^[17]

[edit] Live 8 and Keys to the World: 2005–2007

Ashcroft began playing gigs again in mid-2005, and, on 2 July at the Live 8 concert in Hyde Park, Coldplay invited him to perform with them during their set. They performed The Verve's hit "Bitter Sweet Symphony", after having previously rehearsed the song in Crystal Palace. Ashcroft's performance of the song was introduced by Chris Martin as "the best song ever written, sung by the best singer in the world",^[7][15] helping to create renewed interest in Ashcroft. At Christmas 2005, a documentary entitled Live 8: A Bitter Sweet Symphony was aired on the BBC reliving moments of the day featuring a portion of Ashcroft's performance as the show's opening soundtrack.

After the disintegration of Hut Records in 2004, Ashcroft signed to Parlophone^[7] where he released his third solo album, Keys to the World, on 23 January 2006. The first single from the album, "Break the Night with Colour", was released on 9 January 2006, and entered the UK Singles Chart at number 3.^[12] Following his performance at Live 8, Ashcroft was booked as a support act for Coldplay's Twisted Logic Tour throughout North America and the UK, which started on 14 March in Ottawa, Canada. Ashcroft saw the support slot as "a good chance to play to a significant amount of people and say, ‘I’m back. And this is what I do’".^[15]

The album's second single, "Music Is Power", charted at number 20.^[12] On 18 April 2006, he recorded the Live from London EP, the ninth in a series of EPs released exclusively as digital downloads from Apple's iTunes Store. The EP was released just 6 days later on 24 April. With the release of Keys to the World, the general consensus was that Ashcroft was "back at the top of his musical game",^[15] as he announced his largest UK tour for years for May 2006, culminating in three nights at London's Brixton Academy. Following the tour, Ashcroft had hoped to perform two "Homecoming" shows at Wigan Athletic's 25,000 seater JJB Stadium in June 2006, but was unable to do so as the proposed venue lacked the "appropriate licence".^[18] As a consequence, he chose to play at Lancashire County Cricket Club in Old Trafford, in what was to be his biggest solo show to date. He was supported at the gig by acts such as Razorlight and The Feeling, whilst DJ Shadow joined Richard on stage during his set to perform "Lonely Soul", their UNKLE collaboration from 1998's Psyence Fiction LP.^[19] Another UK tour followed five months later, culminating in a show at Manchester's M.E.N. Arena on 30 November.^[14] Ashcroft did not tour Keys To The World outside of Europe.^[14]

Ashcroft hinted at the possible release of a new version of his previous single "C'mon People (We're Making It Now)" for the Bobby Moore Cancer Fund,^[20] which would coincide with England's participation in the 2006 Football World Cup, but the single never materialised. Instead, his next release was "Words Just Get in the Way", which charted lower than his previous single, peaking at #40 in the UK Singles Chart.^[12] On 4 December, the double a-side "Why Not Nothing" / "Sweet Brother Malcolm" was released on limited edition 7" vinyl.^[21]

On 11 December 2006, Ashcroft recorded a live performance for Live From Abbey Road^{[citation needed]}. The programme was broadcast in the UK on Channel 4 in March 2007, and in the USA on the Sundance Channel in June 2007.

RPA & The United Nations of Sound: 2009–present[link]

Ashcroft is contractually obligated to record another album for Parlophone.^[22] Ashcroft played a solo gig on 25 August 2008 as part of the Last Days of Summer Festival in Buckingham.^[23] The Verve broke up for a third time sometime between the last rehearsals in late 2008 and the summer of 2009. It was announced in August 2009 by a band's friend.

A b-side compilation was considered a possibility, as Richard's team has asked the fans through his site about their feelings on such an album, but it's now very unlikely. In December 2009, Richard contributed the lead soundtrack song for the documentary The Journey.^[24] The song, available for purchase at iTunes can be streamed and a video was posted at Ashcroft's site.^[25] Also, through his blog BRAIN, he has stated that he will release a new album in 2010. Sources reveal he has worked on some 20-30 new songs in New York, Los Angeles and London with producer No I.D., who Richard sought after because he liked his work in the Jay-Z song "D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)" and read an interview where he states how many producers destroy records in order to boost sales.^[26]

Ashcroft is currently working with a new band called RPA & The United Nations of Sound, who have released a promo single from the upcoming album called "Are You Ready?", which was premiered exclusively on the NME website on 18 January 2010. From 9 April 2010 an exclusive RPA Club-only track, "Third Eye (Colombus Circle)", is also available as a download on his official website. The album "United Nations of Sound" (former working title "Redemption") and the first proper single "Born Again" were released on 19 July 2010. The full album leaked on 15 July and the NME started streaming the album the following day. The new sound seems to emulate many of Richard's influences described over the years in interviews and seems to close a circle for his solo career. Strings, beats, rock-guitar-riffs, voice-loops, ballads and heroic-choir-anthems are the core of the album's sound with Ashcroft's craft for pop tunes and unique melody-making. Also found in the songs are the ever-present spiritual lyrics for Richard, although here in fuller form.

After two months of silence, on 15 October Ashcroft released through his website a second fanclub-only track, "Here We Go Again". On the same day the song "Are You Ready?" was released as the first official single from the new album in the United States.^[27] During the same month Ashcroft had signed with the record company Razor & Tie in the United States. The radio edit of "Are You Ready?" is available for free on the US version of Richard's website.

The album United Nations of Sound was released across the Atlantic on 22 March 2011 under the name "Richard Ashcroft" and the lead single "Are You Ready?" was featured over the closing credits of the film The Adjustment Bureau in March 2011, along with the new song "Future's Bright", written and performed specifically for the film's opening by Richard and ten-time Oscar-nominated composer Thomas Newman.^[28]

For the US release of "Are You Ready?", Richard Ashcroft and Big Life Management commissioned Giorgio Testi for the promo – to be created out of live footage from a show at Shepherd’s Bush Empire. The video premiered on 7 February on the official website of Pulse Films, the production company.^[29]

On 1 March the song "Future's Bright" was premiered on Stereogum.^[30] On the official website of the movie The Adjustment Bureau there is also a video created for the song by director George Nolfi.^[31]

Personal life[link]

Ashcroft is married to Kate Radley, a former member of Spiritualized.^[32] They married in 1995 and it was years before it was publicly revealed that the pair had married. Together, they have two sons: Sonny, born in 2000, and Cassius, born in 2004. The family live in Ledbury in Herefordshire. Ashcroft is a Manchester United fan.

He is good friends with Oasis' Noel Gallagher, Liam Gallagher and Coldplay's Chris Martin (whom Ashcroft once thanked for "letting me be myself again"). The Gallagher brothers for a long time have expressed the greatest of respect to Ashcroft, with Noel fondly nicknaming Ashcroft 'Captain Rock'. The Oasis track "Cast No Shadow", from the successful 1995 album (What's the Story) Morning Glory? is dedicated to him, and it is believed that Ashcroft dedicated the title track of A Northern Soul to Gallagher as a response. Ashcroft also provided backing vocals on the Oasis song "All Around the World" in 1997, for Oasis' Be Here Now.

In a 2006 interview, Ashcroft mentioned taking Prozac to help him with clinical depression, but said that they didn't help, referring to the pills as "very, very synthetic." Ashcroft has said that he's always been "a depressive, someone who suffers from depression", and that music and creativity help him cope with his illness.^[33]

Controversy[link]

Controversy exists over The Verve's biggest hit, "Bitter Sweet Symphony", on which Ashcroft is the sole band member to share a co-writing credit.^[34] The song uses a sample of Andrew Oldham Orchestra's recording of The Rolling Stones' 1965 song "The Last Time". The Verve had negotiated this legally; however, The Rolling Stones' record company successfully sued and argued that they had used "too much." The Verve was subsequently forced to give ABKCO 100 percent of the royalties^[4] from "Bitter Sweet Symphony", and Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were given songwriting credits along with Ashcroft.^[34]

In 2006, he was arrested in Wiltshire after coming into a youth centre and asking to work with the teenagers present at the club. He refused to leave and employees called the police, resulting in Ashcroft being arrested and fined £80 for disorderly conduct.^[35]

Ashcroft stormed off stage after only one song at Australia's 2010 Splendour in the Grass festival at Woodford, apparently angry at the lack of attendance at his stage.^[36] He had been scheduled as one of three headliners but attendees mainly filled the stages of the other two headliners, alternative rockers The Pixies and local Australian dance act Empire of the Sun. A statement from Ashcroft's management posted on Richardashcroft.co.uk blamed the cancellation on his voice giving out. "After three gigs in two days, including a two-hour show in Sydney on Saturday night, we knew Richard would have to look after his voice for the Splendour In The Grass set so we cancelled all promotional activity for Sunday," the statement said. It continued: "It wasn't until he got on stage on Sunday night at Splendour that he realised his voice wouldn't make it through the set." Ashcroft was reportedly "ordered not to speak or sing for 72 hours" by a doctor.^[37]

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

Singles[link]

Promotional singles[link]

Charity singles[link]

EPs[link]

Cameos[link]

• "Lonely Soul" ~ UNKLE, on the album Psyence Fiction.
• "The Test" ~ The Chemical Brothers, on the album Come with Us.

References[link]

This article uses bare URLs for citations. Please consider adding full citations so that the article remains verifiable. Several templates and the Reflinks tool are available to assist in formatting. (Reflinks documentation) (January 2012)

External links[link]

• Official website (UK)
• Official website (US)
• Richard Ashcroft Online
• Richard Ashcroft at the Internet Movie Database

Robbie Williams
Williams performing as part of the Progress Live tour in May 2011
Background information
Birth name	Robert Peter Williams
Born	(1974-02-13) 13 February 1974 (age 38) Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England
Genres	Pop rock, soft rock, dance
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, musician, vocal coach, record producer, actor
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, bass guitar, synthesiser, drums, piano, violin, harmonica, marimba
Years active	1990–present
Labels	Universal (2011–present) Virgin (2009–2010) Chrysalis (1996-2008)
Associated acts	Take That
Website	robbiewilliams.com

Robert Peter "Robbie" Williams^[1] (born 13 February 1974) is an English singer-songwriter, vocal coach and occasional actor. He is a member of the pop group Take That.

Williams rose to fame in the band's first run in the early- to mid-1990s. After many disagreements with the management and certain group members, Williams left the group in 1995 to launch his solo career. On 15 July 2010, it was announced he had rejoined Take That and that the group intended to release a new album in November 2010^[2][3] which became the second fastest-selling album of all-time in UK chart history^[4] and the fastest-selling record of the century.^[5]

Williams has sold over 70 million records worldwide, which ranks him among the best-selling music artists worldwide.^[6] He is the best-selling British solo artist in the United Kingdom and the best selling non-Latino artist in Latin America. Six of his albums are among the top 100 biggest-selling albums in the United Kingdom. He has also been honoured with seventeen BRIT Awards—more than any other artist—and seven ECHO Awards. In 2004, he was inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame after being voted as the "Greatest Artist of the 1990s."

Life and career[link]

1974–89: Early life[link]

Williams was born to Peter and Janet Williams in Stoke-on-Trent on 13 February 1974. His parents ran a pub called the Red Lion in the town of Burslem, before his father became the licensee at the Port Vale F.C. Social Club - this led to Williams' lifelong affinity for the team.^[7] Williams attended Mill Hill Primary School in Stoke-on-Trent^[8] then St Margaret Ward Roman Catholic School in Tunstall,^[9] and also attended dance school UKDDF in Tunstall.^{[citation needed]} He participated in several school plays, and his biggest role was that of the Artful Dodger in a production of Oliver!.

1990–95: Take That[link]

In 1990, the sixteen year old Williams was the youngest member to join Take That. According to the documentary Take That: For the Record, his mother read an advertisement seeking members for a new boy band and suggested that he try out for the group. He met fellow member Mark Owen on the day of his audition/interview with Nigel Martin-Smith. During the heights of the band's popularity, Williams was known as the extrovert and practical joker of the band. Although the majority of the band's material was written and performed by Gary Barlow, Williams did perform lead vocals on their first Top Ten hit "Could It Be Magic", "I Found Heaven", and "Everything Changes". However, he had conflicts with Martin-Smith over the restrictive rules for Take That members, and he began drinking more alcohol and dabbling in cocaine.

In July 1995, Williams's drug abuse had escalated to the point of his having a near drug overdose the night before the group was scheduled to perform at the MTV Europe Music Awards. According to the documentary For the Record, he stated that he was unhappy with his musical ideas not being taken seriously by lead singer Barlow and Nigel Martin-Smith, because his desire to explore hip hop and rap conflicted with the band's usual ballads. Barlow explained in interviews that Williams had given up trying to offer creative input and merely did as he was told. As well as Williams's friction with the management of the band, Jason Orange had problems with his increasingly belligerent behaviour, his lack of interest in performing, and his frequent habit of missing the band's rehearsals.

Both Orange and Barlow confronted Martin-Smith about the internal conflict, because they did not want him dropping out while touring and before any possible future touring of America, which never took place. During one of the last rehearsals before the tour commenced, the group confronted Williams about his attitude and stated they wanted to do the tour without him. He agreed to quit the band and left; it would be the last time for twelve years that they were all together. Despite the departure of Williams, Take That completed their Nobody Else Tour as a four-piece band. They later disbanded on 13 February 1996, Williams's 22nd birthday.

Shortly afterwards, Williams was photographed by the press partying with the members of Oasis at Glastonbury Festival. Following his departure, he became the subject of talk shows and newspapers as he acknowledged his plans to become a solo singer, and he was spotted partying with George Michael in France. However, a clause in his Take That contract prohibited him from releasing any material until after the group was officially dissolved, and he was later sued by Martin-Smith and forced to pay $200,000 in commission. After various legal battles over his right to a solo career, Williams was victorious in getting released from his contract with BMG. On 27 June 1996, Williams formally announced that he had signed with Chrysalis Records.

[edit] 1996–98: Life Thru a Lens and I've Been Expecting You

After leaving Take That, Williams launched his solo career starting off in 1996 by covering George Michael's "Freedom", the single reached number two in the UK Singles Chart.^[10]

Recordings for Williams's first album began at London's Maison Rouge studios in March 1996. Shortly after his introduction to Guy Chambers, Williams released "Old Before I Die" which would be the first single taken from his début album. The single reached number two on the UK Charts;^[10] however, it was largely ignored on international charts.

His debut album, Life Thru a Lens, was released in September 1997. The album launched with his first live solo gig at the Élysée Montmartre theatre in Paris, France. The album debuted at number eleven of the UK Album Charts.

Williams released what would be the fourth single taken from his album. "Angels" became Williams' best-seller in the United Kingdom.^[11] The song, apart from becoming a hit around Europe and Latin America, caused sales of his album to skyrocket. The album remained inside the British top ten for forty weeks and spent 218 weeks there altogether, making it the 58th best selling album in UK history with sales of over 2.4 million.^[12] The album eventually managed to sell over three million copies in Europe.^[13]

Williams and Chambers started writing the second album in Jamaica in early 1998. The first single, "Millennium", became Williams' first solo number one single in the United Kingdom.^[14] It also became a top twenty hit in many European countries, Latin America and Australia.^[15]

When the album I've Been Expecting You was released in late October 1998, it débuted at number one in the UK Albums Chart.^[14] The album received more attention outside the United Kingdom, leaving its mark in the European and Latin American markets with hits such as "No Regrets", a collaboration with The Pet Shop Boys' singer Neil Tennant and The Divine Comedy's Neil Hannon.

A cover of a track from World Party's album, Egyptology, became Williams' second number one hit in the UK.^[14] Williams finished the year with a European Tour late in 1999.

The album I've Been Expecting You sold almost 3 million copies in the UK and was certified 10x Platinum by the BPI.^[16] In Europe, the album sold over 4 million copies.^[17]

[edit] 1999–2001: Sing When You're Winning and Swing When You're Winning

In 1999, Williams was signed to Capitol Records in the United States, a part of EMI. He embarked on a US promotional tour and released his first U.S. and Canadian single, "Millennium". The album The Ego Has Landed was released in July 1999 in the United States and Canada.

Williams in London in 2000, gesturing to a paparazzo photographer.

In the middle of promotion and the tours in 1999, Williams began work on his third studio album. This time he had finally found his inner confidence.^[18]

The first single taken from the album was "Rock DJ", a song inspired by Williams's UNICEF mentor, the late Ian Dury. The video showed Williams in an attempt to get noticed by a group of females, first stripping and then tearing chunks of skin and muscle from his body, and caused controversy in the United Kingdom and many other countries. The video was edited by Top of the Pops for its graphic content and many other channels followed suit.^[19] The song became an instant hit, reaching number one in the UK (becoming his third number one single as a solo artist) and New Zealand. The song went on to win "Best Song of 2000" at the MTV Europe Music Awards, "Best Single of the Year" at the BRIT Awards and an MTV Video Music Award for Best Special Effects.

When the album, Sing When You're Winning was released in August 2000, it topped the charts in many different countries.^[20] In the UK the album was certified 2x Platinum on its first week of release.^[21]

After the success of his third album, Williams wanted to take another musical direction. He took two weeks off from his tour to record what would be his fourth studio album, a big band album.^[22] Born from his life-long love for Frank Sinatra – combined with the success of the track "Have You Met Miss Jones?" that he recorded for the film Bridget Jones' Diary in early 2001 – the album was recorded at Capitol Studios in Los Angeles.

Williams took the chance to duet with his long-time friend Jonathan Wilkes, Little Voice star Jane Horrocks, Saturday Night Live star Jon Lovitz, Rupert Everett and actress Nicole Kidman. The first single released from the album was a duet with Kidman, on "Somethin' Stupid". Originally a hit for Frank and Nancy Sinatra, the song became Williams' fifth number one hit in the UK.^[23] It eventually went on to become one of the biggest hits of 2001.^[24]

When the album Swing When You're Winning (in reference to his 2000 studio album Sing When You're Winning) was released in late 2001, it became an instant hit in the UK, Ireland, New Zealand, Austria, Germany and Switzerland.^[25]

"Beyond the Sea" was featured over the credits of the film Finding Nemo in 2003 and was also released on the film's soundtrack CD.

A DVD called Robbie Williams Live at the Albert Hall was released in December of that year. So far, it has become one of the best selling music DVDs in Europe, being certified 6x Platinum in the United Kingdom^[26] and 2x Platinum in Germany.^[27]

[edit] 2002–05: Escapology and Intensive Care

In 2002, Williams signed a record-breaking £80 million contract with EMI.^[28] The contract included a number of provisos, including the label ceding greater creative control to the artist and a commitment to breaking Williams into the US market. So far it is the biggest music deal in British history. The deal was brokered by Ingenious Media, a leading UK corporate finance advisory business.^[29]

Williams began working on what would be his fifth studio album, spending a year in the recording studio. The album heralded a new era for Williams. He had taken a more active role in the making of this album, giving an indication of his growing confidence in the studio. "One Fine Day", "Nan's Song", and "Come Undone" were the first songs that Williams wrote without the input of Guy Chambers. Most of the songs were recorded in Los Angeles.^[29]

The album's first single, "Feel", written by Williams and Chambers, was recorded as a demo. When they started working on the album and were trying to re-record the vocals, Williams felt unsatisfied with it, so he decided to include the demo version and then release it as the first single.^[30] When the single was released in late 2002, it became Williams' biggest international hit, going number one in countries like The Netherlands and Italy, as well as reaching the top ten in almost every single European country.^[31]

When Williams' fifth studio album, Escapology, was released in late 2002, it hit number one in at least 10 countries around the world. In the United States, however, it failed to make such an impact.

Due to the controversial video for the album's second single, "Come Undone", it was heavily censored by MTV Networks Europe for depicting a debauched (but fully clothed) Williams having three-way sex with two women. The video was about some young people having a party and it showed footage of fights, drug taking and alcohol abuse. It also showed unsettling images of insects and reptiles. The uncensored version of the video was released on DVD single in Europe and was also included on the Enhanced CD Single.^[32] BBC Radio 2 also banned the song for its explicit content.^[33] At that time, it was confirmed that Williams and Guy Chambers were to officially split up.^[32]

Escapology sold almost 2 million copies by the end of 2003 in the United Kingdom.^[34]

In October 2003, Williams released his first live album, Live at Knebworth.

In October 2004, Williams released, Greatest Hits, a retrospective of his career, and also, to reveal the new tracks he had been working on with the then-new collaborator, Stephen Duffy.^[35] "Radio", the compilation's first single, debuted at number one in the UK Singles Chart^[14] (becoming Williams' sixth number-one hit). When the compilation was later released it debuted at number one in the UK^[14] and was the best selling album of the year in the UK^[36] and Europe.^[37]

Eight years after the release of "Angels", in February 2005 the British public voted it as the "Best Single of the Past Twenty-Five Years" at the 2005 BRIT Awards.^[38]

After touring Latin America in late 2004 for the promotion Greatest Hits, Williams started working on his sixth studio album. Recorded at his house in the Hollywood Hills, the album was co-written by Stephen Duffy over the course of 24 months.^[39]

The track "Ghosts" was inspired by the Human League's "Louise", about a man who breaks off a relationship with his partner and realises he still has strong feelings for her.^[39]

The album Intensive Care was launched in Berlin on 9 October. It became a smash hit around the world.

In November 2005, Williams took home the MTV Europe Music Award for 'Best Male', but also, entered in The Guinness Book of World Records when he announced his World Tour for 2006, selling 1.6 million tickets in one single day.^[40] But after the success, Gary Barlow, Mark Owen, Jason Orange, and Howard Donald had agreed to reunite in Notting Hill, west London, for a preview screening of a documentary about Take That. The documentary screened on ITV1 on 16 November 2005. Unfortunately, according to a source quoted by The Sunday Mirror, "Robbie announced he wasn't coming. The rest of the band were gutted but felt the show had to go on."^[41]

Williams kicked off his Close Encounters World Tour in South Africa in April 2006, when he finished his European leg of the tour. 2.5 million people had seen the show,^[42] and after touring Latin America and Australia the numbers went up to 3 million.

[edit] 2006–09: Rudebox and Reality Killed the Video Star

Robbie Williams in concert in Hamburg, Germany in 2006

Williams released his much anticipated dance/electro album, Rudebox, on 23 October 2006. It featured collaborations with the Pet Shop Boys, William Orbit, Soul Mekanik, Joey Negro, Mark Ronson, Chris Grierson, The Orr Boys. It received mixed reviews: Allmusic gave it a four star rating, the NME 8 out of 10, and Music Week and MOJO were equally positive,^[43] but it received much weaker reviews from some of the British press.

The first single, "Rudebox", was premièred on radio by Scott Mills on his show on BBC Radio 1. The event caused some controversy, as the record label's embargo date was broken, although Williams himself later backed the presenter for doing so. More controversy followed due to the first single's radical change of direction when compared to his older releases. British newspaper The Sun named the song "The Worst Song Ever".^[44] However, Victoria Newton stated that there were sure-fire hits on the album.^[45]

Robbie Williams at a concert in Vienna, Austria in 2006.

The album sold 2x Platinum in Europe with sales of over 2 million making it the fastest platinum-selling album of 2006.^[46] The album finished at number eighteen in the list of 2006's best selling albums worldwide. Neil Tennant claimed the album had sold 4.5 million copies by early 2007.^[47]

To promote his album, Williams commissioned a series of short films.^[48] Goodbye to the Normals was directed by Jim Field Smith and features "Burslem Normals" by Robbie Williams.

On 4 October 2007, Williams made a guest appearance at Mark Ronson's concert in Los Angeles, performing The Charlatans' "The Only One I Know", which features on Ronson's album Version.

Rumours of a new studio album co-written with Guy Chambers surfaced in early 2007, along with known commitments required by Williams to his EMI contract. British singer-songwriter Laura Critchley commented that she had sung vocals for three songs, and said that it would not be released until 2009.^[49]

On 16 January 2008 UK tabloid The Sun announced that Williams had been working on some songs with The Blockheads member Chaz Jankel. The article went on to state that the reunion with Chambers hadn't worked out and that the material that Williams is working on with Jankel will form the basis of his next studio album.^[50] However, although it had been confirmed on the Blockheads' official site that Jankel was writing with Williams, the rumour that Chambers was no longer working with him was not official. In late August 2008, Williams' friend Callum Blue commented that he was still working on the album.^[51]

Williams performing at ARIA Music Awards of 2009 in Sydney, Australia.

In February 2009, it was confirmed that Williams had written material with Guy Chambers and Mark Ronson. A spokesman said that Williams was planning to begin the recording sessions in March and that the new album would be released in late 2009. This will probably be the last Williams album released by EMI.^[52] On his official website, Williams confirmed that he was working with producer Trevor Horn on his new album, which would eventually be titled Reality Killed the Video Star,^[53] a reference to the song "Video Killed the Radio Star" by Horn's former band The Buggles. The album was released on 9 November 2009 in the United Kingdom.^[54]

On 11 October 2009 Williams published a 12-track compilation album, titled Songbook, as a free CD for the newspaper The Mail on Sunday. The CD is a one-off album of some of his biggest hits - including several rare live performances.^[55] That same evening, Williams made his "comeback" on The X Factor results show, performing his new single "Bodies" for the first time live.^[56]

On 20 October 2009 Williams opened the BBC Electric Proms at the London RoundHouse.^[57] It was his first live concert for 3 years^[58] and was broadcast across 200 cinemas worldwide.^[59] Accompanied by a string section, horn section, full band and producer Trevor Horn, Williams performed several new tracks from Reality Killed the Video Star and older tracks.

Reality Killed the Video Star was previewed in the UK on the Spotify music streaming service on 6 November 2009, and official released on 9 November.^[60] In a high profile chart battle, Williams' album was pitted against X Factor 2008 runners-up JLS who released their debut album the same day. JLS beat Williams to the number one spot by 1500 sales. The album was also released in the United States (Williams' first album to be released there since 2002's Escapology).

In late November 2009, Williams traveled to Australia to perform at the ARIA Music Awards of 2009.

[edit] 2010–2011: In and Out of Consciousness and reunion with Take That

In October 2010 Williams released his second greatest hits album, In and Out of Consciousness: The Greatest Hits 1990–2010, to celebrate 20 years as a performing artist.^[61] A single, "Shame", was also released, which was written and sung by Williams and Barlow.^[61]

On 15 July 2010, Williams announced he was returning to Take That. A joint statement between Williams and the group said "The rumours are true... Take That: the original lineup, have written and recorded a new album, to be called, Progress for release later this year," read the band's statement. "Following months of speculation Gary Barlow, Howard Donald, Jason Orange, Mark Owen and Robbie Williams confirmed they have been recording a new studio album as a five-piece, which they will release in November."^[62]

On 26 August 2010, it was announced Williams would become a guest vocal coach on the ninth series of German reality television show Popstars: Girls forever to teach candidates for a girl group.^[63]

On 20 September 2010, Williams released his second book called "You Know Me" in collaboration with Chris Heath. The book features a collection of photographs of Williams from the past 20 years of his career and discussion of them by Williams as transcribed by Heath.^[64]

In October, Media Control named Williams the most successful album-artist of the millennium due to the fact that he had spent No. 1 on the German Albums Chart for 38 weeks since 2000. He also reached that chart's Top Ten 135 times.^[65]

2011-present: Move to Universal and ninth studio album[link]

In June 2011 Robbie Williams revealed that he has been working with Gary Barlow on a new solo album, that will be produced by Barlow.^[66] Williams confirmed on his official site that he will be doing a new duet.^{[67][citation needed]}

Williams launched a radio show titled Radio Rudebox on 6 October 2011 where he played music and interviewed Gary Barlow.^[68]

On 21 October 2011 Williams announced that he had signed with Universal Music, following his departure from his previous record label EMI in 2010. He said in a statement, "I'm really thrilled to be joining the Universal family at what I think is the most exciting time in my career." The singer's forthcoming ninth studio album is set to be released during the autumn of 2012.^[69]

Other projects[link]

Reunion of Take That[link]

Williams announced in December 2008 that he was planning to relocate to the UK prior to releasing his eighth studio album in late-2009, and a possible reunion with Take That. Photos also showed Williams with his new tattoo of the Take That logo on his right arm, in tribute to his former bandmates.^[70] Williams bought a £7 million home in the village of Compton Bassett, Wiltshire.

On 27 March 2009, Williams stated he felt ready to re-join Take That. He said: "I'm in regular contact with them, even Gaz, and it's looking more likely by the week. The lads all seem up for it and some people think it's a done deal. I think it would be fun."^[71] Williams was eager to re-join the band on their The Circus Live tour, but these plans never materialised. In September 2009, Williams was reported to be working in New York with Take That, however these rumours were never confirmed.^[72]

While it was rumoured that Williams would reunite with Take That on 12 November 2009 for a Children In Need charity concert at The Royal Albert Hall, they merely greeted each other warmly on stage between performances. However, both did join with the other acts in the final song of the evening, with Williams putting his arm around Gary Barlow and singing "Hey Jude". Williams subsequently implied in an interview that a proper reunion was still a distinct possibility. On 15 February 2010, The Sun printed an interview with Williams, stating that he and Take That had been sighted going to an Los Angeles studio together.^[73]

It was announced on 15 July that Williams had rejoined Take That. In November 2010 the Take That album Progress was released, becoming the fastest selling album since 2000 and the second fastest selling album in UK history. Williams explained that the long-standing friction between himself and Gary has been resolved, and how close they now were.^[74]

The band also announced the Progress Live tour which would travel across the UK, including a record breaking 8 nights at Wembley Stadium in London,^[75] then continue across Europe. The tour was the fastest selling in UK history with ticket hotlines and websites crashing under the demand.^[75]

Collaborations[link]

One of his most famous collaborations was on the song "Kids", a duet with Australian pop star Kylie Minogue. The single peaked at number 2 on the UK singles charts in 2000. Williams also collaborated with Australian film star Nicole Kidman on a cover of Frank and Nancy Sinatra's "Somethin' Stupid". The single reached number 1 on the UK singles chart in 2001. His single "No Regrets" featured Neil Tennant, and Neil Hannon on backing vocals.

In 2002, Williams appeared on the track "My Culture" on the 1 Giant Leap album, alongside rapper Maxi Jazz (which features lyrics from the hidden track "Hello Sir" from Life Thru a Lens). Williams also features on a double CD titled Concrete which was released on the same day as Rudebox. The CD features a concert recorded for the BBC featuring the Pet Shop Boys and Williams singing their classic hit "Jealousy". Their joint effort, "She's Madonna", was released as a single in March 2007. On 13 August 2007, a Dean Martin duets album was released, on which Williams sings "Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone". Most recently it was announced that Williams has recorded what is going to be Mexican singer Thalía's first single from her upcoming English-language album.

In 2010 he announced that he was to release "Shame", a duet with Take That lead singer songwriter Gary Barlow as the first single from his greatest hits collection In and Out of Consciousness: The Greatest Hits 1990–2010 which was certified silver in the UK and charted in 19 countries worldwide.

Video game[link]

Williams features in his own karaoke video game, We Sing Robbie Williams which was released on 12 November 2010 by Nordic Games.

Achievements[link]

It has been claimed that Williams has sold more albums in the UK than any other British solo artist in history and has won more BRIT Awards than any other artist to date.^[76] His album sales stands at over 57 million worldwide.^[77][78][79] Williams was entered in The Guinness Book of World Records when, after he announced his World Tour for 2006, 1.6 million tickets were sold in one single day.^[80]

He has been presented many awards, including seventeen BRIT^[81] and seven ECHO awards.^[82] In 2004, he was inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame, after being voted as the Greatest artist of the 1990s.^[83]

Williams appears in the list of the all-time Top 100 biggest selling albums in the United Kingdom six times.^[36]

In October 2009 it was announced that he would receive the Outstanding Contribution To British Music award at the 2010 BRIT Awards.^[84]

In September 2010 Williams switched on the Blackpool illuminations, stating that it was one of the greatest honours he'd ever achieved.^[85]

Personal life[link]

Since 2006, Williams has spent most of his time in Los Angeles, California.^[86] Williams moved back to the UK in 2009 when he bought an £8.5 million mansion in Compton Bassett, Wiltshire, nearby to close friend Jonathan Wilkes who lives in Swindon. Williams sold the mansion a year later to move back to Los Angeles.^{[citation needed]}

Williams has reportedly battled mental illness, obesity, self-esteem issues, alcoholism, and substance abuse throughout his life.^[87][88] He once discussed how his friend Elton John booked him into a clinic to cope with his drug use that emerged from the depression he was experiencing while still in Take That.^[88] He entered a rehabilitation centre in Tucson for his addiction to the prescription pills Xanax, Seroxat/Paxil, Vicodin, and the energy drink Lucozade in February 2007^[89] Williams used to smoke up to 60 cigarettes a day; he gave up in 2009 for his girlfriend Ayda Field.

Williams has a strong interest in UFOs and related paranormal phenomena, and has pursued this interest during his 2007–08 sabbatical.^[90] His interest in the subject led to him taking part in a documentary for BBC Radio 4 with Jon Ronson. The documentary followed them to a UFO convention in Nevada. During an interview with Joss Stone on The Jeremy Kyle Show in 2008, Williams revealed that while out of his head on dispirin he has seen UFOs three times.^[91] Williams said his first UFO sighting was when he was a child in Britain while he spotted his second in Beverly Hills, and added that the third sighting was just after he had written a song about alien contact.^[91]

On 30 November 2009, Williams' hairdresser Aaron Vickers was found dead in woodland near to Williams' then home in Wiltshire. Vickers first met Williams in Los Angeles after being introduced by their mutual friend Jonathan Wilkes. When Williams bought the £8.5 million mansion in early 2009, Vickers lived at the estate for some months but had recently moved back in with his mother who lives nearby. Vickers was last seen by his boyfriend at 1am on 30 November, and his body was found hanged in the woods the following morning.^[92][93]

Relationships[link]

Since May 2006, Williams has been in a relationship with the Turkish American actress Ayda Field.^[94] They have reportedly been together for almost five years.^[95] Despite several break up stories in the press^[96][97][98] Williams and Field have been spotted together many times.^{[99][100][101]} On 29 January 2008 they were pictured on vacation together at Mammoth Ski Resort in California, accompanied by Max Beesley.^{[102][103][104]} She was featured in a UFO documentary that Williams did for BBC Radio 4 in April^[105] and took part in a field investigation he did in Trout Lake, Washington in August 2008.^[106]

On 8 November 2008, Williams was spotted with Field at football match at the Emirates Stadium home of Arsenal, where he was also seen with Gary Barlow accompanied by his two oldest children, and Williams's longtime friend Jonathan Wilkes.^[107] The couple has been living together in a mansion in Wiltshire since the beginning of 2009 according to The Sun.^[108] In October 2009, Field appeared in the video of Williams comeback single Bodies. Williams has been referring to Field as his "wife" in recent interviews.^[109]

In November 2009, Williams announced to Jonathan Ross that he was 'in love' with Field.^[110] On 26 November 2009, Williams proposed to Ayda Field live on the Australian radio channel 2dayfm in an interview on the Kyle and Jackie O Show.^[111] However, it was later revealed by Williams' manager that it was "done as a joke following suggestions it was a stunt which was set up prior to the radio show." His spokesman confirmed: 'He did say it, but he did it in a jocular manner. They are not engaged.'^[112] A few days later Williams himself denied the engagement, using his official blog to say "Hey all. We are not engaged. Rob.".^[113][114] On 7 August 2010, Williams and Field married at his home in Los Angeles.^[115] On 30 March 2012 Williams announced that he and his wife, Ayda, would become parents for the first time.^[116]

Sexuality[link]

Williams won a libel case against MGN and Northern & Shell in December 2005 relating to articles which had reported he was a closet homosexual.^[117] In the libel action that resulted from this, Williams accepted substantial damages, and the publishers accepted that the stories were untrue. His counsel, Tom Shields QC, told the court, "Mr Williams is not, and has never been, homosexual." Gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell called for any damages paid out from the libel case to be donated to gay charities, claiming Williams' legal actions had created the impression that it is "bad to be gay."^[118] Williams responded that he was not bothered about being labelled as a gay man, and he would have taken the same action had it been regarding a heterosexual relationship. In 2008, Williams's friend, actor Max Beesley, rejected claims that Williams was gay. Beesley said, "Some of the stuff written about him is enough to make me mad, the rumours about him being gay, for example. Not true. I've never met anybody less gay in my life!"^[119]

Wealth[link]

In 2009, the Sunday Times Rich List claimed he was worth over £130 million.^[120] In 2011 his wealth was estimated at £90 million.^[121]

Williams is a lifelong supporter of Port Vale, based in his home town of Stoke-on-Trent. In February 2006 he bought £240,000 worth of shares in the club, making him the majority shareholder.^[122] He also has a restaurant at Vale Park named in his honour.^[123]

Health[link]

He revealed in 2011 he had been battling a lethargy caused by a type of hormone imbalance called a Andropause for a number of years and thought at first it was a return of his depression.^[124][125]

Charity[link]

Williams warming up for the 2006 edition of Soccer Aid

Williams has set up a charity in his home town entitled Give It Sum, its goal being to "improve local conditions and strengthen community life by giving money to those who are disadvantaged."^[87][126]

Williams, with the help of friend Jonathan Wilkes, has organised charity football matches called Soccer Aid to raise money for UNICEF UK. A mixture of celebrities and professional football players have played Soccer Aid matches in 2006, 2008 and 2010 at Old Trafford in Manchester and Wembley Stadium in London.^[127]

Williams has been the Patron of the children's charity the Donna Louise Trust based in his home town of Stoke-on-Trent, for the last 8 years. The charity offers respite and palliative care to terminally ill and life-limited children who are not expected to live past the age of 16.^[128]

Awards[link]

Williams has won various awards with some of his more recognised accolades being the BRIT awards. He has won 17 BRIT awards which also include the BRITs he won with Take That making him the most successful artist in BRIT history. He has also won 8 Echo Awards from the German music industry.^[82][129]

Discography[link]

Tours[link]

• The Show Off Must Go On (October–November 1997)
• The Ego Has Landed (May–June 1998)
• One More for the Rogue Tour / For a Few Dollars More... Tour (1998–99)
• Robbie Williams North American Tours (1999)
• The Sermon on the Mount Tour (2000–01)
• Weddings, Barmitzvahs & Stadiums Tour / Sing When You're Pacific Rimming Tour (2001)
• Weekends of Mass Distraction Tour / Cock of Justice/Aussie Typo Tour (2003)
• Close Encounters Tour (2006)

References[link]