Gary Barlow

Gary Barlow (2014)

Gary Barlow , OBE (born January 20, 1971 in Frodsham, Cheshire ) is an English composer , singer-songwriter , pianist and record producer . He gained particular fame as the lead singer and songwriter of the band Take That . Eight of his albums have topped the charts, plus 20 top 5 hits and 14 number 1 singles. With over 50 million records and more than 7.5 million concert tickets sold worldwide, Barlow is one of the most successful songwriters in Great Britain. He has already received the Ivor Novello Award , coveted among composers, six times. In the list of author participations of Gary Barlow you can find an overview of his works as a songwriter and musical composer. For his successful charity work and his performance in the music industry, Barlow was awarded the Order of Merit Most Excellent Order of the British Empire by the Queen in 2012, he now bears the title OBE . Barlow met his wife Dawn Andrews in 1988, and the couple have three children.

Career start: 1981–1990

As Barlow describes in his autobiography My Take , he never had any school / university music theory training; As a child he had a small synthesizer and learned the technical basics of the instrument by trying out and playing songs from the current hit parade, especially songs by the band Depeche Mode , which made and still make heavy use of synthesizers. He later took piano lessons from Chris Greenleaves, a local musician, who also taught him to read music. Barlow's longtime friend and songwriter colleague Eliot Kennedy told the BBC documentation When Corden met Barlow (dt. Hit as Corden on Barlow , 2014): "Anyone who really wants to pursue a musical career that sacrifices BMX years of his childhood, as I call them: All those times when your friends are out on their bikes. These years do not exist for a musician, because you are in your room learning your instrument. And Gary matched this description to the point. "

Within a year he had developed his skills enough to take a mini job as an entertainer and accompanist in a local bar. Gradually, he took up more job offers in the surrounding villages and ended up being busy almost every evening in North West England and North East Wales. Since his family was not dependent on his soon substantial income, he was able to invest in further, better live equipment as well as a home studio, which eventually took up his entire room and pushed him to sleep on the living room couch. In the clubs he had to play the desired songs spontaneously from sight, which gave him an early insight into the structure and design of the greatest hits in various genres of the 20th century. With this knowledge he began to write his own songs at the age of 14. At the age of 15 he composed the later take-that hit “A Million Love Songs” and the Christmas song “Let's Pray for Christmas” in 1986, which brought him second place in the young composers' competition A Song for Christmas on the BBC family program Pebble Mill won. With his entry into the finale of the show, the BBC Barlow enabled his first professional studio recording in London's West Heath Studios under the direction of producer Bob Howes. Beyond the show, Howes became Barlow's first point of contact in the music industry and an important mentor during his early career steps.

In the clubs, Barlow's field of activity soon expanded from the accompanying pianist or keyboarder to the sole evening program. He had to entertain the visitors for several hours each evening. Barlow took another learning effect from the fact that there is hardly a tougher audience for a young entertainer than exhausted, drunk workers in northern England. Scottish Sun's Gordon Smart commented, “He had to grow up fast because he worked in the workers' clubs. As a fifteen-year-old, he had to get along with bawling men who had already had two liters of beer on a Saturday evening and were constantly harassing him. Do you know what a great education something like this is for every actor? ”For several years Barlow played in the Halton Legion with drummer John Tedford, with whom he also won first place in the Club Act in 1987 under the name Stax of the Year competition by Weekly News. At the same time, Barlow took part in the nationwide Schools Make Music competition with his song "Now We're Gone" , which won his first newspaper interview, first prize and, as the annual competition was sponsored by EMI , his first recording in the famous London Abbey Road Studios brought in. After graduating from school in the same year, he continued to expand his evening gigs and became more and more professional and better equipped. Depending on the location, he was earning between 50 and 100 pounds per evening, which was better than his parents, a laboratory technician and the project engineer for a fertilizer company. At the age of 17 he got his driver's license and also expanded his field of work geographically.

In Manchester , 50 kilometers away , he finally applied to various labels and started looking for a manager. His first attempt ended in 1989 with the music video "Love Is in the Air" under the stage name Kurtis Rush . The song was neither written nor sung by Barlow. It was supposed to give him a career start, but the attempt failed. During the filming, however, the 17-year-old Barlow met the one year older dancer Dawn Andrews, who eleven years later would become his wife and mother of his children. On Bob Howe's advice, Barlow left the management contract, which was hastily concluded without consulting his parents and mentor. In the next attempt he met manager Nigel Martin Smith know, who signed him and wooed him for his idea of ​​a boy band in response to the US hit New Kids on the Block . In the hope of finally getting his career rolling with Smith's help, Barlow turned down an offer he had received at the same time to travel on a cruise ship for a year as a pianist and entertainer. Instead, he agreed to the planned boy band and was invited to a separate casting at a local club with five other candidates.

Take that

→ Main article : Take That

Take One: 1989-1996

In 1989 Barlow met Nigel Martin Smith and, like many other managers and labels in Manchester, left him a demo tape (a cassette with a selection of his own compositions, including "A Million Love Songs", recorded in his bedroom studio). Martin-Smith signed him. In 1990, Barlow became a founding member of the boy group Take That, planned by Nigel Martin-Smith long in advance and now formed around the young singer-songwriter . The 19-year-old conquered the charts and stages worldwide, especially in Europe, South America and East Asia , together with Howard Donald (21), Jason Orange (19), Mark Owen (18) and Robbie Williams (15). They quickly broke away from the comparison with their American role model, because unlike New Kids, they mainly presented their own songs instead of interpretations of older hits.

During the group's early years, Barlow wrote and produced most of the take-that songs single-handedly: he had full musical responsibility for 31 of the 44 songs published, and was part of the composing team for a further nine. He can also be heard on the previous albums as the main singer in most of the songs. His hit compositions from this period include Pray , Babe , Never Forget and Sure . On the for the time being last album Nobody Else was the commercially most successful single of the group Back for Good to date , which reached the top of 47 different charts (also in Germany) and the top ten in 25 others, among others. a. in Austria, Switzerland and various US charts (Billboard). By October 2015 there were already more than 190 registered cover versions of this song by other artists worldwide.

During the rehearsals for the Nobody Else tour, Barlow met Dawn Andrews again after six years, who had been hired by the label as one of the dancers. In the course of this reunion, the two became a couple. Even before the start of the tour of the battered by drug excesses Robbie Williams in 1995 left the boy band, the remaining four were their obligations under and made the world tour, after which separated in the spring of 1996 the rest of the band and Barlow took his long-awaited solo career in attack .

Take Two: 2005-present

In 2005, Barlow, Donald, Orange and Owen met for the first time for a television documentary on the BBC , Williams did not appear and contacted his former colleagues with a video message in which he addressed a few words to everyone present. The broadcast of the documentary was a surprise success; as a result, the four remaining members received offers for a nationwide best-of tour. The Ultimate Tour was sold out within a very short time and laid the foundation for an extremely successful comeback of Take That without Williams: This was followed by the number one studio albums Beautiful World and The Circus with accompanying tours (the band Michael Jackson's Bad World Tour broke in 1987 Entry in the Guinness Book of Records for the fastest sold-out tour) and the live album Greatest Day - The Circus Live with recordings from London's Wembley Stadium and Abbey Road Studios , before Robbie Williams for Progress and the EP Progressed again in 2010 joined.

The return of Williams was heralded by the single Shame , a duet between Barlow and Williams, in which the two look back with a wink at their fierce competition after the band's split and celebrate their late reconciliation. The song was created in 2009 during the joint production of the Take That album Progress in Los Angeles. A related music video was released in the style of the movie drama Brokeback Mountain and implied an intricate romantic relationship. The song reappeared as part of Williams' greatest hits compilation In and Out of Consciousness . With its premiere on radio and media, Shame achieved an unprecedented success: the single was played 694 times on the radio and a further 153 times on television on the day of publication, which corresponds to a total playing time of a good 56 hours in just one day. The single reached number two on the British charts and received silver from the BPI and gold from its Italian counterpart FIMI . It was represented in the charts in a further 19 countries worldwide.

Since their comeback, the members of Take That have been composing and producing their music together. In the credits of the songs only the band name is now used and no longer differentiated. In addition, all members now play instruments in the studio and on stage from time to time ( acoustic and electric guitar , electric bass , piano / keyboards , drums ), which is why they can be called a band in the true sense of the word. In the 1990s Barlow was, with a few exceptions, the only member who played an instrument (keyboards, etc.) live.

In 2014, after a three-year break, the band got together again to produce a new album, but Williams was absent again as he was expecting his second child at the same time and was still busy producing a solo album. In the fall of 2014, Orange announced that he was leaving the band and that he wanted to completely withdraw from the limelight. Despite these upheavals, the three remaining members ended their studio work and in 2015 went on a European tour of 51 stages with their new album III . In 2017 the second studio album followed as a trio with the title Wonderland , immediately followed by a tour of Great Britain and Oceania. Another greatest hits album has been announced for the silver anniversary year of the debut album Take That & Party. A return of Williams for this was not ruled out by Barlow in 2015, but for Orange it was highly unlikely. In fact, neither Williams nor Orange returned for Wonderland .

Solo career: 1996 to today

After Take That broke up, Barlow began his solo career in 1996. He reached number 1 in the UK charts with the singles Forever Love and Love Won't Wait . His first album Open Road reached the top of the British charts in 1997 and made it into the top ten in Germany and Switzerland. In 1998 Barlow worked with Rosie Gaines and recorded the song Hang On in There Baby with her . The second solo album Twelve Months, Eleven Days and the singles Stronger and For All That You Want , which were released from them, fell below expectations commercially. His record company's plan to expand audiences through a longer stay in the USA failed - instead, his previously stable success in Europe suffered from his absence. No further singles and albums were produced and in 2000 he lost his recording contract.

In 2010, he signed a five-year contract with Sony Music , which he renewed in 2015.

In May 2012 he released the album Sing with the Commonwealth Band he founded and Andrew Lloyd Webber , which reached number 1 in the UK charts. The album builds on the single of the same name, which was written as the official hymn for the Queen's diamond jubilee .

On November 25, 2013, the solo album Since I Saw You Last was released , with which he went on tour through Great Britain in spring 2014. The 14 planned concerts were fully booked less than ten minutes after sales began, and four additional dates were added. A total of 230,000 tickets were sold out within a very short time.

Since then, besides Take That, he has concentrated on his work as a musical composer and producer.

After his career came to an abrupt end at the turn of the millennium and he saw himself increasingly being ridiculed by various media, he looked for ways back to anonymity - he tried in vain to have his name changed on credit cards and other documents, and worked for a while under different ones Pseudonyms and gained so much weight within a short time that Elton John later reported that a mutual friend walked past him in New York without recognizing Barlow. In the meantime he weighed just under 110 kilograms (17 st 2 lb). After the agitation in the press and radio subsided, Barlow gradually reduced his weight by more than 30 kg by changing his diet and exercising, mainly for his wife and children. In the social media such as Twitter he shares from 2018 under the heading "Barlow's boot camps" video tutorials, tips and suggestions for a healthy lifestyle, he has collected over the years. When asked why he is not going the commercial route of a fitness DVD, he said:

"My business is music. I wanted to tour, I want to make records - I love that. And I get paid for that very nicely. I don't need to make money off telling people how I've lost weight. I can do that through Instagram, because people shouldn't be charged for that. People should be able to click on there and learn the odd tip. My tips come from various people. I've picked them up over the years and I use them to help me. [...] But it's not a diet - it definitely isn't. [...] When you look at someone filling a trolley full of ready-made meals, I'd say get rid of that and try and cook for yourself. [...] I'm a busy, busy guy with lots of responsibility but I cook every day for me and my wife. If I can't cook on a Monday I cook more on a Sunday so I've got food for Monday. It's about taking control. Rather than blaming, 'Why am I fat? What are you doing to me Marks & Spencer - I eat your food all day ', you be in control of it. "

On April 13, 2018 Barlow will release the 21st Anniversary Re-issue of his debut album Open Road . The CD version includes two CDs with the original album and numerous bonus songs (including previously unreleased demos and live recordings of the number one hits Love Won't Wait and Forever Love ). In addition, the album will appear in Venyl format for the first time . A signed limited edition was sold out within a very short time.

In the spring and summer of 2018, Barlow embarks on a nationwide concert tour. This originally comprised 34 concerts between April 16 and June 9. Ticket sales began at 10:00 a.m. on October 20, 2017, and buyers of his new book A Better Me by October 15 at 11:59 a.m. were given priority access 49 hours before the official start of sales. After the planned concerts were sold out immediately, 16 more dates were added gradually, most recently two appearances as part of the annual Hampton Court Palace Festival. The tour was extended until June 23, the last concert will be held in Sherwood Forest .

To prevent ticket fraud ( ticket touting ), Barlow works with the resale platform Twickets. Tickets cannot be passed on there at inflated prices. Tickets purchased unofficially are not permitted and can lead to rejection at the stadium / theater / site entrance.

Other Projects

Musical composition

From 2012 to 2014, Barlow worked on behalf of Harvey Weinstein with his longtime friend and Grammy Award winner Eliot Kennedy on Harvey Weinstein's musical production Finding Neverland , which was inspired by the film of the same name and tells the story of Peter Pan creator James Matthew Barrie . The musical opened in Cambridge MA in 2014 and moved to Broadway in New York City in the spring of 2015 , with Matthew Morrison in the lead role. After the extremely successful opening on Broadway, the concept album Finding Neverland: The Album was recorded with the collaboration of various well-known singers, on which Barlow sings the title “Something About This Night”. After 600 performances, the last curtain fell on Broadway in August 2016, after which a ten-month tour of the United States began in October. A move to London's West End with tenor Alfie Boe in the lead role has been announced for 2017 .

Around the same time as Finding Neverland , Barlow began work on his second musical, The Girls . This is based on the true story of the Calendar Girls , a group of housewives who, after the death of one of their husbands in leukemia at the turn of the millennium, brought out a calendar with original nude photos in order to use the proceeds to buy a more comfortable sofa for the visitor room of the local hospital. The first calendar was a surprise success and sold almost 90,000 copies in 1999, and in the following year the next edition sold over 200,000 copies. The proceeds from the 2000 calendar were used to finance the construction of new laboratories for the Lymphoma and Leukemia Research Center at the University of Leeds . Other calendars published for 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008 and 2010. To date, the women could alone through the calendar sales over 3 million pounds (about 4.3 million euros) for the Research Foundation Leukemia & Lymphoma Research are taking, their range is but today beyond the calendar. The musical was created in collaboration with the well-known dramaturge and childhood friend Barlows Tim Firth. Firth was previously the screenwriter of the film Calender Girls and creator of the play of the same name . The musical version premiered in Leeds on November 14, 2015 and transferred to Manchester in January 2016 . The musical received the best reviews during its performance in northern England; after moving to the theater metropolis of London's West End, the praise culminated in three nominations for the Laurence Olivier Awards 2017 (best new musical, best actress, best supporting actor).

Before Finding Neverland opened on Broadway, Barlow announced progress in another work: a musical adaptation of the Jules Verne classic Journey Around the Earth in 80 Days . This musical is again being created in collaboration with Eliot Kennedy and Harvey Weinstein. In addition, Barlow receives support from his X-Factor colleague Nicole Scherzinger (including Grizabella in Cats , West End ).

With a media-effective surprise appearance in a shopping center in Bristol, Barlow promoted his BBC casting show Let It Shine in spring 2016 , to be broadcast on BBC One from January 7, 2017. Following the example of earlier West End casting shows under the direction of Andrew Lloyd Webber was shown in front of live and television audiences the search for actors for the Take That Jukebox musical The Band , which premiered in September 2017 at the Manchester Opera House and then from October 2017 to July 2018 a UK tour of a total of 20 Stages. Candidates could apply online via BBC: Take Part . In addition to Barlow, jurors for Let It Shine were Martin Kemp and Dannii Minogue , guest judges for individual sections of the casting process were among others. a. Amber Riley and Lulu . As with previous West End casting shows , Graham Norton was present as a presenter, supported by Mel Giedroyc. During the live shows, Robbie Williams appeared again as part of Take That for the first time since 2012. The boy group Five to Five , founded during the show, emerged as the winner . As in the previous casting shows, the door to a West End career is to be opened for the five musical actors by taking on the leading roles beyond the tour year. Take That were present at the premiere and performed together with the cast of the play.

Production and songwriting

In a representative poll by British statistics firm Onepoll in 2009, Barlow was voted the best British songwriter of all time, followed by the Beatles John Lennon and Sir Paul McCartney in second and third, then Chris Martin , George Michael and the Bee Gees . Robbie Williams ranks eighth.

Barlow writes and produces songs for various artists such as Shirley Bassey , Matt Cardle , Blue , Delta Goodrem , Atomic Kitten , Charlotte Church and Monrose .

Future Records

In recognition of his accomplishments in the lead planning of the phenomenal Take-That comeback and the group's unparalleled success, Universal Music gave Barlow his own record label within the Universal Music Group , Future Records, in 2009 . Barlow commented that starting his own label would give him the opportunity to offer firsthand insight and experience with the music industry, thereby helping new and exciting young talent shape the future of that industry. The Sun wrote under the title "Gary Barlow is the new Simon Cowell ": "It's a stroke of genius. Given Gary's incredible writing skills and his fantastic contacts, the artists are really in the best of hands. "

He was the first artist to engage the soprano Camilla Kerslake. Under Barlow's guidance, her debut album made it to number four on the genre charts in the first week. She has since described working with Barlow through Future Records as "life changing". In addition to classical music, the London-based label also entertained pop, rap and rock musicians. Barlow's second protégé was Aggro Santos , and two months later his debut single Candy landed at number five on the British charts. The singer's second single also made it into the top 20 and reached seventh place on the R&B charts. Barlow was the next artist to take Emma's Imagination under his wing, the winner of the talent show Must Be the Music . With Barlow's participation, she also made it into the upper class of the charts with the first singles: Focus reached number seven, This Day number ten on the single charts. Other contracts went to Delta Maid and The Struts. Barlow's most successful new discovery during this period was A * M * E , who topped the charts with their first single. The Lonsdale Boys Club in London signed their last record deal, and their album was released in early 2012. Camilla Kerslake and Aggro Santos each received a silver record. In 2010 the label went to Sony Music , in 2012 it was renamed Future Music . Barlow used his label for some of the studio recordings and mixing of the Diamond Jubilee album Sing that year .

On December 29, 2012, Barlow announced that he would close the label in order to be able to spend more time with his family - in August he and his wife Dawn had lost their fourth child a few days before the planned due date. He also interrupted his Gary Barlow: In Concert Tour and initially did not accept any further commissions of the size of the throne jubilee. A season later, he also left his job as a juror on the British casting show X Factor. Professionally, he used the time to devote himself to his third solo album Since I Saw You Last . The artists under contract were distributed to other subsidiary labels of the Universal Music Group and were able to resume their obligations there unchanged.

The X-Factor

From 2011 to 2013, Barlow was the lead judge on the UK talent show The X Factor . In 2011 he was a mentor in the "Boys" category and achieved 2nd place with his candidate Marcus Collins. Robbie Williams was Barlow's guest judge at the Judgeshouse in Los Angeles .

In 2012 he got the category "Over 28's" and reached 3rd place with his candidate Christopher Maloney. Originally Barlow wanted to shoot the "Judgeshouse" in Mallorca, but due to the loss of his daughter shortly before, the decision was made to stay in England. Cheryl Cole was the guest judge .

In 2013 Barlow received the category "Groups" and reached the 4th place with "Rough Copy". Olly Murs was a guest judge in New York .

Diamond Jubilee

→ Main article : "United Kingdom" in the article Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II.

→ Main article : Diamond Jubilee Concert

In 2010, Gary Barlow was entrusted with organizing the musical event to mark the climax of the celebrations of Queen Elizabeth II 's 60th anniversary to the throne . On June 4, 2012, the Diamond Jubilee Concert took place in the open air in front of Buckingham Palace , and he was able to win over around 50 renowned musicians. The official song for the anniversary, entitled Sing , premiered there, was composed by Barlow and Andrew Lloyd Webber (including Phantom of the Opera ; Starlight Express ; Evita ; Cats ) and recorded and performed together with musicians from the Commonwealth of Nations . In addition, at Webber's suggestion, all schools in the country received the notes of the song as a choral setting in the run-up to the festivities to create a well-known hymn, the “Nation's memory of this event” (Barlow in the commentary on his tour recording Since You Saw Him Last , 2014 ) close. In search of unique musicians and instruments for production, Barlow had traveled across the Commonwealth on behalf of the royal family. This trip was documented under the title Gary Barlow on Her Majesty's Service , aired on British television and later released on DVD and Blu-Ray. In addition to the single Sing , an album of the same name with other well-known pieces such as Here Comes the Sun , Amazing Grace and the national anthem of Great Britain and the Commonwealth Realm (e.g. Canada , New Zealand , Jamaica ), God Save the Queen was released .

Commitment to P&O

Gary Barlow is the new brand ambassador for the shipping company P&O . As the musical director of a band, he will appear in front of a guest audience on board the cruise ship Iona in "The 710 Club".

social commitment

Logo of the annual Red Nose Day , during which celebrities collect donations for Comic Relief through various campaigns .

Pudsey Bear, mascot of the BBC Children In Need Children's Fund

Gary Barlow is a regular contributor to social causes. He does not have a foundation of his own, but repeatedly organizes benefit events to collect donations for established aid organizations. When choosing his donation goals, he primarily focuses on child and youth welfare, support for trauma victims (war children, veterans, child abuse victims, disaster relief), cancer research and development aid. The most successful examples are listed here:

In 2009 he organized the BT Red Nose Climb , a sponsored run for the Comic Relief Foundation , in which he and eight other British celebrities climbed Kilimanjaro in Tanzania . The preparation phase and the actual ascent to the largest mountain range in Africa were accompanied by a camera team and broadcast on television, which raised millions in donations. Despite various health problems of the climbers, including a pinched back nerve in Barlow, the group mastered the ascent successfully and completely.

In November 2009 he also organized a benefit concert in the Royal Albert Hall (London) for the benefit of the BBC Children's Fund Children in Need , where Take That, Lily Allen , Robbie Williams, Paul McCartney , Snow Patrol and Dizzee Rascal performed, among others .

After the success of this concert evening, he initiated a series of annual concerts under the name “CIN Rocks” (e.g. CIN rocks Manchester : £ 26,000,000 / € 37 million), they support the British children's aid organization Children In Need.

After the devastating earthquake in Haiti in 2010 , he took part in Simon Cowell's aid project Helping Haiti . With many other international star musicians, he recorded a cover of the REM song Everybody Hurts . With 453,000 copies sold within a week, it became the fastest-selling benefit single of the 21st century, and the proceeds went entirely to the work of the local disaster relief organizations.

In the same year he sang their hit single Shame with Robbie Williams at Twickenham Stadium in aid of the Help for Heroes aid fund .

Barlow also donated his original handwritten lyrics for the song Back for Good to raise funds for the Teenage Cancer Trust .

On his 40th birthday on January 20, 2011, Barlow organized a concert in London called GB40 , at which he appeared solo again for the first time in eleven years. He donated all of the proceeds to various aid organizations. He donated all profits from the following nationwide tour ( Gary Barlow in Concert ) to the Prince's Trust , which works for disadvantaged children and young people in the UK.

From 2009 onwards there were more calls and Twitter campaigns under the motto Get Gary Knighted! , addressed to the Prime Minister and the Royal Family requesting that Barlow be awarded the accolade for his multiple contributions to the charity. The campaign was supported by many celebrities and media representatives, including BBC1 radio host Chris Moyles, who climbed Kilimanjaro with Barlow for Comic Relief . In fact, in 2012 the Queen personally appointed him Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire , with which she awarded him not only the Order of Merit but also the title OBE , which is to be borne after his full name .

In 2013, after two years of planning, Barlow traveled to Afghanistan with a group of British soldiers, where he visited Camp Bastion , documented the everyday life of the soldiers for the BBC and organized a concert evening with several amateur musicians from the army. He justified his decision as follows: “I'm in the middle of the biggest TV show in the current program. Everything revolves around the superficial, shines and lights everywhere and all the rest. It will be quite a shock, a big change. [But] here is the point where showbiz ends and the job becomes a calling. ”During his 48 hours on Afghan soil, he summed up his observations as follows:“ Through everyday life with film and television, you think you've seen the war to have. You feel like you know what war looks like. But you don't do that. You just don't know None of this is real. This is real. […] I now understand what's going on here. I understand how the Army works as a team. It is absolutely fantastic to see that. It actually makes me feel safer here. It also makes you appreciate the courage of these people. While I'll be having plenty of food with my family at Christmas dinner, it's just another day here. The victim is beyond imagination. [...] Camp Bastion is full of extraordinary men and women who achieve extraordinary things. And as if that weren't enough, this shows that a huge group of them also has extraordinary musical talent. "

Major Richard Jones, Barlow's Department of Defense liaison at Camp Bastion, said, “It has had a huge impact on my people's morale. They were incredibly grateful that all of these people went out of their way to organize this. They love it and accept the fact that this event is out of their normal comfort zone. ”26-year-old Flight Lieutenant Knill ( Royal Air Force ) sang a duet with Barlow and commented on the evening:“ This whole week has been a total hurricane. It's a dream come true. I mean, who comes over here to Camp Bastion for three months thinking, 'Oh yeah, I know, I'll go there and then I'll sing with Gary Barlow'? That just doesn't happen in the normal world. "

Since the conception of his musical The Girls began in 2011, Barlow has also been increasingly committed to research into blood cancer. In addition to repeated calls for donations, the proceeds from several performances of the musical, which premiered in 2015, benefited the research foundation Bloodwise (formerly Leukemia & Lymphoma Research ), which was and is the foundation of choice for the real calendar girls on whose lives Barlow's musical is based. On the foundation's homepage there is a direct reference to the merits of the Calendar Girls since 1999 as well as to the new musical.

Look to the Stars , an information, promotion and contact page for charities, lists ten different aid organizations that have benefited significantly from Barlow's support so far. These include two cancer aid and six children's aid organizations as well as four foundations for victims of war and natural disasters.

In November 2016, Barlow was named patron of the Child Bereavement-Charity, a charity that cares for orphaned parents and children.

Together with Mark Owen and Howard Donald (Take That), he opened the One Love Manchester benefit concert on July 4, 2017 in memory of the victims of the terrorist attack in their home town of Manchester thirteen days earlier .

family

Gary Barlow was born on January 20, 1971 as the second and youngest child of the married couple Colin († October 17, 2009) and Marjorie "Marge" Barlow, his brother Ian is three years older. He grew up with his family in Frodsham, a village in Cheshire in the north of England right on the Welsh border.

Since January 12, 2000, Barlow has been married to the former dancer Dawn Andrews (* 1970), whom he met at the age of 17 while filming his first music video Love Is in the Air (then recorded under the stage name Kurtis Rush ). They met again on the Nobody Else tour in 1995 and have been a couple ever since. Andrews also danced on the Ultimate Tour (2006) and the Beautiful World Tour (2007). They have a son (Daniel, * 2000) and two daughters (Emily, * 2002 and Daisy, * 2009) together. Their youngest daughter Poppy (literally poppy ) was stillborn in August 2012. Barlow processes this experience in the lead single of his third solo album Since I Saw You Last with the title Let Me Go .

Discography and works

→ Main article : Gary Barlow / Discography

Note: The discography listed here comes exclusively from Barlow's solo career. His releases with Take That can be found here (discography) and here (song list) . The list of author contributions from Gary Barlow also includes his works as a songwriter for other artists; this list already amounts to over 300 songs from his pen.

Albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1997	Open Road	DE10 (16 weeks) DE	AT13 (7 weeks) AT	CH6 (13 weeks) CH	UK1 platinum (29 weeks)UK	-	First published: May 26, 1997 Sales: +2,000,000
1999	Twelve Months, Eleven Days	DE67 (1 week) DE	-	-	UK35 (2 weeks) UK	-	First published: October 11, 1999
2012	Sing	-	-	-	UK1 gold (9 weeks)UK	-	First published: May 28, 2012 by Gary Barlow & The Commonwealth Band
2013	Since I Saw You Last	DE10 (10 weeks) DE	AT27 (1 week) AT	CH91 (1 week) CH	UK2 × 2 Double platinum (38 weeks)UK	-	First published: November 25, 2013 Sales: + 702,587

as a producer

• 2015: Finding Neverland: The Album (all written by Barlow, but sung with various artists)
• 2016: Fly (Songs Inspired by the Film 'Eddie the Eagle') (studio album, regardless of the film soundtrack, all songs written and recorded in the style of the 1980s by formative musicians of this decade such as Marc Almond , Go West , Kim Wilde , Nik Kershaw , Paul Young , ABC and others, all of which are still active today; compiled, produced and partly written by Barlow)

Musicals

• WP 2014: Finding Neverland
• Premiere 2015: The Girls
• Premiere 2017: The Band
• Around the World in 80 Days

Books

• My take . Gary Barlow, 2006, Bloomsbury Publishing , ISBN 978-0-7475-8764-4 .
• My take . Gary Barlow, 2007, Bloomsbury Publishing , ISBN 978-0-7475-8806-1 (paperback, expanded to include Take Thats Return).
• A better me . Gary Barlow, 2018, Blink Publishing , ISBN 978-1-911600-97-8 .

Movie and TV

• 1998: Open Book (television documentary about Barlow's career)
• 2000: Heartbeat (ITV drama series; as hitchhiker Micky Shannon ; episode 150)
• 2009: Children In Need Rocks (benefit concert; organizer and contributor)
• 2011: X Factor UK Season 8 (talent show; first juror)
• 2011: Red Nose Day (BBC- Telethon ; Sketch "Fake That")
• 2011: Gary Barlow: Live (recording of the In Concert tour from the Manchester Apollo Theater)
• 2012: X Factor UK Season 9 (talent show; first juror)
• 2012: Gary Barlow - On Her Majesty's Service (TV documentary about the musical world tour for the throne anniversary)
• 2012: Diamond Jubilee Concert (broadcast live from Buckingham Palace )
• 2012: Keith Lemon: The Film (documentary; cameo )
• 2013: Gary Barlow & Friends - Live From the Manchester Apollo (New Years Concert; ITV recording)
• 2013: Gary Barlow - Journey to Afghanistan (TV documentary about a troop visit to Camp Bastion )
• 2013: Miranda (BBC1 hit show; cameo)
• 2013: X Factor UK Season 10 (talent show; first juror)
• 2014: When Corden Met Barlow (TV documentary about Barlow's career)
• 2014: Since You Saw Him Last (recording of the Since I Saw You Last tour from the Manchester Arena )
• 2015: Miranda (special episode of the BBC1 hit show; cameo )
• 2016: Inside the Music (five-part free video podcast for Apple Music about the methods and techniques of a full-time composer and singer-songwriter using the example of "Stronger", the finale of the first act in Finding Neverland )
  1. Preparation - 4:24 min.
  2. Inspiration - 4:57 min.
  3. Composition (composition) - 5:21 min.
  4. Lyrics (lyrics) - 4:59 min.
  5. Performance - 5:03 min.
• 2016: Eddie the Eagle (feature film; conception and production of the soundtrack)
• 2017: Let It Shine (BBC West End Casting Show ; conception, production; main judge)
• 2017: Red Nose Day (BBC Telethon ; Carpool Karaoke Special with James Corden , Howard Donald and Mark Owen )

Awards

For awards with Take That are listed here . The most important awards relevant to Barlow in the UK are the Ivor Novello Award (composer), BRIT Awards (popular music), National Television Awards (television), Q Award (music), Laurence Olivier Award (theater) and of course government awards such as the OBE ( job-independent). The most important German award in the music industry is the ECHO .

year	Work / candidate	Award	output
1993	Gary Barlow	Ivor Novello Award ( Songwriter of the Year )	Won
1994	Pray	Ivor Novello Award ( Best Contemporary Song )	Won
1995	Back for Good	Ivor Novello Award ( Song of the Year )	Won
1996	Never forget	Ivor Novello Award	Won
	Back for Good	Billboard International Hit of the Year	Won
1997	Forever love	FMQ Awards [Finland] ( Best Single )	Won
	Forever love	TMF Awards [Netherlands] ( Best Single )	Nominated
	Open Road	Q Awards ( Best Album )	Nominated
	Forever love	ECHO ( best single )	Won
1998	Gary Barlow	Brit Award ( Best British Man )	Nominated
	Open Road	The London Awards ( Best Album )	Nominated
	Love won't wait	Top of the Pops ( Best Single )	Nominated
2007	Gary Barlow	GQ Awards ( Man of the Year )	Won
2008	Shine	Ivor Novello Award ( Most Played Song )	Won
2009	Gary Barlow	The Sun Newspaper's Lord of the Year Award	Won
2010	Gary Barlow	Blue Peter Gold Badge	Won
2011	Gary Barlow	Q Award ( Classic Songwriter )	Won
	Shame	Q Award ( best collaboration )	Won
	Shame	Virgin Media ( Best Music Video )	Nominated
	Shame	Virgin Media ( Best Collaboration )	Nominated
2012	Gary Barlow	Q Award ( Outstanding Achievement , vlg. Award for life's work )	Won
	Gary Barlow	Music Industry Trusts Award ( Honorary Recognition for Barlow's contribution to music over the past two decades. )	Won
	Gary Barlow	National Reality Television Award ( Best Juror on a TV Show )	Nominated
	Gary Barlow	OBE ( Honorary Recognition for Services to Music and Charity )	Won
	Gary Barlow	National Television Award ( Outstanding Contribution to Charity )	Won
	X factor	National Television Award ( Best Television Talent Show )	Won
2013	Let me go	Heart ( best single )	Won
	Gary Barlow Live	Nordoff-Robbins Award ( Best Live Act )	Nominated
2014	Since I Saw You Last	Celebritain UK ( Album of the Year ; Entertainment.ie)	Nominated
	Let me go	Celebritain UK ( Best single ; Entertainment.ie)	Nominated
2017	The Girls	Laurence Olivier Award (Best New Musical)	Nominated
	The Girls	Whatsonstage.com Awards ( Best Regional Production )	Won

Web links

Commons : Gary Barlow  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Career

• Official Homepage Gary Barlow
• Official Homepage Take That
• Gary Barlow in the Internet Broadway Database (English)
• Gary Barlow in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• FutureRecords.com
• Literature by and about Gary Barlow in the catalog of the German National Library

Foundations

• Homepage Bloodwise (formerly Leukemia & Lymphoma Research)
• Homepage comic relief
• Homepage Red Nose Day (comic relief)
• Homepage Children In Need ( BBC )
• Pudsey (CIN on the BBC homepage)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Official chart analysis by Musicweek : Gary Barlow tops both album and singles list. Retrieved September 29, 2015
2. ↑ Gary Barlow In Concert, Royal Albert Hall Biography: Sales of 45 million records with Take That and another 5 million as a solo artist ( Memento June 2, 2013 in the Internet Archive ). Retrieved September 29, 2015
3. ^ Official biography on his homepage GaryBarlow.com; accessed on September 29, 2015.
4. ^ ^{A b} Gary Barlow: My Take . Bloomsbury Publishing, 2007, ISBN 978-0-7475-8806-1
5. ↑ ^{a b} When Corden met Barlow BBC documentary from 2014. Uploaded on May 6, 2014. Accessed on May 28, 2017.
6. ↑ Information on Pebble Mill and the contact with Bob Howes from Barlow's autobiography My Take , p. 32 ff. Of the paperback edition.
7. ^ The Sun Gordon Smart
8. ↑ BPI certified awards search
9. ^ Rob Copsey: Take That confirm they are releasing a new album this year . Official Charts Company . February 2, 2016. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
10. ^ Gary Barlow working on Take That album . Article of the Digital Spy from. Retrieved June 11, 2016.
11. ↑ Gary Barlow Announces New Album 'Since I Saw You Last' . Press release on ContactMusic.com dated October 4, 2014. Accessed June 11, 2016.
12. ↑ Barlow Interview 2018 In: The Sun, March 23, 2018. Retrieved April 8, 2018.
13. ↑ Open Road Re-issue in the Universal Music Store. Retrieved April 8, 2018.
14. ↑ Signed Vinyl: Open Road, 21st Anniversary Re-issue ( Memento from April 9, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) in the Universal Music Store; accessed on April 8, 2018.
15. ↑ Katrina Rees: Gary Barlow UK Tour Dates 2018 . In: CelebMix from October 12, 2017. Retrieved April 8, 2018.
16. ↑ Concert dates on Barlow's homepage (archive, as of October 14, 2017). ( Memento of October 14, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Retrieved April 8, 2018.
17. ↑ ^{a b} Concert dates on Barlow's homepage can be sorted by New Dates or All Dates . Retrieved April 8, 2018.
18. ^ Official resale platform for Gary Barlows tickets at Twickets.co.uk. Retrieved June 19, 2018.
19. ^ Gary Barlow will fly from Neverland to Around the World in 80 Days in a new musical adaptation . Broadway.com on February 20, 2015. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
20. ↑ Masked Gary Barlow stuns Bristol shoppers with surprise concert BBC News on May 30, 2016. Retrieved September 24, 2016.
21. ↑ Announcement Let It Shine Band homepage of June 17, 2016. Retrieved September 24, 2016.
22. ^ Gary Barlow and Take That present the world premiere of The Band . WestEndTheatre.com. Retrieved September 24, 2016.
23. ↑ Bob King Creative: The new musical by Tim Firth with the music of Take That - Touring the UK in 2017/18 ( en ) Retrieved March 8, 2017.
24. ↑ Let it Shine: Contestants ( Memento from September 24, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) BBC One. Retrieved September 24, 2016.
25. ↑ Let It Shine: Martin Kemp and Dannii Minogue to judge Take That talent show BBC News on September 14, 2016. Retrieved September 24, 2016.
26. ↑ Top songwriter Gary Barlow . Entertainment.stv.tv ( "WayBack Machine" , original no longer available). February 2, 2009. Archived from the original on August 7, 2011. Retrieved on November 21, 2015.
27. ^ ^{A b} Soundcheck: Why everyone wants Gary Barlow | Music News . This is London. Archived from the original on October 5, 2009. Retrieved June 8, 2010.
28. ↑ Der Spiegel, No. 42, October 12, 2009, p. 172
29. ^ Gary Barlow's the new Simon Cowell | The Sun | Showbiz | Bizarre . The Sun. November 7, 2008. Retrieved June 8, 2010.
30. ↑ Camilla Kerslake is first signing for Gary Barlow's Future Records . Buzzin Pop Music. Archived from the original on January 25, 2010. Retrieved June 8, 2010.
31. ^ Claudia Joseph: Gary Barlow changed my life, by classical diva Camilla Kerslake . In: Daily Mail , October 31, 2009. 
32. ↑ Newsbeat - Gary Barlow signs talent show winner Emma's Imagination . BBC. October 12, 2010. Retrieved March 2, 2013.
33. ↑ Page no longer available , search in web archives:
34. ^ Lonsdale Boys Club << James Barnes Music . Jamesbarnesmusic.com. Archived from the original on March 28, 2012. Retrieved March 2, 2013.
35. ^ Gary Barlow Closes Record Label ( January 1, 2013 memento on the Internet Archive ). Yahoo News.
36. ^ Judging panel announced! The X Factor - News
37. ↑ YouTube: P&O Cruises with its new brand ambassador Gary Barlow
38. ↑ Emotional Gary Barlow moved to tears as stars conquer Kilimanjaro .
39. ↑ Contact Music November 20, 2011 . Contactmusic.com. November 19, 2011. Retrieved October 10, 2016.
40. ↑ Gary Donates Lyrics ( Memento of 16 July 2011 at the Internet Archive ) Take That website 18 November, 2010
41. ↑ GB40 ( Memento from July 16, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Take That Homepage, December 14, 2010
42. ↑ Get Gary Knighted - Let's make it happen . Take That City. November 29, 2009. Retrieved August 15, 2011.
43. ^ Gary Barlow: Trip to Afghanistan has shown me the 'unbelievable' courage of our soldiers Express, December 17, 2013. Accessed June 21, 2017.
44. ↑ Gary Barlow on the Look to the Stars charity contact list . Retrieved June 11, 2016.
45. ^ Gary Barlow becomes Patron of Child Bereavement UK . press release. In: Child Bereavement UK . November 10, 2016 ( childbereavementuk.org [accessed December 21, 2017]).
46. ↑ Take That's Gary Barlow mourn's father's death . In: Chester Chronicle , October 22, 2009; accessed on June 11, 2016.
47. ^ Family and hometown information from Barlow's autobiography My Take , p. 5 of the paperback edition.
48. ^ Gary Barlow and wife Dawn plan 'beautiful funeral' for stillborn daughter Poppy . Mail online
49. ↑ Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US
50. ^ Gary Barlow goes double platinum with first solo album in 14 years The Metro, January 8, 2014. Retrieved March 25, 2016
51. ^ Gary Barlow will fly from Neverland to Around the World in 80 Days in a new musical adaptation . Broadway.com on February 20, 2015. Retrieved February 18, 2016.
52. ↑ Celebdaq - "Back For Good?" . BBC. Archived from the original on October 10, 2011. Retrieved on April 16, 2010.
53. ^ Gary Barlow: From the club circuit to the Palace , BBC. June 15, 2012. Retrieved February 19, 2013. 
54. ^ Billboard . Books.google.ca, June 1, 1996 (accessed February 19, 2013).
55. ↑ About Finnish Music Quarterly . Fmq.fi. Retrieved August 15, 2011.
56. ^ Nominations for 1998 Brit Awards , BBC News. 
57. ↑ Gary Barlow Picture 2566199 | Gary Barlow GQ Men of the Year Awards held ... . Contactmusic. Retrieved August 15, 2011.
58. ↑ Biz Awards 2009 . In: The Sun , January 1, 2010. 
59. ^ Blue Peter badges for Gary Barlow and Ryan Giggs . In: Daily Record . Archived from the original on January 9, 2013. Retrieved August 15, 2011.
60. ↑ Q Awards 2011 winners: U2, Adele, Coldplay and Gary Barlow pick up awards . mirror. October 24, 2011.
61. ↑ The results are in - Virgin Media Music Awards - winners - Music . Virgin Media. July 29, 2011. Retrieved August 15, 2011.
62. ↑ The results are in - Virgin Media Music Awards - winners - Music . Virgin Media. July 29, 2011. Archived from the original on November 25, 2010. Retrieved on August 15, 2011.
63. ↑ Let it shine: Gary Barlow is recognized with a prestigious honorary music award. 19 July 2012 . In: The Evening Standard . Retrieved September 22, 2014.
64. ↑ National Reality Television Awards 2012 nominations - in full Published Thursday, June 28 2012, 14:11 BST - By Mayer Nissim . In: Digital Spy . Retrieved September 22, 2014.
65. ^ Gary Barlow 'thrilled' with OBE in Queen's honors . ITV Granada. June 16, 2012. Retrieved February 19, 2013.
66. ↑ Xtra special night as Gary Barlow wins NTAs Outstanding Contribution gong 25 January 2012 21:25 GMT . Entertainment.stv.tv. January 25, 2012. Archived from the original on January 28, 2012. Retrieved on January 29, 2012.
67. ↑ NTA Awards 01/25/12 . In: Digital Spy . January 25, 2012. Retrieved January 29, 2012.
68. ↑ James Blunt Bonfire Heart single cover . Heart.co.uk. January 31, 2014. Retrieved February 7, 2014.
69. ↑ Gary Barlow . In: Facebook . Retrieved September 22, 2014.
70. ↑ ^{a b} Celebritain Music Awards 2014 Nominees revealed! . In: Jux . Archived from the original on February 2, 2014. Retrieved September 22, 2014.
71. ↑ Mark Shenton: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child 'Receives Record Olivier Nominations . Playbill , March 6, 2017.
72. ↑ Gary Barlow and Tim Firth's 'The Girls' Triumphs at WhatsOnStage Awards . broadwayworld.com, February 19, 2017