Robbie Williams

Robbie Williams is an English singer-songwriter, and occasional actor. He is a member of the pop group Take That, but found greater commercial success as a solo artist.

Williams has sold over 70 million records worldwide, which ranks him among the best-selling music artists worldwide. 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 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."

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. This was followed by "Old Before I Die" which would be the first single taken from his debut album. His debut album, Life Thru a Lens, was released in September 1997 and debuted at number eleven of the UK Album Charts.

The fourth single taken from this album, "Angels", became Williams' best-seller in the United Kingdom. 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. The album eventually managed to sell over three million copies in Europe.

The first single from his next album, "Millennium", became Williams' first solo number one single in the United Kingdom. I've Been Expecting You was released in late October 1998 and debuted at number one in the UK Albums Chart. It included "No Regrets", a collaboration with The Pet Shop Boys' singer Neil Tennant and The Divine Comedy's Neil Hannon. The album sold almost 3 million copies in the UK and was certified 10x Platinum by the BPI.

In 1999, Williams 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.

The first single taken from the album Sing When You're Winning 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. The song became an instant hit, reaching number one in the UK 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. Sing When You're Winning was released in August 2000 and it topped the charts in many different countries.

He recored the track "Have You Met Miss Jones?" for the film Bridget Jones' Diary in early 2001. Also, he recorded a duet with Nicole Kidman for "Somethin' Stupid". The song became Williams' fifth number one hit in the UK and became one of the biggest hits of 2001.

A DVD called Robbie Williams Live at the Albert Hall was released and has become one of the best selling music DVDs in Europe.

In 2002, Williams signed a record-breaking £80 million contract with EMI. His fifth studio album, Escapology, was released in 2002 and hit number one in about 10 countries around the world. The album's first single, "Feel", was recorded as a demo and became Williams' biggest international hit.

Due to the controversial video for the album's second single, "Come Undone", it was heavily censored by MTV Networks Europe for depicting 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. BBC Radio 2 also banned the song for its explicit content.

In October 2003, Williams released his first live album, Live at Knebworth. In October 2004, Williams released, Greatest Hits. "Radio", the compilation's first single, debuted at number one in the UK Singles Chart.

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.

Williams released his mdance/electro album, Rudebox, in October 2006. It featured collaborations with the Pet Shop Boys, William Orbit, Soul Mekanik, Joey Negro, Mark Ronson, Chris Grierson, The Orr Boys. The first single was "Rudebox" and the album sold 2x Platinum in Europe with sales of over 2 million making it the fastest platinum-selling album of 2006. To promote his album, Williams commissioned a series of short films.

Williams' next album, Reality Killed the Video Star, was released in November 2009 in the United Kingdom. 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.

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. A single, "Shame", was also released, which was written and sung by Williams and Barlow.

In July 2010, Williams announced he was returning to Take That.

Currently, he is working on his ninth studio album.