Robbie Williams Net Worth

Biography of Robbie Williams

The popular British pop singer Robbie Williams, the author of numerous songs, a favorite of women and just a wonderful person, began his career as part of the Take That boy band, but became more famous thanks to his solo work and defiant behavior.

Childhood and family

Robert Peter Maximilian Williams was born on February 13, 1974 in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, UK. His father, Peter Williams (Conway), was a comedian in his youth, his mother, Janet Farrell, owned a flower shop, and later they opened the Red Lion Pub together.

When Robbie was three years old, his parents divorced. He stayed with his mother. The boy attended Mill Hill Elementary School and then St. The name of Saint Margaret. He studied poorly, was lazy and the first clown in the class, but he had artistic talent, danced and sang well.

At school, he took part in theatrical productions, plays and musicals, where he often played the main roles, and also appeared in the soap opera Brookside with a cameo role. During the summer holidays, he spent a lot of time with his father, who shared with him the experience of a comedy game. Also, Robbie played on the high school football team but didn’t excel.

take that

After graduating from high school in 1990, Robbie worked for a while as an insulating glass salesman. Luckily, he took his mom’s advice and signed up to audition for a boy pop group.

At the casting, he performed the song “Nothing Can Divide Us” by Jason Donovan in front of the producers and, to his surprise, became one of the five members of the boy band, called Take That. Robbie was assigned the role of impudent. Together with Gary Barlow, Howard Donald, Mark Owen and Jason Orange, he recorded three super-successful albums: “Take that and party”, “Everything changes” and “Nobody else”.

In July 1995, after a weekend with Noel and Liam Gallagher at the Glastonbury Festival, Robbie announced that he wanted to leave the band: “People looked at me like I was a pimple on my back! And all because I’m a member of Take That.” In the 2010 documentary “Take That: Look Back, Don’t Stare”, Robbie revealed that the main reason for his departure from the band was his competition with Gary Barlow (he dedicated one of his first solo songs “Ego” to his opponent). a Go Go”). There is also a version that the other members of the group gave Robbie an ultimatum: either he quits with alcohol and drugs, or leaves.

After a trial with the BMG label, Robbie began his solo career. In 1996, shortly after Robbie Williams announced his departure, the band disbanded. Other members of Take That also embarked on an independent voyage, but only he managed to surpass past success. In 2006, the boy band reunited without Robbie, although in 2010 he took part in the recording of their album Progress. The reunion turned out to be short – in the summer of 2011 the singer finally left the group.

Solo career

In 1996, Williams signed with Chrysalis Records and released his first solo single, Freedom, a George Michael cover. In March, the singer, in collaboration with composer Guy Chambers, began recording his first album, Life Thru a Lens, which was released in September of the same year and started at number one on the UK Album Chart. The single “Angels” made a splash and sold over a million copies in the UK alone. The singles “Old Before I Die”, “Lazy Days” and “South of the Border” had slightly less sales.

In early 1998, Robbie began work on his second album, I’ve Been Expecting You. The album’s first single, Millenium, became very popular in Europe, with over 400,000 copies sold. Shortly after the release of the album in October 1998, the singer signed a contract with the American company Capitol Records and released a collection of songs “The Ego Has Landed”, intended for the American market. The album received a lukewarm reception, peaking at number 63 on the US Billboard Albums chart.

The next album “Sing When You’re Winning” in 2000 was more successful. The single “Rock DJ” became one of the best-selling in the UK and was nominated for many prestigious awards: MTV Europe Music Awards, BRIT Awards, Best Single of the Year. In the video clip for this song, Robbie performs a striptease, removing his skin and tearing off his muscles. The video won the MTV VMA for Best Visual Effects.

In the summer of 2001, Robbie went on tour in support of the album. The album sold 2.4 million copies in the UK and 4 million copies in Europe, went 8x platinum and became one of the best-selling albums in British music history.

In 2001, Williams released his fourth Swing When You’re Winning album. Nicole Kidman took part in the recording of the album. After the release, the album immediately became a hit, its circulation amounted to more than 7 million copies. The song “Beyond The Sea” was included in the soundtrack of the animated film “Finding Nemo”. In October 2001, Robbie Williams performed at London’s Albert Hall in concert.

In 2002, Robbie Williams signed an £80 million deal with EMI, becoming the highest paid pop artist. In the history of music, only Michael Jackson was offered a better contract in 1991. He bought a house in Los Angeles and began to conquer the American music market.

The advantages of popularity were overshadowed by bouts of depression and self-doubt, although it would seem where they could come from in the cult figure of the British pop scene.

In 2005, Williams released his sixth album, Intensive Care, with composer Stephen Duffy. In November 2005, at the MTV Europe Music Award, Williams received the award for “Best Male Artist”.

In 2006, Robbie Williams began recording his next album, Rudebox. The album turned out to be the most unsuccessful in the singer’s career (but even so, he went platinum twice). At this time, a loud reunion of “Take That” takes place, and the singer, saddened by the success of his former colleagues, decides to go to a rehabilitation clinic and get rid of drug addiction, which he did on his 33rd birthday.

Having cleansed himself of addictions, Robbie began to improve his life: he had a girlfriend with whom everything was serious – in an interview he called her his wife and admitted that they changed his life. Together they moved to England, and in 2009 Williams made a grand comeback on stage with Really Killed the Video Star, followed by two greatest hits albums. The latter also included the new song “Shame”, recorded together with Gary Barlow.

In October 2011, Robbie signed a contract with Universal, which resulted in the release of the album “Take the Crown” in the fall of 2012. In June 2013, Robbie Williams went on tour in support of the album.

In 2016, the singer released the disc “The Heavy Entertainment Show”, which included the song “Party like a Russians”. In the video for it, the musician ridiculed the rest of Russian oligarchs and the local entertainment culture. It is believed that Williams’ song was inspired by Roman Abramovich’s corporate party, where he performed in 2014.

Robbie Williams personal life

During the heyday of Take That, and thanks to the ambiguous lyrics, Robbie was portrayed as gay. And the singer only fueled interest in himself with jokes on this topic. In fact, Robbie is still a connoisseur of female charms, so at the time of Take That he was terribly annoyed by the clause in the contract forbidding the members of the boy band to enter into a relationship. After leaving the group, he began dating the daughter of a dentist, Jacqueline Hamilton-Smith. Soon he proposed to her, but in 1996 the couple broke up.

Then the singer broke loose: a short affair with actress Anna Friel, an engagement with Canadian TV presenter Nicole Appleton, romances with Irish singer Andrea Corr, Danish model Tanya Strecker, actress Victoria Schweiser, model Rachel Hunt.

In 2004, Robbie Williams became interested in actress Nicole Kidman, with whom he recorded the single “Somethin’ Stupid” in 2001. However, nothing serious happened – in the same year, the handsome man was caught in an affair with actress Valerie Cruz.

This was followed by a string of intrigues with Lisa D’Armato, Lindsay Lohan, Claire Staples, Susan Coppin. He was credited with novels with Cameron Diaz, Rachel Perry, former Spice Girls member Jerry Holywell.

In 2006, Williams met Turkish American actress Ayda Field on a blind date. In 2007 they started dating. It was she who supported the singer in the difficult decision to tie up with substances and alcohol.

In 2010, Robbie and Ayda got married, and on September 17, 2012, their daughter Theodora Rose Williams was born. On October 27, 2014, a replenishment appeared in the family – Ayda gave birth to a son. The boy was named Charlton. Now Robbie Williams is an exemplary family man, but the forgotten lifestyle still comes around: he often has bouts of depression, and in 2018 he complained of memory lapses.

Robbie Williams now

At the opening of the World Cup in 2018, Robbie Williams, with a sly smile, showed the middle finger to the Channel One camera while performing the song “Rock DJ”. He later stated that it was not an obscene gesture – in this way he showed the number “1”.