1990–1996, 2005–Gary Barlow1990–1996, 2005–present
Howard Donald1990–1996, 2005–present
Mark Owen1990–1996, 2005–present
Robbie Williams1990–1995, 2010–2012
Jason Orange1990–1996, 2005–2014
Music manager Nigel Martin-Smith formed Take That as Britain's answer to the American boy band New Kids on the Block. Before joining the group, Gary Barlow was singing in clubs, Mark Owen a bank worker, Jason Orange and Howard Donald were in a break-dancing group called StreetBeat, and 16-year-old Robbie Williams had a job selling double-glazing. Martin-Smith decided to build the boy band around the musical abilities of Gary Barlow.
At 15,
Gary Barlow appeared on the BBC's daytime show
Pebble Mill at One in a Christmas song competition. He came second.
They originally called themselves Kick It. The quintet became Take That and Party from a newspaper headline before shortening it to just Take That.
Take That's first TV appearance was on ITV's The Hitman and Her in 1990, where they performed Barlow's self-written song, "My Kind of Girl."
Take That's debut single "Do What U Like," flopped, only reaching #82 in the UK. However, the song caught the attention of RCA Records, who signed them to their label. Their next two singles reached the lower reaches of the UK Top 50, then Take That broke through with a cover of the 1975 Tavares hit "
It Only Takes A Minute," which peaked at #7 on the UK Singles Chart in June 1992.
Between 1992 and 1996, Take That was the biggest boy band in the UK, racking up 13 Top 10 singles in the UK, including eight #1 hits.
Robbie Williams quit Take That in August 1995 following friction with other band members. The remaining members continued to perform as a quartet before splitting in April 1996.
Before announcing their breakup in February 1996, the band released a cover of The Bee Gees' "
How Deep Is Your Love." It became the band's final chart-topper until their 2006 comeback single "
Patience" a decade later.
Robbie Williams re-joined Take That in 2010 for their sixth studio album, Progress. It was the first album of new material to feature Take That's original lineup since their 1995 album, Nobody Else. Despite only being released on November 15, 2010, Progress was the UK's biggest-selling album of the year after selling over one million copies in 24 days.
Gary Barlow married to Dawn Andrews, one of Take That's former tour dancers, in 2000. Prior to meeting Barlow, Andrews was an "itsy bitsy girl" in the video for Timmy Mallett's 1990 version of "
Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini."
By the time he was 19, Gary Barlow was a seasoned performer. He'd already clocked up a couple of thousand gigs as a solo act, playing the working men's club circuit. When Martin-Smith suggested joining a band, his response was a flat-out "no." Lugging equipment around and dealing with band dynamics just wasn't his scene. However, the manager had a trump card – a vision for a different kind of group.
"And then he got me, 'No it's not a conventional group, it's like a vocal harmony group," Barlow recalled to Sorted magazine. "And he played us The Jackson 5, New Kids on the Block, The Drifters - that was the type of group he wanted to make."
Hearing those names piqued Barlow's interest. "And that was a bit more interesting to me. So that's why I went along and thought, 'Let's see what happens here.'"
Little did Barlow know, this "let's see what happens" moment would propel him to international stardom as a member of Take That.
