TAKE THAT

‘Today this could be, the greatest day of our

lives’

‘Said it all,nothing to say at all,

nothing to say that matters,haven't we heard enough’

Zoe Haines

‘It only takes a minute girl To fall in love, to fall in love It only takes a minute girl 

To fall in love, to fall in love’

Take That – 1990-1993• In 1989, Nigel Martin-Smith set out to create a British male singing group.

Martin-Smith was introduced to young singer songwriter Gary Barlow and was so impressed with Barlow's self-written material he decided to build his new look boy band around Barlow's musical abilities. A campaign to audition young men with abilities in dancing and singing followed and took place in Manchester and other surrounding cities in 1990.

• At twenty-two, Howard Donald was one of the oldest to audition, but he was chosen. When asked to recruit other possible candidates, Donald recommended fellow street dancer Jason Orange Mark Owen and Robbie Williams met on the day of their audition and interview.

• Barlow announced in later years that Martin-Smith's original name for the band was Kick It, but the members of the band did not like it and instead decided to switch it to Take That. 

Take That – 1990-1993• Take That's first TV appearance was on The Hitman & Her in 1990, where

they performed Barlow's self written unreleased songs "Love" and "My Kind of Girl". They later appeared a second time to perform "Waiting Around".

• They aimed to break into the mainstream music industry they worked a manner of small clubs, schools and events across the country building up a fanbase as they travelled to gigs constantly for months.

• The band's breakthrough single was a cover of the 1975s Tavares hit "It Only Takes a Minute", which peaked at number 7 on the UK Singles Chart. This success was followed by the track "I Found Heaven", then by the first Barlow ballad "A Million Love Songs" which again reached number 7. Their cover of the Barry Manilow disco hit "Could It Be Magic" gave them one of their biggest hits to date, peaking at number 3 in the UK.

• Their first album, Take That and Party, was released in 1991, and included all the hit singles to date.

Take That- 1993-1995• 1993 saw the release of Everything Changes. It peaked at number 1

in the UK and spawned four UK number one singles – their first number one "Pray", "Relight My Fire", "Babe" and the title track "Everything Changes". The fifth single "Love Ain't Here Anymore" reached number three on the UK charts. 

• Everything Changes saw the band gain international success with the album being nominated for the 1994 Mercury Prize however it failed to crack the US market where the remix "Love Ain't Here Anymore" gained little success.

• By 1994, the band had become radio and television stars across Europe and Asia. But it was not until 1995 that the band would do their first World Tour.

Take That- 1993-1995• It was during the years 1993–95 that the band were on the magazine

covers ranging from Smash Hits to GQ, becoming mass merchandised on all sorts, ranging from picture books, to posters, stickers, their own dolls, jewellery, caps, T-shirts, toothbrushes and even had their own annuals released. The band had also developed a large female teenage fan base at the time. During this time, they performed at numerous music awards shows and chart shows such as the BRIT Awards and Top of the Pops.

• In 1995, Take That released their 3rd studio album Nobody Else, again based on Barlow's own material which reached number 1 in the UK and across Europe, capturing new audiences annually.

• It was not until their second release from that album however, that they would experience what would become their biggest hit single, "Back for Good", which reached number one in 31 countries around the globe and to date has been covered 89 times the world over. It was also their first US hit, where it reached the Top 10. The song was initially unveiled for the first time via live performance while at the 1995 BRIT Awards, and based on the reception of that performance, the record pre-sold more records than expected and forced the record label to bring the release date forward by an unprecedented six weeks.

Take That 1995-1996• Robbie Williams' drug abuse had escalated to a near drug overdose the

night before the group was scheduled to perform at the MTV Europe Music Awards in 1994 and In July 1995, Williams was photographed by the press partying with fellow band Oasis at Glastonbury Festival. This led to the band offering him an ultimatum; where he was to adhere to the bands responsibilities or to leave before their scheduled world tour. Undaunted by the loss of Williams, Take That continued to promote Nobody Else as a four-piece, scoring a further hit single with Barlow's "Never Forget" and completing the Nobody Else Tour in Late 1995.

• On 13 February 1996, Take That formally announced that they were disbanding. But a new recording was released, a cover of The Bee Gees' "How Deep Is Your Love". The single went on to become what was to be the band's final UK number one. Take That gave what was thought to be their final performance in April 1996 at Amsterdam.

Take That 1995-1996•  Following the band's announcement, millions of their

fans were distraught around the world and in the UK alone, teenage girls threatened suicide and were seen lining streets in tears, to the point that telephone hotlines were set up by the government to deal with counseling them. After the band broke up, highly respected music figures such as Elton John noted that Take That were different to other boy bands before and after them, in that they wrote their own material through Gary Barlow, Take That had also left a legacy of being immaculate performers with a very high work ethic, causing them to be voted in as the greatest boy band of all time.

Take That- 2005-2006• On 14 November 2005, Never Forget - The Ultimate Collection, a

new compilation of their hit singles including a new previously unreleased song, also achieved great success and peaked at number 2 on UK charts selling over 2.1 million copies in the UK alone. The new song "Today I've Lost You" (recorded in September 2005) was originally written by Gary Barlow as the follow up to "Back for Good" but was never recorded. On 16 November 2005, the group got back together for the ITV documentary Take That: For the Record, in which they aired their views over their fame, success, the split and what the post-Williams line up had done since.

• On 25 November 2005, there was an official press conference by the band announcing that the post Robbie Williams line-up were going to tour in 2006. The tour, entitled Ultimate Tour, ran from April to June 2006.

Take That- 2006-2008• On 9 May 2006, Take That returned to the recorded music scene

after more than ten years of absence, signing with Polydor Records in a deal reportedly worth £3 million. The band's comeback album, Beautiful World, entered the UK album chart at no. 1 and, as of June 2009, had sold over 2.8 million copies in the UK. It is currently the 35th best selling album in UK music history.

• In the album Beautiful World all four members of the band had the opportunity to sing lead vocals. Unlike the band's earlier works, where the majority of their material was written by Gary Barlow, all four band members are credited as co-writers, regardless of whether they contributed to the writing process or not. The comeback single, "Patience", was released on 20 November 2006. On 26 November "Patience" hit number 1 in the UK in its second week of chart entry making it the group's ninth No. 1 and stayed there for 4 weeks.

• Take That also accompanied eventual winner Leona Lewis in a live version of "A Million Love Songs" in the final of The X Factor on 16 December 2006.

Take That- 2006-2008• The week after Take That's comeback album Beautiful World was released it

was announced that Take That had become the first artists ever to top the UK official single and album charts along with the download single, download album and DVD charts in the same week, as well as topping the radio charts.

• The video for the number 1 hit single "Shine", the follow-up to "Patience", premiered on 25 January 2007 on Channel 4, ahead of its release on 26 February 2007. The band's success continued on 14 February 2007 when Take That performed live at the BRIT Awards ceremony at Earl's Court. Their single "Patience" won the Best British Single category.

• During 2007, Take That also wrote a song for the motion picture Stardust titled "Rule the World", which reached number 2 in the UK charts and went on to be the 5th biggest selling single of 2007. Meanwhile, the album Beautiful World was the fourth biggest-selling album of 2007. Starting on 11 October 2007, Take That began their Beautiful World Tour 2007 in Belfast. The tour included 49 shows throughout Europe and the UK and ended in Manchester on 23 December 2007.

• The band received four nominations at the 2008 BRIT Awards. Nominated for Best British Group, Best British Single ("Shine"), Best British Album (Beautiful World) and Best Live Act, they took home the Best Live Act and the Best British Single awards.

Take That- 2008-2009• "Greatest Day", the first single from the album The Circus, made its radio premiere

on 13 October 2008 and it was released on 24 November. It debuted at Number 1 in the UK Singles Chart on 30 November 2008. An album launch party for The Circus was held in Paris on the 2 December. Prior to the official release of Take That's upcoming album The Circus it was revealed that the album had broken all pre-order records and had become the most pre-ordered album of all time.

•  On its first day of release The Circus sold 133,000 copies, and after four days on sale it sold 306,000 copies (going platinum) making The Circus the fastest selling album of the year. The album reached number 1 on the UK album charts on 7 December 2008 with total first-week sales of 432,490, the third highest opening sales week in UK history.

• On 28 October 2008, on the Radio 1 Chris Moyles show, it was announced that Take That would be touring again in June/July 2009, covering the UK and Ireland. Tickets for the Take That Present: The Circus Live tour went on sale on 31 October. The promoters, SJM, have said that the band's tour is "the fastest selling in UK history".

• Take That won the Sony Ericsson Tour of the Year award at the Vodafone music awards on 18 September 2008. They were unable to attend as they were in LA finishing off The Circus. They did send a video link message, which was shown at the awards. The band were also voted the Greatest Boy band of All Time, reflecting their ongoing marketability and success in the pop arena, even after two decades.

Take That- ‘Greatest Day’

• The video for "Greatest Day" was filmed in Los Angeles on top of a 60 storey building in the downtown area.

• It was directed by Meiert Avis, who previously shot videos for U2, Damien Rice, Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan. 

• The band shot the video while visiting producer John Shanks in the city who was mixing the album. The video premiered on AOL on October 22, 2008.

Meiert Avis• Meiert Avis is an Irish music video and commercial

director. Avis has directed videos for many many stars.

• His work has won multiple awards and nominations including a Grammy Award for U2's "Where The Streets Have No Name" and MTV Music Video Awards for U2's "With or Without You“

• His commercial clients include Toyota, Pioneer, Lexus and The Los Angeles Times and have received international recognition.

Paramore- Brick by Boring Brick U2- With or Without You

Avril Lavigne- Happy Ending