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<H2>History</H2>
<>Born 13 February 1974, Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire, England. Williams was the cheeky chappie in hugely successful boy band Take That, and at the time appeared to be the only one who could be badly behaved (or normal). When Take That broke up the predictions were that Mark Owen (the nice one) and Gary Barlow (the voice and marketability) would succeed. Little hope was given to Williams, who immediately set about stirring up the media with anti-Barlow tales. While Barlow was being groomed as the UK's new George Michael, Williams caused mayhem. He partied, he overindulged (drink and drugs) and he seemed to pay little attention to the music. Fittingly, August 1996's debut single was a cover version of Michael's "Freedom". Following a spell in a clinic for detoxification, a seemingly wiser Williams stepped out into the glare of the sunshine, blinked, and set about recording an excellent album that eclipsed Barlow's debut both musically and critically. Life Thru A Lens, was a joy throughout and contained the symbolic "Old Before I Die", which followed "Freedom" to number 2 in the UK charts. The comparative failure of follow-up singles "Lazy Days" and "South Of The Border' cast doubt on Williams" staying power, before the Christmas single "Angels" almost single-handedly revived his ailing career. His album, which had slumped, entered the UK Top 10 for the first time and eventually climbed to number one 28 weeks after it was first released. Never before had so many pundits and critics been proved so wrong.<BR><BR>His renaissance continued with "Millennium" entering the UK singles chart at number 1 in September 1998, and I've Been Expecting You topping the album chart two months later. Williams was also announced to be the biggest selling album artist of 1998. Featuring backing vocals by Neil Tennant (Pet Shop Boys) and Neil Hannon (Divine Comedy), "No Regrets', one of Williams" finest songs to date, surprisingly stalled at number 4 in December. The wonderfully self-deprecating "Strong" debuted at the same position in March. In 1999, Williams set about trying to woo America, touring in support of The Ego Has Landed, a selection of the best tracks from both albums. In November, he returned to the top of the UK charts with the double a-side, "She's The One"/"It's Only Us'. The former song was written and previously recorded by Karl Wallinger of World Party, ironic considering Williams" songwriting partner Guy Chambers was a former member of that band.<BR><BR>The first airing of new material came in August 2000 with the release of Williams' third UK chart-topper, "Rock DJ", which was promoted by a controversial but award-winning video featuring the singer tearing lumps of flesh from his body. Sing When You're Winning proved beyond all doubt that Williams had won over the UK tabloids, music press and record buying public. Rarely has a dark horse enjoyed such a sweet victory. Of more dubious musical value was the Frank Sinatra-worshipping Swing When You're Winning, which included a beyond-the-grave duet with ole blue eyes himself on "It Was A Very Good Year" and an entertaining collaboration with actress Nicole Kidman on "Somethin' Stupid".<BR><BR>His 2002 studio album - Escapology - is a study of freeing himself from constraints. The album tracks demonstrate just how much Robbie has matured both as a songwriter and vocalist, while the colourful cover artwork illustrates that he’s still the unpredictable and exciting risk-taking Robbie he always was.<BR><BR>Robbie Williams celebrates the end of a phenomenal year 2003 with news that his DVD release ‘What We Did Last Summer – Robbie Williams Live at Knebworth’ is topping charts around the globe. The live DVD, a document of Robbie’s historic Knebworth shows, has achieved Gold sales status in Sweden and Holland, is now Triple Platinum in Australia and Portugal (where major retailer FNAC saw it outsell every music DVD, and also the Lord Of The Rings Special Edition plus Matrix II DVDs, on its first day of release).<BR>In Germany the success story continues where ‘What We Did Last Summer’ sold a phenomenal 18,000 copies over the counter on its first day in store and debuted at the top of the German sales charts (combined with the CD ‘Live Summer 2003 – Recorded at Knebworth’). In Austria the DVD also debuted at No. 1.<BR><BR>In the UK ‘What We Did Last Summer’ is now officially the fastest selling music DVD of all time! It smashed all previous week one records, outselling its nearest competitors, U2 and The Red Hot Chilli Peppers by a ratio of more than five to one.<BR>UK first week sales of ‘What We Did Last Summer’ totalled over 48,000 copies, with over 46,000 of those on DVD - nearly doubling the previous UK record held by Led Zeppelin’s recent eponymous release. This leaves Robbie in the enviable position of competing with himself for the biggest selling music DVD to date...<BR>‘Live At The Albert’ has broken all previous music DVD records with total UK sales of over 138,000 (240,000 combined DVD and VHS formats). Forthcoming sales over the festive season however could well see ‘What We Did Last Summer’ eclipsing these figures by the end of the year.<BR><BR>The release of ‘What We Did Last Summer’ marks the end of an incredible 12 months. With the tour kicking off in June 2003, Robbie sang to a staggering total of 1.24 million people over the summer and the Knebworth concerts were indisputably the biggest open-air shows in the UK, drawing close to 375,000 fans to the Hertfordshire estate over three consecutive days.<BR><BR>The ensuing live CD, ‘Live At Knebworth,’ released on 29th September 2003 became the fastest selling live album ever in the UK selling 117,863 copies in its first week alone. UK sales for the live album currently stand at 300,000 and counting.<BR><BR>The publication of Feel: Robbie Williams by Chris Heath in September 2004 caused shockwaves of controversy, delight and book-buying. Finally, after years of rumour and lies, the complete, intimate story of Robert P Williams has been written. Spanning his childhood through Take That to his current status as rock icon, probing his love life and his family relationships, this book takes you closer than you ever thought you'd get to Robbie Williams. Written by Chris Heath, who spent nearly two years working with Rob on this book, every word is imbued with Rob's humour, charisma, talent, memories and complexity. But more than ever before, this book tells the truth about his extraordinary life. Billy Connolly told his story through his wife, and with Rolling Stone journalist, Chris Heath, Robbie's own story has been brilliantly and insightfully told. You may have seen his face a million times, heard his music every day, followed him from the beginning of Take That, but this is a man with some serious surprises in store. This is a groundbreaking book; truly original and brilliantly written; a grippingly honest story of an extraordinary man.<BR><BR>On 18 October 2004 Robbie released his first Greatest Hits album racing to 4m sales across Europe and reaching the number 1 position in no less than 18 countries. This makes Robbie's Greatest Hits the only album to have reached 4 x Platinum Europe Awards within three consecutive months of its release date.<BR>Greatest Hits chronicles the remarkable journey of Mr Robert Williams, from being the "fat dancer from Take That" (c. Noel Gallagher) to the multi-million pound jewel in EMI’s crown. Assembled in chronological order, all the hits are here, except for his initial solo outing "Freedom", and it’s interesting to see how his sound evolves from wannabe Britpop buffoon on the sub-Oasis pubrock of "Old Before I Die" to the subtle captivating melodies of "Feel" and "Come Undone". There are so many great tracks that it’s impossible to list them all, but highlights have to be the barnstorming "Let Me Entertain You", the bouncy, floor-filling "Rock DJ" and the song that madeth the man, "Angels". The two latest additions to his canon--"Radio" and "Misunderstood" clearly have one eye on the past, the other on the future – with the latter an instant classic Robbie ballad from the Bridget Jones 2 soundtrack and the former a foray into the world of electro pop that sounds like a warped Human League track from the 1980s. This has to be Robbie’s forte, his ability to make great pop records that always sound fresh and full of energy.<BR><BR>Stoke's favourite son's sixth studio album marks a new stage in the career of Mr Robert Peter Williams, Britain's favourite popular entertainer. Severed from his former right hand man, songwriter Guy Chambers, Intensive Care sees him forging a new partnership with former Lilac Time stalwart Stephen Duffy. The result is his most complete album to date, free from the gimmicky fillers--like "Me and My Monkey" and "Jesus In A Camper Van"--that tended to drag previous efforts down.Never short of cocksure bravado, Robbie starts proceedings off with a modest declaration—"Here I stand victorious, the only man who made you come", but for once he's got the tunes to back up the posturing. There're plenty of classic Robbie tracks, from the ballad-tastic "Advertising Space"--which should see "Angels" relegated to the backbenches--to the public confessional of "The Trouble With Me"; plus some daring departures in between, from the '80s pop fun of "Sin Sin Sin" to the Rolling Stones-a-like "A Place To Crash", via the Oasis-lite of "Make Me Pure" and the Smiths-esque guitars on "Your Gay Friend". You can't help but feel that Mr Williams has a point to make with this album, to all the people who said he'd be nothing without Guy Chambers; if that is the case, he couldn't have gone about it a better way than by serving up the best album of his career to date.<BR><BR><I>(Courtesy of mtv.com /rw.com/amazon - slightly adapted) </I></P>
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<P><EM>英文资料取自<a href="http://www.robbiewilliams-info.com" target="_blank" >www.robbiewilliams-info.com</A></EM></P></DIV> |
发表于 2006-3-20 02:15
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