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Gary was born at home in Frodsham, Cheshire
on 20th January. Youngest son of Colin and Marjorie Barlow and younger brother
of Ian. |
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Gary attends his first school, Weaver Vale
in Frodsham. He played the part of Joseph in 'Joseph And The Technicolour
Dreamcoat' in his last year at Weaver Vale. |
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He moves onto Frodsham High School.
His father buys him his first keyboard only for Gary to have 'outgrown' it
in two weeks, his father realising Gary has a talent for playing, sells his
days off at work to buy a £600 organ. |
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Gary enters a talent competition at 'Connah's
Quay Labour Club. His mum taught him some jokes for his act and he played
'Whiter Shade Of Pale'. He came second but was offered a saturday night job
for £18. |
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He meets a girl called Heather and they become
a due performing Carpenters hits, etc in everything from clubs to old
people's homes. |
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Gary starts work at Halton British Legion,
four nights a week being paid £140 to back artists such as Kenn Dodd
and Bobby Davro. |
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He enters the Pebble Mill 'Song For Christmas'
competition. He wrote 'Let's Pray For Christmas' and played it to his mum
who thought it was dull, his music teacher thought otherwise and urged him
to enter with the song. Gary did just that and was called to London to record
it. |
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He got through to the finals but didn't win.
But his prize was what changed his life forever! He was awarded recording
time at 'Strawberry Studios' and whilst there in the early part of 1987 he
met up with 13 year old Mark Owen who had an after school job as a tea-boy,
they go on to form a band called 'The Cutest Rush'. During the next three
years they would perform together and dream of making it big. |
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Since reaching the finals of the Pebble Mill
contest he had been sending demo tapes to Bob Howe for advice.
Despite his demanding musical career Gary leaves school with six 'O' Levels
under his belt. Gary continues working at Holton British Legion in Runcorn
and even makes his own demo tapes to sell to the audience. It was around
this time that he wrote 'Why Can't I Wake Up With Your', 'A Million Love
Songs' and Never Want To Let You Go'.
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Gary and Mark approach Nigel Martin-Smith,
a local talent scout, for management. As do Jason Orange and Howard Donald
of a dance team by the name of 'Street Beat'. They form together to make
one band and advertise for a fifth member, Robbie Williams joined soon after.
They name themselves 'Take That' and sign a contract with Nigel. |
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Take That release their first ever single,
'Do What You Like', on Nigel's independent record label and due to the cheeky
video that came with it, they are noticed by Nick Raymond and signed to RCA.
They begin to appear on TV Shows and in magazines. |
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They tour extensively and after several flop
singles, they finally get a hit with 'It Only Takes A Minute' which reaches
number 7 in the UK charts.
Debut album released, reaching number 2 along with the video of the same
name which goes in at number one. They win seven Smash Hits Awards. |
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They embark on a major UK tour playing arena's.
They enter the record books for having three consecutive number one hit singles,
'Pray', 'Relight My Fire' and 'Babe'. They again sweep every magazine 'End
Of The Year Awards'.
Their second album 'Everything Changes' is released (written by Gary). |
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Two more singles shoot to the top of the
charts, 'Everything Changes' and 'Sure', making the total of number ones
so far, five.
Gary picks up two Ivor Novello Awards for 'Songwriter Of The Year' and 'Best
Contemporary Song' for 'Pray'. More magazine awards for the third year in
a row! |
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They notch up a further two number ones,
'Back For Good' and Never Forget'. The third album, 'Nobody Else'is released.
After touring Europe during the spring, they prepare for the UK Nobody Else
Tour to start in August. |
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Two weeks before the tour was due to begin
Robbie Williams leaves the band amongst much controversy.
The UK Tour begins without him. They visit the Far East and then head to
the States in the Autumn.
They appear at the Smash Hits Awards sweeping the boards once again before
resting over Christmas. |
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In January Take That return to work and have
a meeting, discussing their plans for the future and the continuing situation
between themselves and Robbie.
They plan a promotional tour of Europe and a new single, album and video |
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They announce plans to preview their new
single 'How Deep Is Your Love' at the Brit Awards.
One week before however, the Sun newspaper leak out information regarding
the possibility of Take That splitting up.
Take That call a press conference on 13th February.
Gary is the first to speak, 'The rumours are true, 'How Deep Is Your Love'
is our last single.............
How Deep Is Your Love becomes their eighth and last number one.
Take That continue to tour Europe until April 5th where they perform in Holland
for the very last time.
On April 5th Gary flies home to begin his solo career.
He releases 'Forever Love' his debut solo single in July and it shoots to
the top of the charts.
In May he picks up another two Ivor Novello Awards for his song 'Back For
Good'.
The world didn't see much of Gary after this, as he continued to work on
his debut solo album and travelled to and from the States. Gary parted company
with Nigel Martin-Smith and signed with 19 Management run by Simon
Fuller. |
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After a long time away from the public eye
Gary releases his second solo single 'Love Won't Wait' it becomes his second
solo number one. |
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Fanclub members receive a note from Gary
stating the GBIS has been cancelled.
In June he splits with manager Simon Fuller and teams up with ex-Marketing
Director of BMG, Kristina Kyriacou.
His debut album, 'Open Road' is released in the UK and enters the charts
at number one.
In July 'So Help Me Girl' is releasedreaching number 11. H Gary meets with
GBWS Admin Kelly whilst continuing his US promotional tour. November sees
the release of 'Open Road' the single entering in at number 7. |
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At the beginning of the year Gary took a
well earned rest and began preperations for his forthcoming debut solo tour
named 'Open Road'.
January saw the release of 'Superhero' in the States. |
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The Open Road Tour kicked off in Milan on
15th February 1998. By the time it reached Switzerland, however the show
on the 18th Feb had to be cancelled due to Gary being ill with flu.
By 22nd Feb he was back on the road again until the tour was completed on
9th April 1998 in Germany (A show that was rescheduled from Feb).
During the Open Road Tour dates for an Arena
tour in November 1998 were annoucned and put up for sale. Unfortunately it
was then postponed until April of 1999.
Since the tour was over, Gary has been in the
studio working on his next solo album due to be released in early 1999. |
