Robbie Williams: Britain’s wild pop king turns 50

Robbie Williams (50) made it clear exactly six months ago that he can’t do anything with birthdays, about which he is in daily communication with his fan community. “I don’t understand birthdays. And have never understood them,” he wrote there. There’s nothing he hates more on birthdays than the Happy Birthday song, which makes him feel physically unwell. Fans who kept holding up “It’s my birthday!” signs at his concerts to get his attention might as well be holding a sign saying “Ignore me!” hold up. “For my 50th next year,” he said, “I want people, if they feel it necessary, to sing ‘When Will I Be Famous’ by Bros instead of that birthday song.”

On the pop star rollercoaster for 34 years

Robbie Williams knows all about being famous, having spent most of his life as a celebrity. On his 50th birthday, he looks back on a 34-year career that has taken him through all the ups and downs that life as a pop star can bring. The fact that the abysses were much deeper for him than for most other music stars of his generation can be impressively seen in the album, which was published in 2023. In the masterfully constructed documentary, the singer, who was born in the gloomy industrial town of Stoke-on-Trent in 1974, confronts himself in front of the camera with video material from all phases of his musical career, which in retrospect seems like a breakneck roller coaster ride.

Take That’s scandalous boy band baby

This began in 1989 when his mother discovered an advert in the newspaper looking for young talent for a new boy band, which was launched as the British answer to the then extremely successful US formation New Kids on the Block should be. In 1990, shortly after his 16th birthday, Robbie Williams was installed as the fifth and youngest member of the boy band Take That, which over the next few years became the biggest British pop act since the Beatles and was soon accompanied on every move by a swarm of hysterically screaming fans .

As Williams states in retrospect, as the completely inexperienced “baby” of the band, he was the least prepared for this massive wave of success and constant media attention. His early fame came at a price that he would pay off in self-destructive installments for decades to come. By the age of 20, the cheerful teenager had become a wreck addicted to cocaine and alcohol, which was becoming increasingly unsustainable for the boy band’s management. In 1995, Williams finally pulled the ripcord himself and got out, only to publicly destroy himself with drug and party excesses for another two years – accompanied by merciless scandal reporting in the international tabloid press.

Start of solo career after rehab

When his management persuaded him to try a solo career in 1997 and provided him with producer Guy Chambers (61), it soon became clear during recordings in the studio that a comeback would only be possible after a thorough rehab . The fallen boy band star clung to this straw and actually managed to get back into action within six weeks and start his second career.

When the comeback album “Life Thru a Lens” finally came onto the market in September 1997, it initially sold so poorly that Williams was already beginning to bury his hopes of a successful solo career. It wasn’t until the single “Angels” was released four weeks later and hit the singles charts like a bomb that the tide unexpectedly turned. As a result, “Life Thru a Lens” stormed to the top of the charts, achieving eight-times platinum status in the UK and gold status in Germany and Switzerland. After selling over three million units, there were now signs that the young entertainer’s career could perhaps continue a little further.

At full speed into the next abyss

In the following years, Robbie Williams’ collaboration with his co-writer and producer Guy Chambers would prove to be extremely fruitful. Together they produced five albums, all of which reached number one in the UK charts and sold 37 million copies worldwide. At the height of his fame, the singer, who had become a superstar and multi-millionaire, self-confidently separated from his long-term partner in 2003 and released two albums, “Intensive Care” in 2005 and “Rudebox” in 2006, on which he took new musical paths. Even though these experiments with dance rhythms and rap styles continued to sell very well, they were mercilessly panned in the press, which led to increasing insecurity among Williams. Without realizing it, he was heading for the second major crash of his career at this point.

At the end of his gigantic “Close Encounters” tour, he suffered a massive panic attack at a concert in Leeds, northern England, on September 8, 2006 in front of around 80,000 spectators, which lasted the entire performance. In the Netflix documentary, the musician remembers this decisive moment, which was to throw him completely off track, with the following words: “When I came down, I had the feeling that I never wanted to go on stage again! I couldn’t speak , I was just shaking, I was going through a trauma.” For the sake of his team and management, he ventured onto the stage again the following day with visible panic in his eyes to perform his last concert for the time being.

Rescue through new happiness in love and a take-that reunion

The Leeds disaster tragically catapulted Robbie Williams back to the point he was in 20 years earlier after leaving Take That. The traumatic experience caused him to relapse into drug and alcohol addiction and led him to stay away from music for three years. He owes the fact that he was able to free himself from this abyss not only to his current wife, Ayda Field Williams (44), but also, ironically, to his former friends from Take That, with whom he had been in a constant clinch for decades.

He met actress Ayda Field in 2006 at a party where he collapsed on the toilet after consuming massive quantities of cocaine. Despite the memorable circumstances of how they met, the two soon became a couple and now have four children together. With their support, after another rehab, he ventured back into producing a new album, which was released in 2009 under the title “Reality Killed the Video Star”. However, as Williams reports in the Netflix documentary, he struggled with great insecurities during TV appearances to promote the new album. In order to get a feeling for his role as an entertainer again, he decided on a much-noticed short-term reunion with Take That in 2010, which was actually supposed to get him back on the road to success.

Reclaiming the pop world crown

Since the release of his album “Take the Crown” in 2012, Robbie Williams has been firmly back in the saddle and brimming with self-confidence. His press statement for the release read like a declaration of war and would prove to be brilliantly true in the next chapter of his career: “The album is called ‘Take The Crown’ because I want to fight. I want to take on anyone who stands in my way “I want to challenge myself for my place on the throne of the pop world. With this album I want to reclaim the crown that I once had – or perhaps still have.”

The reigning king of the pop world will spend today’s 50th birthday with the well-deserved crown on his head. Maybe his old buddies from Take That will come over and sing “When Will I Be Famous” by Bros with his wife and kids.