Out of all the members of Take That, he was perhaps the most likely to slip into obscurity. But determined to shake off his cute little lad image, he has struck out on his own and is trying to prove that there is more to him than meets the eye

Two and a half years ago, as the world came to terms with the devastating reality that Take That had finally split, it seemed only a few aspects on boy-pop's diminished horizon could be truly relied upon. Robbie would always be the bad boy, Gary the gifted songwriter and Mark Owen... well, he's always been the one who sang and just looked pretty. After Take That's demise none of the other members had quite so much to prove as Owen, the doe-eyed heartthrob who received two-thirds of the band's fan mail. He was, if you like, the Baby Spice of the group. "I was always seen as the cute little lad who smiles and takes his shirt off," says the 25-year-old, voted Most Fanciable Male In The World by Smash Hits readers three times. "I wanted to show that there was a lot more to me. I was always being told I couldn't do it from so many channels, probably even from the band. So, I wanted to hold my head up high and be proud of what I achieved."

While Robbie and Gary followed their respective paths of louche behaviour (a la Liam Gallagher) and crafted pop (a la George Michael), Mark had no obvious role model. Yet, it was Mr Cute who had the loftier aspirations. He struck out on his own to make a rather more radical departure than either of his two mates. His debut album, Green Man, was recorded with the help of highly respected producer John Leckie (Radiohead, Kula Shaker) and is a rather convincing mix of polished guitar pop and new-age melodic wispiness. NME described it, rather sniffily, as, "the sort of indie rock album that will delight occasional devotees of Crowded House and those who think Radiohead sound heavy metal". The inky cognoscenti may mock, but it's still an impressive leap for someone who never wrote a song until he left the band and then penned 31 of them in five months - 12 made it onto the album. His first single, the Lennon-like "Child", shot into the charts at number two.

Scrunched up in a London hotel armchair, Owen is here to promote his third single, "I Am What I Am", along with a UK tour starting in October. Still pubescently cute and coquettish, the clean-cut image sticks despite the obvious shift in style. "I'm trying to be more honest, more myself in terms of image. It's kind of difficult," he laughs. "In Take That you used to be given a selection of clothes to choose from. Now you've got to think, 'What do I want to wear?'" Owen's opted for the lo-fi look, woolly top and trainers. Gone are the highlighted locks. His hair is longer and browner - almost, but not quite, dishevelled.

"I don't really see myself as having a clean cut image", says Owen, smiling coyly. The dimples broaden and the blue-green, limpid eyes widen slightly. You could have fooled me. But no. Pop's Mr Whiter-than-White is just like the rest of us. "I see myself as quite a normal lad. I smoke. I drink but I don't do drugs. Drugs scare me. I see them as hiding from real life." Yet, they often seem to go hand in hand with the sort of pop music that is the antithesis of Take That; the sort of pop music that Owen would probably like to make. Doesn't that tempt him to experiment a bit? "Maybe some people are musically inspired by them [drugs], but it's a shame. I feel you can do without."

Maybe Owen doesn't need to anyway - he seems quite spacey enough as it is. After talking about song-writing, he says, apropos of nothing, "Sometimes, I feel I could send myself mad. Other times, I wish I was mad. My head won't stop," he lets out a Mancunian chuckle. To counter his hyperactive imagination he relaxes through meditation - something he learned from Lulu. "I'm not meditating as much as I did when I made Green Man," he says, "which is probably why I'm a little more nervous and paranoid." Not that you'd notice; when he's not being too kooky, he radiates inner harmony and togetherness.

While most self-respecting pop stars are busy searching out hedonism at every opportunity, Owen is sensible and self-contained to the last. He lives in relative seclusion in a rambling house in the Lake District with his girlfriend Jo, a 21-year-old art student. "It's very comfortable and relaxed," he says. "I love going home. I find it difficult being away - I miss Jo. But I do enjoy my own company. I'm a loner and always have been." Solitude seems to be a theme with him, though later he says, "When I was in the band, I had other people to sit and talk to. Now I'm on my own, I have to entertain myself."

He doesn't appear to miss the other lads. The disbanding was more like an amicable divorce. "We're close in that we spent six years of our life together. But none of them are really my best friends. We could lie forever but they're not like," he pauses reflectively, "your best mates, you know? Robbie will never phone me. I always phone him. I read interviews and I hear the lads say, 'Yeah, we speak to each other now and again.' I think they say it because they're scared to let go; they think they can't have success without being seen as part of that band."

The bush-baby eyes begin to glaze over somewhat when the dreaded TT words are raised once more. "It bores me now," he says, although he still has a lot to say on the subject. "I suppose I was trapped in the little bubble that was Take That. I remember the day they announced we'd split up. I was probably the happiest about it. It was a relief." Although he always claims to have been extremely happy in the band, you can see why he was keen to get out and prove there was a bit of personality behind the looks. "I lost my identity a little bit - out there with four other lads who all have very strong personalities... I probably became a little bit of everybody I came into contact with. I wasn't a very confident person then."

But now, Owen is determined to carve out his own niche, perhaps because it's the first time he has had the power to do so. He says he would have been quite happy if Take That had never come along, but he's loathe to leave the music business for the foreseeable future. "I feel I've got to do it more and more and really push myself." The laid-back demeanour belies a desperate need to be taken seriously. "I'm ambitious, very ambitious," he says. "I'm always having this little battle of trying to be accepted. I think all my life I've always wanted to be accepted."

One of his real achievements to date was during his European tour - for him success can be measured by the pitch of audience response. "When I first went on stage I got bombarded with teddies and got screamed at. Then I asked them to stop throwing teddies and screaming. And by the end," he gazes up and continues ever so solemnly, "there were no more teddies. There were no more screams... It was more of a roar." So girls, if you really want to do Owen a favour, leave the teddies at home next time and bring your lighters instead.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-st....07.html

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Q: So you're back in Manchester again - your spiritual home?
A: I was saying the other day that i've played every Academy since i've started going solo and I started in Academy 1 then it moved to 2 and then 3. I think Life Cafe's bigger than Academy 3 though isn't it. I heard they've got an Academy 4 now as well so if I end up in there I might as well just end it.

Q: Last night's gig you went in the space of one song from Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart" to "Could It Be Magic?"
A: (laughs) I think we've got a good little setlist. It's quite an "up" set and we wanted this time the live shows to be a collection of all three albums, kinda my little greatest hits tour apart from that none of them were hits (laughs). I'm joking...Now don't be bad to yourself Mark, don't put yourself down....that's what were doing at the moment and it was great doing Joy Division in Manchester. It's a difficult one because you don't want to ruin that because it's a very special song to the people of Manchester, but I think we did it justice. And Could It Be Magic I thought we'd warm people up for next year back at the NYNEX and the Man City ground.

Q: When did you first start doing the Joy Division cover or was it just last night?
A: No, we started doing it on the European leg of the tour. I don't know why we did it in Europe first. I think we just wanted to practice it for when we got back here. It's hard when you want to choose something to cover because they're not always easy to do and you go through many songs before you find the right one.

In the past we've done Kylie's "Can't Get You Outta My Head", Beyonce "Crazy In Love", Radiohead's "Creep", Prince, "Touch Me I'm Sick" by Mudhoney and The Cure "Friday I'm In Love"

Q: When we saw you yesterday it was like the old days with the crowds queuing up hours before a show
A: I think people thought we were on a little bit earlier than we were really. There were quite a few people outside and I think some people may have come over from the European tour and there were some Israelis, Italians and Germans that were following us round. I think it's so they can get the front row and in that venue it's good because i'm only quite short so if you're on the back row you can only see the top of my head. God bless em, they're a good crowd

Q: So the reunion tour we all thought would never happen
A: The reunion I said a million times would never happen and why I don't know. I just think we've been spending some time together and we got approached to do it. I brought it up and told the other lads and expected them all to say no way and they went let's talk about it. Every day we went through yes we'll do it till no we won't and once the decision was made it was easy because I know what im doing from February till the end of June next year.

Q: Who was it who made that decision to say let's do it - was it yourself?
A: No. No one person can decide something like that. I was approached re: Take That, but I think the person who approached me approached from another angle as well. I brought it up one evening saying we've been approached to do a tour and I had to tell ya, obviously no-one wants to do it.

It's just going to be a bit of fun and put on the best show we possibly can. We're gonna try and get some great outfits and have a big production. And just enjoy it for a few months. I think you have to enjoy it. We never too ourselves too serious as Take That, that's what we were about, and I spent 9 years trying to take myself serious and trying to be something more than that. So now I have to forget about what i'm doing, go and do this for a while and just enjoy it.

And then back to my day job when it's all over.

Q: Are you gonna be ready for the dance routines?
A: I think that will be really interesting. When we go in there how we are going to perform it. We have to find the right way to put it together and do it. We've got to do a show that is similar to what we used to do so what I might just do is keep pointing at Howard and Howard can spin on his head and Jason can spin on his back. So i'll just be the man in the middle pointing to the other guys and they can do all the hardwork. And I just stand there looking great (laughs)

Q: The thing I find weird is a boyband doing a football ground - it just seems bizarre
A: I'm not blowing a trumpet for Take That at all really, but I think we're more than a boy band. We were a pop band, but i'd prefer pop band to boy band. We're from Manchester and I think we deserve to play Manchester City. We all like football, what's the difference? We still have guitars on stage. We still have drums on stage. We just mention the word love a bit more. (laughs)

I'm excited about playing the stadiums. I think it will be great. We had some big big songs. "Back For Good" was a world-wide number 1 and I don't know how many bands that have played there have had a world number 1. Oasis, U2 and the Chilli Peppers are great bands to follow in there, but it's a different kind of show you'll get from us. Take That always did their own things and that's was made us special.

Q: Are you getting the old outfits, especially your baby powder top?
A: The old Johnson Baby powder top. I'm so glad that that never really took off. At the time I thought I was being a fashion guru, I was just being a fashion idiot. Do you know what's going to be nice? I like being creative. I do enjoy being creative and I enjoy being creative when you can have anything you want. For me I have to be creative in trying to arrange the lights and the setlist, but to be able to have a massive production and be creative in that sense it's like being a kid with a load of new toys. It's like brilliant - fireworks, the lot!!!

Q: And the thing about Take That coming back is there's not a great deal of pop acts around at the moment?
A: Do you know what we're just coming back to do some shows. We're not restarting, we have nothing to promote. We want people to come to the shows, but we're not trying to sell anything. I think that's the good thing about it. It's a bit of a different situation than normal because usually when you're doing gigs it's like our new album is out now. We're just trying to give people a good night, have a good night ourselves, sure we'll make a bit of money, but hopefully we'll get to know each other a little bit more. People will come out as a mates night out, have a few drinks, sing some old songs and hopefully everyone will go home happy.

That's our challenge We've got to make sure it's a good show, because we always did good shows. I actually won't get up on that stage if it's shit cos i'd be embarrassed. All of us are like that so now we've just got to work out how to do it.

Q: How it came across on the documentary was that you were the bridge between Robbie and the other guys. Was this the case?
A: I think it's taken care of itself really. I think there was a time when I was a bit of an inbetweener if anything needed to be said. I think that's passed by now. Everybody still hopes that Rob will turn up and do a song with us, that would be fantastic, but i'm not going to ask him to do that. He's his own person, has his own mind and does what he wants to do. If he fancies it he'll know where we are and if he doesn't we'll go and watch him on his tour.

Q: And the other thing on the documentary - when did Jason become so camp?
A: You know what, I've heard a few people say that and I just don't understand it. I don't see it at all. I think Jason has always been someone that has always been quite expressionate and I think that's all it is really. He's passionate about every word that comes out of his mouth and I think that's what comes across more than anything.

Q: Sugababes and Beverley Knight have been announced for the support slots, but we still want to see you support yourself?
A: The lads have said I can perform some of my songs in the set so I can do an hour and a half and Take That can do 10 minutes. I'm gonna be happy to get a couple of songs in there though. What would be my ideal would be to get my band out there and do it myself, but I haven't talked to any of the other lads about it.

I'm going to write the new album while i'm on tour. It's my challenge for myself. I would love to have supported us but I think it would ruin it to be honest. It's a shame really.

Q: Have you started on the new album yet or at least ideas for it?
A: I have up here (points to head), but i've not put anything down. I've had a cold for the past week so i'm trying to sing as little as I can until I get on-stage. I think i've got two good songs in my head. I want to do a really really big album and I think the recording of it's important this time as well. I've been chatting to the band and I really want them to be involved a little more this time.

Q: I noticed last night you'd changed some of the arrangements around - you'd definitely got a post-punk influence going on for the live shows
A: Yeah, there was wasn't there. I think when I was doing the rehearsals for this tour I was doing all the Take That promotion so at the end of the day i'd end up kicking against all that. One of the songs in my head is a bit post-punk so maybe that's the way i'm heading. I've not got my finger on the pulse at the moment so i'm not sure what's going on at the moment.

I'm not listening to anything at the moment. I had to review some albums the other days so I heard Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, but the last album I actually sat down to listen to was probably Antony & The Johnsons. Give us some tips

Q: M.I.A's "Arular" is one of our albums of the year. My Chemical Romance "3 Cheers For Sweet Revenge" has been out for ages.
A: See I told you I was out of touch. I got the Bloc Party album earlier in the year. We haven't stopped this year and it's so easy to lose touch, but my guitarist Ben is a bit more on the pulse so he's always putting his IPOD on for me and saying listen to this. So these are the albums I should listen to before I finish this tour then

Q: Yeah, and if you have got access to the net check out Lucky Soul ( www.myspace.com/luckysoulluckysoul ), think St Etienne style Motown pop.
A: Sounds brilliant. I saw one of the bands on at Glastonbury, The Deadbeats, they won the Glastonbury new bands competition. I liked them and I did a gig with them as well. I feel like I'm a bit more in touch now

http://designermagazine.tripod.com/MarkOwenINT4.html

Until former Take That sweetheart Mark Owen releases his new single and we can't wait another minute! Mark's life has been far from normal. Thrust into the limelight in his teens, he’s done everything from wearing studded leather chaps and rolling about in jelly for a pop video with UK teen supergroup Take That in 1992, to spending 11 days under intense scrutiny in the Celebrity Big Brother House UK, a job that netted him 3 million votes worth of approval when he emerged victorious after being named the winner last year. He was surprisingly the first one out of the gate with a solo record after Take That split up. A million album sales and several top ten hits later, his record deal dwindled away.

His Big Brother victory has made the record industry sit up and take notice once again, so Mark is now back, with a new deal, a new single, but still retains his self-deprecating demeanour and happy, witty attitude that ever holds him in high esteem with his record buying public. The fans he had and retained from his Take That days still come and track him down at his football games in his now native Lake District, although as he tells us, he hasn’t been able to play too much recently, what with the new album 'In Your Own Time' (plugplug) and everything!

This month he gives us a 20 minute interview about his life, his hopes, his upcoming UK tour (hurrah!), and his new single ‘Four Minute Warning’, out August 4.

V: How have you prepared for the promo blitz seeing as you haven’t done one for six years?
M: Oooh, I don’t know if you can actually prepare for something like this, (laughs) but I have been doing a lot of talking and boring myself to death, but no, I haven’t really prepared for it I suppose because you never know what to expect because you chat to different people and people ask different things and I’ve done a few roadshows which have been great and a few showcases, doing the things like rehearsals with the band help too, but I kind of like the fact that its all spontaneous.

V: What did you do in the gap between the last album and this?
M: I’ve been writing songs all the time really but initially after the last album I kind of went off and started to write what I thought were like 9 and 10 minute epics (laughs) but um, they weren’t. Went on a little bit of a tangent, bit of an experiment, bit of a journey, and basically got lost for about two years.

V: What happened with your last record deal?
M: I got dropped about two years after my first album. I’ve actually made one record that I tried to produce myself, then I went in with a guy called Arthur Baker, kind of got halfway though doing that when the record company I was with had a big changeover, basically they just wanted some more fresh stuff because a lot of us, (from the label) at that point were from the early 90s and I think they just wanted to move into the next century so they had a little revamp.

V: What was your first gig after your 6 years out of the limelight like?
M: It was a little acoustic show for retail people..

V: How was it were you nervous?
M: I was absolutely cacking my pants (laughs) I wasn’t as bad as my first show after Take That to be honest but yes I was quite nervous about the whole thing and I kind of just stood there and sung three songs with my eyes closed and at one point I moved my hand away, I had the microphone in my hand and I moved it out to the side and I noticed it was trembling so I quickly moved my hand back, pulled it back in (laughs) and held the microphone tightly with both hands. I looked like one of those people on Pop Idol who you can tell are really nervous…

V: Aw, but you should be a dab hand at this by now!?
M: I know but you lose the practice, I’m finding my feet quite quickly though, which is good…

V: How did you go down, did you get good feedback to boost your confidence?
M: Yeah I think so, I was lucky really because it was a whole evening thing and the people who came, came out to enjoy themselves and I think they did that so that’s good.

V: What aspect of your return do you most look forward to?
M: I think the touring, I’m looking forward to gigging with the band, getting reaction is always good, I’ve gone a few years without getting any reaction to what I was writing and I’m getting a reaction now which is good.

V: So when are you going on tour?
M: September, its going to be small venues, starting off again, it will be cool, man, I’m so looking forward to it. I’m sure we’ll come back to see you in Liverpool too, Liverpool’s a stop off on everybody’s tour these days, isn’t it? I will come, I promise!

V: Four Minute Warning has a bit of a ‘Y2K’ feel to it, did you write it like that or is it about something else?
M: No, I didn’t actually think about that but I suppose it fits because that was when everyone was panicking about the world going to end and stuff. But I wrote it after a weekend in London because I’d had a weekend out in London and I met up with various people while I was down here and I was just thinking it was a nice idea because a lot of people were talking about time and things and we were getting into a deep kind of conversation, you know, as you do when you’ve had a couple of glasses of wine, so that kind of sparked off the idea for a song that counts down time.

V: And its four minutes long exactly?
M: Yeah, initially when I first wrote it it used to hit the chorus pretty much full on at the correct times (each chorus starts in a different minute with the line ‘4 minutes left to go, 3 minutes left to go, 2 minutes left to go etc…)I think now it’s a couple of seconds either way. I’ve sped it up as well since I wrote it to make everything hit spot on.

V: What’s your favourite song from the new album and why?
M: Every song I’ve got I think is personal. I only really sing songs that I feel I can deliver with a meaning, you know? So every song has some personal tones running through it. I can’t just choose one that’s more personal than the other. Some are a bit more tongue in cheek though than serious.. (giggles)

V: So what’s your cheekiest song on the album them?
M: Erm (giggles again) I don’t know if it will actually make the final cut of the record but its one called um, ‘Thinking you You’ which is a bit cheeky.

V: What’s it about then?
M: No, its rude!! (has giggle fit.)

V: Come on…
M: Um, well its about.. being left by somebody but the opening line is something like looking for reasons why she left, things like ‘Was it the bone in the morning…was it the shoes I was wearing..’ things like, you know, ‘Was it the dog or the milkman that made you leave me..’ its just a jokey song really. You know ‘Was it the time of the month?’ and stuff like that… (laughs)

V: What song you have ever written means the most to you and why?
M: The song I’m most proud of is one that has never been heard because its absolutely crap, is the first song I ever wrote, because I realised that I could write a song, and once you have that realisation then doors open, so probably the first song I ever wrote, which is a song called ‘Nice and Easy’ which is a kind of RnB song. Noooo, not like Craig David (laughs) I was going for more kind of like Boyz II Men, and at the time I thought it was but it sounds nothing like Boyz II Men (laughs.)

V: How long has this album been in the making?
M: From start to finish recording-wise about three months, but when you look at when the last album was you could say six years. But during that time I’ve probably done about two or three albums’ worth of material but I’ve never gone to record them. I never go back, I always go forward so I haven’t really gone back to any of those tracks, so ‘Four Minutes’ is probably one of the oldest songs on the album because I wrote it about 2 years ago.

V: What did your time in the Big Brother house teach you most about yourself?
M: That I can make patchwork quilts! (laughs) No, you know what it teaches you the most is how much things like TV play a part in your life, and how much, when you can’t phone somebody or speak to somebody, you miss them so much, you know?

V: Do you feel like you have to live up to the standard set by Robbie Williams?
M: He’s set a very high standard and in some ways I suppose its something that I don’t think of, that I have to live up to his standard but I would like to because he’s always given quality so, there’s other artists I would like to live up to the standard of, not just Robbie, I try and live up to anybody who’s successful in the music world’s standards because you know, there’s a lot of good songs out there. It’s a good question that. (thinks) I suppose in some ways I would like Rob to like my songs, like I would like all my friends to like my songs, all my old friends to like my songs, I suppose in some ways you do want to really. But I’m not looking to get to his level, that a totally different thing.

V: Do you think you’ll get a lot of associated press, comparing you to him because of your previous connection?
M: Hmmm (ponders) I don’t know. I haven’t so far! Hopefully that will continue, we’ll see how it goes…

V: Do you think its been long enough for you both to get away from that…?
M: I think so, he is just totally on a different level and there’s very few people now who could expect to be put up against Rob because he is totally on his own level now, for me you know, I’m more on a par with the Cheeky Girls (laughs.)

V: Is the rumour true you were going to do Knebworth with Robbie?
M: No, I went down to see Rob because I wanted to get tickets to go down and see him, and he said ‘Well if you’re coming you have to get up on stage and sing.’ After it came out in the paper that that was going to happen I decided that I wouldn’t do it because it would look too much like a publicity stunt.

iG UPDATE! - 03 August 2003, Robbie Williams played his final night of three at Knebworth to a 165,000 strong crowd. During his nu-metal version of 'Back For Good' he announced 'Ladies and Gentlemen, Mark Owen!!!!' Mark came out and nervously sang a verse of Back for Good along with Robbie, citing the first time Robbie has performed on stage with a member of Take That since Diana's Concert of Hope with Gary Barlow in 1997!!!! Looks like Rob talked him into it. Or he told us a porkie, the cheeky whippersnapper.

V: Obligatory Take That question. Do you ever think there would be a Take That reunion tour?
M: I don’t think so, no, if I’m being honest I don’t think there would be. That doesn’t mean it will never happen, but at this moment in time I can’t see that there would. I’d like us… I always wished we had written an album together, that would have been quite interesting. If we did a show together I don’t think we’d be doing all the dancing anymore so I don’t know if it would be quite the same as what it was. And even if I said I would be up for it I think there would be other members of the group who wouldn’t be.

V: How do you feel about today’s pop market, how do today’s boy bands compare with what you remember of Take That?
M: Its difficult because I’ve been doing a lot of roadshows and things and you can see where a lot of them are coming from and what they’re going for and I just wish them the best of luck really and hope it does work out for them. I don’t know what they’re going through on a day to day basis. To try and do pop music now it so much more difficult, if you remember, none of Take That’s first three songs made it to the top 35, and if that happened to a lot of bands today they’d probably be dropped right away, that’s the kind of pressure that they’re under, you know? But they all seem to be nice guys, and the girl bands, they’re all nice people. I quite like The Coral at the moment, from Liverpool, they’re wicked, they’re not a pop band, but in the pop world, I keep bumping into Triple 8 and D-Side, who are doing the similar thing to what we did. I’ve met the Busted boys, they’re on the same label as me.

V: They have really huge eyebrows though, don’t they?
M: They do? (laughs) I’ve never looked. Next time I’ll check it out.

V: One final question. What would you most like people to go away with, when they come and see you?
M: I just want them to know that I believe in what I’m doing, I would like them to see that. It means a lot I suppose, and I would just like people to come and have a good time and I would love for my songs to touch them and to become a part of their lives.

I got one of this. It was my first Mark Owen's concert.

It's the 'Green Man tour' programme .