But Williams is a hugely successful solo artist, while Take That has proved they can prosper without him (they reformed and released two albums as a four-piece before Williams returned). Williams' last Virgin/EMI studio album "Reality Killed the Video Star" has sold a million in the U.K. according to the label. But the October release of "In and Out of Consciousness: Greatest Hits 1990-2010" is the last album of his current EMI contract, so there is no major label breathing down his neck.

"We're not really involved in negotiations with anybody at the moment, we're allowing Rob to enjoy his period with Take That," says Robbie Williams' manager Tim Clark, director of ie: music. "At some point next year we'll start to engage with people."

Of the situation at Williams' long-term label home EMI, Clark comments, "I can't imagine that this uncertainty will be allowed to go on. Citi and Terra Firma will try and sort something out, it would be absolutely mad not to.

"But we clearly want to have some clarity on this, whichever way it's going. If we're to be engaged in a conversation, we obviously want to know what the future holds. [EMI Group CEO] Roger Faxon says there will be certainty but we need to know. I hope the situation is resolved and EMI is allowed to continue as they've been doing for the past couple of years. We can't fault them for the work they've done on Robbie Williams, both for last year's album and the greatest hits."

Carol Over, Halton Hospital’s top cardiac rehabilitation therapist, raised £4,978 for the hospital’s Delamere Centre.

A hospital spokeswoman said the cause is particularly close to Carol’s heart because her brother died of throat cancer.

The ball was held at the DeVere Daresbury Park Hotel and was the second black tie event organised by Carol.

Nearly 200 residents attended.

A hospital spokeswoman said Carol is known for having a reputation as a perfectionist was backed up by beautifully presented tables and decor.

A champagne toast began the evening. This was followed by a three course meal, a lucky dip, and an auction that raised £650.

Superstar Gary Barlow donated a Take That Circus DVD signed by all the band for auction.

Carol said: “It was a truly magical evening and people have asked for it to become an annual event.”

http://www.runcornandwidnesweeklynews.co.uk/runcorn....7782774

Или опять фанаты напутали????

Стрелять надо тех, кто чушь всякую несет! И так нервы на пределе!

Martin, 33, said the band's new album will be released 'some time in the future' but he added he hopes it won't be released the same week that the Take That album is out in shops.

According to UK newspaper Daily Record, he said: 'Preferably not the same week Take That are doing anything.

'If Gary Barlow says he might be possibly playing piano on a certain day, we just say: 'OK, we'll go and work in Germany that day, there's no point in us being here.''

The British band have been working with Brian Eno and Markus Dravs on their new album and Martin said: 'It's very much like I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here in our studio - a lot of difficult tasks and people that you find it hard to get along with, i.e. me.'
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/people....ke-That
Мартин в теме

TAKE THAT have lived the showbiz life for many years now but they still know how to enjoy themselves.

The man band - well three of them - made their way through the snow to attend their management's Christmas bash in Mayfair.

But judging by these unflattering snaps GARY BARLOW, MARK OWEN and JASON ORANGE more than made up for the absence of ROBBIE WILLIAMS and HOWARD DONALD.

Good on them.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol....sh.html

A NORTHAMPTON company spent 200 man hours producing 60 “unique” shields for a Take That performance on X Factor, only to see them pulled by TV mogul Simon Cowell at the last minute.

Arnold Plastics, based in Regal Close, Moulton Park, normally produces protective equipment, such as shields and batons, for organisations like the police.

But last week staff received a call from the chart-topping band’s

management for an emergency order for 60 special shields and batons.

The shields, which had to be light enough for dancers to carry but tough enough to withstand being beaten by batons, were to be carried by 50 dancers dressed as riot police for a performance of the band’s new single, Kidz.

Together, the shields and baton order was worth £10,000.

But it emerged the routine, which was to be the closing performance of the finals’ show, watched by an estimated 25 million audience on ITV, was pulled at the last minute after Simon Cowell expressed concerns it was “inappropriate” in light of Thursday’s clashes between students and police over tuition fees.

Kavin Hackett, marketing director and head of design at Arnold Plastics, said: “Take That rang in a panic on Wednesday and, on the spot, we agreed to produce these shields within 24 hours. They are not like normal riot shields because they had to be light enough for the dancers to use as but they also had to withstand being banged by batons and carry the Take That logo.

“We attended three of the rehearsals and put in around 200 man hours with 14 guys working on it. We had all our top technical and design people working on it. We based them on the Korean Riot Shield which is made of an aluminium composite. A secret theme of the routine was to turn 10 of the shields into mirrors to mirror the judges faces at the end of the song.

“We had two technical guys there on the night who witnessed the bust-up where it was decided it was too politically sensitive to use them. It was disappointing but we know the creative director wants to use them in the future.”

Take That eventually performed their single The Flood – without dancers – instead.

A spokesman for Arnold Plastics said they would continue their association with Take That at the start of their European tour next year and are working with Robbie Williams on a personal basis with his art projects.

http://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/news....1919682

Take That have proved that it is possible for men beyond the first flush of youth (Robbie Williams is the youngest of the group at 36, Howard Donald the oldest at 42) to dress fashionably without looking silly. Successfully reforming a teen group with a maturing audience, making them appear age-appropriate, relevant and pointedly unembarrassing, is one of the holy grails of pop culture. It's hard enough writing a new hit and getting the sound just right. Getting the strides just-so is even harder.

And winter proved to be absolutely perfect timing for the Take That reunion. The fact that the weather turned bitterly cold just as the band announced their tour dates meant that coats, scarves, hats, beards and boots featured in every photo and press conference.

Forget the stirring, anthemic chorus of The Flood and Robbie's funny marching-on-the-spot dance – the management's real masterstroke was to market Take That as a boys-to-men band who wear heavy, double-breasted Lanvin coats, leather-soled All Saints boots, who aren't frightened of polka dots and bum-freezer jackets. Males who can confidently mix Top Man with Mad Men. These are the clothes of an older and more thoughtful, craggy-faced Take That, who have loved and lost and cried and been to rehab and steadfastly refuse to dance in unison any more.

Summer isn't flattering for men in their 40s. It's callous and exposing. Sunlight streams through thinning hair. Harsh shadows act as a cruel grout in crow's feet. Clothes are flimsy and perfunctory. Worst of all, if you happen to be Jason Orange, 40, you simply can't look wistful and vulnerable in clam-digger shorts and a Superdry polo shirt. Winter – which is all about layering, camouflage, buttoning up and introspective insulation – is much more forgiving.

Take That's stylist, Luke Day, arguably the most influential figure in menswear right now – he's fashion director at GQ Style – knows this well. "Since I've been working with the group, I don't think we've ever done anything that's involved sunshine," he says. "Winter is just better for older guys. And generally speaking, I don't think colours work too well on men either. Dark tones make them seem more serious and an older guy always looks good in a big coat, fur and scarves."
Take That Take That – as they used to look. Photograph: Paul Rider/Retna UK

Working closely with Mark Owen, the band's most forthright fashionista, Day has developed the Take That Mk III look: Westfield Ginsberg meets millionaire vagabond meets Shoreditch dad, with subtle elements of 70s-era David Essex and that nice, floppy-haired, corduroy chap off BBC1's Flog It. And in doing so he has not only provided the perfect day-into-night, on-and-off stage capsule wardrobe for the band but also a series of workable reference points for the older, still fashionable civilian male. It's an easy rather than edgy look, which looks good at a gastropub Sunday lunch and won't embarrass the kids on the school run.

The TT3 look has its roots in 1995. Just before the band's first breakup, with Robbie still clinging on, they released what many critics consider to be their finest four minutes. Back For Good was a quantum leap towards musical maturity; it was the band's Careless Whisper, their Better the Devil You Know. It was also their biggest overcoat record so far. Most significantly, it was evidently freezing and absolutely chucking it down in the accompanying video. "They looked like a bunch of adorable wet labradors, didn't they?" says Day.

There would be a few unfortunate hiccups with tailcoats along the way, but here was a band who would never put on studded leather gilets again. Fast-forward 15 years and the band have settled into their various styles with an ease and comfort that suggests that the next world tour might be conducted from rocking chairs. The image of Owen taking a therapeutic walk across a tidal causeway as part of his recent rehab in their recent documentary, Look Back, Don't Stare, wearing a billowing, knee-length cardigan, is the band's most poignant fashion moment so far.

Does the modern pop group always have a stylist present these days? "Honestly, a lot of the time we'll wing it, stylistically speaking," insists Luke Day. "One of Mark's really big roles in the band is a sort of second stylist and he takes a lot of interest in his clothes," says Day. "Often he'll get out of the car wearing an outfit and then wear exactly the same thing on stage. We keep it cool and stay away from anything too theatrical."

The overly cuddly, fussy, circus-y clobber of the Take That Come To Town TV special was, says Day "a mistake".

"I don't have a problem with a boy band becoming men," says Gary Kemp, guitarist of the recently-reformed Spandau Ballet. "But I think as an older guy, you do have to always be aware that being in a band is, essentially, quite a childish thing to be doing."

When they announced their first tour last year since their 1990 split, Kemp's band, all in their mid-40s, thought hard about their clothes. "We knew that you have to look like a gang but you can't all wear the same thing . . . or look too disparate. There has to be some sense of dressing up otherwise you'll look like roadies."

Wisely, Spandau Ballet didn't opt for kilts. "You have to be age-appropriate and period-appropriate. Nodding to contemporary fashion but not looking like idiots. You can't wear what you used to back in your heyday. You have to move on. That said, because we are older there is always a danger of looking slightly conservative. It's quite a tricky balance."

Making Take That look good, says Day, isn't hard, now that they're happy with their constantly evolving wardrobes. He does most of their shopping, knows what they like and what will suit them. "They are all slim with pretty decent figures. Clothes tend to sit well on them."

Williams keeps a wooden last at Lobb of St James's, bespoke cobbler to the royal family. Gary Barlow is probably the most conservative while Owen likes Lanvin, Dries Van Noten and is "partial to Gucci and Margiela". The band tend to agree that they are all a bit too old for drainpipes these days, so Donald is happy to wear cropped, carrot shaped strides from Top Man. Or John Vavartos, depending on his mood.

And those wintry, all-enveloping, broodingly thought-provoking scarves? "Yes, well," says Day, sounding peeved. "One Direction started nicking the scarf thing, so we had to ease off on those."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeand....der-men