Best Known As: Music Performer

Gist:  Robert Peter Williams, more commonly known as Robbie Williams (born 13 February 1974, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England) is a Grammy Award-nominated and multi BRIT Award-winning English singer-songwriter. His career started at the age of 15 as a dancer and singer of the pop band Take That in 1989, which he left in 1995 to launch his solo career. He was raised in Stoke-on-Trent, with a sister, Sally, by Peter and Janet Williams, their parents. He attended Mill Hill Primary School and St Margaret Ward's Roman Catholic School,

Tunstall.

Life Facts:  After leaving Take That, Williams launched his solo career starting things off in 1996 by covering George Michael's "Freedom", the single reached number-two in the UK Singles Chart, twenty-six places higher than George Michael's original.

After trying to find his own sound during a harrowing period for him, recordings for the album began at London's Maison Rouge studios in March of that year. Shortly after his introduction to Guy Chambers, Williams released what would be the first single taken from his début album, Old Before I Die. Co-written by Williams with Eric Bazilian and Desmond Child, the single was released in April 1997, hitting number-two on the UK Charts; however, it was largely ignored on international charts. The second single, "Lazy Days", was released in mid-1997, amidst William's battle with paranoia. He was allowed to check out of rehab to shoot the video for the song, but promotion for the single was non-existent, so whilst the single charted at number eight in the United Kingdom, it struggled to reach the top forty of any European chart.

His début album, Life Thru A Lens, was released in September 1997. The album launched with his first live solo gig at the Elysée Montmartre theatre in Paris, France. At first, the album was slow to take off, debuting at number eleven of the UK Album Charts. The third single of the album, "South Of The Border", failed to make a significant impact on the UK Charts. When it was released in September 1997, it only reached number fourteen.

After Williams met the record company's concerns about his future, he released what would be the fourth single taken from his album, not knowing it would become his biggest single in the United Kingdom so far, and one of his most well-known songs and successful. "Angels" became Williams' best seller in the United Kingdom, being certified 2x Platinum by the BPI. The song, apart from becoming a hit around Europe and Latin America, caused sales of his album to skyrocket. The album remained forty weeks inside the British top ten and 218 weeks altogether, making it the 58th best selling album in UK History with sales over the 2.4 Million. The album eventually managed to sell over three million copies in Europe alone.

In 2002, Williams signed a record-breaking £80 million contract with EMI. The contract featured a number of provisos, including the label ceding greater creative control to the artist and a commitment to breaking Williams in the US market. So far it has become the biggest music deal in British history. The deal was brokered by Ingenious Media, a leading UK corporate finance advisory business.

Williams began working on what would be his fifth studio album, after a year out recording, the album heralded a new era for Williams; he had taken a more active role in the making of this album giving an indication of his growing confidence in the studio, and "One Fine Day". "Nan's Song" and "Come Undone" were the first songs that Williams wrote without the Guy Chambers input. Most of the songs were recorded in Los Angeles.

The album's first single, "Feel", written by Williams and Chambers, was recorded as a demo; when they started working on the album and trying to re-record the vocals, Williams felt unsatisfied with it, so he decided to include the demo version and then release it as the first single. When the single was released in late 2002, it became Williams' biggest international hit going number one in countries like The Netherlands and Italy as well as reaching the top ten in almost every single European country.

When Williams' fifth studio album, Escapology, was released in late 2002, it hit number-one in at least 10 countries around the world including the United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Sweden, Finland, Denmark among others; elsewhere, it made the top ten, however in the United States failed to make as big of an impact, reaching only number forty-three on the Billboard Albums Chart.

The album's second single, "Come Undone" became a top ten hit around the world; due to its controversial video, it was heavily censored by MTV Networks Europe for depicting a debauched (but fully-clothed) Williams having three-way sex with two women. The video was all about some young people having a party and it showed footage of fights, drug taking, and unwise alcohol use. It also showed unsettling images of insects and reptiles, however, the uncensored version of the video was released on DVD Single in Europe and was also included on the Enhanced CD Single. BBC Radio 2 also banned the song for its explicit content. During such furores at this time, it was confirmed that Williams and Guy Chambers were to officially split up. The single version of "Come Undone" is not the same version as the one on the album, but instead is listed by producer Steve Power as being "from an original production by Guy Chambers/Steve Power".

The third single taken from the album was "Something Beautiful", the song was written in Barbados, the song was first offered to Tom Jones, but it was then reworked and for its inclusion on Williams' album. The single was released in the mid-2003, the success of which was minor compared to William's previous songs but managed to enter the top-10 in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Denmark, it failed to make an impact in the world charts. The video featured a casting in which people from all over Europe contested to win the chance to perform as Robbie Williams at the end of the same video, the three winners had the chance to meet Williams, three different versions of the video were released to different parts of the world featuring different winners. Williams started his world tour in the mid-2003, and he was about to do three live concerts in Knebworth. The Knebworth shows attracted a total of 375,000 fans.

Escapology ended up selling almost 2 million copies by the end of 2003 in the United Kingdom being certified 6x Platinum by the BPI, becoming the 60th best selling album in UK music history.

In October 2003, Williams released his first live album, Live at Knebworth which peaked at number-two in UK; The live record ended up selling a little over 600,000 copies in the United Kingdom being certified 2x Platinum by the BPI and an excess of 2 million units in Europe alone.

Until early 2009, Williams spent most of his time in Los Angeles, California. He had commented many times on how he enjoyed the freedom and privacy there that he couldn't find in the UK. Despite this, many rumours surfaced over the years suggesting he wanted to return to the UK. The rumours turned out to be true when he bought a £7 million mansion in Compton Bassett, Wiltshire and returned to the UK in January 2009. Since then he has been spotted in Wotton Bassett, Devizes and Swindon.

Williams has reportedly battled mental illness, obesity, self esteem issues, alcoholism, and substance abuse throughout his life. He once discussed how his friend Elton John booked him into a clinic to cope with his drug use, that emerged from the depression he was experiencing while still in Take That.

He entered a rehabilitation centre in Tucson on 13 February 2007 for addiction to the anti-depressant Seroxat. He left the centre on 7 March according to his official website.

Williams has a strong interest in UFOs and related paranormal phenomena, and has pursued this interest during his 2007?08 sabbatical. His interest in the subject led to him taking part in a documentary for BBC Radio 4 with Jon Ronson. The documentary followed them to a UFO convention in Nevada. During an interview with Joss Stone on The Jeremy Kyle Show in 2008, Williams revealed that he has seen UFOs three times. Williams said his first UFO sighting was when he was a child in Britain while he spotted his second in Beverly Hills, and added that the third sighting was just after he had written a song about alien contact.

Williams appears to question his own sexuality in some well-known songs, such as "Old Before I Die", where he sings: "Am I straight or gay?" , and in "Your Gay Friend", where he sings: "And I'll be your gay friend". In his documentary film Nobody Someday, he said:

"As it happens, I've never slept with a man. I've never done anything with a man. The thought has passed my mind, but it always stops at his bits. I'm not discounting it, but it hasn't appealed enough for me to do it ? yet."

Williams won a libel case against MGN and Northern & Shell in December 2005 relating to articles which had reported he was a closet homosexual. In the libel action that resulted from this, Williams accepted substantial damages, and the publishers accepted that the stories were untrue. His counsel, Tom Shields QC, told the court: "Mr Williams is not, and has never been, homosexual." Gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell called for any damages paid out from the libel case to be donated to gay charities, claiming Williams' legal actions had created the impression that it is "bad to be gay". Williams retorted that he was not bothered about being labelled as a gay man, and he would have taken the same action had it been regarding a heterosexual relationship. The court case has led some to draw comparisons between Williams and Australian actor/pop star Jason Donovan, who also once made a successful libel claim against a publication concerning his sexuality. Donovan won his case at the height of his fame in 1992, but later regretted his legal action as it made him appear homophobic and virtually destroyed his career. In 2008, Williams' friend, actor Max Beesley, rejected claims that Williams was gay. Beesley said, "Some of the stuff written about him is enough to make me mad, the rumours about him being gay, for example. Not true. I've never met anybody less gay in my life!"

* Williams has won a large number of awards over the years, including more BRIT Awards than any other artist in music history (15), as well as six Echo Awards in six consecutive years from 2001 until 2007.

* 1999: The Ego Has Landed

* 2004: Greatest Hits

Career Facts:  After touring Latin America in late 2004 for the promotion of his Greatest Hits album, Williams started working on his sixth studio album. Recorded in his bedroom in the Hollywood Hills, the album was co-written by Stephen Duffy over the course of 24 months.

The track "Ghosts" was inspired by the Human League's "Louise", about a man who breaks off a relationship and realized he still has strong feelings for her.

The album's first single "Tripping", was released on 3 October 2005, it became an international success topping the charts in Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway and Spain.

The album Intensive Care was launched in Berlin, Germany on October 9. It became a smash hit around the world, hitting number one in the United Kingdom, as well as topping the charts in Germany,

In November 2005, Williams took home the MTV Europe Music Award for 'Best Male', but also, entered in the The Guinness Book of World Records when he announced his World Tour for 2006, selling 1.6 million tickets in one single day. But after the success, Gary Barlow, Mark Owen, Jason Orange, and Howard Donald had agreed to reunite in Notting Hill, West London, for a preview screening of a documentary about Take That. The documentary screened on ITV1 on 16 November 2005. Unfortunately, according to a source quoted by Sunday Mirror, "Robbie announced he wasn't coming. The rest of the band were gutted but felt the show had to go on."

By December, the second single from the album was released, the ballad "Advertising Space" reached the top-10 in some European countries including UK, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Italy.

Williams' kicked off his Close Encounters World Tour in South Africa in April 2006, when he finished his European leg of the tour, 2.5 million had seen the show, and after Latin America and Australia the numbers when up to 3 million.

After a long gap between singles, the third cut from the album was released in the mid-2006. "Sin Sin Sin" was the first song Williams and Duffy wrote together, the video of which was shot in Cape Town, South Africa right before the start of his tour. The track became Williams' first single to miss the UK Top 20, charting at only number 22, but managed to enter the top-20 in some countries including Germany,

By the end of the promotion of the album, it was announced that it had sold over 5,000,000 copies in Europe alone, and was certified 5x Platinum by the IFPI. It was also certified 5x Platinum in the United Kingdom becoming, at the time, his lowest selling studio album in the country.

Williams has had romantic relationships with several well-known female celebrities, including Rachel Hunter. Feel, written by Williams' friend, writer Chris Heath, details Williams' many sexual conquests during his European tour in 2003.