Robbie Williams launches exciting new project after trademark row with Yves Saint Laurent

French fashion house Yves Saint Laurent had opposed the name of pop star Robbie Williams' brand, complaining that the word was too similar to its perfume Black Opium

 

Robbie Williams can finally launch his lifestyle range called Hopeium after settling his trademarks dispute with Yves Saint Laurent.

The French fashion house had opposed the name of the pop star’s brand, complaining that the word was too similar to its perfume Black Opium. The two sides have brought an end to the disagreement two years after the row began

 

Former Take That star Robbie, 50, is set to release a range of Hopeium goods including clothes, bags and footwear. He had originally also intended to sell beauty products, soap, body lotions and fragrances.

 

But after opposition from YSL he has had to axe these plans, with the Hopeium range steering clear of cosmetics and toiletries. A source said: “Robbie is always looking for the next opportunity. He can’t wait for the world to see what he has in store with Hopeium.”

 

The name was registered with the Intellectual Property Office on July 19. Robbie, whose solo hits include Angels and Let Me Entertain You, appeared in some of his new Hopeium gear while performing at Hyde Park in Central London three weeks ago. He wore a sequinned tracksuit top with a logo.

 

He has even more big events on the horizon, with the release of a new album and the Better Man biopic. Robbie stars in the film which is about his life. The movie also features Alison Steadman. Speaking about the project, Robbie, who is believed to be worth about £233million, said previously: “I’ve never been as ambitious as I am right now. I am full of purpose and I’m loving life.”

 

https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news...ng-new-33370780

 

 

I wonder if the clothing/shoes etc will be a high end sports range ( not Primark :lol: ) given the red jacket he wore at Hyde Park with the Hopeium logo , he already dipped his toe in the sportwear direction with his collab with Jlindebergsport a couple of years back :thinking: .

Edited August 1, 2024Aug 1 by Sydney11

SHORTLIST REVEALED FOR NATIONAL TELEVISION AWARDS 2024, VOTE NOW

Joel Dommett returns as host the 2024 National Television Awards, which take place on Wednesday 11th September at the O2 Arena in London. You can vote free online at www.nationaltvawards.com.

 

Icons are spotlighted in Authored Documentary, where Beckham and Robbie Williams revealed the men behind the myths. Alongside are two stars on personal journeys in Rhod Gilbert: A Pain in the Neck for SU2C and Rose Ayling-Ellis: Signs for Change, while Kate Garraway: Derek’s Story brought us one tale’s poignant final chapter

 

 

Start voting..... https://www.nationaltvawards.com/vote?fbcli...lb9rhemLob5pbIQ

Edited August 21, 2024Aug 21 by Sydney11

I voted although I really enjoyed the Beckham one too ^_^

I guess this is the Louis Theroux connection to Rob who posted a pic of Louis some time ago on his instagram :thinking:

 

 

 

@1829070213024723389

Edited August 29, 2024Aug 29 by Sydney11

Take That star Robbie Williams and Simon Cowell among the famous faces set to appear in a new BBC Two documentary about boybands

 

 

Robbie Williams and Simon Cowell are some of the famous faces set to appear in a new BBC Two documentary, which dives into the pop music phenomenon of the boyband.

 

Fronted by Louis Theroux, the new three-part series Boybands Forever is set to air this autumn, featuring an array of big names from the 90s.

 

Others who will appear on screen include Take That manager Nigel Martin-Smith, Westlife star Brian McFadden and members of other groups including East 17, Blue, 5ive, 911 and Damage.

 

Speaking of the documentary, which reportedly took over a year to make, documentary mogul Louis told The Sun: 'I couldn't be more thrilled about this series.

 

'An epic story featuring a cast of stars and star-makers, it involves some of the icons of modern British pop.' The exciting new series, which will also feature the likes of Louis Walsh, Daniel Glatman and Chris Herbert, is being made by Louis Theroux and his wife's production company Mindhouse.

 

Its three episodes will dive into topics such as drink, drugs, bust-ups and exploitation.

 

He continued: 'It's a gripping fable about getting everything you dreamed of, and it not being what you imagined, centred on a generation of young men, and their managers, who were wildly successful and also immensely vulnerable, having the times of their lives and also in some cases cracking up.'

 

Robbie, who will be part of the documentary, left the chart-topping band Take That in 1995. Originally formed as a five-piece in 1989, Take That became one of the most successful bands in British history with a career spanning four decades. Robbie went on to to enjoy huge chart success on his own, bagging number ones singles including Angels, She's The One, Millennium and Let Me Entertain You, as well as countless awards.

 

Earlier this year, Simon Cowell revealed he was on the hunt for the next One Direction and scoured the country for a new boyband.

The music mogul, 64, put together One Direction's Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan, Liam Payne, and Zayn Malik on The X Factor in 2010, who went on to take the pop world by storm. But despite heavy advertising, Simon had to give up on his search because he couldn't drum up enough prospective auditionees. Simon had plans for the search to appear in a Netflix documentary called The Midas Touch - but was reportedly told to give up and come to the terms that the 'era of the chart-topping boyband is over'.

 

The Midas Touch was initially pitched with the idea of following his search for future stars, but it will now instead focus on Simon as his pop dream falls apart. An insider on The Midas Touch told the Daily Mail: 'Simon has been told the original idea behind the series needs to change. Rather than focusing on the creation of a boyband capable of going on to massive success, the focus is now much more on him. 'His frustration is at the auditions where many of the singers turning up are cast-offs from bands that didn't make it. 'But perhaps more crucially, Simon has been told to come to terms with the fact that maybe the era of the chart-topping boyband is over. It is devastating for him.'

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/artic...y-boybands.html

Edited August 29, 2024Aug 29 by Sydney11

Teens must be stopped from joining pop bands says Robbie Williams' pal https://mol.im/a/13980739 via @MailOnline

Noga Erez: "I don't like the term self-love. I think it is used inflationarily. It can also be very toxic."

 

 

 

On "The Vandalist" you can find many humorous passages and there are allusions to other titles that their "hardcore fans" might discover. Above all, the singer presents herself very personally. "Danny" is one of the vulnerable songs, but also settles. Erez is concerned with negative experiences with a therapist. "First of all, it took me longer to find my current therapist who was a perfect fit for me. You can't expect something like this to work immediately. After all, it's a human relationship, it has to be right," she says.

 

The song is characterized by a certain incident: "It's about a relationship in which boundaries were once crossed for me. That was very unexpected for me. In general, the song deals with the topic of relationships with authorities. It's good to talk about it. Many people have such experiences and they should not feel alone in this." The song stands out, also in terms of sound: it seems particularly opulent, there are vintage vibes and elegant strings. This matches the singing of Noga Erez, who also has experience with ensembles: she has already worked with the Israel Camerata Jerusalem, the leading chamber orchestra in Israel, which is considered one of the best in the world. "Danny" is also a feature with Robbie Williams, whose daughter is a fan of Erez. The British pop star contacted her. When Williams performed live in Tel Aviv, the musicians met. Williams is "smart" and "very nice": "At some point we were brave enough to ask him if he wanted to take part in a song. He said: Sure!"

 

https://kaput-mag.com/stories-de/noga-erez-...r-toxisch-sein/

Robbie Williams on how his mother's dementia diagnosis and father's Parkinson's has affected his life

 

While Robbie Williams is being depicted as a monkey in his new biopic Better Man, his emotional journey throughout the film is anything but inhuman.

While Better Man depicts his loving relationship with his grandma who has since passed away, then the conversation with his parents might have been tricky to navigate, although sadly this is now a non-issue.

 

"My mum's currently got dementia - like my nan in the film - and my dad's got Parkinsons and can't get out of bed. So I'm in a different part of my life right now," he says.

But clearly, his father - for all his flaws - was a big influence in young Robbie's life, introducing him to the world of entertainment and the showmanship of yesteryear stars like Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby and Sammy Davis Jr. But Better Man gives father and son a happy ending that the young Robbie craved as a child.

"We're all survivors of childhood trauma, and you spend the second 20 years of your life, sorting out the first 20 years," he says. "Why did I want to feel real love? And all of my songs are autobiographical, so I guess it's all about processing the events that happened when I was younger and the events that still carry on. So it would make sense that it would be cinematic in some way, because I spoke the story, I sang the story. And I know that this will touch a lot of people."

 

As we sit down to chat in Los Angeles Robbie, 50, recalls how director Michael Gracey – the man behind The Greatest Showman and Rocketman – pitched the concept to him, reasoning that a monkey would have more of an emotional impact than merely casting an actor.

As director Michael explains: "I think we're very cinematically numb to seeing human suffering, but when we see an animal hurting, there is something very uncomfortable about that."

 

Adds Robbie: "And also you don't spend the whole movie, constantly going: He's doing a good Robbie Williams there - the monkey takes that aspect away."

Robbie, who appears in the BBC documentary Boybands Forever, in which he reflects on his feud and rivalry with Gary Barlow, reveals he also sent the Take That frontman a copy of the script.

 

"So he phoned me up. We're mates now, and I love him, and our relationship is 95% healed, and there'll always be a scar, but he loves me. I love him," says Robbie, who quit Take That to go solo in 1995, months before the band split. "But the first script was different, right? And he phoned me up and he went, 'Rob, I can't believe this script. I come off worse than Darth Vader in the first Star Wars.'

I was like, 'Just try to see from my point of view.' So we did curb a few things, but that's the awkward thing about my life, and what I need to have the wind in the sails for the third act of my career. What it was like when I was 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 and how I thought and spoke when I was that age is very different from the 50-year-old me. So some of it was tempered down but the process of these things can rip the scab off the wound and it starts weeping again," he says.

 

To read the full interview, pick up the latest issue of HELLO! on sale in the UK on Monday

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/robb...id=BingNewsVerp

Edited November 26, 2024Nov 26 by Sydney11

Reading that article & like so many families with loved ones being ill it's a really tough time for Robbie & Ayda right now ..

Unfinished monkey business: Robbie Williams explains himself

 

Photo for FACE magazine by Jean Baptiste Mondino

 

Some great old photos in link below

https://theface.com/music/robbie-williams-i...sis-gary-barlow

 

In 1995, for his debut FACE cover – his first ever solo interview – we called him The Wild One. For his second, in 1999, he was our hater-battling Man of the Year, with the bloodied nose to prove it. Now he’s here for a third encounter, as a Better Man – and as a chimp.

 

“THE FACE is, and was, the coolest, most credible magazine that existed – to pop people.”

 

He means especially to pop people, but we’ll forgive Robbie Williams the glancing word slippage. He’s sharply-suited in a tobacco-brown, double-breasted two-piece by Caruso, and shod for speed in cheetah-print slip-ons. But the musician is operating on two hours’ kip, he’s been ​“f***ing everywhere” in the last few days and right now, the hour of our evening appointment in a sleepy suite in a central London hotel, it’s Drowsy O’Clock.

 

We’ll also forgive Robbie because, well, his two historic FACE covers – October 1995 and January 1999, the former the second-best-selling issue of the magazine ever (beaten only by Spice Girls, March 1997) – were a lifetime ago. Also a nervous breakdown, some rehabs, some comebacks, three Knebworths and, judging by his gleaming gnashers, a set of teeth ago, too.

 

Robbie has been everywhere because he’s promoting Better Man. The film is the story of his Mad Pop Star Life, the ups, the downs, the dizzier ups and the deeper, very much darker downs. In that regard, it’s a trad biopic. In another, crucial regard, it’s unlike any life story of any famous person that was ever committed to screen.

 

Because Robbie Williams is played by a monkey.

 

That is: Robbie is played by himself and by actors, all of whom are turned into CGI monkeys, and no one at any point in the film says anything about that. As a nine-year-old growing up in Stoke-on-Trent, getting a bath off his nan (played by Alison Steadman), he’s a cute wee chimp with bubble-bath on his nose. As the 15-year-old who auditions for Take That, he’s a rangy ape-teen with bubble-perm on his head. As the 21-year-old Robbie who rocks up to Glastonbury ​’95 with bleach-blond hair, red Adidas zip-up, missing tooth and a mission to do coke with Oasis (spoiler alert: he succeeds), he’s a Britpop-era baboon in exactly all that clobber.

 

Why a monkey? Simple. Because Robbie – a 50-year-old with a skip-full of neuroses and dysfunctions and daddy issues and cheery, knowing acceptance thereof – always saw himself as a performing monkey.

 

The film is a musical, too, directed by Michael Gracey – who made blockbuster circus flick The Greatest Showman – at breakneck, all-singing, all-dancing, all-the-feels pace. Which gives the film the vibes at times of, yes, a simian mobile disco.

 

It’s also brilliant. You might go into the cinema with your face set to cringe, or even grimace. But it’ll soon be blasted into grin by the sheer, exuberant force and style of the storytelling. Even if you’re a Robbie hater, you’ll likely come away with a touch more empathy for an only-child northern lad from a broken home who wanted pop fame so badly it messed him up.

 

So, as former FACE editor Sheryl Garratt did in 1995 (starting her reporting just after that Glasto) and as did, three years later, with onetime FACE stalwart Chris Heath (who went on to become Robbie’s amanuensis of choice for his two (so far) memoirs), we come to praise Robbie, not to bury him. And Robbie, just as he did in ​’95, when he gave this magazine his first post-Take That interview, reciprocates the love.

 

That first interview, he says, stroking Norman Watson’s striking cover image on the copy that I’ve brought along, ​“was incredibly meaningful. I don’t know if the likes of this had been seen before: ​‘Pop person goes on the most credible magazine front cover.’ To be noticed and to be given this space…” Robbie recalls, tailing off, wistfully. Then he picks up the second cover, its aggy image shot by Jean-Baptiste Mondino, the uncompromising vibe underpinned by the ​“Want Some?” coverline. ​“It’s saying: ​‘I’m hard.’ And oh, look, with the fake blood coming out of his nose, he’s obviously been having a fight, or he’s done too much coke. It was very gratifying. And pivotal.”

 

Speaking of pivotal covers, here’s our most recent one, starring Chappell Roan…

 

You know what’s amazing? She wasn’t famous, and then was, like pretty quickly. And she noticed very quickly that when you’re famous, dumb, weird shit happens. And it’s not OK. That’s exactly what she said! ​“This stuff’s happening and it’s not OK.” I’m like, yeah, exactly!

 

The difference being that Chappell, almost instantaneously, had the agency to say that. Whereas back in your day…

 

No agency!

 

Exactly. Which is one of the salutary messages of Better Man. So: we’ve heard that the backstory to this cinematic life-story involves a lawyer, and you in your dressing-gown sending a video message to Hugh Jackman…

 

OK. My wife’s best mate from growing up, Casey, her father is Michael Gracey’s lawyer. So I already knew Michael, from going round to Casey’s dad’s house, hanging out, Michael being there and getting on with him really well. Then he emails or calls me: ​“Can I come round? I need to ask you a favour.” ​“Yeah, mate.”

 

Comes around. Sits down. He goes: ​“I’m doing this film. It’s called The Greatest Showman.” And instantly in my head I’m like: ​“He’s gonna ask me to be the lead, isn’t he? Because I am that. That’s what I am, right? The greatest showman.”

 

So he shows me the storyboards. Plays me a few songs. And I’m thinking: ​“Oh, God, this is probably my break in Hollywood. These songs are f***ing brilliant. The answer is yes!” Then he goes: ​“Here’s the favour… Will you convince Hugh Jackman to do the film?”

 

Ah. I’m crestfallen. But I say: ​“Er, yeah, I’ll do that.” So I sent Hugh a video message imploring him to do the film. And if he didn’t, I would bludgeon him to death with a tea cup to get the role.

 

“I know how other biographies have started off, and I know where they’ve ended up: sanitised versions of what was once a f***ing incredible script. With me, I haven’t taken anything out”

 

How did the idea for a biopic begin?

 

I think Michael was kicking the tyres: ​“Maybe there’s a film…” He’d say a story, then I’d say a story, and he liked how I said stories. He was like: ​“Record these stories, and maybe we just see what happens.” And then, all this happened.

 

How involved were you with the script-writing process?

 

I spoke for 12 hours [to the screenwriters]. There’s bits in the film where I cringe at my jokes or what I say. I was like: ​“I don’t like that.” ​“But you actually said that.” ​“What about that?” ​“Yeah, you actually said that, too.” So loads of the script are my actual words. A lot of the narration, a lot of what the monkey says, are things that I’ve said and thought. But I was never in the room when the script was written.

 

Did you have approval?

 

I guess so, but I didn’t need it… I know how other biographies have started off, and I know where they’ve ended up: sanitised versions of what was once a f***ing incredible script. With me, I haven’t taken anything out. It’s: whatever’s good.

 

So it was important that the highs were as high as they really were, and the lows were as grubby and shitty as they actually were, too?

 

Yeah. And the film does a good job at both. I’m sure you’ve had your relationship with going out and staying up late. And you visit hell. And I’ve been to hell.

 

Indeed. The first time I interviewed you, in 2010, you told me who first gave you cocaine. But we were talking in connection with your track Morning Sun being the official song for Sport Relief. So it wasn’t really an appropriate context to put that in the piece. Anyway, it was the late New Romantic icon, Steve Strange – although even afterwards, I never thought I could reveal that while he was alive…

 

Well, you can write it here! Yeah, he used to do a night at a small club called The Bank in Kensington. I was in Take That, and the band’s hotel was right opposite this club. I went over one night and he said: ​“Did you want a line of coke?” I’m like: ​“Yeah.” Then he passes me a note, and I’m like: ​“What do I do with this?” He looked at me as if I was pretending that I’d never done coke before. And… off I went. I was 17, 18.

 

Was it immediately pleasurable?

 

No, it was really terrible coke, I’ve since come to realise. But it didn’t stop me having another go at it [that night]. And I eventually found decent cocaine…

 

…and the rest is misery!

 

And the rest is misery! Exactly!

 

The monkey: how much persuading did you take on that?

 

Michael said: ​“What’s your spirit animal.” I was trying to find some self-esteem for myself – which we all are, all the time – so at that particular time, I go: ​“I’m a lion.” Michael made a face. So I go: ​“Monkey?” And he went: ​“Yeah, OK, here’s the idea…”

 

And before the end of the sentence, I was in. Then I went to tell the Minister of Finance, the wife. Actually, The Minister of Finance & What’s Actually Happening In My Life. ​“Great idea, babe! I’m gonna be a monkey!” And Ayda was like: ​“What the f***?” That was the first time that I encountered the ​“Eh? What?” response to the idea.

 

But it’s just a f***ing incredible idea. And without the monkey, there wouldn’t be as much talk about the film. And then, for whatever reason, it works. But I find it confusing that people, without seeing the film, have found the idea confusing. It’s interesting that not everybody thinks like me, ha ha!

 

In November 2022 I was at your Royal Albert Hall gig that was shot for the film, as a recreation of your 2001 Swing When You’re Winning orchestral show. Like a muppet, I neglected to read the small print on the ticket that said: ​“Dress, black tie.” I cycled there, so I was wearing cycling gear while everybody around me was rattling their jewellery…

 

Did you see yourself in the film?

 

No, I was slunk low in my seat, hiding from the cameras, mortified. But that’s not the point of the story. The point is: how was that performance blended into the movie?

 

I don’t know. I don’t know which bits are me, which bits are not me.

 

So is some of the physicality of Jonno Davies, the actor who plays adult Robbie, actually you with a monkey CGI’d on your head?

 

Yeah! But broadly I do not know [where]. And I just want to let the magic of the movie do its thing. Also: Jonno’s got a great arse and great legs; the bottom of his torso is much better than mine. So I’d much rather believe that that’s all me, that that’s my actual body, than be told, no, it’s all Jonno.

 

Because some of his dance moves are spot-on.

 

Yeah, I know. There are bits in the Knebworth sequence where I’m like: ​“Did you just take the footage of me and then put it in?” ​“No, that’s Jonno.” ​“Wow.” Wow.

 

The attention to detail, not just from him but the costuming and everything, is fantastic. The monkey wears the red Adidas top from Glastonbury, he’s got the same bleach blonde hair as you, the missing tooth… How important was it to you that they got the different iterations of you at every stage absolutely correct?

 

It would be important to me if they didn’t! I’m very, very happy with what I’ve seen. The Stoke accent is very difficult to do. And the kids at the beginning of the film, I can tell one of them’s from Nottingham, and one of them’s from Derby. Instantly people from Stoke are going to go: [grumble] ​“He’s from f***ing Nottingham!” But they don’t know that in Alabama. They don’t know that in Serbia! But for the people of Stoke, that’s going to be interesting. It’s only those little things that take me out of it for a moment.

 

“I undid all this goodwill by having nothing to back it up. And by just hanging out with Oasis and going to gigs and doing coke and going to The Groucho”

 

Let’s look at your old FACE covers. The first was done just after that Glastonbury. How well do you remember the shoot and interview?

 

I can’t remember the shoot – although just as I’ve said that, there’s Polaroids in my head. But I remember hanging out with Oasis and getting a golf-ball sized lump under my chin – my glands came up because I’d been awake for so long and I’d done so much coke.

 

Did that ​’95 story give you confidence as a brand new solo artist who’d just escaped – or, been sacked by – the biggest boy band in the country? ​“OK, these cool people think I’ve got something…”

 

Well, it did. But then I went off and got really fat and looked like a farmyard animal. Then I turned up to the opening of every letter. And also didn’t have any songs written. And in between Take That and Angels [in 1997] it was just a battlefield of embarrassing myself, being embarrassing.

 

So all this goodwill – which was what that was – was wonderful, and I’m grateful for it. But I undid it very quickly by having nothing to back it up. And by just hanging out with Oasis and going to gigs and doing coke and going to The Groucho.

 

Then, the second cover, which was published at the end of 1998. Your second album I’ve Been Expecting You has just come out, you’ve had a run of big, big singles: Millennium, She’s The One, No Regrets, Strong. That bloodied nose image: how did that reflect your mindset at the time?

 

It was me versus everyone – in my head. Revenge was definitely a motivator. The revenge was to Take That. It was to all the other magazines. The tabloids. It was me. Funnily enough, I remember the first FACE cover more than I remember that one. Because I didn’t have a lot on the first time, ha ha! And then I had too much on for the second one!

 

I wanted to be taken seriously like that. There’s no cynical headline on it. Which always happened with Q magazine or Select magazine or the NME. If they put me on the cover, it might as well have just said: ​“c**t”. So there was a kindness that THE FACE afforded me that I’m really grateful for.

 

Chris’s story starts the preceding summer, at the V98 festival in Leeds, at which both you and your then girlfriend, All Saints’ Nicole Appleton, were performing. That was the peak of a relationship that, as we see in Better Man, ends in a plunging low. How was it seeing that period and aspect of your life depicted in the film?

 

Well… [Exhales heavily] She… That’s the bit in the film – I’ve seen it nine times now, because I’ve sat in screenings and done premieres and stuff — that remains difficult to watch. There’s other stuff in there that is triggering, and has grief surrounding it. That’s hard, too. But the hardest bit is who I was and how I treated Nic. Because everybody else in the film did something to me. I’m not generally happy to throw people under the bus, but if the bus is passing, I’ll do a quick chuck.

 

With the Nic bit: I still have shame about not being a brilliant boyfriend. And just being a f***ing lunatic cokehead. She deserved better, because she’s a kind person, she’s an honest person, she’s an authentic person. But you know, these are the relationships that you have when you’re 23, 24. I just wish the training wheels for both of us [hadn’t come off]. I wish the person riding the bike had been more stable. But it was me and I wasn’t.

 

Has Nic seen the film?

 

Yeah.

 

And?

 

I FaceTimed her straight after she came out of the screening. And we wept. I wept more. Then in between getting my breath and being able to speak, the only thing that we could say to each other was: ​“Triggered!” And then we’d giggle, and then we’d cry more. She’s a good person, Nic.

 

Has the film dug up stuff that you didn’t necessarily want to have to face again?

 

Ah… I did a load in the documentary [last year’s four-hour Netflix deep-dive Robbie Williams]. That was more difficult because I was doing eight-hour interviews for 21 days straight, sat at the coalface. Or a better analogy: watching the car crash, in a headlock. Then with the film, before it was all sewn together, I’d seen the scenes. So I could prepare for seeing it all together. My nan’s funeral, the first time that I watched it, obviously I had a breakdown about that. But now I can watch it as an audience member.

 

“Now: with the ticket prices, the whole industry’s just gone: ​‘Yeah, we can’t take the piss.’ So I believe I’m not taking the piss. I also live in a bubble, and I don’t know how much a pint of milk costs. So I don’t know

 

Speaking of documentaries: the BBC’s Boybands Forever, to which you contributed, is a fascinating, warts’n’all account of those bands’ rises and falls. You wrote a lengthy, thoughtful and ultimately viral open letter to Take That creator and manager Nigel Martin-Smith, in response to his talking-head contribution to the series. Have you had any response from him through any channels?

 

No! But he’s very litigious, so I can only imagine that his lawyers went through it with a fine tooth comb. [Nigel impersonation] ​“What can I sue him for – for this?” But so far, so good. Yeah, I’ve heard nothing back.

 

What did you think of the series?

 

It’s all the stuff that I know. It’s hope and excitement. Then nervous breakdowns and putting yourself together for the rest of your life, with all the characters – managers, tabloids, record company people. Yeah, I thought it was really well done. I was happy that they didn’t stitch me up.

 

But there was a bit where I think Gaz [Gary Barlow] got stitched up. [in old footage] Gaz is doing a mock bravado bit, talking about being the [Gary impersonation] ​“big star in my village. People knew that I was going to go on to do things.” And it’s sold in the documentary that he’s arrogant. But I know he was joking in that moment. But, you know – the magic of TV!

 

What can you tell us about your new album that’s coming next year?

 

There’s been so many iterations of it. I wanted to write an album knowing everything that I know. So, what album would I have made leaving Take That? I wanted to return to 1996. Along the way, hit‑y sounding things have turned up that have got nothing to do with that whatsoever. So I started off with one thing, and it’s becoming something else.

 

Are you working with anyone?

 

People in my band. A guy called Freddie Wexler, a songwriter-producer in the States that got Billy Joel to [get back to writing]. So Freddie’s becoming the dinosaur whisperer. Oh, Gaz Coombes [from Supergrass]! And Chris Martin’s played on something. Glenn Hughes from Deep Purple’s played on something. Tony Iommi from Black Sabbath’s played on something.

 

You’re kidding?

 

No! Yeah, I know – Black Sabbath to Deep Purple!

 

Amazing. OK, your 2025 tour: I can get tickets for the first night, at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh, ​“rear pitch standing”, for £107.50.

 

That’s decent, right?

 

It is. Is that because you’ve learned from the Oasis debacle, or because you need to flog some tickets?

 

[Thinks for a bit] Maybe a bit of both. I think that the whole music industry just learned something. By the way, I’ve never sat in a ​“How much are we pricing the tickets?” meeting. And I don’t believe that Oasis did either. I don’t believe that Oasis knew. Liam definitely didn’t know ​“this is how much tickets are going to cost. We’re going to do this thing called dynamic pricing.” I only know about dynamic pricing because of Oasis.

 

Now: with the ticket prices, the whole industry’s just gone: ​“Yeah, we can’t take the piss.” So I believe I’m not taking the piss. I also live in a bubble, and I don’t know how much a pint of milk costs. So I don’t know. I want to be worth the going rate. Whatever price you put a ticket at, somebody on Twitter will be outraged: ​“52 pound for a ticket?”

 

But that whole dynamic pricing thing, it even made me go: ​“f***, I need to be in some sort of meeting.” Or just go: ​“Let’s not have that happen!” But it’s very difficult. In 2006 there was a ticket scalper guy that bought a £1.5 million mansion off scalping my tickets. That feels bad. That feels bad on the people that bought the tickets, and it feels bad for me. You f***ing scammed them and scammed me.

 

So I don’t know what you do, how you make it right, how you stop being greedy, how you figure out what you’re worth whilst not extorting people. Because at the end of the day, tickets are only too much if they don’t sell. If you sell out, or if you sell 95 per cent of the tickets, they weren’t too much.

 

Which in isolation, in an interview, will sound really bad, of course. But it’s true.

 

So, to answer your question: I guess half of it is noticing what happened with Oasis, and the other half is being nice. Well, OK, three quarters being nice – my principles can vary. And wanting to sell tickets.

 

How do you think Noel and Liam will respond to their portrayal in the film?

 

Can I just say I f***ing loved Liam’s response to the tickets. He just went: ​“f*** off. That’s how much they are.” I was just like: ​“Yes, well done, mate.” I’d never say that – I can’t. But Liam saying that: ​“That’s why you’re you, and that’s brilliant.” How would they respond to their part in the film? I don’t know if they’ll not like themselves or go: ​“Yeah, we were that.” What did you think?

 

Pretty funny, actually. It’s hard to play them without looking like Manc-lad caricatures. But the actors who do it in your film, they do it pretty well.

 

Yeah. And Noel’s one line to me! I’m like: ​“Is that AI?” Because that’s f***ing an incredible impression.

 

What did he say again?

 

​“f*** off, c**t.” ​“f***”, ​“off” and ​“c**t”: only three words, but it’s so him.

 

Finally, your eldest kid Teddy is now 12 – by which age, as we see early in Better Man, you were already fully committed to being an entertainer. How strong is her performing gene?

 

God, overwhelming. She’s put in her 10,000 hours. I realised that before I was 16, I’d put in 10,000 hours of thinking I was famous, and performing for myself. And she has and is doing both of those things. It’s very interesting to watch. Scary to watch. And exciting to watch. She wants it, and more badly than I did. That is f***ing terrifying.

 

Right. Do you want to hear one of my new songs?

 

And with that, Robbie gets his laptop, pulls up a song called Rocket, which is his collaboration with Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi, and presses play. It’s a very metal, very pop, very joyous racket. Robbie then hands me the laptop and starts singing along and air-guitaring. Once a performing monkey…

 

Better Man is in cinemas from Boxing Day. The soundtrack album is released on 27th December. The Robbie Williams Live 2025 tour starts on 31st May.

 

 

Music

Words: Craig McLean

3rd December 2024

https://theface.com/music/robbie-williams-i...sis-gary-barlow

Edited December 3, 2024Dec 3 by Sydney11

Robbie Williams: "At 21 I was an alcoholic, a drug addict and I owed 300,000 pounds"

 

 

'El Hormiguero' kicked off the week with a visit from Robert Peter Williams, better known as Robbie Williams. The singer, songwriter and actor presented his biopic, entitled 'Better Man', which will be released in cinemas on 1 January. It is a very special project, where the role of the Briton is played by a monkey, which is based on the true story of the meteoric rise, dramatic fall and incredible resurgence of the pop superstar.

 

 

Robbie Williams presents 'Better Man'

After welcoming and greeting the guest, Pablo Motos congratulated Robbie Williams on 'Better Man' and asked him to tell whatever he wanted about the film that narrates his life. "It all started in 1974, when I was born and...", joked the 50-year-old artist at first. "Well, the truth is that I have had a very intense and very unusual life since I was 16 years old when I became famous and I have had to manage that ever since. With drug addictions, bad friends, bad company, bad managers, weird record companies, bad decisions, with love, without love, without self-esteem, hating myself, with a pretty complicated inner life... I think we are all people and we want to be seen, we want to be heard and we want to be loved, basically that's the story the film tells, a human being who wants to be loved and seen," said the English singer-songwriter.

 

 

 

Robbie Williams and the influence of his father on his career

After a commercial break, Pablo Motos stressed the importance of Robbie Williams' father. "My father was a comedian and singer and, in addition, he was a tremendously charismatic person who attracted people, so everyone was in love with him. He had a huge personality, a lot of energy, and I wanted to be like that. Just with his presence, he changed people's faces and they went from having sad faces to having happy faces," said Monday's guest, whose father abandoned him when he was still a child. "The version that the film tells is the version that my mother tells. Surely, my father's version would be very different. And well, each of us are products of our childhood. So my children will be the product of the childhood I am giving them. Surely, I am making mistakes that I don't even know I am making, and my parents also made them, but you only know that when you have children and you realize that your parents were also children, because I am still a child. Each of us is a product of our childhood, but what matters is what we do with that information to become mature people," the Briton continued.

 

 

Robbie Williams and his complicated period of success, drugs and alcohol

Pablo Motos wanted to know why Robbie Williams thinks he was chosen to be part of Take That at the age of 16. "Well, because I winked. Seriously, because I went to audition and the story goes that it was all about talking. The audition didn't go very well, but as I was leaving, I opened the door and looked back at the manager, and I didn't know what to do, so I winked at him. And thanks to that wink, he said, 'This kid's got something, let him come back.' So if I hadn't winked that eye, none of this would have happened," said the artist, who thanks to that project achieved worldwide fame, a success that led him to fall into alcohol and drugs. "I fell into rampant alcoholism, into an addiction to alcohol, but when you're 20 years old, which was the age I was then, in the 90s, you didn't talk about addiction, you didn't talk about depression, you didn't talk about anxiety and it was just there. I was 19 when I first thought I had a problem, but I buried it," said the Englishman.

 

At one point in the film, Take That's producer says that they would all hate each other in five years but that they would all be rich. The host of 'El Hormiguero' wanted to know if this prophecy came true. "Yes, it came true, but then I ended up with a debt of 300,000 pounds. The story is very long, but when I left Take That I had 1.2 million pounds. Then I took my record company to court and had to pay 1.5 million pounds. So when I was 21 years old I was an alcoholic, a drug addict and I owed 300,000 pounds," said Robbie Williams, who was asked by Pablo Motos how he felt when he left the band and acquired that debt while his former bandmates continued to perform and make money. "The truth is that I didn't feel anything because I was consuming a lot of cocaine and cocaine anesthetizes you. And it also destroys you, but at the same time it gives you a tremendous feeling of false security. So I took advantage of all that sense of security because I only looked forward and only saw success ahead of me, even though in reality my life was a mess, a hell," he admitted.

 

The day Robbie Williams suffered a panic attack and thought he was going to die

Robbie Williams has recalled the occasion when he suffered a panic attack before going on stage to perform when he had already started his solo career. "I suffered from stage fright. Now I don't have it so much, although I'm not completely cured of stage fright, but then there was a time when I was going to do a concert in front of 60,000 people and I told my manager that I wasn't going to go out. He tried to convince me and convince me that it was okay and I told him that I was going to die, that we had to go. He tried to tell me ten times that it was going to be okay and in the end he came up to me and said, 'Look, kid, if you don't do this concert, you're going to lose 1.5 million pounds'. Then I said, 'Take me on stage," the singer-songwriter recalled.

 

The co-director and co-producer of Atresmedia's entertainment show, which airs Monday to Thursday from 9.45pm on Antena 3, was curious to know if he still suffers from panic attacks. "Not as bad as I used to, because I actually love my job now and I love my life. Now I'm actually feeling a great joy for the good time I'm in. Now I get to enjoy what I couldn't enjoy before and I'm not as stage fright as I used to be. It's just that sometimes when Robbie has to get on stage, Robert has to do it because Robbie doesn't show up. And that's when I'm scared, but it's only a couple of songs," said Robbie Williams.

 

U2's Bono, Robbie Williams and some magic mushrooms

Robbie Williams then recounted an anecdote that he starred in at the home of Bono, the leader of U2, under the effects of some hallucinogenic mushrooms. "I was at Bono's house, it was very early in the morning and there was a big party with a lot of people. And I started to look at a painting and it was the best painting I had ever seen in my life. And I thought: 'Of course, how could Bono not have the best painting in the world if he is the best rock singer in the world'. Then Bono comes up to me and I say: 'Bono, this painting is the most beautiful I've ever seen in my life'. And he said: 'Robbie it's a window'. And it was," he confessed.

 

 

https://www.marca.com/en/lifestyle/music/20...a2728b459f.html

Edited December 3, 2024Dec 3 by Sydney11

Sara Pascoe discussing Rob on the Lorraine show .

 

 

 

 

 

.

Edited December 4, 2024Dec 4 by Sydney11

He's such a kind person ^_^

Unfinished Monkey Business

 

In my opinion, in could be a great album name for current moment and being a Robbie Williams album because it's his albums names style.

But.

Ian Brown already had this, unfortunately :)

 

Special – Better Man Red European Premiere Red Carpet Interviews

 

Head on over to The Robbie Williams Rewind Podcast

 

Thanks to Lucy & Matt - links to episode below :

 

https://robbiewilliamsrewind.com/listen/spe...pet-interviews/

 

 

@1864940792789258372

Edited December 6, 2024Dec 6 by Sydney11

Really cool question Lucy asked Robbie regarding Me & My Monkey

 

Head on over to the Robbie Williams Rewind Podcast to hear the interviews in full - link below

 

Huge thanks to Lucy & Matt for sharing same :heart-old:

 

 

https://robbiewilliamsrewind.com/listen/spe...pet-interviews/

 

 

Oooooh' I remember well that hot performance in OZ :cool:

 

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You think he will do Knebworth again :w00t:

Actually it was a very solid interview for this German TV.

He can do both ways - be funny and serious.