for: Robbie Williams (disambiguation)

Robert Peter Maximilian Williams (born 13 February 1974) is an English singer. His career started as a member of the pop "boy band" Take That in 1990, then going on to leave the band in 1995 to begin his solo career, after selling 25 million records with the group.

His album sales stand at over 55 million, with singles sales over 17 million.

Williams entered the The Guinness Book of World Records when in just one day he sold more than 1.6 million tickets for his 2006 world tour. He has been the recipient of many awards, including fifteen BRIT and six ECHO awards. In 2004, he was inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame, after being voted as the Greatest artist of the 1990s.

Robbie Williams is the artist who is currently featured the most times in the UK Now That's What I Call Music! series. In the first 68 Now!s he has appeared 29 times (including 4 times with Take That). His first appearance was with Take That on Now 22 and his most recent appearance was on Now 66 with "She's Madonna". __TOC__

Solo career (1996–present)

After leaving Take That, Williams became more popular for his behavior and his boldness, but also for a controversial appearance in concert with rock band Oasis in Glastonbury, Somerset, UK in 1995.

Williams' solo career started in 1996 covering George Michael's "Freedom", reaching number-two in the UK Singles Chart,Robbie Williams twenty-six places higher than George Michael's original. In the interview included on the single, Williams declared "I just needed something quick to put out to keep me in the public eye, so I put Freedom out as a statement."

Life Thru a Lens (1996–1998)

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 the summer of 1997, amidst William's battle with addiction. 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. During this time, Robbie Williams was known to take heroin.Fact: date=April 2008

His début album, Life Thru A Lens, was released in September 1997, not long after Williams' stint in rehab which he embarked upon with much help from Elton John.Fact: date=January 2008 The album launched with his first live solo gig at the Elysée Monmatre theatre in Paris, France.