TAKE
THAT
NOW AND THEN
THE COMPLETE UNAUTHORISED BIOGRAPHY
INSIDE THE BIGGEST COME-BACK IN POP HISTORY
MARTIN ROACH
An Imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF
First published by HarperCollinsEntertainment2006 This edition published 2007
FIRST EDITION
Copyright © Martin Roach 2006, 2007
The Author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
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Source ISBN: 9780007232581
Ebook Edition © SEPTEMBER 2009 ISBN: 9780007348541
Version: 2018-12-18
Dedicated to Kaye and Alfie Blue
Table of Contents
Something Remarkable This Way Comes
I Can't Believe What I'm Seeing
Don’t Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes
Open Roads, Endless Possibilities
Take That were the best boy band in the world. They were the reason I started Boyzone—Boyzone were the Irish Take That. I thought Gary and the band were absolutely brilliant. They appealed to everybody, their records were great and they had everything: great ballads, great up-tempo numbers, amazing live shows—I saw them at The Point in Dublin and the sound, the lights, the choreography, the entire show was just amazing.
Then, of course, you had Nigel Martin-Smith, who did a fantastic job managing them. He made Take That special: people weren’t always allowed near them, they weren’t accessible everywhere, hanging out at nightclubs all the time with every Page Three girl, like so many boy bands today. Nigel made them special and that had an awful lot to do with their success.
Robbie has become successful and he is a great performer…a huge success. I admire his work ethic. He’s a fantastic worker who knows how to appeal to both girls and boys. I have been known to criticise him, but he is so ambitious and I would never underestimate Robbie. He knows exactly what he is doing.
Meanwhile, Take That are still selling out stadiums, which is incredible. Their records are still on the radio, their TV documentary was fantastic and they are still so popular. For me, they totally provided the blue-print for that genre.
They will always be England’s best boy band.
Louis Walsh
February 2006