Robbie Williams: What's his Story?

He had some appeal when he was younger.

R1, when he was with Take That? I will say I would take there music anyday over that of Nsync or the Backstreet Boys. Not that that is saying much.

I worked with him once back in the day. He was very close to his songeriter/producer who was creepy, older and liked very young girls. They did a ton of coke. Had a few good songs but meh.

He was ridiculously good looking when young but his years of drug and alcohol abuse have really taken their toll.

He dated actress Anna Friel for a bit in the early 2000s and he brought his mother over to her house so she could break up with her on his behalf because he was too scared to do it himself. Granted, she was a terror, but c'mon....

Yes r2, then he was hot. Not conventionally handsome in a teen idol way, but impish bad boy looks.

He's charismatic, that's why. And a great performer.

R7, so in other words, he's the British, male version of Madonna.

He has 8 fat inches.

How did Timberlake become a huge star? When pop singers are shoved down our throats, some get swallowed while most get spit out. Rubbie was one of the few (very) lucky ones.

He would be nowhere if not for Guy Chambers. "Angels", "Let Me Entertain You", "Strong", "Millennium", "No Regrets", "Kids" and "Supreme" are all great pop singles.

He stood out in Take That both in the old days and when they reunited. Barlow is boring and polished in comparison and anyone that saw their reunion tour can attest to how Robbie's solo section stood out and was far more entertaining than the rest of it. He did have a star factor when he was younger.

R3, just looking at this guy would make me hide kids. He looks totally creepy

Showing us his greatest talent.

I was a fan when he was younger. He had boy band slickness and pop cree, but with a little more soul and sincerity, so it was the best of both worlds. He wore out his welcome, though, and his music became less and less interesting. I never noticed until watching OP's video how much he looks like a decrepit Chris Pine.

[quote] so in other words, he's the British, male version of Madonna.

Sure, without the International success. Hits. Money. Pop Culture impact, and so forth and so on.

Otherwise, exactly the same!

[quote] Isn't he allegedly bi?

Where do you people come up with this stuff?

Just because someone likes to get drunk and coked out of their mind and then hire someone rough trade to "dominate," and "brutalize" his ass, doesn't make him bi.

He had a nice, hairy body, but the face ain't much.

"I'm Robbie Williams."

"What, the fat dancer from Take That?"

"You've heard of me!"

He is very charismatic, very funny and very cheeky. On top of all that he is vulnerable and messed up inside (or at least was for a long time he seems to be in a good place atm) women love that shit. They like to imagine they are the ones that can "heal" him.

There is also the fact that people like an underdog and certainly in Britain we remember the state he was in after he left Take That and the music industry spat him out. He was a bloated drunk drugged up train wreck. Most people wouldn't have been surprised if he OD'd before his 23rd birthday. But then he released Angels around the time Diana died, that song was what the country needed and everything seemed to turn around for him. If he hadn't released Angles when he did, I'm not sure he would have gotten a second chance with his career. It's not like he had to turn over a new leaf and get clean to get his career back (like Robert Downey Jr or Britney) he was still a druggie and a drunk and yet the whole of the UK was like "ah well no one is perfect" and bought his album in their droves. So thanks to Angels he was a successful junkie, without it he would have continued being a washed up junkie.

He was a good looking guy in his younger years, beautiful green eyes but he isn't ageing well. People who do that much drugs and drink rarely do.

R16, believe it or not, he is one of the most popular artists ever in Latin America. Which surprises me because I don't know why he would have a huge draw there.

R10 I don't know if I could ever imagine Justin Timberlake releasing a pop song with a lyric like

"I don't want to die but I'm not keen on living either"

No he's not, #where'sshakira was trending all ovet latin america when he opened for the world cup. Latin america don't care about him.

R23, according to wikipedia, he is the best selling non-latino artist in Latin America.

Leave it out about Robbie is/was god looking. A person with no lips and a joker grin is the owner of one of the worst phenotypes in nature. Owen Jones aid another one with that awful phenotype and eyes that reveal insanity. He looks like that Ian mc Shane with a couple of chromosomes missing. I wanted to beat my neighbour in the late nineties for playing that dirge "Angel" on a loop , for a month. There was some right shit coming out of Britain in the nineties in the name of "Britpop". The shit rised to the top and the cream got churned. Robbie Williams= Eric Morecombe with a passable voice.

I wish most Britpop was on the level of Suede....rather than Oasis or Blur.

He was more than happy to out Ricky Martin in the very early 2000s. He'd just moved to LA and depressing but true predictions were made.

His face may not be as pretty as it once was, but that body is built for sex. Nasty, debauched sex.

[quote] The shit rised to the top and the cream got churned.

How vivid.

He's toured here once or twice but refuses to play the US because he only wants to play stadiums. That will NEVER happen in the US. Take That has the same shit attitude.

I agree his face was never "pretty." He once had kind of a sexy attractiveness to him, but those days are long gone.

R28, he looks like one of those older gays who has no idea he is way passed his prime and still think he is 28. Those tats prove it.

This is for OP and R17....

Surely no one ever really bought him as straight? He was a very sexually confused teenager.

Bi? bwahahahaha

R24 no way, Madonna definitely outsold him in Latin America, unless they count Madonna as part Latin because she's Italian

She's MASSIVE there, for like 35 years

Madonna has sold 15 million ALBUMS in Latin America which puts her among the top 5 biggest selling acts EVER in LA, The Beatles are #1 with 19 million ALBUMS sold in LA

Among non Latin artists

R37, I always thought that Madonna was huge in Latin America.

Robbie's "Millennium" song/video was an attempt to market him as the next 007. (Williams' dream role.)

Listen to the song's string arrangements, coupled with the video's costume design, the video's Aston Martins, the video's production design.

(In the running back then, since Brosnan was on his way out: Mcgregor, "too short"; Farrell, "too short and too sleazy"; and Williams, "too unreliable". Brosnan held on until 2001, with the 2002 release of 'Die Another Day'; and then Craig took over in 2005, with the release of "Casino Royale" in 2006. It was Craig's work in 2004's "Layer Cake" that locked him into the franchise to date.)

Face like a ferret. He was never going to be able to “break America” although he was very talented.

Wrong info, R39.

Ewan McGregor, Colin Farrell and Daniel Craig all claim the exact same height: 5-foot-10.

Which means they're all 5-foot-8.

But whatever it is, they are all it.

Never a fan.

I love me some Robbie Williams

I liked a few of his early solo hits. I've read Q magazine and Blender magazine (r.i.p) interviews he did. He was a fun crooner type being played on MTV here in the US for a hot second.

I like him, and yes he is very is very popular in Latin America, especially in countries like Chile, Argentina and Uruguay.

As others have said, he's charismatic and one hell of an entertainer. Certainly not the best singer around, but he does pop remarkably well and knows how to get an audience charged up.

I love Robbie Williams. His first few albums were terrific and he made some great pop gems with Guy Chambers. When they split, his music became less interesting, although I like Candy which was a number one hit in the U.K. a few years ago. He is charismatic, sexy and has a great sense of humour. At the time, I loved his "Swing While You're Winning" tribute album to Sinatra, Dean Martin, Bobby Darrin, etc. His duet with Nicole Kidman on "Somethin' Stupid" is lovely.

And let's not forget he co-wrote this Kylie classic:

The picture of him in a jockstrap was always a fave

HEs a lady!

Always did like this one.

Is there some significance to his frequently having to be surrounded by females or is that part of some attempt at humor?

His Cribs segment where he plays up the gay rumors that surrounded him.

"When I moved here to Los Angeles I didn't know where to hang out and someone said "West Hollywood".  at the 3:20 mark.

He was so much better than Justin Timberlake, who is the other big popstar of the last 30 years, don't know much about the stars of the last 10 years, but they are more social media assholes; Robbie Williams was very popular here in Europe and rightly so, also comes from a good family, not rich, American as......, good; Take That had the best music of all boybands, etc., born entertainer; Enrique Iglesias, who was also very successful in Europe, said 12 years ago in an interview Robbie Williams is the sexiest man alive, of course those times are gone, but there were many people who realized that he is sexy. His father was a hard-working entertainer with swing and comedian after he quit his regular career, maybe still working.

He's embarrassingly desperate to be loved/accepted/approved of, which equates to audience appeal amongst certain demographics.

If you want to know how bad a singer he is, buy the CD in which he takes on Frank Sinatra covers, NO VOICE. He must be blind to reality to have invited comparisons with Ol' Blue Eyes.

When he was younger, I would have fucked him. That is my tribute to Robbie "More Successful Than He Deserves" Wms.

I know he’s married with a couple of kids but I really don’t think he’s straight. Am sure they have some ‘arrangement’. I don’t find him funny at all. He was kinda cute in his Take That days though. But not now. I met Jason from Take That in the Lake District last year. Seriously hot. Aged like a fine wine 😏

I’m surprised that his album with Pet Shop Boys wasn’t a bigger hit. It has some really weird, fun stuff on it. When it crashed, he went right back to making safe radio songs which is a shame.

How on earth was he ever in the running to be 007?

Madonna used the Take a Bow video to audition for Evita and Gwen Stefani used the Cool video to audition for The Aviator. I wonder if that still goes on these days with current pop stars.

He got an 80 mil record deal and retired ( while fucking the record company. )

R57, especially now, it's hard to see he was ever a contender. He's just old, bloated and fat now.

Robbie's music has always had a more mature, and yes classier, flare to it that American music lovers don't care for. It's the main reason I've always been a big fan. Most American music these days is simply low brow trash.

flare s/h/b "flair".