Biography

Gary was born in Frodsham, Cheshire on 20th January 1971. He has an older brother named Ian and his parents, Marge and Colin.

Gary credits his parents for getting him involved in the music business when, at 11 years old, they gave him a choice of either a BMX bike or a keyboard for Christmas. Gary chose the keyboard and set his Dad out of pocket £600!

The keyboard was so large that it filled his entire bedroom, but Gary soon exhausted its limitations. He taught himself to play and it wasn't long before he was penning the tunes that would one day make him famous.

The first school he attended was Weaver Vale in Frodsham, where he played Joseph in Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in his last year. From there he attended Frodsham High School, where his mother worked. Gary finished school by gaining 6 O levels. The only thing that was on Gary's mind at the time was music, not exam results.

Gary began working as a musician very young in life, from the age of 11 he was employed by the Connah's Quay Labour Club, North Wales, being paid £18 for each Saturday night gig. He carried on doing this for a couple years until he met up with a girl called Heather. They began singing and performing together and carried on for two years around the club circuit.

But, Gary was searching for greater things and landed a job at the Halton British Legion, near Runcorn - playing four gigs over each weekend finishing at 2am every night. At the age of 14, his mum still wasn't sure about Gary's new career, but he was earning £140 a night and supporting people such as Ken Dodd, so she let him carry on.

At 15 Gary Changed His Life:

At the age of 15, Gary entered a BBC Pebble Mill competition called 'A Song For Christmas'. He wrote a ballad named Let's Pray For Christmas and let his music teacher and his mum have the first listen. His mum thought it was too slow and dull, but the music teacher loved it and entered it for the competition. Weeks went passed and Gary heard nothing. One day he was in the gym at school when Mrs Nelson, the music teacher, walked in. He knew instantly why she had come to see him.

Pebble Mill had invited Gary down to London's West Heath Studios to record his song. He had never ever been in a recording studio before and Gary was in awe, he was frightened to death. He recorded the song with an orchestra and backing singers. It was then recorded by a film crew for the competition.

Despite only reaching the semi-finals, Gary got friendly with a man called Bob Howes, who kept in touch with him and introduced Gary to a man named Rod Argent. During the next two years, Gary was to send him songs for advice. It wasn't long before he went to seek management from Nigel Martin-Smith. So the roller coaster ride of fame begins. Take That were finally formed.

During his career with Take That, Gary gained public and music business respect for his song writing, being awarded no less than four Ivor Novello Awards, which included the Songwriter of The Year Award in 1993.

Gary's Life After Take That:

The future for Gary looked very bright indeed. His first two solo singles both leapt to the number one spot in his home country. His debut LP Open Road followed the same route. Gary's first ever single to be released in the States as a solo artist was So Help Me Girl which reached No 44 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart and an amazing No 1 on both the Billboard Adult Contemporary and Radio & Record Play (R&R) Charts! His early success in the US surely paved the way for an even more successful future.

However, it was not to be. Bad British Press, who seemed to wage a vendetta against Gary, resulted in lack of airplay for his singles "Stronger" and "For All That You Want". Despite this, "Stronger" reached 16 in the charts and "For All That You Want" 24. Gary's second album, "12 Months 11 Days" reached the Top 40, coming ending up at 34 - this despite lack of promotion or airplay. Sadly, Gary's greatest song "Lie to Me", which was due for release 6th December 1999 was never released. Most fans feel this is the greatest song Gary has ever written and sadly it will not be heard by the vast majority of people as a single.

On 12th January 2000 Gary married his long-time girlfriend, Dawn Andrews, and on 16th August 2000, Dawn presented Gary with their first child - a son - who they named Daniel. With the closing of his contract with BMG, Gary returned to his studios, where he worked on new songs - both for himself and for other artists (such as Steps and Human Nature).

In November 2000 Gary announced that he was giving up his career as a solo artist, to concentrate on his first love - writing songs. Gary then signed a publishing deal with Sony, and in February 2001 Gary went to the USA on a 6 month songwriting project for Sony, taking in Nashville, LA and New York. Dawn and baby Daniel went with him. Upon his return he set up True North Productions with Elliot Kennedy and Tim Woodcock.

Gary became a father for the second time, when Dawn gave birth to their daughter, Emily, on the 31st May 2002. Gary’s career as a song-writer became even more successful over the following years and worked with artists such as Donny Osmond, Delta Goodrem, Blue and Mark Owen.

The Future For Gary:

On the 25th November 2005, Gary, along with Howard Donald, Mark Owen and Jason Orange announced that after 10 years Take That would be getting back together.

The 23rd April 2006 saw Take That's first performance of their 32 date Ultimate Tour. Every date sold out, and it was a complete successes, so Take That announced they would be working on a brand new album to be released later in the year.

In October 2006, Gary's autobiography 'My Take' was published and it revealed the truth behind the headlines, the glory years with Take That and his life so far. Gary did book signings across the UK and Ireland from the 6 – 14th October which were extremely popular with hundreds of girls turning up to each event.

On the 27th November 2006, Take That released their forth album 'Beautiful World' which was their first album release in 10 years. It went straight in at number one and has stayed at the top for 5 weeks running. Take That also became the first band/artist ever to top all five artist charts.

In 2007 Take That won a Brit Award for Best British Single with 'Patience' from the Beautiful World album and released 'Rule The World' which was written for the film 'Stardust'. They were also chosen as the faces of Marks & Spencer's Autograph menswear Autumn/Winter collection.

In October 2007 the band embarked on another sell out tour, this time including European dates, ending in December at Manchester. They also brought in the New Year by performing at London's O2 arena for the 'Count Down To Midnight With Take That' concert.

February 2008 saw Take That win another two Brit Awards for Best Live Act and Best British Single with 'Shine'. For more information about Take That visit their official website here and the Take That Appreciation pages here.

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