ARTICLES - GARY BARLOW Focus Magazine, Germany, 14th April 97

THE COMEBACK - BACK FOR GOOD

Focus Magazine, Germany, 14th April 97

The year after: Ex-Take That-star Gary Barlow on girls, complexes and his change.

FOCUS: You are 26 and earned millions with Take That. Have you already blown the money?

G.B.: If you have money, you should not only invest it well, but also spend it well. I´ve bought myself a huge villa in Cheshire - you could call it a small castle. I´m also spending too much money on books, clothes and CDs. I have over 15000 albums in my cellar, all in alphabetical order.

FOCUS: You have postponed the release of your solo album "Open Road" again and again. Why did you keep your fans on tenderhooks?


G.B.: The album was completely finished last May. Then Clive Davis, the boss of my record company Arista, introduced me to David Foster and Walter Afanasief. They produce superstars like Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston. That was my chance. I said:"Get these people". I have thrown my tapes away and done it all new with them in L.A.

FOCUS: And you think, that now your album will sell like hot cakes?

G.B.: I´m totally nervous, because I don´t know, how people will react to my new music.

FOCUS: Did you ask George Michael for some advice? After the split of Wham, he had been in a similar situation.

G.B.: That´s exactly, what I did. He said: "Keep cool, if you have composed the biggest hit in the world, it doesn´t matter if you release it now or in ten years." It´s easy for George Michael to say that , he is already Someone.

FOCUS: But you are Someone, too. Even Madonna has written a song for you inbetween nursing and changing diapers.

G.B.: With "Love Won´t Wait" , my new single, that´s another story: Madonna sent the song to my record company and they offered it to Tony Braxton and other big name singers like her. But nobody suited Madonna. Finally they told her: "Okay, that leaves only Gary Barlow, he was in a London teen-band called Take That." Madonna answered: "I know their videos from MTV. Let Gary do it."

FOCUS: For your solo career you lost 14 kg (about 2 stone or 28 pounds). Were you tired of being the fat one?

G.B.: You know, I was so overweight, that I had no more self-respect. With Take That my self-confidence was absolutely down. I mean, imagine me as the fat one between four terrific looking guys. Because of all the frustration, I´ve eaten even more. At photo-shoots the photographers always placed me somewhere in the dark background. My pile of fanmail always was the smallest. And during concerts the girls showed banners with "Robbie show me your...", "Mark, take off your clothes for me!". On mine only stood "Gary, we love your music" I was really unhappy.

FOCUS: You´re a liar! The girls nearly tore off your clothes. That was almost sexual harrasment.

G.B: (laughs) The Italian girls were the wildest. They wanted all of you, from sunglasses to underwear. Once, Howard and I went shopping in Rome. In front of the hotel 2000 girls rocked our taxi. They wanted to touch us, they didn´t care where. I opened the door and one of these crazy girls pulled at my shirt and with her other hand gave me a black eye out of sheer excitement.

FOCUS: Take That was said to be like prison: no girls, no sex, no fun...

G.B.: That is absolute nonsense. We all had girls. If I went to the hotelbar and saw a beautiful girl, I sat next to her, talked with her and had a drink with her and then ... I´m only a man, you understand?

FOCUS: You were labelled as teen idol by some critics. But you have written a pop-classic with "Back for Good" and are named in the same sentence with Elton John. Were you disappointed not to be appreciated for your music?

G.B.: The screaming of the girls didn´t mean anything to me. I never felt like I´m the greatest. The people said after the concert: "The show was great, the dancing and the lights." Nobody - really nobody - ever said: "The lyrics and the tunes are terrific." On my new album people should hear and feel, that I can do more than wag my bum. I´m a lousy dancer anyway. My talents are singing and writing.

FOCUS: Your ex-colleague Robbie Williams ripped you to pieces after he left. He called you old-fashioned, greedy and stupid. Have you ever talked to him since that time?

G.B.: Nobody in the band has seen Robbie again. I don´t know where he is hanging out. He has called me only one time. I was shocked, when I heard his voice and he suddenly apologized for his offensive words. But I think, if he needs me, I will be there for him.

FOCUS: You once said, that you really loved him. How did you mean that?

G.B.: If you ever meet him, you will know, why I do. He is nice, always in good mood, he has superstar charisma. If he enters a room, everybody is looking at him. Robbie has many talents, but he isn´t able to concentrate on one thing. That is his fate.

FOCUS: The Backstreet Boys took over your position at once after the split of Take That . Are you surprised, how fast your band became pop history?

G.B.: When I was asked one time, if I believed that another boygroup could replace us, I said: "Definitely not, if we are no more, there will be something completely new." And what came? Another five boys ... and another five girls . Who would have that thought, that the Spice Girls became such a success?

FOCUS: Does it look ridiculous to you, if you watch the Backstreet Boys jumping around on stage?

G.B.: I don´t know. They should pay us commission, because they are using our ideas. For today's boygroups it sure is easier . They can look back at our six-year-long story of success and profit from our work. They know that they can make a lot of money.

FOCUS: At the moment, bands like Backstreet Boys or ´N Sync don´t see any of their money. They each have to pay 1.5 Million dollars to Lou Pearlman, the man who discovered and financed them and to whom they owe their fast success.

G.B.: Pardon! That sounds like the Beatles in the sixties. The managers and record companies exploited them at that time. The fantastic thing with Take That is, that we could look back without anger. We got every penny that belonged to us. I couldn´t sleep at night if I knew that somebody has money which belongs to me. A terrible thought, to work like a dog, and then maybe some crook disappears with your money.

FOCUS: Do your old friends understand you, when you as a pop millionare talk about your life?

G.B.: I don´t talk with them about the music business! It is important for me to meet these normal people. I can learn, what happens in the real world. My friend Graham for example is married and wants a family. When he told me that, I thought, oh god, it´s time for you, too.

FOCUS: We have heard, that you proposed to your girlfriend Dawn, a model?

G.B.: No, no! I haven´t proposed to her yet. That should be a special moment like Christmas or her birthday. But my brother is first. Last time he cancelled the whole thing only four weeks before the marriage. I hope he won´t back out of it this time. Then the pressure is no longer on me.

FOCUS: Did you have to hide Dawn from the press?

G.B.: Not at all. We dated often. We walked hand in hand in public, but nobody noticed. Then one day, a reporter of the "Sun" called me and asked, if it´s true, that Dawn and I are together. I said: Where the hell have you all been the last three months? Damn, I waited for you.

FOCUS: What should be in the pop-dictionary about you.

G.B.: With Take That, Gary Barlow sold three million copies of each album. Then he started his solo career. He finally broke the American market and "Open Road" sold twice as much as with TakeThat: six million CDs. After that he bought a huge castle, next to Andrew Lloyd Webber.