THE TICKET
The Ticket, NBC Europe, 29th April 97
This interview was made during the videoshoot of Love Won't Wait in a south London hangar. During the interview, scenes of the videoshoot and of Back For Good are shown while the interviewer comments. Gary gives his answers sitting on the site of the shoot wearing a black T-shirt and trousers.
The piece starts with a part of the clip of Back for Good.
C.L.: In the haydays of Take That it were Mark, Robbie and Jason who received the lion's share of the adulation of the teenage fans, but it was Gary's songs who got them there in the first place. Now the record bosses are banking on his skills as a songsmith to make him the solo artist from the caliber of the likes of George Michael.
Gary walks along a road in the set showing the viewers around:
G.B.: And here we are; this is the last big post. Don't keep your hands on the electric cables there now.
C.L.: To show their faith they spent a fortune on his promo to turn a hangar in the south of London into an exact copy of a road in the south of France.
Shown are a few pieces of videoshoot going on.
C.L.: The lyrics of the new single, Love Won't Wait, are courtesy of Madonna. The Evita-star sent a demotape to Gary to work on, but she wasn't so keen to meet him in the flesh.
G.B.: I requested we needed about 2 days with her in her house, actually in her bedroom. Which she wasn't up to at all. She took no notice at all. I think she was problably in hospital having her baby at that time - so I thought, well- you know, a mother in waiting to be, I leave her to it...
C.L.: During his days with Take That there was no chance that Gary Barlow was going to be found in anyone else's bedroom. The boy-band's manager Nigel Martin-Smith banned them for having girlfriends but Gary seems to have few regrets
G.B.: For the Take That-days it was briliant. It was absolutely brilliant. And, ehm, it was a very happy sort of environment. We were a six-piece band really, cos Nigel was very instrumental to our success. But I have a bit of a new lease on life now and it's not only about taking small steps, it's about taking big steps now. And I thought. It's time for a change of scenery for me.
C.L.: Since leaving Take That 26 year old Gary has shed the excess weight that earned him the title of ugly duckling of Take That, but it wasn't that easy.
G.B: I'm not very big on self-discipline and I'm a really big food eater. So, you know, there's 2 real minus points in the way of loosing weight. So,mmhh, I've been woriking out quite hard and I've been cutting down my food and stopped eating chocolate and drinking milkshakes. And that usually, you know, works and is doing it for me.
C.L.: And Gary clearly enjoys his leaner look.
G.B.: Now I am on my own. I've got a lot more self respect now, which is why I've lost all my weight and I do- I wanna present to the fans the best image I can.
C.L.: The singer says that his solo success is down to two inspirations. The first is his close personal friend Elton John.
G.B.: He's always been very helpful to me. Every time I do a new album I take him some songs down - this has been for the last 3 years really. He's always been very helpful, giving me good opinions, because someone like him - he's been doing it for 28 years now. So he gives good, honest advice
C.L.: The next one is someone with even better connections.
G.B.: Now and again before I do something important like a TV-show or go on stage infront of people I always just put my hands together and say a little prayer. That's something I never really realized I did before.
It ends with the shoot of Love Won't Wait in progress and the concluding comment:
C.L.: Fair enough that his new image serves him well.
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