Robbie Williams: A complete career timeline through the years
He's a worldwide icon!
Robbie Williams has had quite the career, starting out as a founding member of Take That along with Gary Barlow, Jason Orange, Mark Owen and Howard Donald. Carving out a solo career for himself after he left in 1995, he went onto become a worldwide star, with several Number 1 albums under his belt, records broken by his ticket sales, and even a Netflix documentary, a biopic set to be released in December 2024 and a tour announced for 2025.
From his early days as a 90s boyband member to his solo stardom, we look at how a lad from Stoke-on-Trent became one of the UK's best-selling artists of all time.
Scroll through Robbie Williams' best moments through the years:
1989: Career beginnings with Take That
Starting with a line-up of five young men, Take That consisted of Gary Barlow, Howard Donald, Mark Owen, Jason Orange and Robbie Williams, with the original (short lived) name of Kick It.
1991: Early days in the band
Take That's original line-up of Gary Barlow, Howard Donald, Mark Owen, Jason Orange and Robbie Williams. Thankfully they changed their name and after a few unsuccessful songs in the early 90s Take That's breakthrough hit 'It Only Takes A Minute' was released. The song was a cover of a 1975 song by Taveres and reached Number 7 in the charts.
1992: Take That in their prime
In 1992 Take That had hits with 'A Million Love Songs' and 'Could It Be Magic'. The boys' follow-up single 'Could It Be Magic' quickly propelled them to super-stardom with a string of number 1s not far away. Take That's success continued in 1993 with 'Pray', 'Relight My Fire' (featuring Lulu) and 'Babe'.
1994: BRITs performance
The band's success continued in 1994 with 'Everything Changes' and 'Sure'. Here they are performing at The BRITs 1994.
1995: Robbie left Take That
However, in July 1995 after countless hits, fans heard the devastating news; Robbie Williams would be leaving the band following friction with other band members. Robbie later admitted in a TV documentary in 2005, that he did some "stupid stuff" after parting ways with the band over 20 years ago, but said he didn't regret it because he was young.
In 1997, Robbie released his first album 'Life Thru a Lens'. The album included the single, 'Angels' which is still his best-selling single of all time.
2000: 'Rock DJ' and BRIT Award win
At the start of the millennium Robbie released his third solo album, 'Sing When You're Winning'. The album included the single 'Rock DJ' which had quite a controversial music video. The video involved Robbie trying to impress a group of women by stripping down but, when the clothes didn't work he starts removing his skin and muscle until he's just a dancing skeleton. Many TV networks edited the video because of this.
However, the single was still a great success with it being the UK's fourth-best selling single of 2000. The song also went on to win best British single and best music video of the year at the BRIT Awards as well as best special effects at the VMAs.
2001: Swing album
Having grown up loving the music of Frank Sinatra, Robbie went in a new musical direction in 2001 when he released the album 'Swing When You're Winning'. With the title being a pun on his previous album, Robbie called 'Swing While You're Winning' "the big band album he had always dreamed of making".
The album includes guest performances from Rupert Everett, Nicole Kidman, Jon Lovitz and Jane Horrocks as well as Frank Sinatra posthumously duetting with Robbie. Despite not being his usual style, the album was still a success and made it to Number 1 on the UK albums chart.
2002: EMI deal
In 2002 Robbie signed a whopping £80 million deal with EMI which was the biggest music deal for a British artist. The record was only broken in 2016 by Adele. The deal included a promise from EMI that they'd help him break into the United States. While his next album, 'Escapology', did perform better internationally than his previous albums, it still didn't perform as well as he'd hoped in the US.
2005: Move to LA
From the mid noughties Robbie Williams started calling Los Angeles home, early on he started his own football club called Los Angeles Vale F.C. The club played in the LA premiere league in Santa Monica. The team is named after his hometown club, Stoke-on-Trent's Port Vale F.C.
2006: The 'Close Encounters' Tour
In 2006, Robbie embarked on his 'Close Encounters' Tour where he performed over 50 shows across the globe. The tour got him into the Guinness Book of World Records after he sold a whopping 1.6 million tickets in a single day!
2009: 'Reality Killed The Video Star'
In 2009 Robbie was back with his eighth studio album, 'Reality Killed the Video Star'. The album included the singles 'Bodies', 'You Know Me' and 'Morning Sun'. While the album still managed to sell over a million copies in Europe, it wasn't enough to land the top spot on the UK album charts, coming second place to JLS' debut album.
2010: Take That reunion
Robbie Williams made an unexpected return to the Take That in 2010, joining forces with Gary Barlow - the first time since 1995 - with the song 'Eight Letters' appearing on later albums by both Take That and Robbie - 'Progress' and 'Take the Crown'.
Then, later that year, the news that all Take That fans had been waiting for was confirmed, the original line-up would be reforming for the wildly successful album, 'Progress' and its live tour. Their lead single 'The Flood' was released and peaked at Number 2 featuring both Gary and Robbie as lead vocals.
2012: Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee
In 2012 Robbie took part in the celebration of Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee, celebrating her 60 years on the throne. Robbie was the opening act of a concert held in the gardens of Buckingham Palace to commemorate the anniversary.
2013: 'Swings Both Ways'
Robbie returned to the world of swing with his second album in the genre, 'Swings Both Ways'. The album included some original songs written by Robbie, Guy Chambers, and Chris Heath, as well as some covers of some classics including The Jungle Book's 'I Wan'na Be Like You' and The Wizard of Oz's 'If I Only Had a Brain'. The album includes duets with Olly Murs, Michel Bublé, and Kelly Clarkson.
2018: FIFA opening ceremony performance
In the summer of 2018, Robbie performed at the opening ceremony of the FIFA World Cup that took place in Moscow, Russia. During the performance he sang some of his greatest hits that included 'Let Me Entertain You', and 'Angels'.
2018: The X Factor judging panel
Later on in 2018, it was announced that Robbie would be joining the judging panel of the 15th series of the X Factor on ITV. Robbie was one of three new judges on the panel joining Simon Cowell, the other two were his wife, Ayda Field, and former One Direction member Louis Tomlinson.
2019: The Boy In The Dress
In 2019 Robbie co-wrote the music for the musical adaption of David Walliams' The Boy in the Dress along with Guy Chambers. The musical was produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company and premiered in Stratford-Upon-Avon in late 2019. The show was due to transfer to the Savoy Theatre in London's West End in Autumn 2020, but the Coronavirus pandemic has put those plans on halt.
2019: 'The Christmas Present'
Robbie released his first ever Christmas album in November 2019 called 'The Christmas Present'. The album had some original songs along with some festive classics such as 'Winter Wonderland' and 'The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)'. The album features guest performers including Helene Fischer, Rod Stewart, and Tyson Fury.
The album made it to Number 1 in the UK charts during its second week and knocked Robbie up to joint-second place with Elvis Presley for number of number one albums in the UK.
2020: Lockdown Take That reunion
Robbie reunited with Take That for a very special performance in May 2020 during the lockdown amid the global pandemic of Coronavirus, performing a 40-minute set.
2021: Robbie Williams' biopic Better Man stars production
A film about Robbie Williams called Better Man, after this 2001 singer was announced in 2021. Better Man will be directed my Michael Gracey, who also directed The Greatest Showman. Michael will also be writing the film alongside screenwriters Oliver Cole and Simon Gleeson.
2022: Robbie Williams announces 'XXV' album and tour
Robbie Williams announced a new album and tour called 'XXV'. The album came out on 9th September and includes all of Robbie's biggest hits, re-recorded with a full orchestra.
2022: Robbie Williams performs at Socceraid
Robbie Williams performed at the 2022 Socceraid half time show. The singer performed his hit 'Angels'.
2023: The voice of Felix
Robbie joined forces with cat food company Purina to release a brand new song 'It's Great To Be a Cat' in January 2023. He said: "The cat is out of the bag, I'm the new voice of Felix. I've been a long-time fan of cats, I've had many feline friends over the years and after studying their fascinating behaviour, I can confidently say, It's Great To Be a Cat."
2023: Netflix documentary released
A documentary about Robbie Williams was released on Netflix in 2023. It follows the singer on his ups and downs in both his personal and professional life, and features 25 years' worth of never-before-seen footage.
2024: BST Hyde Park performance
Robbie took to the stage at BST Hyde Park in July 2024 to perform some of his greatest hits, and even a few covers - including 'Parklife' by Blue, for which he brought out Danny Dyer to perform Phil Daniels' verses. It was sensational!
2024: Robbie Williams announces 2025 UK tour
Robbie Williams announces 2025 UK tour taking place in Edinburgh, Manchester, London and Bath. The singer said he would be performing songs from his upcoming biopics as well as hits and new music.
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Read more:
Take That: Everything you need to know about the 90s heartthrobs
24 facts you probably didn't know about Take That
10 of Robbie Williams' biggest songs of all time