Robbie Williams celebrates 16th Brit with slick performance

11 April 2012
The Weekender

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Robbie Williams crowned his status as the most decorated singer at the Brits with a live medley of his many international hits.

Thank you: Robbie Williams picked up his 16th Brit

The singer gave a slick, showman's performance to celebrate his outstanding contribution to music award, presented at last night's ceremony.

The gong is his 16th Brit after previously winning 11 Brits as a solo artist and four with Take That.

Williams, 36, dressed in a sharp black suit, appeared genuinely overwhelmed by his achievement, jokingly singing into his statue, before telling the crowd: "I feel really good up here Brits, thank you so much, have a great evening.

He later added: "Thank you so much for this award. God bless you, thank you."

Loved up: Robbie arrived at the Awards with fiancé Ayda Field

Williams was also nominated in this year's best British male solo artist category, but lost out to Dizzee Rascal.

Despite his huge wealth and long-standing reputation as an entertainer, Williams has remained dogged by depression and insecurity during his career trajectory from fresh-faced boyband member to solo phenomenon.

Born in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, in 1974, Williams' life was transformed when at the tender age of 16 he joined Take That as its youngest member alongside Gary Barlow, Jason Orange, Howard Donald and Mark Owen.

His mother, a drugs counsellor, had spotted an advert for members to join a new pop group to be assembled by Nigel Martin-Smith.

The band went on to become the most successful British pop act of the early 1990s with eight number one singles.

Cracks, however began to form as Williams clashed with the group's main singer-songwriter Barlow.
He began to rebel against the group's clean-cut image, famously indulging in a weekend of drinking at Glastonbury with Oasis.

Following his acrimonious departure from Take That in 1995, Williams began bingeing on cocaine and alcohol and was admitted to rehab.

His weight ballooned and he would go missing for long periods convinced he was being followed by ghosts.

He once said of this "black hole" period: "These may have been delusions, drug-induced psychosis or something, but I was too drunk to care.

"I used to run around the house naked clutching a bottle of vodka, shouting, 'Come on ye buggers, ye don't scare me'."

He launched his solo career with a cover version of George Michael's hit Freedom.

His solo career appeared to get off to a faltering start when he sued his old record company and fired three managers in quick succession.

His first solo album Life Thru a Lens, initially peaked at 11.

It was his ballad Angels, believed to be a tribute to his mother Jan, which kick-started Williams' career, becoming one of his biggest selling worldwide hits and propelling his album to number one.

Williams teamed up with songwriting partner Guy Chambers for his second album, producing a string of hits including: Strong, Millennium and She's The One.

Further multi-million selling albums followed, such as Sing When You're Winning, Swing When You're Winning and Escapology.

Buoyed by huge commercial success, Williams stoked his ongoing feud with Liam Gallagher of Oasis when at the Brits awards in 2000, he challenged the Oasis frontman to a televised boxing match for £100,000.

In August 2003, Williams performed to about 375,000 during three sell-out nights at Knebworth.

A Greatest Hits compilation was released, however Williams took a rest from music after his seventh studio album Rudebox received mixed reviews.

During his self-imposed career break in Los Angeles when Williams' indulged his interest in UFOs, his former bandmates reformed enjoying massive comeback success.

It was in the shadow of Take That's resurgent popularity that Williams last year launched his comeback album Reality Killed The Video Star with a controversial performance on the X Factor.

However, the much-promoted album was narrowly beaten to the number one spot by boyband JLS.

In his personal life Williams now appears contented, reportedly becoming engaged to actress Ayda Field in late 2009, after previously being linked to a string of high profile women, including All Saint Nicole Appleton, Rachel Hunter and Geri Halliwell.

Relations between Williams and his former bandmates also appear to have thawed, with both sides pledging to perform together once again in the future.

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