Robbie Williams

Birth name: Robert Peter Williams
Date of birth: 13 February 1974
Place of birth: Stoke-on-Trent
Career highlights: Record-breaking 15 BRIT Awards and six ECHO accolades Highest Charting Singles Include: Millennium, number one, 1998, She's TheOne, number one, 1999, Rock DJ, number one, 2000, Radio, number one, 2004

Loveable rogue Robbie Williams first shot to fame as the toughest member of boy band Take That. After enjoying huge success with the group, through number one pop gems Relight My Fire and Pray, he famously fell in love with Brit Pop and quit the band.

Getting in with indie icons the Gallagher brothers from Oasis, Robbie launched his solo career with an older market in mind.

In 1996 he got to number two with a cover of George Michael’s Freedom, and his debut album Life Thru A Lens was released the following year, although it failed to make much impact.

It was the single Millenium that brought fame that the self-confessed alcohol and drugs hound craved, shooting straight to number one, and going on to sell more than 400,000 copies in the UK alone. But the second single from Life Thru A Lens failed and while Robbie was in meetings with record execs about ending his contract, Angels was released, becoming his biggest ever hit, and saving his hide.

His third album I’ve Been Expecting You went straight to number one in 1998 as the British public were at the height of their love affair with the affable singer, and since then Robbie has continued to impact the charts with more albums and a string of hit singles.

He now lives in LA, and has openly admitted struggling with depression, insecurity and self-loathing, despite years of success.