British pop artist Gary Barlow was born on January 20, 1971, in Frodsham, England, and rose to fame during the 1990s as the frontman and chief songwriter of the multi-platinum boy band Take That. Wildly successful in the UK, Take That scored a string of Number 1 hits — including "Back for Good," "Pray," and "Baby," all of which were written by Barlow — before splitting up in 1996. Barlow immediately launched a solo career, releasing Open Road in 1997 and Twelve Months, Eleven Days in 1999. He then retreated from the public eye for several years, only to reemerge with a reunited Take That in 2006. Take That's second incarnation proved to be even more successful than the first, with albums like Beautiful World, The Circus, and Progress all enjoying multi-platinum sales throughout Europe. Meanwhile, Barlow joined The X Factor as a judge in 2011 and also recorded hit songs as a solo artist, topping the UK charts with 2012's "Sing" and peaking at Number 2 with both the gold-certified "Let Me Go" and the Robbie Williams duet "Shame." Since I Saw You Last, his first solo record in more than a decade, was released in 2013, followed one year later by Take That's seventh Number 1 album, III. Barlow also wrote the music for the musical Finding Neverland, which enjoyed a 17-month run on Broadway, and worked alongside a 60-piece orchestra for his 2020 solo record, Music Played by Humans.
