Gary Barlow

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.