Robert Peter "Robbie" Williams[1] (born 13 February 1974) is an English singer-songwriter, and occasional actor. He is a member of the pop group Take That, but found greater commercial success as a solo artist.
Williams rose to fame in the band's first run in the early- to mid-1990s. After many disagreements with the management and group members, Williams left the group in 1995 to launch his solo career. On 15 July 2010, it was announced he had rejoined Take That and that the group intended to release a new album in November 2010[2][3] which became the second fastest-selling album in UK chart history[4] and the fastest-selling record of the century so far.[5] In 2006 Williams entered the Guiness Book of World Records for selling 1.6 million tickets of his Close Encounters Tour in a single day.[6]
Williams has sold over 70 million records worldwide, which ranks him among the best-selling music artists worldwide.[7] He is the best-selling British solo artist in the United Kingdom and the best selling non-Latino artist in Latin America. Six of his albums are among the top 100 biggest-selling albums in the United Kingdom. He has also been honoured with seventeen BRIT Awards—more than any other artist—and seven ECHO Awards. In 2004, he was inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame after being voted as the "Greatest Artist of the 1990s." Williams is married to actress Ayda Field. read more