Gary Barlow Born 20 January 1971 in Frodsham Biography Singer/songwriter Gary started his musical career at the tender age of 14 when one of his first compositions, Let's Pray for Christmas, was a finalist on the BBC's A Song for Christmas. After a stint as an organ player in Ken Dodd's backing band, during in his late teens Gary met up with two fellow musicians. Gary, Robbie Williams and Mark Owen formed the trio The Cutest Rush. But it wasn't until they were spotted by record producer Nigel Martin Smith and Jason Orange and Howard Donald were drafted in, that they enjoyed any pop success. Take That went on to become one of Britain's biggest ever boybands and had a string of top ten hits, including covers Could It Be Magic and It Only Takes A Minute as well as original tracks penned by Gary. These included A Million Love Songs and Back for Good. But in February 1996 their reign at the top of the charts ended and hundreds of thousands of teenage girls wept as the four remaining members of Take That - Robbie had left in July 1995 - announced they were to split. Gary went on to top the charts twice as a solo artist, with Forever Love and Love Won't Wait. Today he writes material for other artists. Back to the Mid Cheshire celebs homepage