-Robbie Williams-

 After a stopgap first solo hit, a cover of the George Michael single 'Freedom', Robbie Williams’ true career began with the release of his first album, 'Life Thru A Lens', in September 1997. He had co-written all of the songs , the majority with Guy Chambers, who became his regular songwriting partner and producer . It was an album, Robbie reflects, awash with his “Pure amazement that I could create something”, though, he also reflects listening back to it, “It’s really sad how messed up I was”. ' Life Thru A Lens' was only modestly successful until ignited by the release of its fourth single, 'Angels'.

 Most of the immediately successful second album, 'I’ve Been Expecting You', was quickly written with Guy Chambers in Jamaica and released in October 1998. In this period, highlights from Robbie’s first two albums were combined for his first American album, 'The Ego Has Landed'.

 For his third album Robbie began working on some more rhythmic song ideas, with some friends from Stoke in the group Sound 5, a few of which appeared on 'Sing When You’re Winning' in August 2000. Though again, most of the eventual album was written solely in partnership with Guy Chambers. Like its two predecessors 'Sing When You’re Winning' sold over two million copies in Britain alone.

 In 2001, after contributing a version of the big band standard 'Have You Met Miss Jones?' to the soundtrack of 'Bridget Jones’ Diary', Robbie decided to record a whole album in the same style. 'Swing When You’re Winning', released in November 2001, included songs made famous by Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jnr, amongst others; songs Robbie had listened to, loved and absorbed as a child. Many of the songs were recorded live at Capitol Recording Studios in Los Angeles where many of the original songs had been recorded, often with the same musicians. The album began with the one new song Robbie and Guy Chambers had written, 'I Will Talk And Hollywood Will Listen'. It also included duets with Nicole Kidman, on the number one single 'Somethin’ Stupid', Jon Lovitz, Jane Horrocks, Rupert Everett, Jonathan Wilkes and even, with the blessing and help of the Sinatra estate, the late Frank Sinatra on 'It Was A Very Good Year'.

 Robbie had planned 2002 as a year off, although as the year began, a documentary film, 'Nobody Someday', detailing the dramatic ups and downs of his life during the European tour of early 2002, was released. He received a record-breaking thirteenth Brit Award and, in April 2002, he also appeared with Faithless vocalist Maxi Jazz on the 1 Giant Leap single, 'My Culture'. Meanwhile, Escapology was fermenting.

 The album was recorded in Los Angeles, where Robbie has a home and currently spends a good portion of his time. He resolved that it should be recorded quickly and that any imperfections should be relished rather than polished away. Most of the songs were written with Guy Chambers, except for 'Come Undone', which was written with New Yorkan, Boots Offestad and 'Nan’s Song', which was the first complete song Robbie has written entirely on his own. “It’s about my nan who passed away about five years ago,” he says. “I thought it was only fitting that my first ever song should be about someone I love.”

 Escapology has achieved sales of 2 million copies in the UK alone, and in excess of 6 million worldwide. The ensuing tour kicked off in June 2003 and included the historic Knebworth shows. The concerts, held over three days, were hailed as the biggest open-air shows ever in the UK, drawing close to 375,000 people to the Hertfordshire estate. The tour has since played throughout Europe and closed in Sydney, Australia on the 14th December 2003.

 'Live At Knebworth’, recorded over the three nights at Knebworth, was released on the 29th September 2003 and has already been certified platinum in the UK. 'What We Did Last Summer – Robbie Williams Live At Knebworth', the accompanying DVD, was released on November 24th 2003 and sold over 260,000 units in its first week, making it the biggest selling UK music DVD ever. It has since gone on to sell over 1 million units worldwide.