Robbie Williams Bio

From the minute he hit the spotlight, Robbie Williams' solo career has been a whirlwind that has never stopped. He has sold over 55 million albums worldwide, won more Brit awards than any other act in history, and has the record for the most tickets ever sold in one day – 1.6 million for his 2006 Close Encounters tour. Albums aside, it's the personality and performances that has made Robbie Williams such an icon.

After the Close Encounters tour finished in December 2006, he made the decision that it was time to disappear for while. "I had to have a rest," he says. He had barely paused for breath since joining 'Take That' as a 15-year-old back in 1989.

"I was very fortunate to get my breakthrough when I was really young - a lot of people don't get that breakthrough until they're 27, 28, maybe 30. I hammered it for year after year: making music…promoting…touring…making music…promoting…touring. It was time for me to take stock and look at who I am without all of that."

Even though he may have avoided the limelight and public appearances in the last few years, the star didn't give up on his music. Since the last tour finished, he's been consistently working on new songs with collaboration from a host of music professionals.

For the most part, Reality Killed The Video Star was written in Robbie's home studio in Los Angeles and recorded in London. The album is produced by the legendary Trevor Horn. "He's added something to the record that I haven't had on previous records – his genius," Robbie says. "I just think it sounds big - track after track after track."

Its stylistic range is broad and exuberant, as Robbie Williams' albums have been from the very first. "I have a wide range of tastes," he says. "I wasn't aware that you couldn't do that, or that you might not be able to. And with every case there's an exception to the rule, and I seem to have been that for a while. And I quite like being an exception to the rule – to any rule going."

The results of all this, his first album in three years – and he's ready. "I want to do it now," he says. "What it means to me is that I'm at a turning point in my career. This next record decides my path. I'm looking forward to going and singing it at people and seeing what their reaction is. I want them to feel elated. I want it to be the record that, if they think of Robbie Williams, they go, 'Yeah, Reality Killed The Video Star'."

Reality Killed The Video Star is released through Virgin Records on November 9th.