87 Facts About Gary Barlow

Gary Barlow was born on 20 January 1971 and is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, and television personality.

Gary Barlow is the lead singer of the pop group Take That.

Gary Barlow has served as a judge on the television talent shows The X Factor UK, Let It Shine and Walk the Line.

Gary Barlow has received six Ivor Novello Awards from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors, including the award for Outstanding Services to British Music.

Gary Barlow was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire at the 2012 Queen's Birthday Honours for his services to the entertainment industry and charity.

Gary Barlow was born on 20 January 1971 in Frodsham, Cheshire, the second son of Colin and Marjorie Barlow.

Gary Barlow attended Weaver Vale Primary School, and moved on to Frodsham High School in 1982.

Gary Barlow was heavily influenced by late 1970s and 1980s pop music.

At age 10, after watching Depeche Mode perform on Top of the Pops, Gary Barlow acquired his first keyboard; he practiced constantly thereafter.

Gary Barlow has cited Trevor Horn, and future collaborators OMD, as important early influences.

Gary Barlow has credited Elton John with inspiring him to play the piano.

In 1986, when Gary Barlow was 15 years old, he entered a BBC Pebble Mill at One Christmas song competition with "Let's Pray for Christmas".

In 1989, Gary Barlow appointed Wigan show business agent Barry Woolley to be his manager and recorded a single under the name Kurtis Rush.

Gary Barlow was eventually put in touch with casting agent Nigel Martin-Smith, by celebrity photographer Doc Braham, who took Gary Barlow's first professional head-shots.

Gary Barlow, who wrote the majority of the group's songs, is widely recognised as the lead singer of Take That.

Gary Barlow received an Ivor Novello Award for Best Contemporary Song in 1994 for the number-one hit song "Pray" included on the album.

In 1994, alongside Rick Astley, Gary Barlow did backing vocals for Elton John's version of "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" from The Lion King.

Gary Barlow then achieved another top-ten hit in the UK with "Open Road" peaking at number seven.

Gary Barlow released "Stronger" as the lead single preceding the album.

In late 1999, Gary Barlow quit his career as a singer, with his final single remaining unreleased.

Gary Barlow returned to the spotlight in a successful TV documentary, Take That: For the Record in 2005.

Gary Barlow's first solo release since 1999 was a duet with reconciled Take That bandmate Robbie Williams on a single entitled "Shame".

Gary Barlow was featured in a duet with Agnetha Faltskog on her 2013 album A, released in May 2013.

Gary Barlow co-wrote the song, "I Should've Followed You Home" with album producer Jorgen Elofsson.

Gary Barlow announced on 15 October 2012 that he was to embark on his first full solo tour in thirteen years around the UK and Ireland.

Demand was so high for tickets that Gary Barlow added more dates, which sold out instantly.

In September 2013, Gary Barlow announced via his Twitter account that he would be releasing his first full-length solo album in 14 years, on 25 November 2013.

On 4 October 2013, Gary Barlow revealed his new album would be called Since I Saw You Last, and would be preceded by his first single from the LP, titled "Let Me Go", released worldwide on 17 November 2013.

Gary Barlow announced that he would be touring the album in April 2014, playing some of the biggest arenas in the UK.

On 12 October 2017, whilst appearing on BBC Radio 2, Gary Barlow announced that he would be embarking on a solo tour again around the UK and Ireland to celebrate the release of his new book, A Better Me.

The tour was to visit smaller and more intimate venues rather than the huge arenas and stadiums that Gary Barlow was so familiar with playing, be it solo or alongside his Take That bandmates.

On 30 September 2020, Gary Barlow revealed that his upcoming album would be called Music Played by Humans, set to be released on 27 November 2020.

Gary Barlow announced in early 2021 that he would release a new solo record by the end of the year, which was revealed on 28 October to be The Dream of Christmas, his first Christmas album.

On 20 January 2022, Gary Barlow announced a brand new one-man stage show A Different Stage.

In November 2024, Gary Barlow announced a solo tour for 2025, returning to his roots with performances across the UK.

On 20 March 2025, Gary Barlow released a new single "If There's Not A Song About It" featuring Colbie Caillat ahead of the release of a new EP later in 2025.

Gary Barlow soon signed a songwriting publishing deal with Sony and went to the US on a six-month songwriting project, residing in Nashville, Los Angeles and New York with his wife, Dawn, and first child.

In October 2007, Gary Barlow founded San Remo Live Publishings as an independently run management company to establish and support artists and songwriters.

In 2008, Gary Barlow was heavily involved in providing the score of ITV's Britannia High.

In 2010, Gary Barlow signed a new 5-year songwriting publishing deal with Sony Music.

Gary Barlow has been voted as the greatest British songwriter of all time in a 2009 OnePoll, who surveyed 3,000 people John Lennon and Paul McCartney, of The Beatles, were placed second and third respectively.

In 2011, Gary Barlow wrote the song "Run for Your Life" for The X Factor series 7 winner Matt Cardle's debut album.

Gary Barlow has written for the likes of Robbie Williams, Westlife, Lily Allen, Blue, Elton John, Olly Murs T-Pain, Will Young N-Dubz, Lawson, Shirley Bassey, Donny Osmond, Delta Goodrem, Elaine Paige, Agnetha Faltskog and many more while being commissioned by the Queen to write the official single for her Diamond Jubilee, which saw Barlow collaborate with Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Gary Barlow has written 14 number-one singles in the UK and 2 Billboard Hot 100 top-ten singles in the United States including "Back for Good" which went to number one in 31 countries around the world.

In 2009 Gary Barlow began work on his own record label Future Records, a branch from Universal Music and signed his first artist, classical singer Camilla Kerslake.

Since then Gary Barlow has signed UK rapper Aggro Santos to his label who scored two top 10 UK hits and a further top 20 single, and the winner of Sky 1's Must Be The Music, Emma's Imagination who achieved two top 10 UK singles and a top 15 charting debut album.

Gary Barlow has since closed down the record label to focus on his own career and family commitments.

On 7 May 2011, it was announced that Gary Barlow was in advanced talks to replace Simon Cowell as a judge on The X Factor.

Gary Barlow was given the "Boys" category for the live shows and mentored Marcus Collins to the final of The X Factor, where he became runner up.

Gary Barlow was later joined by returning judges Walsh and Tulisa alongside new judge Nicole Scherzinger, who replaced Rowland after one series.

Gary Barlow became the only judge to have four acts in the finals after Christopher Maloney became the popular wildcard and the thirteenth finalist in the show.

Gary Barlow guided Maloney to the final of the show, becoming Gary Barlow's second finalist in two consecutive years.

Gary Barlow said on 9 December 2012 that he may not return as a judge for a third series on The X Factor, stating that he did not know "if there is room" in his diary for the programme.

Gary Barlow was given the Groups category in his third year on the show.

Gary Barlow chose Kingsland Road, Miss Dynamix and Rough Copy as his final three.

Gary Barlow was replaced by Cowell, who returned to the show after a three-year absence.

On 25 June 2013, it was announced that Gary Barlow had been signed up to work on a new musical version of Finding Neverland and will co-write the score for the theatre project, which is being developed by Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.

On 1 March 2014, Gary Barlow attended Bob and Harvey Weinstein's pre-Academy Awards party at the Montage in Beverly Hills to perform a selection of songs from the musical score he had written for Finding Neverland.

Gary Barlow's performance was well received, and after a successful performance run in Boston, Finding Neverland opened on Broadway in spring 2015.

Gary Barlow has co-written a musical alongside hometown friend Tim Firth, called The Girls, which opened at the Phoenix Theatre, London in January 2017.

On 5 January 2021, Gary Barlow announced on his social media accounts that the Crooner Sessions would be returning for a second series through the 2021 UK lockdown.

Gary Barlow was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire by the Queen on 16 June 2012, which he was awarded on 21 November for "services to the Entertainment Industry and to Charity".

In July 2012, Gary Barlow was announced as the recipient of the Music Industry Trusts Award which he was presented with in November 2012 in recognition of his services to British music and charity.

In 2000, Gary Barlow made his acting debut in the ITV1 drama Heartbeat: this was the 150th edition of the show, and Gary Barlow played hitch-hiker Micky Shannon.

In 2012, Gary Barlow had a cameo in the film Keith Lemon: The Film and in early 2013 he had a cameo in the hit BBC1 show Miranda and in a 2015 special.

Gary Barlow had a brief cameo in Star Wars: The Last Jedi as a soldier in the Crait trenches.

In 2023, Gary Barlow played a busker in the Take That movie musical Greatest Days alongside bandmates Howard Donald and Mark Owen.

In October 2011, Gary Barlow joined Twitter live on The Xtra Factor to build support for the contestants he mentored during series 8 of The X Factor.

Gary Barlow organised a sponsored climb to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro to raise money for Comic Relief.

Gary Barlow appeared at Twickenham Stadium to perform the hit single "Shame" alongside Robbie Williams in aid of the Help for Heroes charity on 12 September 2010.

Gary Barlow has donated the original handwritten lyrics to his number-one hit single "Back for Good" to help raise money for the Teenage Cancer Trust.

Gary Barlow wrote the song in 1995 and it went on to top the charts in 31 countries around the world as well as becoming a top ten hit in America.

In January 2011, Gary Barlow held a special show, named GB40, at Shepherd's Bush Empire to celebrate his 40th birthday.

Gary Barlow has announced that all of the profits from the show went to charity.

Bosses quickly made contact with him and made a donation to the charity, with Gary Barlow turning on the lights and performing a number of his hits during the 45-minute set.

In October 2013, Gary Barlow travelled directly from the X Factor live results shows to Afghanistan to meet the Armed Forces and experience their day-to-day lives in Camp Bastion.

Gary Barlow listened to the soldiers' stories, went for a five-kilometre run with the troops and played a morale-boosting concert for them as a thank-you for their work.

On 12 November 2013, Gary Barlow sang with Agnetha Faltskog who was singing live on stage.

In November 2016, Gary Barlow became a Patron for Child Bereavement.

In 2000, Gary Barlow married Dawn Andrews, who was a dancer on Take That's 1995 Nobody Else Tour.

Gary Barlow is a supporter of the Warrington Wolves and the New York Knicks.

In 2009, Gary Barlow named "Don't Give Up", the 1986 duet between Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush, as the song that had most inspired him.

Gary Barlow appeared at a school-staged campaign event to endorse the introduction of the programme by the then Conservative leader David Cameron.

Gary Barlow was accused of tax avoidance rather than tax evasion, as the scheme itself was not illegal at the time Gary Barlow invested in it.

Gary Barlow's lawyer responded to the claims, stating that the singer "paid significant tax, and that they believed the schemes were not for tax avoidance purposes but were legitimate commercial enterprises".

In June 2016, Gary Barlow announced they would not appeal against a ruling that they are liable to re-pay the tax.

Gary Barlow apologised on Twitter "to anyone who was offended by the tax stories".