Гэри Барлоу (р. 20 января 1971, Фродшем, графство Чешир) — английский музыкант, композитор.
В 11 лет Гэри уже работал в фродшемском клубе, где стал играть в ансамбле каждый субботний вечер. Здесь он познакомился с Хэафер, молоденькой девушкой, с которой впоследствии выступал в местных клубах в течение двух лет. Но Гэри хотелось более серьезной работы, и он нашел себя в составе HOLTON BRITISH LEGION, где играл по четыре концерта в каждый уик-энд. Также Барлоу играл на органе в популярном шоу Кенни Тодда.
Поворот событий в музыкальной карьере произошел, когда он принял участие в рождественском конкурсе, ежегодно устраиваемом телерадиокомпанией компанией BBC. Написав песню Let's Pray For Christmas, Барлоу дошел лишь до полуфинала, но зато приобрел новых друзей и покровителей.
Частью приза, полученного Барлоу за выход в полуфинал, было время для записи в одной из манчестерских студий, где он познакомился с Марком Оуэном. Вместе они создали группу CUTEST RUSH, исполняя произведения, написанные Гэри. Затем образована бой-группа Take That, для которой Гэри сочинил практически все самые известные синглы: Pray, Babe, Back For Good, за что получил четыре награды Ivor Novello Awards и титул «Лучшего сочинителя 1993 года».
После распада Take That Гэри Барлоу начал сольную карьеру с синглом Forever Love. Это была душещипательная, хотя и предельно простая в исполнении баллада для голоса и пианино.
Большую часть треков для своего первого сольного альбома он готовил в Америке вместе с Дэвидом Фостером и Дайаной Уоррен (хит Un-break My Heart написан ими специально для Тони Брэкстон) и другими известными сочинителями под руководством продюсера Уолтера Афанасьева.
Его новый сингл Love Won't Wait появился на первом месте в UK Top40 только через год после первого. Он продолжает сочинять и записывать сентиментальные лирические песни, где главное слова, а не сопровождение. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
Gary Barlow (born 20 January 1971 in Frodsham, Cheshire, England, United Kingdom) is an English singer, songwriter, pianist, composer and record producer. He is frontman and lead vocalist of British pop-group Take That and served as head judge on series 8, 9 and 10 of The X Factor UK.
Barlow is one of Britain's most successful songwriters, having written fourteen Number 1 singles and twenty four top 10 hits. He has had three Number 1 singles, six top 10 singles and two Number 1 albums as a solo artist, and has had seventeen top 5 hits, twelve Number 1 singles and seven Number 1 albums with Take That. He is also a six-time recipient of the Ivor Novello Award and has sold over 50 million records worldwide. He was appointed an OBE in 2012 for services to music and charity.
Barlow's solo career was predicted to be very successful, being described as 'the next George Michael'. His first two solo singles "Forever Love" (released July 1996) and "Love Won't Wait" (composed by Madonna and Shep Pettibone) both leapt to the number one spot in his home country. "Forever Love" was also used as the soundtrack to the film The Leading Man. His debut album "Open Road" reached number 1 in the UK Albums Chart and went on to sell 2 million copies worldwide. Barlow's first single to be released in the United States as a solo artist was "So Help Me Girl", which reached number 44 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and number 1 on the US Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. He then achieved another top ten hit in the UK with "Open Road" peaking at number 7 and number 8 in the Netherlands with "Are You Ready Now".
After the success of his first solo album he released his second LP "Twelve Months, Eleven Days" in 1999. Barlow released "Stronger" as the lead single preceding the album. However, due to an expected backlash against Barlow, it received minimal support and airplay and only peaked at number 16. The second single "For All That You Want" again was subjected to minimal radio play and peaked at number 24, however it peaked just outside the top 5 in Finland. "Twelve Months, Eleven Days" was released soon after the first single to little promotion and peaked at a disappointing number 35, which led to Sony recalling Barlow's 'greatest' song according to critics, the scheduled third single from his second album "Lie to Me". This resulted in both Barlow and BMG parting company. To date Barlow has sold 5 million records worldwide as a solo artist.
On September 2013, Barlow announced via his Twitter account that he would be releasing his first full-length solo album in 14 years, on 25 November 2013. Barlow encouraged his followers and fans to tweet #GBSOLO to reveal the album artwork and title, with their profile pictures being used to create a collage of the album cover. On 4 October 2013, 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. He also announced that he would be touring the album in April 2014, playing some of the biggest arenas in the UK.
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