A BAND TO NEVER FORGET

Pop royalty star in a new series on Take That's highs and lows

- JEN PHARO

When Take That started out they were all about leather trousers, bare chests and lots of jelly.

Youngsters Gary Barlow, Howard Donald, Mark Owen, Jason Orange and Robbie Williams sweated it out in gay bars up and down the land, performing night after night.

Their manager Nigel Martin-Smith was certain Take That's music would find a following in the early 90s gay clubs. However, their real breakthrough came when they began to tour schools.

“Nigel was convinced early on that we were going to break in the gay clubs,” says Gary, 55. “I could never see it. I was earning a living in social clubs. Wednesday night and I’d be in the British Legion singing Phantom Of The Opera. The following night I’d be in a gay club with leather trousers, no top on, with white hair. I absolutely hated the outfits.”

Now Gary, Mark and Howard are telling their story in a new Netflix documentary, simply titled, Take That. Their fortunes began to look up when one day a club owner convinced the band to go on stage at 6pm during an event for under-18s.

“By half past six we’re ringing Nigel going, ‘We’ve been mobbed,’” says Gary. “It was a big turning point for us because we realised the audience wasn’t older, it was younger.”