8:15pm UK, Wednesday October 02, 2002

He was once dismissed as the "fat dancer from Take That" - but Robbie Williams is now the fat cat.

But Williams has surpassed all of his former colleagues' achievements in the nineties boy band and has defied the critics who saw him as a cheeky chappy with little actual talent.

SL Robbie Williams Eternity video

The prayers worked then

Since quitting the band in 1995 after a lost weekend of booze and drugs spent with one-time friends Oasis, he has gone on to sell almost 20 million albums.

It all seems a long way from the chirpy 16-year-old from Stoke-on-Trent who joined the fledgling band assembled as a British answer to the hit US group New Kids On The Block.

String of triumphs

A string of chart triumphs followed It Only Takes A Minute Girl, with six number ones during his stint in the band.

However, it became clear that he was no longer of the same mind-set as the other four and following his bender with the Gallagher brothers at Glastonbury Festival, he departed the band.

Williams has subsequently spoken with bitterness about his relationship with the group's main songwriter, Gary Barlow, and their manager Nigel Martin Smith, often with tirades from the stage as he makes a mockery of his band's sugary hits.


He launched his solo career with a flourish in 1996, making it to number two with his cover of George Michael's Freedom, but the placings soon started slipping.

Number one spot

His saviour was the ballad Angels, which helped his Life Thru A Lens album hit the number one spot six months after its release.

Angels and its glam-rock parody follow-up, Let Me Entertain You, were ubiquitous and proved to the world that he was serious about being a solo star.

Born showman Williams has notably battled personal demons of drink and drugs, but has tried to retain his sobriety in recent months.

But with £80m in the bank he will have a lot of cash to celebrate with.