How Take That Began

Take That dominated the first half of the 1990s in a way few British pop acts have managed before or since. Between 1993 and 1996, they scored eight number one singles and became the bestselling singles act in the UK since the Beatles. For millions of fans, they were the definitive boyband of their generation.

Yet their story began in a fairly unremarkable way: a Manchester talent manager, a handful of young lads from the North West, and a calculated attempt to replicate an American formula on British soil.

The Man Behind the Band

Nigel Martin Smith was a Manchester talent manager who had watched the rise of New Kids on the Block in the United States with keen interest. The American group had proved that a carefully assembled boyband could achieve massive commercial success, and Martin Smith saw no reason why the same approach could not work in Britain.

He set about putting together a group of young male performers who could sing, dance and appeal to a teenage audience. The model was straightforward: find the right combination of personalities, polish their act, and market them aggressively.

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Bringing the Members Together

Gary Barlow had been performing solo around the working men's club circuit when Martin Smith recruited him for the new project. Barlow was already showing promise as a songwriter, a skill that would prove central to the band's later success. Mark Owen and Robbie Williams joined through separate auditions held in 1990.

To complete the lineup, Martin Smith brought in Jason Orange and Howard Donald, both of whom had been members of a Manchester dance troupe called Street Beat. The five came together in 1990, and Take That was formed.

The members were young, with some still in their teens. The group's early marketing took an unexpected direction, targeting gay club audiences before pivoting toward the mainstream pop market. Their first independent single, Do What U Like, attracted attention primarily for its provocative video rather than the song itself.

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Early Struggles on the Charts

A major label deal with RCA followed, but commercial success did not arrive immediately. Take That's early releases failed to make much impact on the UK charts, and the group found themselves struggling to connect with a wide audience. Their 1992 single It Only Takes a Minute reached number seven, showing promise but falling short of the top spot.

Part of the problem was musical direction. The band's initial material drew heavily on American R&B styles, which did not quite fit the tastes of British pop fans at the time. The UK market in the early 1990s was still caught up in dance and rave music, and slick American influenced pop felt slightly out of step.

The group continued to tour relentlessly, building a fanbase through live performances and school visits. They appeared at roadshows and under 18s club nights, gradually accumulating loyal supporters even as chart success remained elusive. This grassroots approach created an intensely devoted following among teenage girls who felt they had discovered the band themselves.

The Turning Point

By mid 1993, things changed dramatically. Pray became their first number one single, and the floodgates opened. Take That adjusted their sound to better suit British tastes, incorporating more accessible pop ballads while retaining their polished dance routines. The combination clicked with audiences in a way their earlier material had not.

Their rise coincided with a broader shift in British pop culture. The early nineties saw teen magazines like Smash Hits wielding enormous influence, and Saturday morning television programmes provided crucial platforms for pop acts to reach young audiences. Take That exploited these outlets brilliantly, becoming fixtures on shows like Going Live and The Big Breakfast.

What had started as a manufactured attempt to copy an American formula became something distinctly British. Take That developed their own identity, with Gary Barlow's songwriting providing a steady stream of hits and the group's choreography setting them apart from competitors.

The band that struggled to crack the top five in 1992 would spend the next few years as one of the biggest pop acts in the world. Their journey from obscure club act to chart dominance remains one of the more remarkable stories in British pop history.

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