Gary Barlow and Robbie Williams have seemingly extinguished any lingering fumes from their decades-long feud after Gary extended a musical olive branch to his former Take That bandmate.
Robbie, 51, is set to release a new record, BRITPOP, on October 10. One track from the forthcoming album, titled Morrisey, is co-written by Robbie’s former Take That bandmate, Gary Barlow.
Asked what it was like to collaborate with Gary, Robbie replied: “I’ve collaborated with Gary on a lot of tracks, actually! It’s great because that particular track is a song made by Robbie Williams and Gary Barlow, about Morrissey.”
© ShutterstockIt marks the first time the two former bandmates have collaborated on a musical project in 13 years since Gary co-wrote Robbie’s 2012 hit, Candy.
Robbie’s new album
BRITPOP will be the singer’s first studio record of original songs in almost a decade and is set to release on 10 October.
In the lead up to the album’s launch, Robbie hosted an exclusive playback of the record at London’s Groucho Club on Tuesday 19 August, where he was interviewed by comedian Joe Lycett.
The song that Gary and Robbie collaborated on is titled Morrissey and is about the legendary singer-songwriter and former frontman of The Smiths.
Robbie, whose appearance has previously been compared to The Smiths frontman’s, explained that the song was written from the point of view of “somebody that is stalking Morrissey and is completely obsessed and in love with him”, as per NME.
© Getty ImagesOther artists that are set to feature on the new album, including Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi, Coldplay’s Chris Martin, Supergrass frontman Gaz Coombes, and Barlow.
Gary and Robbie’s feud
Gary and Robbie famously fell out after Robbie quit Take That in 1995 following an ultimatum.
The former bandmates traded barbs in the press in the years following until 2010, when they announced they were releasing a new song together called Shame. Later that year, it was confirmed that Robbie would be rejoining the band, leading to a world tour.
In his 2023 documentary, Robbie touched on the feud when speaking to his daughter, Teddy, saying: “I disliked Gary the most because he was the one who was supposed to have everything and the career, and I wanted to make him pay. I was vengeful.”
When Teddy asked how, Robbie replied: “By having the career that he was supposed to have.” And when shown a clip of himself verbally abusing his former bandmate, the star expressed his regret, adding: “I’m sorry I treated Gary like that.”
