Gary Barlow: I was arrogant and thought the world owed me everything

Gary Barlow has admitted he was “arrogant” in the early years of Take That, saying fame went to his head and he wasn’t “very nice”.

But the singer told The Rake he received the “ultimate lesson” when the band split up. He became depressed, was unable to leave the house and struggled to write and play music.

Barlow, 48, became famous in the early Nineties along with bandmates Robbie Williams, Howard Donald, Jason Orange and Mark Owen.

They had eight number one hits before splitting in 1996.

Ten years later the band reformed, without Williams, and went on to have four more number ones.

Barlow said: “I was young and arrogant and thought that I just needed to open my mouth and a hit record would come out.

"I thought the world owed me everything. It didn’t make me very nice for a few years. But then I had the ultimate lesson, and to ride that lesson out and learn so much from it, when success came around again it was just so appreciated, and still is.”

He said he had learned to accept the “ups and downs” of showbusiness, adding: “In music, and especially in entertainment, you have to roll the dice and, yes, sometimes you’ll win, sometimes you’ll lose.

"I’d love to be one of those people who says, ‘I don’t care what anyone thinks,I just do what I do.’ But I do care now. I want my audience to enjoy what I do.”

Read the full interview in The Rake, out on Thursday or online at therake.com