Robbie Williams ‘booted from Take That after being kidnapped and taken to Marbella’
Neil ‘Razor’ Ruddock has claimed responsibility for getting Robbie Williams booted from Take That 25 years ago – revealing he ‘kidnapped’ the pop star so he could join him on a ‘bender’ in Marbella
Neil ‘Razor’ Ruddock has revealed that he got Robbie Williams axed from Take That 25 years ago – just so he could join him on a boozy trip to Marbella.
The ex Liverpool defender says that he and his teammates ‘kidnapped’ the boyband star who was supposed to be in a recording studio with Gary Barlow.
Razor said his decision led to Robster getting the boot from the band in 1995.
Recalling the incident in his autobiography, The World According To Razor, Neil, now 52, writes: “One of us gave him a call and, instead of biting our hands off, he tried to blow us out.
“‘B*****ks to that,’ I said to the lads. ‘Let’s kidnap the f***er.'”
Explaining what happened next, Razor went on: “If it wasn’t for me he might never have got the sack and if he hadn’t been sacked we’d never have had Angels, Let Me Entertain You and everything else the talented sod’s done since.
“In fact, he would have nothing if it weren’t for me getting him the sack. So, I invented Robbie Williams,” he insisted.
Back in July 1995, teenage hearts broke across the UK when Robbie announced his departure from the best-selling boyband – leaving Gary Barlow, Mark Owen, Howard Donald and Jason Orange without their charismatic fifth member.
Robbie was a bright-eyed 16-year-old when he was picked to join the line-up of Take That, but years of endless touring and living in the spotlight began to take their toll on a young Rob who spiralled into self-destruction.
Things between Robbie and his bandmates reached an all time low when he failed to turn up to rehearsals in 1995 and spent a wild weekend at Glastonbury instead with new pals Noel and Liam Gallagher.
Robbie said he then told his bandmates that their upcoming tour that year would be his last.
Recalling his exit from the band on BBC Radio 4, he revealed: “I said to the boys, ‘This will be my last tour.’ We went for a curry the night before everything happened and we were taking a competition winner for a curry. It mustn’t have been a very nice evening for them.
“I went back to the hotel and got drunk again, got up the next day, went into rehearsals and I wasn’t in a very good way.”
Robbie said his bandmates told him to leave the band sooner rather than later if he didn’t want to stick to their goals.
In the end it was Jason Orange who sat Robbie down and told him they needed to have a serious chat.
“‘So you’re going to leave after this tour and what we’ve decided is, we think it’s best you go now, so we can prove we can do this as a four-piece. What do you think?’
“That was the opening of the door. That’s all I needed.” explained Robbie.
He later reunited with the band for the album and tour Progress in 2010.
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