Robbie Williams news from day: 26. September, 2006

Robbie Williams says he’s okay, despite reports that he is suffering from depression after cancelling the Asian leg of his world tour due to exhaustion. The singer says: “I’m okay. I’m exhausted and haven’t been home for ten months because of my tour and promoting my album. It’s all got too much for me and I have been told to rest for two weeks. My South American tour is coming up and I want to be ready for that.”

A so-called ‘friend’ told the News of the World: “He’s not the first or the last person to go through this and is feeling fragile. But he wants to finish the tour and when he wants to do something he makes it happen.”

Perhaps that depression has something to do with Tara Palmer-Tomkinson. As you may remember, the singer was reportedly having a bit of a thing with TPT, and we know for certain he recently had a cup of tea with her. Perhaps it was a bad cup of tea. A bad cup of tea can put me off my stride, that’s for sure.

Tara, told The Daily Mirror: “Yes we did meet last week. Robbie came to my flat for some tea. He was so exhausted. He has been doing so many tours it’s taken it out of him.”

CMU Music Network, musicrooms.net

Robbie Williams will release his new single ‘Lovelight’ on November 13th on Chrysalis. Taken from his highly anticipated forthcoming Rudebox album which precedes the single on October 23rd.

‘Lovelight,’ recorded with NYC based uber-producer Mark Ronson earlier this year is a spectacular cover of Lewis Taylor’s criminally unknown soul-anthem. Together they have taken it from its warm soul roots, and transform it into a building euphoric disco anthem featuring a full-on falsetto vocal performance that ranks amongst one of his most dynamic and definitive singles to date.

“I wouldn’t have known about Lovelight if it hadn’t have been for Tom Middleton’s ‘The Trip’ album – he put it on there, and I fell in love with it instantly…I can’t believe how big that song is and no one knows it,” says RW.

“I’d never heard that and Rob came to me and said “I want to cover this.” It’s an amazing, obscure English soul record, and he’s delivered a great classic blue-eyed soul vocal in the lineage of George Michael, Andy Gibb or Hall & Oates,” adds Ronson.

The single is backed by a spectacular mix package, with new re-workings courtesy of Soulwax, Kurd Maverick, Soul Mekanik and Ronson himself, that look set to follow previous single ‘Rudebox’ into club charts across the world. The single is also backed by a spectacular and iconic new video shot recently whilst in Vienna during a break from touring, which can currently be viewed exclusively on www.robbiewilliams.com.

On that front Robbie has just completed the monumental European leg of his record breaking ‘Close Encounters’ World tour, culminating in a massive 5 nights at Milton Keynes Bowl and playing to over 2.5 million people along the way.

Alongside his work with Ronson, ‘Rudebox’ finds RW collaborating with an array of musical mavericks including his heroes the Pet Shop Boys, King of ambient William Orbit, fellow Stoke natives Danny Spencer & Kelvin Andrews AKA Soul Mekanik, disco-house icon Dave ‘Joey Negro’ Lee on both new original compositions and covers of some of his favourite tracks that through its 16 tracks mark out and charts his musical loves and life. Lyrically it is very broad; humorous, historical, honest and revealing, a rollercoaster that takes you from introverted to extravagant, the break up to the make up, this is perhaps the most definitive Robbie Williams opus to date.

‘Lovelight’ is released on November 13th 2006 on Chrysalis / EMI Records. ‘Rudebox’ – The album is released on October 23rd.

ilikemusic.com

ROBBIE Williams is being treated for depression, the Daily Mirror can reveal. The condition – which the troubled star, 32, has battled before – may help explain why he suddenly axed the Asian leg of his world tour this month. Although the official reason given was that he had “stress and exhaustion”, insiders say he has sunk to a new low. A source close to him revealed: “He’s suffered from depression before but feels things are getting worse and the tour was too much.” Robbie is being treated by Dr Mark Collins, a top expert at the Priory clinic in South West London. The star has even flown him to California, where he lives, for sessions. The source added: “He’s determined to get the very best treatment.”

The news comes as he has struggled in the charts and been hit by legal disputes. Comeback single Rudebox flopped and ex-manager Nigel Martin-Smith is threatening to sue over a track on his new album in which he is called an “evil man”. Robbie has talked openly about depression, which he first admitted battling in 2002. In a BBC documentary this month he told Stephen Fry: “I could get up in front of 35,000 or 40,000 people and go, ‘Look at me, I’m ace!’ “Then as soon as I got off stage I’d get in the tour coach and go back to my bedroom and pull the duvet over my eyes.”