Five lads from Manchester form a band that will define a decade.

Barlow was already writing songs at 19; the boy wonder had barely left school when he became the group's creative engine.
Nigel Martin-Smith, a Manchester-based talent manager, assembled Gary Barlow, Mark Owen, Howard Donald, Jason Orange, and Robbie Williams with the aim of creating a British answer to New Kids on the Block. Barlow, already a prolific songwriter at 19, became the group's creative engine. Their first single, "Do What U Like", arrived in 1991 and barely troubled the charts, but the groundwork was laid.












