Howard Donald - Take That

Take That

Nigel Martin-Smith hired Donald, along with Gary Barlow, Jason Orange, Mark Owen, and Robbie Williams to form a British boyband, Take That. The band enjoyed seven years of success until Williams left in 1995, leaving them to carry on as a quartet.

When Take That split in February 1996, Donald went solo and recorded a single "Speak without Words" that is still unreleased to-date. When his solo career failed to take off, he returned to DJing. He has a fan base in Europe. He is one of the founders of the relatively unknown DJ band Sonic Fly along with his friends King Brain and Bart Van Der Zwaan.

Donald shocked band mates with his confession in the documentary, Take That for the Record of being unstable enough to have the intention of committing suicide by drowning himself in the River Thames when the band announced their split in 1996.

In 2005 Take That reformed for what was intended to be "one last tour" in the summer of 2006, following the release of their Greatest Hits album.

In late 2006 Take That reunited and released their first studio album since 1995, Beautiful World and from it they recorded two number ones in "Patience" and "Shine". Beautiful World featured Donald on lead vocals on two tracks; "Beautiful World" and "Mancunian Way". The song "Mancunian Way" is a tribute to the band's hometown Manchester.

On Take That album The Circus, Donald sings lead on two tracks, "What is Love" and "Here". He also has a partial lead solo with Jason Orange on "How Did It Come To This", and also sings lead with the rest of the band on the album's opening track, "The Garden".

On the latest Take That LP called Progress Howard Donald sings lead vocals on a track called Affirmation. He also plays drums on several songs on Progress album and has mixed a B-side track for the second single "Kidz" called "Revenge of The Kidz".