Guy Chambers recently revealed a few tidbits about what their collaboration with Robbie Williams. He revealed, among other things, that the vocalist is known from the group Take That initially he wasn’t convinced by the song “Rock DJ”because he thought it was very cheesy and in the shape of a song “Angels” was influenced by the fact that the producer was suffering from a sinus infection at the time of recording.
In an interview with NME, 61-year-old Chambers admitted that working with Williams saved his career. They both met at a professional level. “When I met Robbie, I wasn’t in the best place, I wasn’t feeling the best. In fact, I was barely making a living. I think we needed each other very much then,” he recalled. Williams, in turn, was taking his first steps as a solo artist after leaving Take That.
The result of this collaboration was Williams’ first solo album, “Life thru a lens” (1997). The album did not turn out to be a great sales success. After its premiere, Chambers promised himself that the next ones would be much better. Although they had one reason to be satisfied – one of the songs from this album, “Angels”, turned out to be a timeless hit. As Chambers mentioned, the song was written on the second day of their collaboration, unfortunately in not very favorable circumstances.
“I had a terrible sinus infection that day. I remember calling my mother earlier and saying, ‘I really don’t think I can do this session. I think I’ll cancel.'” And she said, “Guy, I have a feeling about today’s day. Whatever you have to do, don’t cancel it,'” Chambers recalled.
Due to illness, the artists created a very rough demo of the song, with Robbie singing, Guy backing vocals and piano accompaniment, with no drums or guitar. It is not only this simplicity that makes the song “Angels” one of the most outstanding in Williams’ repertoire.
“It’s a very unusual song. Many of his lyrics are not very personal, but rather reflect his quirky sense of humor. ‘Angels’ stands out, it’s a soulful song, an anthem of sorts. We should have written more songs like this, but we didn’t,” he added .
According to Chambers, one of the biggest challenges in their long-term collaboration was writing a single “Feel”, which was included on their joint album “Escapology”, released in 2002. “When he wrote this single, he was suffering from manic-depressive psychosis and was resistant to expressing it in a song. Eventually he did. Thank God he told how he really felt at that time, when he was lonely and needed to fill this huge void in his life love,” Chambers revealed.
Williams was also persuaded to record the song “Rock DJ”. A song that became one of his biggest hits and conquered charts around the world. However, the performer himself was not convinced by it and even considered the song to be very cheesy.
“We tried to create a song that could be played at a wedding. We wanted the lyrics to be funny and provocative, but he thought it was cheesy as hell. He didn’t like it. He was very self-critical. I had to keep telling him that even though he didn’t like the song like it, it can really catch on,” Chambers said.
In addition to his hit collaboration with Robbie Williams, he also collaborated with stars such as: Rufus Wainwright, Miles Kane, Melanie C, Carole King, Katie Melua, Kylie Minogue, Tokio Hotel, Anastacia, Tina Turner, Eros Ramazzotti, INXS, James Blunt, Andrea Bocelli, Diana Ross, Texas and The Waterboys.