Yahoo News Gary Barlow had not sung into a microphone for eight years when Take That recorded 'Patience'
Gary Barlow has admitted that when he recorded the Brit Award-winning single Patience he had not sung into a microphone for eight years.
The Take That star, who was awarded an OBE in 2012, said he was in a place where singing reminded him of being in front of people which "he had hoped he never would be again" but once he started again he realised how much it formed part of him.
He said the track, released in 2006 on the band's comeback album Beautiful World, represented the "whole" of him, when talking to Kate Thornton on White Wine Question Time.
WATCH: Gary Barlow on Take That's dangerous dance moves and how much he loved his return to singing.
Barlow said: "Without that song, I don't know what would have happened after that. We were back but we were just doing concerts. But with that song, suddenly we were in the charts again.
"I was proud of that. It was a good one. I remember the time when we made that album, I hadn't actually sung into a microphone for about eight years. It'd been a long time.
He told Thornton that he could feel that singing was a "big missing piece" of him but said it just was not something he wanted to do.
He said: "I didn't like the way my voice sounded. I just I didn't like the relationship with singing because it reminded me of being in front of people. Which, at that point, I hoped I never would be again.
"It's all in your head, all this stuff. And because it's in there, you can't escape it. So it was a very odd time.
"When we talk about tracks like Patience, that's the whole me, that's me back as a whole."
Remembering the years when he Mark Owen, Jason Orange and Howard Donald reformed the group, he said he could remember being on stage at a stadium, possibly the Etihad in Manchester, and that it hit him during the concert how much he loved singing.
He said: "I remember being stood out the front and I just thought: 'I love singing, I'd forgotten how much I love singing. Sometimes it's that simple. Singing's something you love to do, you do it when you're painting or in the shower
"It's lovely to sing, to emote, to express. It's part of my my voice, it's part of my conversation."
He also credits Eliot Kennedy, a songwriter friend who wrote Everything Changes with Barlow, and has also written for the Spice Girls, Bryan Adams, Celine Dion and more, with helping him through the time that followed Take That's 1996 split and a solo career that didn't live up to the promise of the bands's success.
He described Kennedy as a "lovely guy" who recognised that Barlow needed help but didn't make it obvious. He said he would say he needed help with something and ask Barlow to take a look at it.
He said: "He dragged me through a few years, just throwing me a bit of this and that. So that was lovely, it got me out the house a bit. But I didn't do much in those years."
Gary's new album The Dream of Christmas is out now. Tickets for the 'All The Hits Live' tour are available from garybarlow.com/tour and Gary Barlow Organic wines are available exclusively in Morrisons or at garybarlowwines.com.
WATCH: Gary Barlow on daily FaceTimes with Elton John!
