Mark Owen

Owen lived in a small council house with his mother Mary, his father Keith, brother Daniel, and sister Tracey in Oldham. His father was a decorator, later getting a job at a police station. His mother was a supervisor in a bakery. Owen was educated at Holy Rosary Primary and St Augustine’s Catholic Schools, both in Oldham.[5] He had little interest in music and played football briefly for Chadderton F.C.,[6] in addition to having trials at Manchester United and Rochdale.[7] Prior to auditioning for Take That, he worked at Barclays in Failsworth

After selecting Gary Barlow as the group’s lead singer in 1989, Nigel Martin-Smith introduced Owen, Howard Donald, Jason Orange and finally Robbie Williams to the fold. The group were signed to RCA records, and after a number of top 40 hits, eventually secured their first number one with Barlow’s “Pray”. Previous hits included “A Million Love Songs”, “It Only Takes a Minute” and “Could It Be Magic”.