It may be just a couple of simple lines uttered on a television show but Gary Barlow’s latest answer to the question of whether Robbie Williams will be rejoining Take That has changed everything. It seems that Williams isn’t actually welcome.

Back in December, 2008, Barlow suggested that Williams would one day rejoin Take That. It was more a case if when than if. Then just last month Williams seemed to think it was a done deal stating that it was, “looking more likely by the week,” and how “it would make sense for it to happen some time over the next year.”

But for whatever reason it now looks highly unlikely, at least according to Gary Barlow.

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If you’re of a certain age, you will well remember the day Robbie Williams upped and left Take That. The biggest boyband the UK has ever produced suddenly lost its most outgoing member, and it wasn’t long before the rest of the group decided to go their own separate ways.

Williams then went onto have phenomenal success as a solo artist, having broken free of the confines of being in a clean-living, controversy-free boyband. Gary Barlow’s career faltered; Mark Owen appeared on Big Brother; and the other two disappeared into obscurity once again.

But then something bizarre happened. Robbie’s career went into free fall, with poor album reviews and constant press speculation over his drug addictions/relationships/L.A. lifestyle taking over as the main thing we knew him for. And Take That re-formed.

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The UK has produced an inordinate number of talented songwriters over the past 50 years, especially when you consider the small size of the population. But who are the best of the best? Who are the people whose songs have shaped and defined Britain through music?

Artists come and go all the time, one bad album and that can be it. But the ones that endure, either staying together for years (Oasis, Rolling Stones) or whose music lives on for generations (The Beatles) are the ones who are capable of pumping out magical song after magical song.

Songwriting is a special talent that generally cannot be taught. Which is why those manufactured stars from reality shows such as The X Factor have to rely on dedicated word smiths and musicians to write their songs for them.

According to Digital Spy, OnePoll recently carried out a survey to find people’s opinion as to Britain’s greatest songwriter. The results stand up as a testament to the incredible range of talented songwriters the UK possesses, but the winner may be a surprise to some.

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Band reunions are a strange beast: they are a mix of doing it for the fans and doing it for the money, they rarely last very long, and they even more rarely live up to expectations. But despite all of this, millions of people want to see their favorite groups reform.

British groups seem to be making a habit of reforming. Since I’ve been writing Brit Music Scene, we have seen The Verve, Boyzone, Led Zeppelin (for a one off concert), The Police, The Sex Pistols, The Spice Girls, Blur, and Take That all get back together in some form.

Then there are the ongoing rumors surrounding further reunions. The big ones are Led Zeppelin, The Smiths, The Stone Roses, and Robbie Williams rejoining Take That to make it a proper reunion. So no surprise then that those four bands were all included in a recent MTV poll to find out which group most people would like to see back together.

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Ever since Robbie Williams left Take That way back in 1995, there have been calls from the fans for the group to reunite as one again. But while Take That have indeed come back together as a foursome, there’s still no sign of Robbie rejoining. Instead, he seems determined to carry on attempting to crack America as a solo artist.

A full reunion was never really on the cards seeing as Williams left Take That suddenly, leaving relationships strained. But Gary Barlow and co seem to have now got over the bad feelings they may have felt towards Robbie, and have started to rebuild their relationships with the L.A. based singer.

Last month saw Barlow and Williams spotted together for the first time in over 10 years when they met at a football match. The pair agreed to be interviewed live on Sky Sports, and shared a hug, a joke, and a laugh.

But is the new friendliness between the former band mates a sign of a reunion to come? While Take That are doing fantastically well since they reformed in 2005, Robbie has been having a bit of a torrid time, with his last album panned by the critics, and personal problems still plaguing his day-to-day life.

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Ever since Robbie Williams left Take That to strike out on his own, the relationship between him and Gary Barlow is said to have been frosty at best. In fact, it probably soured even before that, as Williams took a more lead singer role even though Barlow wrote the majority of the songs.

But that was a long time ago, with Robbie leaving in 1995. A lot has happened since then, with Williams having a fantastic solo career that has netted him a fortune, a string of beautiful girlfriends, and a house in Beverly Park, Los Angeles. Take That, meanwhile, reformed in 2005 and have since been even more successful than they were the first time around, and could be on the verge of world super stardom.

Williams and Barlow have made it up again, first meeting after almost a decade when Take That wanted Robbie to provide video for the comeback tour. They’ve since met a few times in L.A. but while the rest of the group were known to have put the past behind them, it was unclear how well Williams and Barlow got on.

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Whenever I hear a story concerning Take That and Robbie Williams, I immediately rush to the conclusion that they’ve decided to get back together as one again. It never happens of course, Robbie has his own career, and Take That are doing better as a new, older, and much wiser foursome without him. But that doesn’t stop me living in hope.

The four members of Take That, Gary Barlow, Mark Owen, Jason Orange, and Howard ‘Chewbacca’ Donald are now all on speaking terms with Robbie. They’ve all been best of friends since they all met up in LA last August.

This meeting lead to speculation that Williams was about to rejoin the rejuvenated Take That. Even his mum thought he might be tempted back to Gary and the boys, but nothing came of the rumours in the end.

But they have at least stayed in touch with each other, and The Mirror reports how Robbie and Take That met recently in LA while the latter were putting the finishing touches to their new album.

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Robbie Williams was once the cream of British Pop talent. Adored by millions of teenage girls while in Take That, he found incredible success when he decided to go solo, and at one time, was the best thing since sliced bread.

And then he moved to L.A., lost touch with reality, lost songwriter Guy Chambers, and then released Rudebox, one the most ill-conceived and overblown albums I’ve ever heard.

Not much has been seen of Williams over the past year. There have been the odd dalliances with the press, including the latest rumour that the singer is obsessed by UFOs and aliens. Other than that, he’s thought to have become a bit of a recluse and put weight on… again.

The biggest news from the Robbie camp came in January when it was reported that the singer had gone on strike against his record label EMI. This was after the label was bought by finance company, Terra Firma, and Guy Hands took over the running of it.

The Terra Firma takeover hasn’t exactly been popular with the label’s artists. Radiohead left the label and released In Rainbows on the Web and independently, while Paul McCartney also left EMI and signed up with Starbucks instead. The Rolling Stones then left to join Universal. And there are also rumours that Coldplay aren’t happy at the label, and are considering leaving after their next rushed release.

But it seems Robbie isn’t going anywhere, and his strike has come to an end.

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Arjun over at The Good Musician is hosting a list day today, and has asked all of the b5 Music Channel bloggers to come up with 10 artists they wouldn’t want to switch places with.

Obviously my choices here on Brit Music Scene are going to all be British artists, and instead of going for the usual reasons, as in they’re dead, or just a plain laughing stock, I thought I’d try to come up with reasons slightly away from the norm.

So here is my ultra snarky list of 10 British Musicians I Wouldn’t Want to Switch Places With:-

Joss Stone

She was once a softly spoken English sweetheart, who captured everyone’s imagination with her beautiful voice, and unnervingly good looks. Now she is a diva of Jennifer Lopez and Mariah Carey type proportions, and has the worst British American hybrid accent since Madonna. The British public are rapidly going off her, and I wouldn’t want to be her right now.

Robbie Williams

Okay, if I were Robbie, I’d be living in LA, have lots of money in the bank, and be able to get any woman I want. I’d also be able to claim to having slept with the likes of Kylie Minogue, which isn’t bad. But, I’d also be watching my career fall apart around me, as well as seeing my old sparring partners Take That seeing their career reach new heights. No, right now, I’d rather be Gary Barlow!

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Rumours have been persisting for months about Robbie Williams returning to the Take That fold, and making the foursome, a five some again. Just last week, Robbie’s mum went on record to state her belief that he would join the group again, and that it was his wish to do so.

Unfortunately, it looks like this was news to Take That themselves, who have now seemingly ruled out the possibility of his return.

The group gave an interview to The Big Issue, and both Gary Barlow and Mark Owen seemed to mock the idea of Robbie ever joining them again for a tour or new releases.

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