Nigel Martin-Smith is a Manchester-based musical band manager who formed 1990s British boy band Take That.
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Martin-Smith entered the entertainment industry in the early 1980s working as a casting agent from offices in Manchester's Royal Exchange. From there, he challenged the "London-centric" attitude of many in the business, championing the cause of local talent and establishing many actors in film and television. His first success in the music industry was the artist Damian who had a UK top 10 hit with a cover of "The Time Warp" in 1989. He also ran the Film Artist Agency at Half Moon Chambers in Manchester.
In the early 1990s, following the success of US boyband New Kids on the Block, Martin-Smith decided to create a British version of NKOTB with a similar "chosen" formula of singers and dancers. In 1990, he assembled Gary Barlow, a 19 year-old from Cheshire who had been singing and playing the piano on the northern club circuit for five years; Mark Owen, 18, and Manchester United trialist; Howard Donald, 21, a vehicle painter who also DJ'd, danced and modelled; Jason Orange, a 19 year old painter and decorator from Manchester who had danced on Pete Waterman's television programme The Hitman and Her. He advertised for another singer, and chose 16 year old bodypopper Robbie Williams from Stoke-on-Trent.
Take That sold 19 million records (9m albums and 10m singles) between 1990 and 1996. Between the band's first single release in 1991 and their break-up in 1996, the BBC described Take That as "the most successful British band since The Beatles in the UK, beloved of young and old alike" . Take That's dance-oriented pop tunes and ballads dominated the UK charts in the first half of the 1990s, spawning two of the best selling albums of the decade with Everything Changes in 1993 and their Greatest Hits in 1996.
By 1995, Williams, who had been growing frustrated with his life in Take That, went partying with Oasis at Glastonbury and then left the band.[1] After his departure, the last Take That album Nobody Else was re-issued in some markets excluding some vocals by Williams, most notably a new recording of "Love Ain't Here Anymore". Williams didn't actually perform any lead vocals on this album, and band members later blamed this on his "lack of interest and commitment" in the recording of the album. The rest of the band finally split in 1996.
In 1995, Gay Times listed Martin-Smith as one of the most influential gay people in music.[2]
In 2007, Martin-Smith was parodied (along with the members of Take That) in the Channel 4 spoof documentary series Star Stories.
Robbie Williams left Take That in 1995 under a strict performance and confidentiality agreement, but later decided to sue Martin-Smith for breach of his fiduciary duties. Williams lost the case.[3]
The feud between the pair resurfaced when Williams' biography written by his friend and Daily Mail journalist Chris Heath, "Feel: Robbie Williams" was published in 2004.[4] Williams described how Martin-Smith allegedly destroyed his confidence, and didn't hide his hatred for Martin-Smith whom he calls "the spawn of Satan" claiming that the manager told people he was gay:
"When I first went into Take That I thought I could do everything, but I left thinking I could do nothing...I just remember being shit-scared of Nigel and I really wanted him to like me. He was the person, I believe in my life that fucked with my head, and I just didn't have the facilities to deal with it. I can say something nice about every single member of Take That. But when it comes to Nigel Martin-Smith....I want to rip his uterus out."[5]
In response, Martin-Smith blamed Williams' inability to deal with his sexuality as the major cause of the singer's insecurity and his drug and alcohol issues, and stated:
"It's very sad that Robbie has turned out like he has. He doesn't seem at all happy. He has been suppressed and the ramifications of that are now beginning to show. He looks a mess, he looks like a lost unhappy individual. It's very telling that none of his relationships with women have lasted. He is now dating another actress in LA. It won't last. It's all for show. Deep down he is gay. Robbie and I were completely comfortable with each other. He was the more dominant one and knew what he wanted. That's not the behaviour of a man who is experimenting for fun. It was for real."[6]
On Williams' 2006 album Rudebox, Williams originally detailed in the track "The 90s" about how he fantasised about gouging out Martin-Smith's eyes out during his time with Take That:
"Either you're a thief or you're shit, which one will you admit to? Such an evil man, I used to fantasise about taking a Stanley knife and playing around with your eyes."[7]
The lyrics prompted Martin-Smith to instigate legal action against Williams and EMI prior to the album's release. The case did not delay the release of the album, but partly delayed the release of the single as EMI and Williams were forced to rewrite the song and remove the offending lyrics.[8][9]
However, after warning Williams over another song on the album entitled The 90s, Martin-Smith successfully sued Williams and his record company Chrysalis Records for £300,000 in the High Court for defamation of character. Williams and EMI were also forced to issue an apology to Martin-Smith.[10]
Martin-Smith entered into a consultancy deal with Virgin Records and managed the come back of Scottish singer Lulu. Around this time, Martin-Smith made a huge investment in his Manchester based talent agencies moving into purpose-built studios and offices and employing leading agents to oversee his roster of artistes. The NMSM Talent Group now incorporates:
In 2005, Martin-Smith was contracted to work on the re-launch of Take That which saw him co-produce a TV documentary about the group, manage the release of their Ultimate Collection compilation album, and launch their sell-out UK tour. However, Martin-Smith was removed from the position once the documentary was over and just before the tour as, according to Mark Owen, he "wasn't needed." An alternative theory was that Robbie Williams would never appear as long as Martin-Smith had anything to do with the band.[12] Martin Smith said: “I can’t believe what a success the comeback has been. I thought they would do the tour and that would be it. But now they could tour every year and pack stadiums.”[13]
Martin-Smith owns three venues in Manchester's gay village, set along Canal Street: