Recently, Black Sabbath co-founder and guitarist Tony Iommi revealed that he would be part of the next album by British pop singer Robbie Williams. Now, in an interview with NME, the singer has shared that bassist and vocalist Glenn Hughes, formerly of Trapeze, Deep Purple, and Black Sabbath, will also feature on the album, on the same song, titled “Rocket.”
In addition to releasing a new album, Williams’ biographical movie “Better Man” is set to premiere next February. Interestingly, it is not an actor who portrays him in the film but a CGI monkey.
Glenn Hughes and Tony Iommi are on new Robbie Williams album
(Tony Iommi) and Glenn Hughes! (Played in ‘Rocket’). I wanted to make the album that I’d make if I’d left Take That now, knowing what I know. This particular song encapsulates that perfectly. Unfortunately and fortunately for me, pop songs turned up along the way, too.”
“I’m like: ‘Ah, fuck – a hit!’ This (track) is massive guitars, as you can imagine. It’s adrenaline-filled and balls-to-the-wall. That one in particular is my favourite song off my new album – that I’ve just announced is happening!” Robbie Williams said.
In an interview with Percussion Discussion a few months ago, Robbie’s drummer and musical director Karl Brazil talked about Tony Iommi’s involvement.
“(Robbie’s) got an album to follow that we’ve been working on. He’s working with various people, but I’ve been fortunate enough to do some songs with him. One of the tracks, actually, he’s done a track called ‘Rocket’ with Tony Iommi, which is very random.”
“It’s great. It’s a rocker, and it’s really, really cool. Right up my street. It’s kinda… I’ll just let you hear it. But yeah, Tony’s done his thing on it. There’s some great collaborations on this record. Gaz Coombes (Supergrass) is on there.”
“It’s predominantly a guitar record, a bit of a throwback to his old ’90s sound but mixed with a bit of modern-day pop as well. Let’s face it, (Robbie) can do what he wants, can’t he?!” Karl Brazil said.
Robbie Williams
Robbie Williams was born in Stoke-on-Trent, England back in 1974, when Black Sabbath already was one of the most influential groups in the world. He first achieved fame as part of the Pop group Take That from 1990 to 1995, starting his solo career in 1996. His discography has seven number 1 hits in the United Kingdom.
Williams recorded four albums with the group Take That and 12 albums as a solo artist. Some of his most famous solo songs are “Angels”, “Feel”, “Rock DJ”, “She’s The One” and also “Somethin’ Stupid”.