Robbie Williams has the best Christmas gift for his fans – he is releasing his first ever Christmas album! The 45-year-old announced the news at an intimate gathering at iconic Soho music venue, The Court, on Thursday, and he has collaborated with some surprising artists on the album – including his dad, Pete, and boxer Tyson Fury.
Speaking to Scott Mills about how the track with Tyson – called Bad Sharon – came about, Robbie explained: "That makes sense in some sort of universe. So I got my residency in Vegas and while I was out there, Tyson was fighting and he invited me to his dressing room before the – is it called a dressing room when you fight? I dunno – and he invited me to that before the fight," he said. "I was in there and just in that moment I was like 'I've seen you sing after bouts' and I asked him and he said yes."
Robbie Williams has announced his first ever Christmas album
Robbie continued: "And the song itself, Bad Sharon, is basically a very boozy, office party somewhere in the Midlands and it made sense for Tyson, in that moment in my head, and to be fair he smashed it." Other artists Robbie has collaborated with on the album, called The Christmas Present, include Rod Stewart and Bryan Adams, who he said were "people that I know and people that I like".
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Meanwhile, Robbie's wife Ayda has also had a special involvement in the project, as she stars in the video for the first single – Time for Change – which was filmed at their home. However, they chose not to feature their children Teddy, Charlie and Coco in the video. "It was great. Rolled out of bed, straight into makeup, and we shot a video all day yesterday and it was good," Robbie said. "Just to clarify the children are not ours in the video. The children are not ours in the video, but they insisted on calling me dad all day, it was so weird."
The Christmas Present by Robbie Williams is released on 22 November (Photo: Carsten Windhorst)
The album has been a "passion project" of Robbie's for the past three years, and will be released on 22 November by Columbia Records. And he has shared even more exciting news with fans, as he will be hosting The Robbie Williams Christmas Party at London's SSE Arena in December, with exclusive access to tickets given with album pre-orders purchased on his official website.
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So, while The Christmas Present is Robbie's gift to fans, what would he love for Christmas? "A Christmas number one album," he confessed. "That's the big deal, that's the big hope and the reason that I've been involving myself with this passion project for the last three years."
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