Mark Owen first gained recognition as a founding member of Take That, formed in 1989 alongside Gary Barlow, Jason Orange, Robbie Williams, and Howard Donald, and the group quickly rose to become one of the United Kingdom’s most commercially successful boy bands before their initial split in 1996. Born in Oldham, England, in 1972, Owen had originally aspired to a career as a professional footballer, yet trials with Manchester United, Rochdale, and Huddersfield Town ended abruptly when injury curtailed any prospect of playing professionally. After the band’s breakup he became the first member to issue a solo album, enlisting producer John Leckie—already noted for his work with the Stone Roses and Radiohead and for his association with the Brit-pop explosion—to lend the project an alternative slant. Titled Green Man and issued at the close of 1996, the record entered the U.K. album chart at number 33 and yielded the singles “Clementine,” “Child,” and “I Am What I Am.” Though it achieved modest success, the release did not match the commercial peaks later attained by Barlow and especially Williams, and BMG dropped Owen in 1999.
Following a period out of the public eye, Owen took part in the second U.K. series of Celebrity Big Brother in 2002 and emerged the winner after securing 77 percent of the vote. The resulting visibility led to a contract with Island Records, which released his second album, In Your Own Time, the following year. Sales proved underwhelming, prompting him to establish his own imprint, Sedna Records, in 2004 and to self-issue his third album, How the Mighty Fall, in 2005. That same year Take That announced a reunion for a series of sold-out stadium dates, placing Owen’s solo activities on hold. Only in 2012, buoyed by the renewed success of the group, did he resume recording independently; although he performed the bulk of the work himself, he brought in Charlie Russell, Bradley Spence, and Starsmith to mix and produce the sessions that yielded 2013’s The Art of Doing Nothing.
