Mark Owen to release first solo album in eight years

Take That star Mark Owen has announced details of his new solo album

Take That's Mark Owen, is set to reignite his solo career with the release of a new album.

Entitled The Art of Doing Nothing, it’s his third solo effort and his first release for eight years, and first since Take That reformed in 2005.

The album, which began life in a shed at the bottom of his garden (albeit a slightly fancier one with studio equipment in), will be trailed by the single Stars, the video of which sees Mark wandering around Berlin in a spacesuit!

In an interview with the BBC, Mark is adamant his new album was made without the help of his Take That chums as part of his "life journey".

Fellow Take Thatters Robbie Williams and Gary Barlow of course joined forces last year to create the chart-topping Candy, but despite the occasional temptation to call his bandmates, Mark was determined to complete this project himself.

"Gaz [Gary Barlow] is very straight and he brings a confidence to everything. When they're not around you think: 'Where's my really confident moment? It's not around... You realise when the five of us are working together the cogs that work together, and then when you're doing it on your own, the cogs not being in place."

Owen’s solo career began when Take That originally split up in 1996, with his first singles Child and Clementine both reaching Number 3, and he had another Top 5 hit with Four Minute Warning in 2003.

The Art of Doing Nothing will feature singer Ren Harvieu on the track S.A.D, unsigned rapper Jake Emlyn pops up on Heaven’s Falling, and Mark left the shed long enough to record strings with Take That’s arranger Wil Malone at Abbey Road.

The video for his single isn’t online just yet, but in the meantime here’s Mark introducing his new album:

And a little Friday afternoon flashback, here’s Mark as he looked in 1997, with Clementine:

Mark Owen - Clementine on MUZU.TV.