Take That superstar Gary Barlow has opened up about his life and career in a new interview with The Telegraph newspaper. 

Speaking about a track on his new album called 'Face To Face', which is a duet with Sir Elton John, the hitmaker explained that it's a song about being thankful to music icon for always standing by him when no one else would:

"It’s a respect song. I can count on the fingers of one hand the people who kept in touch with me when nobody else wanted to know me and he was one of them. I’ll never forget that.”

Barlow added that the public turning their backs on him for a while ended up being a positive thing as it helped him to focus on what he was going through: "Most people have at some point got to pick themselves up – you’ve got to turn up for work and get on with it. I can be stood here, loaded with stuff, but I don’t want to tell anyone, and by you all ignoring it, you are actually helping me right now."

The 'Let Me Go' singer also admitted that the genre of music on his new solo record, 'Since I Saw You Last', allowed him to explore some darker themes: "With Take That we’d explored most styles and everyone expects me to do ballads, that is what I am known for. But for this, the whole folk tempo felt right. It is a very good backdrop to write something quite negative over. I realised I could get away with some really dark lyrics and it unlocked the whole album for me.”