Biography

Howard Paul Donald was born on 28th April 1968 at home in Droylsden, Manchester. His dad taught Latin-American dancing and his mum used to be a singer. His parents split up when Howard was 8 and has two older brothers, Michael and Colin, a younger brother, Glenn, and a younger sister, Samantha.

Howard’s first school was Moreside Junior High School in Jorsdan, Manchester and then went to Little Moss High School for boys. Howard was not very good at studying and only passed three subjects: English, Maths and Geography. School didn't really interest him as he was more into riding his BMX bike and break-dancing.

Howard has always had ambitious ideas. When he was 13 he wanted to be a pilot but when he left school, he got an apprenticeship at Knibbs in Manchester, a company that specialises in spraying cars. After completing his apprenticeship and learning the trade, he got his first real job at Wimpole Garages doing up cars.

However it was break-dancing that was his true passion. Before joining Take That, he was part of a crew called the RDS Royal. He met Jason at the Apollo, a club where they used to go break-dancing. Howard was very impressed with Jason's dancing and they got talking. They later teamed up to form Streetbeat, which led them to Nigel Martin-Smith who introduced them to Gary Barlow, Mark Owen and Robbie Williams. Take That were finally formed.

After Take That split in 1996, Howard embarked on a solo career. He recorded a song called Speak without Words and filmed a video in Cuba. Unfortunately, due to some trouble with his record company, the song was never released. He also wrote the song ‘Crazy Chance’ for Kavana - one of Nigel's other acts.

In 1999 Howard became a father for the first time to a baby girl called Grace with his then girlfriend Victoria. He also started a very successful DJ career under the name of DJ HD and became very popular in Europe, playing all over Germany, Switzerland and Austria. He has also played on the party island of Ibiza.

On the 25th November 2005, Howard, along with Gary Barlow, Mark Owen and Jason Orange announced that after 10 years Take That would be getting back together. Howard also became a father for the second time to another baby girl named Lola to his new partner Marie-Christine.

The 23rd April 2006 saw Take That's first performance of their 32 date Ultimate Tour. Every date sold out, and it was a complete successes, so Take That announced they would be working on a brand new album to be released later in the year.

On the 27th November 2006, Take That released their forth album 'Beautiful World' which was their first album release in 10 years. It went straight in at number one and has stayed at the top for 5 weeks running. Take That also became the first band/artist ever to top all five artist charts.

In 2007 Take That won a Brit Award for Best British Single with 'Patience' from the Beautiful World album and released 'Rule The World' which was written for the film 'Stardust'. They were also chosen as the faces of Marks & Spencer's Autograph menswear Autumn/Winter collection.

In October 2007 the band embarked on another sell out tour, this time including European dates, ending in December at Manchester. They also brought in the New Year by performing at London's O2 arena for the 'Count Down To Midnight With Take That' concert.

February 2008 saw Take That win another two Brit Awards for Best Live Act and Best British Single with 'Shine'. For more information about Take That visit their official website here and the Take That Appreciation pages here.