"Shine" is the second single taken from Take That's comeback album, Beautiful World. It became Take That's sixth consecutive number one single and their tenth number-one overall, making them one of only seven acts in the history of the UK charts to have more than nine number one hits. The song is about former Take That member Robbie Williams' battle with depression.
Background
"Shine" was released on 26 February 2007 and features lead vocals by Mark Owen. A 'live' version was recorded at a session with BBC Radio 2, and appears on the CD singles of "I'd Wait for Life" and "Reach Out". The song went on to win the British single of the year award at the 2008 BRIT Awards making it Take That's seventh Brit Award. It later emerged that Robbie Williams was the subject of the song, written and released prior to his decision to return to the band. The version of "Shine" performed during the band's Beautiful World Tour in 2007 featured an intro that was taken from the finale to the song "Mr. Blue Sky" by the British pop/rock group Electric Light Orchestra—this was also done on the group's subsequent in 2009 and Progress Live Tour in 2011. UK music licensing body PPL announced in December 2009 that this was the second most played and used song in the UK of the 2000s. The song is written in the key signature of E flat major; however, on some live versions it is performed in D major. When Gary Barlow and Robbie Williams appeared on BBC Radio 1 Live promoting their single Shame, Williams performed a cover of Shine. In December 2011Olly Murs covered "Shine" when he joined Gary Barlow for his live show at the Royal Albert Hall.
Chart performance
The single entered the UK Singles Chart at number 83, and made its official debut to the charts at number 30 the following week, three weeks before its physical release. It reached number one on 4 March 2007, staying two weeks at the top. The single peaked at number two on the download chart. During its first week at the top of the UK Singles Chart, the single rose from number 20 to 2 on the Irish Singles Chart. The single has been certified Gold in the UK with sales of 493,000.
Music video
The video for "Shine" was directed by Justin Dickel with a concept of recreating a Busby Berkeley style musical number. It premiered on Channel 4 on Thursday 25 January 2007 at 11:05 p.m.
Use in media
The song was featured in several commercials for the Morrisons supermarkets in the UK, fronted by actress Denise van Outen, comedian Nick Hancock, television presenter Gabby Logan, gardener Diarmuid Gavin, singer Lulu, and television presenter Richard Hammond. According to a PRS-published list of songs used in TV and radio advertisements, it was the 7th most played song for the year 2012. It was then brought back in an instrumental form in 2013 as part of the 'More of what Matters' campaign. It has also been used by Gala Bingo to mark the start of their bingo sessions, in club, between 2008 and 2014. It has been used on an episode of Doctor Who Confidential in 2007.
Use by other artists
The song is sampled in Lily Allen's 2009 song "Who'd Have Known", which in turn is sampled in T-Pain's 2011 single "5 O'Clock".
