Barlow is one of the United Kingdom's most successful songwriters, having written fifteen number-one singles (twelve with Take That, two solo, one with the Robbie Williams song "Candy") and twenty-four top-ten hits.

[11] Barlow was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) at the 2012 Queen's Birthday Honours for his services to the entertainment industry and charity.

[21] In Barlow's autobiography, he relates that his love of music began at an early age, and calls himself "one of those kids that's forever dancing in front of the TV looking at [his] reflection".

[27] In 1989, Barlow appointed Wigan show business agent Barry Woolley to be his manager and recorded a single ("Love Is in the Air") under the name Kurtis Rush.

[30] After selecting Barlow as the group's lead singer, Nigel Martin-Smith introduced Howard Donald, Jason Orange, Mark Owen and finally Robbie Williams to the fold.

Twelve Months, Eleven Days received little promotion and peaked at number 35, which led to Sony recalling the album's scheduled third single, "Lie to Me".

Due to unprecedented high public demand for tickets, Ticketmaster websites across the UK and Ireland crashed and all initial tour dates sold out in under 15 minutes.

[citation needed] In April 2012, Barlow recorded a cover of "Here Comes the Sun" that was used in the 2012 summer promotion advertisement for Marks and Spencer with him appearing in the advert at the end performing the song.

He portrayed the sung thoughts of the journalist and appeared in the songs “The Eve of the War”, “Forever Autumn”, and “Dead London (Part 2)”, replacing Justin Hayward from the original.

[62] On 12 October 2017, whilst appearing on BBC Radio 2, Barlow announced that he would be embarking on a solo tour again around the UK and Ireland to celebrate the release of his new book, A Better Me.

The tour was to visit smaller and more intimate venues rather than the huge arenas and stadiums that Barlow was so familiar with playing, be it solo or alongside his Take That bandmates.

After his disappointing second album, Barlow remained out of the public eye for half a decade, choosing to continue to write and produce songs for other artists such as Shirley Bassey and Charlotte Church.

In October 2007, Barlow founded San Remo Live Publishings as an independently run management company to establish and support artists and songwriters.

Guy Chambers, Steve Mac, Andy Hill, Mark Owen, James Bourne and Eliot Kennedy also contributed to the musical component of the show.

He has been voted as the greatest British songwriter of all time in a 2009 OnePoll, who surveyed 3,000 people[73] John Lennon and Paul McCartney, of The Beatles, were placed second and third respectively.

He has also written for the likes of Robbie Williams, Westlife, Lily Allen, Blue, Elton John, Olly Murs[74] T-Pain, Will Young[75] N-Dubz, Lawson,[76] Shirley Bassey, Donny Osmond, Delta Goodrem, Elaine Paige, Agnetha Fältskog and many more while also being commissioned by the Queen to write the official single for her Diamond Jubilee, which saw Barlow collaborate with Andrew Lloyd Webber.

"[81] On 4 June 2012, the Diamond Jubilee concert was held outside Buckingham Palace with it acting as a backdrop to a stage built upon the Victoria Memorial featuring various worldwide artists.

After a successful debut as a judge on The X Factor in 2011, ITV producers opened talks with Barlow to return for a second series and offered a substantial increase on his £1.5 million salary from the previous year.

[94] On 25 June 2013, it was announced that Barlow had been signed up to work on a new musical version of Finding Neverland and will co-write the score for the theatre project, which is being developed by Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.

[95] On 1 March 2014, Barlow attended Bob and Harvey Weinstein's pre-Academy Awards party at the Montage in Beverly Hills to perform a selection of songs from the musical score he had written for Finding Neverland.

He played the lead role of Peter Pan author J. M. Barrie and sang a duet with British musical actress Laura Michelle Kelly along with four backup artists featured in the Oscar-nominated documentary 20 Feet from Stardom.

[citation needed] During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Barlow received global recognition for his "The Crooner Sessions" series which featured him performing songs online alongside other artists.

Although initially starting as a way to entertain his fans during the lockdown, Barlow's videos, which debuted on Instagram before later being uploaded to his YouTube Channel, Facebook and Twitter feeds, became a hotly-anticipated event for many music lovers worldwide.

David Munns, chairman of the award committee, said of Barlow: "He is one of the UK's most accomplished artists – a unique musician, songwriter and producer who embodies both success and distinction and who serves as a dedicated ambassador for many charities.

Barlow and eight other celebrities: Cheryl Cole, Ben Shephard, Alesha Dixon, Kimberley Walsh, Fearne Cotton, Chris Moyles, Denise Van Outen and Boyzone's Ronan Keating, made it to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro safely on 7 March 2009, raising millions for Comic Relief.

The pair sang Take That's "Back for Good" written by Barlow at Ronan's Emerald and Ivy Ball in Battersea, South London, on Saturday.

Barlow, along with an array of stars were asked to appear on the cover of "Everybody Hurts" which sold 453,000 copies in its first week, making it the fastest-selling charity record of the 21st century in Britain.

[115] Barlow appeared at Twickenham Stadium to perform the hit single "Shame" alongside Robbie Williams in aid of the Help for Heroes charity on 12 September 2010.

[116] Barlow has also donated the original handwritten lyrics to his number-one hit single "Back for Good" to help raise money for the Teenage Cancer Trust.

[119] As well as organising the Children in Need Rocks Manchester concert, Barlow announced he was to helm the official single for the charity, a cover of Massive Attack's 'Teardrop' accompanied by a number of artists known as 'The Collective'.