Rob’s a Brit of a loser

ROBBIE Williams’s reign as the king of the Brits is well and truly over. He has been sensationally snubbed by the awards panel, receiving no nominations for his disastrous album Rudebox. The critically-panned CD, which was meant to signal his big comeback, was deemed so bad by the voting academy that for the first time in 10 years he is not a contender for Best British Male, Best British Album or Best Single.

Instead, Lily Allen, Arctic Monkeys and Razorlight are expected to dominate proceedings at this year’s event at London’s Earl’s Court Arena on February 14. Even his arch enemies Oasis will get a gong for Outstanding Contribution to music. But all 32-year-old Robbie has is a conciliatory nomination in the Best Live Act category. A music biz insider says: “A few years ago Robbie not being nominated would have been unthinkable – he had the Midas touch. But that’s clearly deserted him and he’s going to have a real struggle on his hands to regain his credibility.” The writing was on the wall for Robbie – who has a record haul of 15 Brits – last September when fans gave Rudebox the thumbs down.

Despite a costly media blitz, the single only just scraped into the Top Five then sank without a trace and the album was beset by problems. Ex-manager Nigel Martin Smith threatened to sue for libel over the lyrics to The Nineties, which implied he’d ripped Robbie off – the offending words were later changed. Then Rod Stewart’s stepson, Ashley Hamilton, accused Robbie of stealing a track they’d written together.

When it was finally released it spent just one week at No.1 before slipping down the charts. It is now not even in the Top 40. Rudebox’s poor sales are said to have been a contributing factor in the departure of EMI chairman and chief Alain Levy and his deputy David Munns, who were both axed yesterday. Another source reveals: “Rudebox has been an unmitigated disaster for Robbie and the record company. We knew things were bad but were hoping for at least one decent nomination from the Brits.”

Instead, it’s his old bandmates Take That who are riding high. They topped the charts at Christmas and had one of last year’s top selling albums. Maybe that full reunion is not such a bad idea after all, eh Rob? The full list of Brits nominations will be unveiled at a star-studded bash at London’s Hammersmith Palais on Tuesday which will feature performances from The Fratellis, The Feeling and Lemar – all of which will be screened on ITV2 at 8pm.

E. Simpson & C. Hedley / mirror.co.uk

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