‘I was number one and no one knew who I was’

The man who provided the singing voice for Robbie Williams in the musical biopic Better Man has described it as “the strangest claim to fame”.

Musician Adam Tucker, from King’s Lynn in Norfolk, was always told by his friends that he sounded like the Stoke-on-Trent pop star, so he sent recordings to film producers who were looking for a voice like his.

The film’s soundtrack album was released between January 3 and January 9. Number one on the Official Album Download Chart Which Mr. Tucker described as “crazy.”

“I saw that people like Pink, Hugh Jackman and Zac Efron posted about this movie, and I’m thinking ‘They just listened to me sing for two and a half hours and they don’t know.’ But I guess that means I did a good job.” He said.

The singer continued, “As a musician I’ve spent many years trying to write songs that get heard… To finally be charting in some capacity is obviously wonderful.

“Millions of people have heard me sing, but only a small percentage of them know that they actually heard me sing.”

milton keynes actor Jono Davis provided speaking voices and performance capture For Robbie Williams, who is depicted on screen as a CGI chimpanzee in the film.

While Williams sang some songs on the soundtrack, Mr. Tucker estimated that “about 90%” of the music heard in the film was his.

The filmmakers wanted new versions of the star’s best-known hits so that the songs would fit the energy of larger music scenes while still sounding like the hit-maker in her youth.

Mr Tucker estimated he spent about 200 hours re-recording Williams’ songs between the summer of May 2023 and August 2024.

During the recording, cameras were placed on his mouth so that artists from New Zealand special effects company Wētā FX could match the chimpanzee’s mouth movements to his mouth movements.

Working on the film has given the Norfolk musician a new appreciation for Williams.

He said, “My voice was high in some parts of some songs… He must have been 16 years old when he sang it.

“Some of his songs are really high. I don’t think people give him credit for it, he still sings the songs in the same key, he doesn’t change the key of the songs.”

The second challenge was pronunciation, Robbie Williams is not from Norfolk.

He recalled, “Some of my family is from Stoke, so I’m well-versed in that accent. There were these little changes in the accent that we spent hours on.”

Mr. Tucker said that his favorite songs to perform in the film were My Way and She’s the One because both were important emotional scenes.

In the film, the latter is presented as a duet with All Saints singer Nicole Appleton – her character’s singing voice was provided by West End performer Kayleigh McKnight from Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire.

She smiled: “Knowing that people all over the world hear my voice when they watch this film amazes me.

“It’s kind of fun. I was sitting in the cinema watching it, and no one knew it was me… I felt a bit like the masked singer.

“I was dreaming of number one in the download charts, and now I’ve got one. Maybe not exactly what I was expecting. I was obviously dreaming of it, but I didn’t realize it was There will be a Robbie Williams biopic.”

A friend of Ms. McKnight invited her to audition for the role – she recorded herself singing She’s the One at home and found herself in a studio a short time later.

Unlike Mr. Tucker, his recording took only two days and filming had already finished.

The singer said: “They didn’t ask me to sound like Nicole from All Saints, because her songs were so different to this version of She’s the One that we were doing.”

Ms McKnight revealed that she had received messages from fans who found her performance touching and emotional.

He laughed and said, “That’s my call to Robbie, if you need a singer for the She’s the One tour. I’m available.”

Mr. Tucker made a similar offer.