“Where has Gary Barlow gone?” sang his former bandmate Robbie Williams in his 2002 solo album Escapology. At the time, it was a valid question: Barlow — the most musically gifted but least lusted-after member of the 1990s boyband Take That — was nowhere to be seen. The only trace of him was in the odd writing credit for Atomic Kitten.

But now the artist formerly known as “the podgy one” is back in business, and Take That are launching their second (sans Robbie) career with his single Patience, released in a week’s time and available to download today. Already tipped for the Christmas No 1 slot, it’s an expertly rendered, soaring middle-of-the-road ballad that has led to record industry types respectfully doffing their caps.

From the dying chords of their 1996 farewell single How Deep is Your Love, a Take That reunion has always been inevitable. Ten years on, their comeback tour started out with 11 dates and ended up with more than 30 sell-out performances. On November 27 their £3 million recording contract will bear fruit with an album, Beautiful World. And where has Robbie Williams gone? Well, he’s only gone and made Rudebox: one of the worst pop songs ever committed to disc. But don’t expect Barlow to crow — at least not in public. He’s always been cleaner than chlorine, never having risen to Robbie’s bad-mouthing bait (even when called “really f***ing dated . . . selfish, stupid and greedy”).

Barlow was born in Frodsham, Cheshire, in 1971, and his close-knit family fostered his enthusiasm for music. His dad worked through a year’s worth of holidays to buy a decent keyboard: at 14, he was playing five nights a week, supporting, among others, Ken Dodd.

Five years later he was contacted by an entrepeneur called Nigel Martin Smith and introduced to Howard Donald, Jason Orange, Mark Owen and Robbie. Take That sharpened their act in gay clubs before being launched on an unsuspecting public in 1991. Two years later Barlow’s song Pray gave them their first No 1 hit, but his career high was the classic, swaying Back for Good in 1995. As the principal songwriter he estimated that he has made £20 million (“probably six times more than the rest of them”) from album sales, which exceed ten million.

Upset by his position as “least fanciable” member of the band (one photoshoot was sent back with his double chin circled and a note reading: “This is a waste of a shoot. Gary’s too fat”), Barlow was comforted by the prospect of a solo career in which his musicality could be properly appreciated. After a No 1 album in 1997, though, he was eclipsed by Robbie’s anthemic, Oasis-hugging rise, and never recovered — until now.

“I really want to start over again,” Barlow sings on a misty clifftop in the Patience video. His third time might just be his luckiest.