Swing When You’re Winning

An enormously popular British pop singer turns to American jazz standards of the 1950s and 1960s: this 2001 album is an intriguing change of direction. Williams’s duet with Nicole Kidman on ‘Somethin’ Stupid’ became a British number one, revisiting the song Frank and Nancy Sinatra had taken to the top in 1967.

With its Sinatra-inspired performances, this collection anticipated the similar territory Michael Bublé would explore on his major-label debut two years later. That timing is part of its fascination. Williams had the judgement to recognise a broad audience for this kind of song while remaining unmistakably a pop entertainer.

He first found fame with Take That, leaving in 1995 before beginning a solo career that brought hits including ‘Millennium’, ‘She’s the One’ and ‘Rock DJ’. Amid that run of pop success, this affectionate standards album makes an especially revealing detour.