'I had a number one and nobody knows who I am'

The singer estimates he spent 200 hours re-recording songs

The man who provided the singing voice for Robbie Williams in his musical biopic Better Man described it as "the weirdest claim to fame".

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

Between 3 January and 9 January the film's soundtrack album was number one in the Official Album Downloads Chart which Mr Tucker described as "crazy".

"I see people like Pink, Hugh Jackman and Zac Efron have all posted about this film, and I'm thinking 'they've all just heard me sing for two and a half hours and they don't know'. But I guess that means I've done the job right." he said.

The singer added: "As a musician I've spent years trying to write songs that get heard... To finally be in the charts in some capacity is obviously like amazing.

"Millions of people have heard me sing but only a small percentage of them know they've actually heard me sing."

Some of Robbie Williams' biggest hits were re-recorded by Mr Tucker to fit choreography in the musical film

Milton Keynes actor Jonno Davies provided the speaking voice and performance capture for Robbie Williams in the film, who is represented on screen as a CGI chimpanzee.

While Williams sang some of the songs on the soundtrack, Mr Tucker estimated "about 90%" of the music heard in the movie was him.

Filmmakers wanted new versions of the star's best-known hits so songs could fit the energy of the big musical scenes while still sounding like the hit-maker in his youth.

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

During recordings he had cameras trained on his mouth so artists at New Zealand special effects company Wētā FX could match the chimpanzee's mouth movements to his own.

Adam Tucker attended the Better Man premiere in London

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

He said: "Some of the parts on some of the songs I was on the brink of my voice... He must've been 16 when he sung this.

"Some of his songs are really high. I don't think people give him credit, he still sings the songs in the same key, he doesn't change the key of the songs."

The other challenge was the accent, Robbie Williams is not from Norfolk.

"I have some family from Stoke, so I'm well-tuned into that accent. It was those little tweaks in the accent that we spent hours on," he recalled.

During the musical Robbie Williams meets girlfriend Nicole Appleton and they perform a duet of his 1999 number-one single She's The One

Mr Tucker said his favourite songs to perform in the film were My Way and She's The One as both were pivotal emotional scenes.

In the film, the latter is done as a duet with All Saint's singer Nicole Appleton - her character's singing voice was provided by West End performer Kayleigh McKnight from Sawbridgeworth in Hertfordshire.

She beamed: "Knowing that there's people all over the world hearing my voice when they see this film blows my mind.

"There's something kind of fun about it. I was sat in the cinema watching it, and no one knew it was me... I felt like a bit like the Masked Singer.

"I've been dreaming of a number one in the download chart, and now I've got one. Maybe not quite the way I was expecting. I was manifesting it clearly, but I just didn't realise it would be in the Robbie Williams biopic."

West End singer Kayleigh McKnight, who has starred in Six, provided the singing voice for Nicole Appleton

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

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

The singer said: "They didn't ask me to sound like Nicole from All Saints, mostly because their songs were so different to this version of She's The One that we were doing."

Ms McKnight revealed she has received messaged from fans who have described her performance as moving and emotional.

"This is my call out to Robbie, if you need a singer for She's The One on tour. I'm available," she laughed.

Mr Tucker made a similar offer.