It looks like Robbie Williams could be heading back Britain. The 'Rock DJ' star, 33, spent some time at pal Jonathan Ross' country pad in Dorset last month - and has developed quite a taste for the area.
A source revealed: "Contrary to what most people think, the one thing Robbie craves is a quiet life. During his stay in Swanage he and Jonathan played tennis on a local court and were virtually ignored. Rob was stunned at how little attention they got from locals.
"He is desperate to find somewhere where he will be left alone - and was asking Jonathan loads of questions about the area. He sounded very impressed."
Meanwhile, the former Take That star has caused a stir at his record Label EMI - after going on strike and refusing to release his next album, protesting over thousands of predicted job cuts at the label.
An executive at the firm - which was recently taken over by private equity firm Terra Firma for $6.4billion, said: "It's exactly like football.
"A new manager comes in and the agent tells him 'My center forward isn't going to score unless he gets a pay-rise.'
"Tim Clark [Robbie's manager] always uses the media to negotiate. He put a gun to EMI's head with that $160million deal in 2002.
"He announced it before the deal had been formally done.
"EMI were put in an impossible position. It was either that - or lose a high-profile British artist. So they had to pay what everyone knew was a ridiculous amount.
"Robbie then fell out with his song-writing partner Guy Chambers and never did his big tour of the US. And he has only delivered two studio albums since, which is a pretty poor work rate. It's rich of Tim Clark to use a phrase like plantation owner to describe Mr Hands as he's a multi-millionaire Kenyan expat himself."
"Mr Hands want to get a business on its feet. He feels very strongly that acts should be measured on their own merits.
"There's plenty of EMI acts who are still very jealous and unhappy about Robbie getting that deal because it meant less for them.
"Stratospheric amounts have been paid to managers and lawyers too. It's time for a change."
By Owen Williams, Jan 13 2008 © Copyright 2008 - Showbiz Spy
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