Robbie Williams has admitted he is seen by many as "a joke" and says he would be working in a Pontin's holiday camp by now if it hadn't been for his song Angels.

The former Take That performer says he is a cabaret artist and "end-of the- pier" entertainer who has somehow managed to convince millions of people to buy his records.

His amazing confession comes ahead of this weekend's huge shows in Scotland.

Robbie, who will headline at Hampden Park, in Glasgow, tomorrow and Saturday, admitted: "I'm well aware of how many different things people perceive me as. To some, to the six million people that keep buying the records, I'm the best thing out there.

"Then there's the whole group of people who think I am a joke - which I am."

He added: "I was brought up on holiday camps. My father is a cabaret artist. That's where I learnt my craft.

"Some people like to pretend they never went to Blackpool on holiday, that they never spent a week in their caravan in Great Yarmouth.

"You know, I did. I'm a bluecoat. I'd be the entertainment manager in Carnarvon Bay if I hadn't written Angels."

He also confessed that his latest album, Rudebox, started off as a joke with his bass player during the recording of his last long player, Intensive Care, with producer Stephen Duffy.

Robbie, who releases the new album on October 23, told Music Week magazine: "To be honest, I made it by mistake.

"I was recording the last album and, while Stephen Duffy was doing overdubs, I started messing about on an Apple Mac. It was just me and JerryMeehan, who is my bass player, and we sort of share the same sense of humour.

"At the time, I was really into a song by The Mitchell Brothers called Routine Check.

"I played it to death and said to Jerry, for a laugh, 'We should do a song like this'. So we made a song called D***head, which is a hidden track on the album."

The workaholic singer has also started work on another record, which he claims has been influenced by the Nineties ecstasy generation.

He said: "The next album's on its way and it's a return to acid house."

But he said he is still trying to win over his critics after selling his "soul to Santa" while in Take That.

Robbie admitted: "I'm ultra competitive.

"When I'm writing there's a whole group of people that hate me and I'm like, 'Right, I want them'.

"It's a battle that, unfortunately, I don't think I can win.

"Being in Take That was more of a blessing than a curse.

"Coming out of Take That, I could hardly turn around and say, 'Well, now I'm going to be Radiohead'.

"I'm not Thom Yorke. I don't know where he went on holiday.

He probably went to museums and burlesque theatre or something, but I went to Tenby."
John Dingwall

Source: dailyrecord.co.uk