Williams signs biggest ever UK record deal

Robbie Williams is set to sign the biggest record deal in British music history, it was reported today.

The star is on the verge of agreeing a contract with EMI Records thought to be worth as much as £80m (€127.4m).

That would dwarf the previous biggest UK deal which was the £42m (€67m) paid to Elton John in 1996.

Williams’ multi-album deal will mark the end of a bidding war between rival record labels.

Sony, BMG and Richard Branson’s V2 label were all said to be interested in signing the 28-year-old star.

He is Britain’s biggest male artist and his last album, Swing When You’re Winning, was a huge hit.

EMI have guided his solo career since he left boy band Take That, but their contract with him expired earlier this year.

Williams, who releases new album Escapology next month, toyed with the idea of setting up his own label at one point.

The new deal is said to include a promise that EMI will help him become a success in the US – a lucrative market he has so far failed to crack.

He has spent the past six months in LA where he began a romance with Rod Stewart’s ex-wife Rachel Hunter.

Williams flew in to Heathrow last night from Canada, where he has been shooting the video for his new single Feel, with actress Daryl Hannah.

He is reported to be meeting EMI executives today to finalise the details.

EMI’s last big-money deal, with US diva Mariah Carey, did not end well.

Carey signed a contract with the company’s subsidiary Virgin Records America, which would have netted her €111.5m for five albums.

But her album Glitter was a commercial flop and EMI pulled the plug on the deal with a €32m pay-off.