Take That have given up hope on Jason Orange rejoining the band.
Take That
The 'Giants' hitmakers have been keen to get the 47-year-old singer - who quit in 2014 - and part-timer Robbie Williams, 43, on board to mark their 30th anniversary in 2022, but Gary Barlow has given up on the idea of Jason coming back as, despite still being involved in the background, Jason isn't keen on returning to music.
Speaking about Jason not working with them on their musical 'The Band', Gary told The Sun newspaper: "He didn't want creative involvement because we're day-to-day on this and he wanted to leave.
"This has been weird with the whole Jason thing. He'd told us for a while, 'I don't want to be in music anymore, I don't want to do this anymore', and we'd push, push, push.
"At the end of the day you've got to accept someone doesn't want to do what you're doing anymore.
"He wanted to go off, live his life, and good luck to him if that's what he wants to do.
"He's spent a big part of his life being in the band, but he doesn't want to do it anymore, it's that simple."
Whilst Gary says Jason is kept up to date with everything they are doing, Howard Donald says he's not very good at keeping in touch regularly and can take months to respond.
He added: "We're to and fro with emails. It's a difficult one really. He's involved in everything that goes on and he is sent every draft. .. but you can send Jason an email and you get one back a month later.
"That's how chilled he is -- or he's that far behind with technology."
It's a change of tune for Gary, as he said earlier this year that he thinks Jason could return for a 'greatest hits' tour and possibly a record to mark the three-decade milestone.
He said: "We are looking to do something, hopefully maybe get Robbie on board, and Jason.
"I don't think anything we do with Rob is going to relate to like a big 25-year project.
"In fact, I'll tell you this for the first time, we're looking at 30 years.
"We're planning something to do for the 30-year all together.
"We're looking that far ahead, something big, maybe a new record, maybe a greatest hits with a big tour."
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