“I was like, ‘I’m Gary’, and then Gary went, ‘Oh, he sounds just like me’”
Danny Maines, from Stockport, has spent 20 years working as a Gary Barlow impersonator(Image: Tribute Acts Management)
A Gary Barlow impersonator who has spent the last 12 years performing in a Take That tribute band says he stumbled upon his full-time job by chance – after discovering that he sounded ‘just like’ the frontman.
Danny Maines, from Stockport, has performed thousands of gigs around the world as part of the three-piece Rule The World tribute act, including at a 38,000-strong German festival. With Take That hitting the road again this week, with a spellbinding revival of their popular The Circus tour, Danny says that the love for the band is as strong as ever right now.
A former builder, Danny says he quit his job and took on the role of Gary impersonator after friends and family made the comparisons between his voice and Gary’s. “Obviously I’m from Manchester anyways, so the accent wasn’t far off,” he explains. “For the ‘Gary’ voice, I slow it down a little bit and just put a bit of a twinge on it, that’s how you sound more like him. I just worked on that.
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“I pretty much already sang quite like him anyway, that was just my natural singing voice. I’ve not really had to change much of that, other than learning the phrasings he uses and where he’ll breathe in a song. That’s all I’ve had to really tweak but tone wise, I think I naturally sounded like him.”
In fact, Rule The World have become so renowned that they were even invited on TV back in 2014 to appear alongside Take That themselves. It’s a moment that Danny says he still can’t get over. “In the 20 years of doing this, it’s probably the most nervous I’ve ever been, by a long way,” he recalled to Zingo Bingo.
Take That tribute band Rule The World have even performed for the likes of Coldplay(Image: Tribute Acts Management)
“We had an email from our management company asking if we were available to come down to London and do The Graham Norton Show with Take That on it. They told us to just come as audience members and they’d do a little skit. We all travelled down, sat in the audience and then it sort of happened.
“I was like, ‘I’m Gary’, and then Gary went, ‘Oh, he sounds just like me’. Then they asked me to sing and I realised, ‘oh no, I’ve got to sing a cappella in front of them as well’. My voice was wobbling all over the place, because I was so nervous, but it all went down well. Then that finished, they performed. It must have been about 2014 because ‘These Days’ had just come out. We went backstage and met Gary. He said, ‘Good sports, that was really good’. Howard was like, ‘That was brilliant’. We asked if we could get a picture, and they were like, ‘Yeah, of course’.
“We had a little chat about the album, and had a picture with them all. Then someone tapped us on the shoulder for a picture – and it was Nicole Kidman! That was another surreal experience for us that we really enjoyed. The Take That lads were really supportive and really nice. I’d been doing it for seven years by that point as well, so it was a long time doing it and to finally meet who you’re pretending to be every week, it was good.”
It’s not even the only star-studded appearance the tribute band has had either – having been fortunate enough to get booked onto some high-profile gigs. Speaking of one 2011 show in particular, Danny said: “I’m a big Coldplay fan and we turned up for a booking, we didn’t know what was going on. It was all very hush hush. We were just told, ‘There’s a private party in London, there’s going to be some famous people there. We can’t tell you who it is or what it’s for in case you tell anybody’.
Danny described A Million Love Songs as one of the band’s hardest songs to perform(Image: Tribute Acts Management)
“So we turned up, the first person I saw walk out was Fearne Cotton. We go over and set up, the gig starts, we walk out, and Coldplay are there and half of the Spice Girls are there with them. It was for Coldplay’s management company at the time. We literally start singing ‘Shine’ and Chris Martin’s dancing on the dance floor right in front of us.
“I got to say hello to shake Chris and Will Champion’s [Coldplay drummer] hands. I met Noel Gallagher’s wife because I was a big Oasis fan. Noel was on tour at the time, but his wife came. There were a lot of famous faces there, so it was a bit daunting at the same time. This was around 2011 and it was just after Chris had performed Back for Good with Gary for his 40th birthday. I didn’t ask him to come up and sing with us, and I should have done. I always regret that.”
Outside of performing in front of the stars, Rule The World have also had a number of unique opportunities thrown their way. Later this year, they will headline a nudist festival, whilst have also done some shows where things haven’t exactly gone as intended.
“We did Brannigan’s in Blackpool,” Danny laughs. “Now this would have been completely normal, however, whoever booked the event had the bright idea of putting ‘Miss Blackpool’ on before us. By the time we got out on stage, it was just a room full of lads, and they weren’t happy about us being there. We managed about three songs and we got pulled off stage because it was getting a bit aggressive.”
Take That – made up of Gary Barlow, Mark Owen and Howard Donald – kicked off their The Circus Live stadium tour for 2026 last weekend(Image: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images for Take That)
For Rule The World, they currently appear as a three-piece with demand for the current line-up the most popular. But, on special occasions and when the price is right, they’ll extend the band to feature an extra Jason or Robbie impersonator.
“Predominantly, we’re a three piece – that’s the bread and butter, that’s every weekend,” he explains. “I can’t remember the last time we did a four piece with Jason. We sometimes do a four or five piece with Robbie, too. It doesn’t happen that often, probably 10 to 15 times throughout the year. It all comes down to budget really too because the Robbie’s are very expensive!
“It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, I enjoy it because I don’t have to sing as much! It’s a lot easier for me, and we get on really well with him. He looks just like him and sounds just like him as well.”
Asked what the most difficult Take That songs to perform are, Danny says: “I wouldn’t say there’s anything that we don’t like doing, because obviously we only get to do two 45 minute sets. There’s that many number one hits that they’ve got, it’s just all the bangers all the way through the night basically. There’s nothing in there that you don’t like.
Danny (Centre) says he gets on like a house on fire with his fellow Take That impersonators(Image: Tribute Acts Management)
“Certain ones are a bit harder to sing, like A Million Love Songs. I find that it is a bit harder to sing because it’s just a little bit up in the register. All the nineties stuff’s where the choreography is, they’re hard work and quite demanding, fitness wise.
And when it comes to working with Rule The World’s answer to Mark Owen and Howard Donald, Danny adds: “We get on like a house on fire, like brothers. We’ve been together 12 years, so we literally are like brothers, including the arguments and things like that, it’s all in there. It can be really hard work, but I’m also lucky enough to have come into this business on the back of working on building sites when I was younger.
“No matter how hard it gets with traveling or certain shows here, I know it’s a hell of a lot easier than working on a building site on a December morning.”
You can follow Rule The World on Instagram.