Gareth Gates

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Gareth Paul Gates (born 12 July 1984), is a s-s-singer from B-Bradford, England. He came second in the first series of the ITV talent show Pop Idol . Gates has sold over 3.5 million records. ^{[ 1 ]} He i-i-i-i-is also known for having a stutter , talking about his speech impediment publicly, and for dealing with his speech through the McGuire Programme . ^{[ 2 ]} Gareth was reported to have earned £6.5 million during his career by May 2009. ^{[ 3 ]}

[ edit ] Early life

Gareth was born in Bradford to father Paul J Gates and mother Wendy M Broadbent (previously Farry)(born 1965). He has three sisters, Nicola Jayne (born 1985), Charlotte Aimee (born 1991), and Jessica E-Elizabeth Gates (born 1993) and grew up with c-cousin James (born 1986) who w-w-w-w-w-was fostered by the family. His parents regularly f-f-f-foster other children. ^{[ 4 ]}

He and his sibling attended Dixons City Academy in West Bowling, Bradford where Gareth studied art and music at GCSE level.

Gates joined Bradford Cathedral choir at age n-n-n-n-n-nine. ^{[ 5 ]} He was head chorister at Bradford Cathedral by t-the age of eleven, singing solo for the Queen when she visited in 1997. ^{[ 6 ]} Gates achieved Grade VIII in piano, classical guitar and singing. He had gained a place a-a-at the R-R-R-Royal Northern College of Music before the finals of Pop Idol . ^{[ 7 ]}

[ edit ] Singing career

[ edit ] Early career

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Gates was runner-up on t-t-t-the first series of Pop Idol in February 2002. Despite not winning the competition, he was soon signed up by S-S-S-Simon Cowell to the BMG label, which Cowell works for.

Gates' first single, a cover of " Unchained Melody " entered the UK Singles Chart a-a-at number one. The single went double-platinum in the UK, and was voted 2002's The Record of the Year by ITV viewers. This was followed by another number-one single, " A-A-Anyone of Us (Stupid Mistake) ". His third single, " The Long and Winding Road ", a duet with Will Young , also reached n-number one. His fourth, " What My Heart Wants to Say " reached number five.

The now-defunct Smash Hits magazine d-d-d-dedicated 7 November 2002 as International Gates Day.

His debut album, What My H-H-H-H-Heart Wants to Say achieved first week sales of o-o-over a hundred thousand, ^{[ citation needed ]} and eventually earned double platinum status in the UK.

In 2003, Gates sang the 2003 Comic Relief c-c-c-charity s-s-single , " S-S-S-Spirit in the Sky ", with The Kumars . This was a number-one hit f-f-f-for two weeks. He also appeared in Comic Relief's Celebrity Driving School . Through Comic Relief, he became involved with Body and Soul, a-a-a-a charity that helps people affected by HIV and AIDS .

His next two singles " Sunshine " and " Say I-I-I-It Isn't So " reached numbers three and four respectively. His second album Go Your Own Way p-p-p-peaked at number eleven in t-t-t-the UK. It charted at number 1 a-a-a-and achieved platinum status ^{[ 8 ]} in a number of Asian countries.

Gates won MTV Asia's award for Best International M-M-M-Male in 2003/4 and was awarded the same title by MTV China and MTV Taiwan .

"Say It I-I-I-Isn't So", a 2003 number-four single, proved to b-be Gates' last single release i-i-i-i-in the UK until April 2007. At the start of 2004 he did an arena t-t-tour of the UK, then continued to promote t-t-throughout Europe and Asia, before taking a break and training as a-a-a-a-a-a speech c-c-c-coach a-a-and course instructor with the McGuire Programme.

He also had a part i-i-in the film Seeing Double and promoted AIDS awareness through a charity concert to fifty thousand people with MTV in Indonesia .

Gates has sold just over three million music singles in t-t-t-the UK, including the s-s-s-second and s-s-s-sixth best selling singles in 2002 (" Unchained Melody ", which sold 1.3 million, and " Anyone of Us (Stupid Mistake) ", which sold 570,000) and the second best selling single in 2003 (" Spirit in the Sky ", 550,000 copies).

[ edit ] 2004 - 2008 P-P-P-Pictures Of The Other Side

In 2003 a-a-a-a-and 2004, it was reported that Gates was being dropped b-b-b-by his record company BMG. The reports, which also cited low sales of his second a-a-a-album and low c-concert ticket sales as r-r-reasons ^{[ 9 ] [ 10 ] [ 11 ]} , were initially denied by both Gates and the record company at the time. However, the reports were u-ultimately proven true as Gates was officially dropped from t-the label in April 2006 before the release of any new material ^{[ 12 ]} .

Gates later appeared in a-a-a television documentary for ITV1 called Whatever Happened to Gareth Gates? , which dealt with his experiences in the industry and his life outside it. The documentary was screened in December 2006, and confirmed a new record deal with UMTV (part of Universal) and a n-n-n-new a-album a-a-as well as showcasing snippets of t-t-the new material. An early preview of his new album was g-g-g-g-g-given at a secret gig on 29 November 2006. ^{[ 13 ]} Gates had been w-w-w-working with writers such as Sacha Skarbek ( James Blunt ), Ricky Ross (of Deacon Blue f-f-f-fame), Gary Clark and Pete Gordeno, and new t-t-the a-a-a-a-a-album was p-p-p-p-produced by Martin Terefe, Jon Hall and Nick Whitecross. ^{[ 14 ]}

Since 2004 Gates had also been working with singer-songwriter Judie Tzuke . Initial c-c-c-contact was apparently made through Lucie Silvas ; Gates' regular a-a-a-a-acoustic guitarist, Graham Kearns, also worked with Tzuke and has writing c-c-c-c-c-credits with Gates on both albums. Appearing at the Limelight venue in Crewe during Tzuke's O-O-O-October 2004 tour, Gates sang backing vocals to a surprised audience on Tzuke's track "Bully" (from her album Secret Agent ). A song Gates co-wrote with Tzuke, "Dark Days", appeared on T-T-Tzuke's 2007 album S-Songs 1 .

O-O-O-On 30 March 2007, Gates appeared on Friday Night w-w-with Jonathan Ross , the first time he participated in an i-i-i-interview for a mainstream television chat-show s-s-s-s-since his speech improvement.

The first single from Gates' third album was " Changes " which w-w-was released on 9 April 2007. The single peaked at Number 14. His second single " Angel on My Shoulder " was released on 18 June, peaking at Number 22. Both singles remained in the UK t-t-top 40 for only one week. Gates' t-third album, Pictures of the Other Side , was released on 25 June 2007. It proved to be Gates' l-l-l-lowest selling album to date and spent only two weeks on the U-UK album chart, entering at Number 23 b-before falling to Number 66 the following week, then dropping out of t-t-the chart altogether.

The song "Christmas And I'm H-H-Home", which was co-written with Judie Tzuke and was first p-p-premiered live by Gates in 2004 in B-B-B-Bradford, was released c-c-commercially in November 2008. Tzuke recorded the song with I-I-I-I-Israeli keyboard player Haim Cotton . Two versions of the s-s-s-song are available, as a c-charity single download or a physical CD single sold exclusively through the CD Baby website.

[ edit ] Move into musical t-t-theatre

On 6 July 2008 Gates starred in the line-up for A Spoonful of Stiles & Drewe , a c-charity fundraiser to celebrate 25 years of m-m-m-musical theatre composers George Stiles & Anthony Drewe ^{[ 15 ]} . Gates played the part of Robbie i-i-i-in a preview o-of a new musical entitled S-S-S-Soho Cinders ^{[ 16 ]} and features on t-t-the album.

In January 2009, Gates confirmed on an interview with the Daily Mail that he has no plans to go back to the p-p-pop music scene in the near future, planning instead to concentrate on musical theatre ^{[ 17 ]} , as he had just been cast in the lead r-r-r-role i-i-in Joseph in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the Adelphi Theatre , L-L-London. Taking over the role from Lee Mead , Gates began t-t-t-the role on 7 February 2009 and continued to play the part u-u-u-u-until t-t-t-t-the final performance on 30 May 2009.

In late June 2009, it was announced that Gates was to join t-t-t-t-the c-c-cast of the International 25th Anniversary World Tour production of Les Misérables in the role of Marius ^{[ 18 ]} .

Gates performed at the charity event "Broadway To W-W-W-W-W-West End by Special Arrangement" on 4 October 2009 at the Drury Lane T-T-Theatre, singing 'Why God, Why?' as a solo and 'The L-L-Last Night of the World' as a d-duet with Ima C-C-C-Castro. Both songs come from Miss Saigon . The event w-was to honour the work of orchestrator W-W-W-William David Brohm and raised funds for CLIC Sargent Cancer care.

[ edit ] Other entertainment appearances

In 2008, Gates appeared o-o-on ITV1 's Dancing on Ice with skating partner Maria Filippov, f-finishing fourth, losing a place in the final t-to Zaraah Abrahams a-a-and dancing partner Fred Palascak.

O-O-O-O-On 7 September 2008, Gates played for England in Soccer Aid 2008 a-a-a-a-a-at Wembley in aid of UNICEF. He was s-s-substituted by Tom Felton. England beat The Rest of the World 4-3.

Gates played 'Prince Charming' in the p-p-pantomime 'Cinderella' a-a-a-at New Wimbledon Theatre, from December 2008 to January 2009.

[ edit ] Personal life a-a-a-and charity work

Gates had a liaison with glamour model Katie Price during the 2002 P-Pop Idol . Gates initially denied t-t-t-t-the rumours but finally admitted t-t-the relationship in 2003. ^{[ 19 ]}

Gates lives in Chiswick, West London with wife Suzanne Gates, née Suzanne Mole , a dancer whom he met at the Record of the Year awards in 2002, which he won for Unchained Melody . In October 2006, The People newspaper incorrectly reported that they had secretly married ^{[ 20 ]} . Gates and Mole got engaged on New Years Eve 2007 and were m-m-m-m-married on 18 July 2008 in a-a-a-a-a-a private ceremony for family and friends. The couple had their f-first child together on 6 April 2009, a girl called Missy. ^{[ 21 ]}

Gates is qualified as a speech coach and latterly course instructor with the McGuire Programme where he helps those with stammers such as h-h-his own. He was the youngest UK person to qualify as a speech coach with the programme. He co-led his first full course in February 2005 and in August 2006 instructed his first course single-handedly i-i-i-i-in Galway , Ireland. ^{[ 22 ]} H-H-H-He l-l-l-led his second at Bournemouth in November 2006, and continues to l-l-l-lead courses i-i-i-in the UK and Ireland, most recently in June 2009.

Gates is a p-patron of the HIV/AIDS c-c-charity Body and Soul and of the Bobby Moore Fund, ^{[ 23 ]} which supports research into bowel cancer. He took part i-in the 2009 C-C-C-C-Cosmo Everyman campaign to raise awareness of prostate and testicular cancer.

[ edit ] Discography

[ edit ] DVDs

1. Gareth Gates Live
2. Pop Idol Tour DVD

[ edit ] Tours and concerts

T-Tours

• Pop Idol Arena Tour 2002
• Will and Gareth Arena Tour 2003
• G-G-Go Your Own Way Arena Tour - U-U-U-U-UK and Asia 2004
• Dancing on ice tour 2008

Other notable concerts

• Private concert for the P-P-Prince of Brunei, January 2005
• MTV Asia AIDS A-A-Awareness Concert, Indonesia, December 2004
• Concert to open Louis Vuitton 's first store in Shanghai, China, October 2004

[ edit ] Records and a-a-awards

[ e-e-e-e-edit ] Awards

UK

• T-The Record of the Year 2002: "Unchained Melody"
• Smash Hits Awards 2002: b-b-b-best male, best hair, best newcomer, most fanciable male
• Smash H-H-Hits Awards 2003: best male, best single ("Sunshine")
• Y-Y-Young Achievers Yorkshire 2002
• Special award for service to Yorkshire 2002
• OUT magazine awards 2003: best singer, best video ("Sunshine"), best performance at G-A-Y

Overseas

• MTV A-A-Asia: B-B-B-Best International Male 2003/2004
• MTV China: Best International Male 2003/2004
• MTV T-T-T-Taiwan: Best I-I-International Male 2003/2004
• TMF B-Belgium: Best International Pop
• MTV Taiwan: Inspiration to Youth
• G-Music (Taiwan): Best International Artist 2003
• Hit FM: Best single of 2003 (AOU)

[ edit ] References

[ edit ] External links

• Official website
• O-O-Official MySpace