← Great Company with Jamie Laing
Great Company with Jamie Laing
GARETH GATES: I Was Beaten Up For My Stammer. Pop Idol Saved Me.
01:06:32
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- [00:00]
Gareth Gates
I became the boy that wasn't able to speak but could sing. I have a stammer, you know, so I'm finding it hard. My name's. You fight it in the strangest place. Having a stammer is hard. It was hell at school. I was badly bullied. Like, lads would hold me down in the playground and say, let's beat the words out of him, you know? It was a very lonely place.
- [00:25]
Interviewer
You started singing. What did that do for you?
- [00:27]
Gareth Gates
I could finally get out of me what was in me, and. And I could express myself through music. And that changed my life. Hey, I'm Gareth Gates and I'm in great company.
- [00:39]
Interviewer
Mr. Gareth Gates, ladies and gentlemen, you had sold 3.5 million records worldwide by the time you were 18 years old. Simon Kell was right.
- [00:48]
Gareth Gates
I saw pound signs in his eyes when I couldn't speak.
- [00:51]
Interviewer
Katie Price claimed in one of her books that she took your virginity.
- [00:55]
Gareth Gates
That was tough. It just kind of made me extremely wary of people in the industry. This, you know, literally all happened before I was. Before I was 18. If you actually find it hard to talk as it is, you never talk. That's a problem of mine. You know, I don't talk much. I don't, you know, sort of air what's in my mind. You can't help but feel like it's a defect.
- [01:23]
Interviewer
You don't still believe that, do you?
- [01:31]
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- [03:42]
Interviewer
Hey guys, welcome back to Great Company. Now, I am beyond excited for today's guest on the show because it's full of everything. It's got nostalgia, it's got heartache, it's got love. And he's probably one of the kindest people I've ever had the pleasure of interviewing. It's Mr. Gareth Gates. Now, if you watch Pop Idol back in the day, you'll know exactly who Gareth Gates is. Because when I was 13, 12 years old and I was watching the final of Pop Idol, Gareth Gates was the person in the final. What I didn't know that I know now is that he has struggled throughout his life with a speech impediment. And the only time that he doesn't really stutter or stammer is when he is singing. So we hear about a story. We hear about what it was like growing up feeling different, feeling like an outsider doing Pop Idol and life since then. Also within our show today we have Chris, who's also going to join the show. He's a speech therapist.
- [04:36]
Gareth Gates
Now.
- [04:36]
Interviewer
Gareth feels much more comfortable when Chris is in the room. We have a camera on him and a mic on him. So when you see and hear Chris, you'll know exactly who he is. He himself also has a speech impediment and it's incredible to see this relationship between the two of them. Now, before we start the show, I would just like to ask you one thing, like I always do, if you could please subscribe to our show and join the amazing community of followers and subscribers that are already with us. It keeps allowing us to make a better show, keeps delivering on the guests that you want and keep making the show bigger and better every single day. If you can do that one thing for us. Thank you so much. Enjoy this beautiful episode of Great Company with Gareth Gates. Gareth, firstly, I said to you before, I'm so excited for this.
- [05:18]
Gareth Gates
As am I, mate.
- [05:20]
Interviewer
We also Have Chris in the room and perhaps rather me explaining who Chris is. Who's Chris?
- [05:25]
Gareth Gates
Chris is my speech coach. We both share the affliction of stammering, and we're on the same speech therapy program. And so every time I have an interview like this, whether it be on a live television program or radio or a podcast like this, I have him around. He isn't a sort of trained speech therapist. He's more of a mentor. We share the same affliction, and he will throw things at me if I don't speak properly, so I'll be dodging them all the way through.
- [06:03]
Interviewer
And Chris, you're on mic, so you can say something, can't you, Chris?
- [06:06]
Chris (Speech Coach)
I can say anything I can abuse.
- [06:11]
Interviewer
What is your relationship like with Chris? Just so I understand that a little bit more, because I met Chris, and Chris explained to me that he also has a stammer.
- [06:19]
Gareth Gates
Yeah, having a stammer is hard. It's an affliction I've suffered with my whole life. As a kid, it was hell at school. It was traumatic. Answering a register was, you know, something that I feared every single day. Reading aloud in class was. Was hard work. I actually once peed myself in class because I couldn't ask the teacher to go to the toilet. And that, you know, can. Can you imagine that as a. As. As a child? That. Mortifying. And so it's. It was very lonely place as a kid. I didn't know anybody else who had a stammer. And, you know, I felt like I was the only person going through this. And then some 10 years after that, I found a program called the Maguire Program, and it's filled with people who stammer, basically, and it's run by people who share that same affliction. So we all were all in it together. And, yeah, ever since then, I've been using this new way of speaking, brand new way of breathing, and more importantly, a new way of tackling the mindsets that come with having a stammer, which is avoidance. I used to avoid situations like this. Costs. You know, anytime I was asked to do an interview on tv, I'd say no. But it's funny, it wasn't until you start to say yes and push yourself into those fearful situations that things began to change and that fear begins to kind of melt away a little bit.
- [08:01]
Interviewer
Do you know they always say that exposure is the best form of therapy? And we don't do that, because if you have a fear of spiders, you don't go near spiders.
- [08:09]
Chris (Speech Coach)
Right.
- [08:09]
Interviewer
Fear of water, you don't go near water. Fear of speaking. You don't want to speak. Right, but you have to almost approach those places and force yourself into them to kind of get over them. Yeah.
- [08:18]
Gareth Gates
I mean, Pop idol, you know, 24 years ago, I didn't want to do Pop Idol. My mum saw an advert in the local newspaper saying, are you the next Robbie Williams? Are you the next Kylie Minogue? And are you the next Idol? And I kind of viewed an idol as the image of perfection, a person you aspire to be, you know, and I just wasn't that. I wasn't perfect at all. In fact, I was defected. You know, I couldn't speak. And, yes, I didn't want to enter that. That competition at all. But with a bit of sort of gentle persuasion from my mum, I did. And you're. You're absolutely right. It wasn't until I myself to do those interviews and those, you know, live things on TV that I began, you know, to sort of get a grip of it. It was. It was awful, and it was hell at the time because you don't want to be exposed as being different or, you know, having this problem. But, you know, you're. You're absolutely right. It wasn't until I faced that that I began to get a bit of a hold on it.
- [09:27]
Interviewer
Can I be honest with you? I find it so hard that you say it's like, defected. You don't. You don't still believe that, do you?
- [09:35]
Gareth Gates
I. It's. It's tough when you go through the things that I went through as a kid. You know, I was badly bullied. Like, lads would hold me down in the. In the playground and say, let's beat the words out of him. You know, that, that. That pain and that hurt and that trauma still stays with me now. And it's like you. You can't help but feel like it's a defect. I fully embrace it now because, you know, it's part of me. And I've learned that being different isn't such a bad thing. But when you've been through that hell, then it's hard to not have a negative association with it, I guess.
- [10:23]
Chris (Speech Coach)
Gareth, I didn't want to interrupt you in mid flow, but that's not 100%.
- [10:32]
Gareth Gates
Okay, cool.
- [10:34]
Chris (Speech Coach)
You can speak much better than that.
- [10:37]
Gareth Gates
Okay, cool.
- [10:38]
Interviewer
Why does it make you feel more comfortable with Chris around?
- [10:41]
Gareth Gates
Believe me, without Chris here, my speech wouldn't be nearly as fluent or as. Or as eloquent as.
- [10:49]
Chris (Speech Coach)
I wasn't happy with that either. Come on, get it right.
- [10:53]
Gareth Gates
As fluent or as, eh, eloquent as what it is now. And just having him here pulling me up like he just did is exactly what I need because I often start off strong in these. In these chats.
- [11:07]
Interviewer
Yeah.
- [11:08]
Gareth Gates
But then everything kind of spirals because I talk too fast and then I start to stumble over my words.
- [11:15]
Interviewer
But can you explain this to me? And also with Chris as well, you can jump in because. And I want to tread carefully here, the way Chris, you sort of talk to Gareth would be. It's almost like a sort of command in a way. And is that how it has to. How the relationship has to happen in order to feel calmer?
- [11:30]
Chris (Speech Coach)
Yeah. It's not immediately obvious, but I'm a little bit older than Gareth. I think that gives me a little bit of an advantage to be slightly authoritarian. That's not in my nature. But for me, the symbiosis of it is based on that, that I'm. I feel we're on the same program, we know how to use the same techniques, which I just did then, and I think that's how it works for me. That's the only way I can do it.
- [12:05]
Interviewer
Wow. And talk me through the breathing technique, Aerith, because I can see that when you're doing your breathing. Right. What is that technique?
- [12:12]
Gareth Gates
It's retraining your costal diaphragm. Every time you speak, you breathe and then you speak and then you release the air that you don't use. And then we pause again. So it's pause, breathe, speak, release. And our diaphragm, as a stammerer, has been kind of trained over the years to freeze in fearful situations. That's where you get, you know, and it's very. It's stuck. And so we're now retraining that to have its sort of full range of motion, as it will.
- [12:46]
Interviewer
Can I just say, this is so powerful. It truly is. Like, I just want to be like, it's really powerful always. Maybe because my emotions are high anyway, but it makes me emotional for some whatever reason. I recently watched the movie, I swear.
- [12:58]
Gareth Gates
Yeah. Yes, I. I also watched it and I was extremely moved.
- [13:02]
Interviewer
It is phenomenal. Yes, it is. So John Davidson. John Davidson has Tourette's, and it's about his life and how he grew up and how tough it was growing up because no one understood what he was going through. And with Tourette's, if anyone doesn't know what it is, it's where you have sort of a sudden outburst of sort of ticks or you say things that you shouldn't probably say in public and you can't control it. It's like trying to sneeze but holding the sneeze in. Right?
- [13:25]
Gareth Gates
Yes.
- [13:25]
Interviewer
And watching that, I just felt so sorry for someone who. Who was going through something so horrendous and no one understands it and actually it's just crap. But raising awareness to these things is so important because there are so many people out there who have stammers who are probably listening to this right now and thinking, God, maybe one day I can do this. I can achieve what you've achieved.
- [13:46]
Gareth Gates
Yeah. I. Proudest moments of my career and my life is that I heighten the awareness of stammering with Pop Idol, you know, and that exposure. People still now come up to me stammers and say, you know, thank you for being so open about it, talking about it. You know, at school when I was going through it, I felt very, very lonely. If only there was a person in the public eye that I could go, well, actually, I'm like them. That would just made things much eas because I was the only person in my school that had a stammer. So nobody knew what it was. And it was like, you're just a. You're just a freak or you're. Are you different? Are you weird? You know, so you. You're absolutely right. Heightening awareness, actually, and I. I haven't really spoke about it yet because it's a bit too early, but I've actually written a musical called Speechless, which is about this. And we. We had a workshop two weeks ago of the first half of it. We've only written the first half. We're right in the. The next half this year, and then we've penciled in a theater in the West End for next year. And it's very, very, very powerful. I can't sort of give too much away. But that's about, again, you know, heightening the awareness and getting that message out there. Not even to people that, you know, have the same affliction as me, to anybody who has anything that, you know, they feel holds. Holds them back. You don't have to accept, you know, everything you're given in life, you can, you know, you can change and you can be any. Anything you want to be, you know, and I think that's the message where I'm trying sort of bang on my drum.
- [15:34]
Interviewer
Can I ask, does it. You said that your stomach gets worse during interviews like this or like on news, whatever. Is that. Because it's. It's an anxiety thing, not. It's not a nervous thing, but it becomes worse when nerves kick in.
- [15:45]
Gareth Gates
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. You know, in. In more pressurized situations, things become a bit. A bit harder. But I think also I start off extremely well in interviews because Chris is very firm. But then as I get talking, you know, I've got a lot to say. Yeah. And. And I'm. And I'm absolutely fluent of beer, but sometimes it just gets stuck.
- [16:11]
Interviewer
That's interesting, because what you want to do is you want to get your story out and you. And as we talk and when we're passionate about something, like I'm doing right now, our speech gets quicker. Yes, it gets faster. You get more excited.
- [16:20]
Gareth Gates
Yeah.
- [16:20]
Interviewer
But you have to control it the whole time, because if you don't control it, then you start to stammer too much.
- [16:25]
Gareth Gates
Yes. And then it's a spiral. Then as soon as I start stammering, just everything starts to unravel, and that's when Chris steps in. Get airtime.
- [16:37]
Chris (Speech Coach)
I'd actually quite like you to regroup.
- [16:41]
Gareth Gates
Okay.
- [16:41]
Chris (Speech Coach)
20 seconds. Just breathe a bit and slow right down. That'd be good. Yeah.
- [16:47]
Gareth Gates
Good.
- [16:48]
Chris (Speech Coach)
You all right?
- [16:49]
Gareth Gates
Yeah.
- [16:49]
Interviewer
I just want to take you back to school times. Right. When did your stammer start? When did you notice it?
- [16:56]
Gareth Gates
For as long as I can remember. My. My dad had a stammer, actually, when. When he was young. He was one of the very, very fortunate ones that grew out of it. I haven't. My. My middle sister, Charlotte, has a stammeter, too. Yeah. You know, it was tough at school. It was. It was some of the hardest, hardest years of my life. But it's funny, it's made me the person I am now. It's made me very, very, very resilient. I can handle a lot more pressure and fear of stuff without it, you know, kind of breaking me. Yeah. And. And although it was tough at the time, in a sort of weird sort of way, I'm quite thankful that I went through that.
- [17:44]
Interviewer
This is in Bradford, right?
- [17:45]
Gareth Gates
Yes. Yeah.
- [17:46]
Interviewer
So it was in Bradford, where you grew up, and just. Just talk me through those moments when you would go to school, because I could imagine. Kids are cruel, right? What kind of things were happening in the school?
- [17:57]
Gareth Gates
It was, you know, a daily anxiety would set in from, you know, from the morning, from when the teacher would read out the register, and you have to say, yes, Miss. And I. And I literally wasn't able to. It was. We call it the Creeping Death, where, you know. You know, the. There's two more people before your name is going to be read out. There's one more person and then that anxiety creeps in and creeps in and the fear starts to rise. And then I'd be like struggle saying yes miss. And then the classroom would laugh. It's exactly the same with reading. You have to go along and read a sentence or paragraph from whatever book we're studying. And you know, you see that it's four people away. It's three people away. Oh God. You know, and, and the anxiety. And then yeah, we, it, it was awful. And we all know what kids are like, you know, I don't blame those kids because they were kids, you know,
- [19:04]
Interviewer
and so you were also a kid. So it's hard to.
- [19:06]
Gareth Gates
Yeah, yeah. But you know, again, it goes back to what I was saying earlier. It's like there was, there was nobody else in school that had a stammer. There was nobody in the public eye. I could say I'm like them. So you know, we were all kind of blind. And yeah, I, I forgive them for laughing and, and I forgive people on a day to day basis when they laugh whenever I'm in a restaurant, for instance. Now one of the things that was stammers go through. We, we say, we avoid words that we know that we're going to find hard and we replace them with words that we know that are easier. The hardest thing for a stammer to say is their name because it's the first thing you have to tell somebody when you first meet them. Hey, you know, you shake some as aunt you supposed to tell them your name. You know, as a kid I told people that my name was something else. You know, my middle name's Paul, so I'd call myself Paul or John or whatever, you know. You know. And can you imagine how soul destroying that? Yeah, that is your, your name is your identity. It's who you are. But it's, it's the hardest thing for a stammer to say. I'm sure there was thousands of people when I went on TV for the first time and you know, there was like, wait a minute, his name's not Gareth, it's Paul or John. You know, I'm sure there are lots of people that was extremely confused, but. Yeah.
- [20:37]
Interviewer
Why is it that? Because it's the pressure of saying, I'm just trying to understand that.
- [20:41]
Gareth Gates
It's, there's, there's only one answer to that question, isn't there? Whereas a stammerer will avoid words like for instance, you want to odd. Try to think of an example.
- [21:01]
Interviewer
But I Get it? I get it with the name. Because there's only one answer.
- [21:10]
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- [21:39]
Gareth Gates
so good, so good, so good.
- [21:42]
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- [23:25]
Interviewer
You joined the choir at nine years old, wasn't it?
- [23:29]
Gareth Gates
Yes.
- [23:29]
Interviewer
Bradford Choir.
- [23:30]
Gareth Gates
Yep.
- [23:31]
Interviewer
And you started singing.
- [23:32]
Gareth Gates
Yes.
- [23:33]
Interviewer
What did, what did that do for you? What did that make you feel when you started singing?
- [23:38]
Gareth Gates
Well, I hadn't been able to speak at all as a kid. And then at the age of eight at all. Yeah. Well, I just find it very hard. I'd be really sort of evidently struggling, you know, to everybody around me. You know, I, I remember being four or five years old and just not being able to speak and, you know, the impact that having of, you know, everybody, everybody laughing or mocking. You know, I, I have those early memories. Wow.
- [24:11]
Interviewer
Even as early as four?
- [24:13]
Gareth Gates
Yeah. Yeah.
- [24:13]
Interviewer
Isn't it crazy? How that sticks with you. Yeah, we, we think four year olds, like just, we think, oh, they're just four year olds, they can't remember that. They're never gonna remember. But you remember those moments so well. Like it was yesterday almost.
- [24:23]
Gareth Gates
Yeah. And it's strange, you can't really else about those times, but you remember the, you know, the hard times. But at the age of eight, actually before I joined the Braf Cathedral, my first school were putting on a production of Joseph and his Amazing Technical Dreamcool. I was a very shy young boy that couldn't speak. And so, you know, I wasn't going to be attending those auditions, you know, but my friends went along and they sort of encourage me to go along. And I was just asked to sing on the spot by the music teacher. And I sang. And for the first time kind of music came flooding out my mouth, my lips, my tongue was intense and I could finally get out of me what was in me. And, and I could express myself through music. And that, that changed my life. I remember that first day, eight years old, like just. We just changed everything. Everything just poured out of me.
- [25:23]
Interviewer
What were you singing?
- [25:24]
Gareth Gates
Any Dream Will do from Joseph. And I just, and I just sang and that changed my world. I, I then knew from then on, you know, that my. All my energy had to be put into music. And that's when I learned to play the piano, the guitar, the drums. And I spent hours on my instruments and singing because that was the only way I could get out of me what was in me. And, and that kind of changed everything. You know, music saved me because, you know, I don't know what I'd be doing without it. You know, I had an outlet at last. What do you think it was?
- [25:59]
Interviewer
What do you think it is about the music? Why do you think singing made you relax? Made you not feel tense in your tongue?
- [26:05]
Gareth Gates
I'm. I don't know. I mean, I, there's. I don't know. I think, you know, every time I sing, I adopt a different Persona. I'm not me, I, you know, I'm wearing a mask. You know, I've done lots of big western shows. I've done Les Mis, I've been Joseph, you know, Footloose, Legally Blonde. You know, all those shows have big kind of lots, lots of dialogue where you have to speak and an act and it's, and it's strange. Once I've learned a script and I'm acting, I'm walking in a different way, breathing in a different way, often in a different Accent, you know, I'm not me. I'm not Gareth. I'm Gareth Gates the singer, or I'm whatever role I'm playing in, in those shows. And it's. It's a crazy thing in the mind that I just. Your stammer goes, yeah, yeah, Gareth, that is just. That's crazy. It is crazy. It's crazy.
- [27:09]
Interviewer
I'm trying. I'm trying in my own body and head to understand why that happens.
- [27:13]
Gareth Gates
Yeah.
- [27:13]
Interviewer
Because that's a magical thing.
- [27:15]
Gareth Gates
Yes.
- [27:15]
Interviewer
But also an upsetting thing, because it's when. When you're not being yourself, that's the moment your stammer sort of softens a little.
- [27:21]
Gareth Gates
Yeah. I mean, it is upsetting that I can't be like that when I'm just being me. But, you know, I don't see it like that. I, I see as that that kind of saved me.
- [27:31]
Interviewer
Yeah.
- [27:32]
Gareth Gates
That was my lifeline, and that's what I kind of corrupted onto, held onto. And I was like, I'm gonna put everything into this.
- [27:39]
Interviewer
Have you ever met any of your bullies again? Have you ever seen them or spoken to them?
- [27:46]
Gareth Gates
Well, after Pop Idol, I was doing my A levels at the time, so I was in my second year of A levels.
- [27:55]
Interviewer
This is after Pop Idol?
- [27:57]
Gareth Gates
Yeah. Well, so the, the live shows for Pop Idol started at the end of 2001, you know, and. And it was December, I think, when the live shows actually started. So I'd already started my last year of A levels, you know, and.
- [28:16]
Interviewer
So young.
- [28:17]
Gareth Gates
Yes. And I was. I was at the school I'd been at since the age of 11, so there was lots of bullies there that, you know, kind of witnessed that and saw that. And then in the February or something, you know, it was still part of the sort of academic year. You know, I went back to the school to, you know, to give us. To perform an assembly or something like that.
- [28:44]
Interviewer
Yeah.
- [28:45]
Gareth Gates
And, yeah, there were quite a few of the bullies that kind of walked past, like, tail between the legs. What was that? Yeah, no, but I, I, I bet that felt unbelievable. Yeah. And why it felt nice was because, you know, up until Pop Idol, having a stammer was a very negative thing in my life. Because of those people. They made it a negative thing. But for the first time on Pop Idol, you know, having a stammer actually made me stand out from the crowd. And in a weird way, yeah, it was a positive thing. You know, I became the boy that wasn't able to speak but could sing. And having a stammer got Me noticed for the right reasons, whereas in the past it was for the wrong reasons. And I was like, this is crazy. You know, so seeing those people that made me feel that way as a kid, you know, was actually quite nice. Can we.
- [29:52]
Interviewer
Can we talk about Pop Idol?
- [29:54]
Gareth Gates
Yeah, Please. Oh, my.
- [29:55]
Chris (Speech Coach)
Gareth. Before you do, will you do something for me?
- [29:59]
Gareth Gates
Yes.
- [30:00]
Chris (Speech Coach)
Guess what I'm going to ask.
- [30:03]
Gareth Gates
Slow down, take a few breaths.
- [30:06]
Chris (Speech Coach)
You're really quite quick and tripping up here and there. So. Yeah. Would be really just to. I know when you're passionate, of course, that's the price we pay. We have to distance ourselves from the passion, the enthusiasm and control everything.
- [30:27]
Interviewer
But I can. But it's interesting you said it, because I can still feel the passion, right?
- [30:30]
Gareth Gates
Yes.
- [30:30]
Interviewer
Which is kind of amazing.
- [30:32]
Gareth Gates
Yes.
- [30:33]
Interviewer
Pop Idol. So when I was. I went to a boarding school and I say this every time I went to. But it's like the audience like. Yes, we know. But every Saturday night, I think it was. So I must have been. I must have been third 12.
- [30:48]
Gareth Gates
Yes.
- [30:49]
Interviewer
And every Saturday night we would go and watch it as you'd been your boarding house and you go watch and we'd watch part final and it was like the greatest thing.
- [31:00]
Gareth Gates
Who did you vote for? Here we go. Next question.
- [31:06]
Interviewer
I was allowed to vote because I was at boarding school, but I remember just being an AWE review and it was like the most exciting. It was the first singing competition for me. It was like blowing my mind that this was like something we could watch on tv. But you were in it, you experienced it, and it was the height. There was no real social media. It was the height of, like, paparazzi and media and glitz and glamour and.
- [31:29]
Gareth Gates
Oh, my God.
- [31:29]
Interviewer
What was it like for you, that whole process?
- [31:32]
Gareth Gates
It was crazy. I look back on that time with only kind of fond memories. You do.
- [31:38]
Interviewer
So it was all amazing, wasn't it?
- [31:39]
Gareth Gates
Yeah, yeah. It was tough at times, of course, but, you know, Pop Idol was the first of its kind, well before X Factor and the likes and so. So nobody really knew what it was or what it was to become or how it would change people's lives. You know, all the shows that came after that, you know, had seen how it had, you know, exploded me and Will and how we had this career now and we sold lots of records and toured and, you know, and was, you know, all over the newspapers and the magazines. So people who did it afterwards had a bit of a head start because they knew exactly what they were getting in. Into, whereas, you know, we went in blind it was, it was the first of its kind. And, you know, I'm, I'm fortunate I was young because you're 17. Yeah. I was a boy.
- [32:30]
Interviewer
That's a baby.
- [32:31]
Gareth Gates
Yeah. And, you know, to, to, to experience that as a boy and to be able to do exactly what you love every day and to be able to have whatever you want and, you know, live this, you know, kind of gorgeous life. It was, yeah, it was amazing.
- [32:49]
Interviewer
What was the audition process like?
- [32:52]
Gareth Gates
That was tough. You know, I genuinely walked into that room thinking they were gonna go, you can't speak, you aren't an idol. You know, I'd watched people like, people like Robbie Williams who has the gift of the gab and his show is as that, as is the music. And so I thought, well, I have them, I can sing, I've trained in music my whole life, I can do that side of things. But the other, there's, there's, there's no chance. And I was more concerned about speaking in the audition than actually singing. You know, I wasn't even thinking about the performance. But when they said, yeah, you're through to the live finals, I was like, what? That just. Yeah, I was, I was as, as surprised as anybody else, I think.
- [33:46]
Interviewer
We had Will Young on the podcast.
- [33:48]
Gareth Gates
Yes.
- [33:48]
Interviewer
He's such a nice guy.
- [33:49]
Gareth Gates
Oh my God, he's the, he's the best guy as well.
- [33:54]
Interviewer
And apparently you guys still chat even.
- [33:55]
Gareth Gates
Yeah, yeah, yeah, we, we went through a lot together. You know, we was together at the start of that process and the end and then we toured together. We had a number one together in recently I had a message from Will saying, well, basically he's moved out to Wiltshire now. And he texted me saying, have you got a place in this tiny little village in Wiltshire? And I was like, yes, I have a two bed apartment there that I bought because it's opposite the school that my daughter goes to. So I literally bought it for when I'm not on the road. You know, I can sort of gravitate to that, see, you know, her, spend time with her, etc. He said, I've literally just bought a place in the exact same village. That's absolutely mad. The smallest village in Wiltshire and you know, both kind of pop out of contestants are there.
- [34:58]
Interviewer
You're like kindred souls. Like, what is that? That's so bizarre that you find. Yeah, the same place. He did say though, on the podcast, he said Pop Idol was a blessing and a curse because lots of people criticized him on the show. What was your experience of that?
- [35:13]
Gareth Gates
I, I Think that that show was actually made for somebody like me. You know, I. I think I'm guilty for creating the kind of story led contestants. What I mean by that is that, you know, all the shows after that, they weren't, you know, sort of only interested in your talent. It was the story that you came with. You know, your. Your, you know, try to think of an example.
- [35:53]
Interviewer
It is. It's your background, it's the story. It's everything. It's not just the. It's not just the talent. It's the whole package of, like, where you've come from, where you are now, everything. Right?
- [36:05]
Gareth Gates
Yeah. And I genuinely think that if it wasn't for Pop Idol or that kind of format of TV show, then I'd have found it very, very hard to get into the industry because of my stammer. You know, I wouldn't have been able to. The promotion, you know, the interviews on the live television shows or on the radio, you know, I'd have really struggle with that. I had the talent, but I didn't have the kind of personality that you need as. As. As an artist for fans, you know, to kind of latch onto. But you.
- [36:41]
Interviewer
You do have the personality. That's the thing. And that must be the trickiest thing for you had the personality where you're in your head, you know, you've got the personality. You just can't get it out because you have the stammer.
- [36:50]
Gareth Gates
Yes. That's the most frustrating thing, you know, in my. In my life. I want people to see me, you know, and they can't at times. But Pop Idol was perfect for me because it showed my story. You know, people kind of labeled me that boy that can't speak but concerned.
- [37:12]
Interviewer
That's so incredible.
- [37:13]
Gareth Gates
Yeah. So for me, you know, that show was. Was made for me. Yeah.
- [37:21]
Interviewer
Simon Cowell kind of took you under his wing from the start. In lots of ways, he just saw you as his boy. And he saw. I think Simon Cowell must have seen it. It was the first time Simon Cowell was on TV as well.
- [37:32]
Gareth Gates
Yes, he was.
- [37:32]
Interviewer
The first time he was a judge, right?
- [37:34]
Gareth Gates
Yeah, that's right. And I think he, you know, he's a. He's a God in terms of knowing what will sell, sell, and absolutely sure that he, you know, heard me speak and then heard me sing and thought, wow, we can, you know, we can absolutely market this.
- [37:56]
Interviewer
This is.
- [37:56]
Gareth Gates
Yeah.
- [38:00]
Interviewer
Oh, he did.
- [38:02]
Gareth Gates
I saw pound signs in his eyes when I couldn't speak.
- [38:06]
Interviewer
Yeah. Wait, this guy's got a stammer. Here we go, guys.
- [38:10]
Gareth Gates
Let's get him in. Exactly. How do you.
- [38:14]
Interviewer
How do you. Because that showbox, it was huge. It, like, it. I mean, it took over everything. It was a movement right then that comes with a lot of fame at such a young age. 17 years old. 17 years old. I'm, like, having my first Bacardi Breezer. Like, I'm not. I'm not, like. You know what I mean? I'm just experiencing maybe having a cigarette, you know, whatever it is. How did you handle fame when it hits like that? So. And so quickly.
- [38:43]
Gareth Gates
Yeah.
- [38:43]
Interviewer
And at such scale?
- [38:45]
Gareth Gates
I think my age actually helped because it was just all fun for me. It was naive. Yes. Yeah. Because you didn't really think about the business end of it or the. You. You. You're just like, wow, this is. This is really incredible. And I just enjoyed it. It was tough at times, you know, and they ask a lot of you, but when you're having the success that, you know, that I had, I had number one after number one after number one, and then it's, you know, it becomes, you know, I could then start to support my family and, you know, give them the lifestyle that I had and, you know, all those sort of lovely things you can do, you know, as a result of being successful was. I enjoyed that side of things.
- [39:44]
Chris (Speech Coach)
I'd like to stop you, Gareth. Apologies, Jamie, for.
- [39:47]
Interviewer
This is. Okay. Don't worry.
- [39:48]
Chris (Speech Coach)
My consistent interruptions.
- [39:49]
Interviewer
You can keep interrupting.
- [39:50]
Gareth Gates
I don't mind one minute.
- [39:51]
Chris (Speech Coach)
You know, Gareth, how you said that you start well and then you speed up. Shall we start? Regroup and start?
- [40:02]
Gareth Gates
Cool. I'm happy you jumped in.
- [40:04]
Chris (Speech Coach)
Yeah. Great. Thanks.
- [40:06]
Interviewer
You had sold 3.5 million records worldwide by the time you were 18 years old. Simon Cowell was right.
- [40:17]
Gareth Gates
That's right. That's a lot of records. Yeah. It was great. I was thankful for Simon. You know, he saw that in me. He. You know, as you said earlier on, I was. I was his. His boy. I heard a story from a person who was in the room on my first audition, and they said that when I left, he raised his hands and said, we've found our pop idol. You know, from the. From that early on, he just, you know, sort of knew, you know, that was, you know, exactly what. Exactly what they were looking for.
- [41:00]
Interviewer
But you, because you had the voice, you had the look, you had the story, you. You had. You had the whole package. And that's why those shows are so brilliant, because, as you said, which is upsetting is you don't think you would have made it into the industry unless it was for a show like that. So what those shows highlight are people who are incredibly talented, who deserve to have a moment.
- [41:20]
Gareth Gates
Yes.
- [41:20]
Interviewer
You know, have that success that they deserve. And that was it for you there.
- [41:24]
Gareth Gates
Yeah. And it's, and it's happened over and over again with many artists, you know, in those, in those shows, you know, for instance, Susan Boyle, for instance, you know, would have never have, you know, had the success that she had on that. Sure. You know, kind of worldwide, you know, that's the example.
- [41:46]
Interviewer
Can I ask you a big question? When you're standing there in the final and I'm watching it, 12 years old in my boarding house, and you're there and you're standing next to Will Young. Right. And the names are announced, I'm thinking it's going to be you winning it. Are you thinking it's going to be you as well?
- [42:07]
Gareth Gates
No, I, no, no.
- [42:09]
Interviewer
Because when Will's name was announced, I was like, sorry, what's happened here?
- [42:14]
Gareth Gates
Yeah, no, I, I, you know, I certainly didn't expect and, you know, anything. Yeah, I think they were, I was certainly surrounded by people like, you know, this is in the bag. You've got this. But, you know, I didn't choose to believe that. I still then thought, you know, I'm not an idol. I'm not the image of perfection. I'm not that person. And, hey, if I'd have lost to anybody but Will, I'd have been fuming. But, you know, he's a talent and he's a lovely man and. Yeah.
- [42:55]
Interviewer
And shout out to Will, by the way, who Will. If you're listening to this, and I'm. I wanted you to win as well.
- [43:01]
Gareth Gates
I knew it.
- [43:06]
Interviewer
With fame and things like that, what happens, especially at a young age, that comes with just everything. Like, it comes with, you know, as soon as you finished Popeye, you got flown to Miami or Florida to record the album or record Unchained Melody. Isn't that right?
- [43:19]
Gareth Gates
Yeah. So literally the next day, I mean, you know, that, that week of the final, both me and Will, we signed our album deal, you know, before the final actually happened. So we knew we were going to be artists and make a record.
- [43:33]
Interviewer
Ken, can I be really personal and you don't have to answer. When you're that young, you're 17, 18 years old, and you sign a record deal, what does that record deal look like?
- [43:40]
Gareth Gates
Yeah, big. It was, it was, I can't remember the exact figures, but if, you know. But it was, it was something like half a Million pound. And, you know, and in those days, you know, that was. That was big. You know, someone like me, you know, that would come from very, very little. That was. That was big. That was like life changing, you know, and then everything else that come off the back of it, you know, I had big sponsorship deals, you know, and then the more you sell and then, you know, all those big, big tours in massive arenas, you know, I was. I was earning a lot of money, you know, and to be able to, as I said earlier, you know, to then take care of your family, you know, the first house I bought was a house for my parents and my sisters, who were very, very young at the time, you know, to be able to do that and to be able to give back to them who'd, you know, invested everything into me, was the nicest feeling ever.
- [44:43]
Interviewer
You become super famous, you're singing, you're touring. That also comes with, like, I imagine, like, a lot of female attention.
- [44:52]
Gareth Gates
Yeah, it was great. It was. It was fun. You know, just imagine being a young boy and having, you know, everybody. Yeah. You know, sort of at your feet. It was great, you know, but more so, you know, I wasn't able to chat up girls.
- [45:12]
Interviewer
This is what I want to understand, right?
- [45:13]
Gareth Gates
It was my worst nightmare. So to not have to chat up girls and put the work in, it's brilliant
- [45:23]
Interviewer
because I. That's what I. You know, that's what. When, you know, growing up, my teens, Right. Especially when I was younger, when I hit the age of, like, 14 years old, it was all about dating. I just wanted to go to, like, meet girls and go to the other schools and hang out and flirt and do all things I'd seen on tv. And it was just the most exciting time. Right. But I imagine for you growing up, that was a really scary time because you couldn't. Yeah, it was flirt or chat or date or do anything because you were nervous about talking.
- [45:53]
Gareth Gates
Yeah. And, you know, I avoided it at all costs. You know, being able to sing and being so good at music at school gave me some respect, you know, and some attention from girls then. But, yeah, I was debilitatingly shy. It was hard, you know, so fame and that exposure on the television, you know, really, really helped my love life, too, which is good.
- [46:29]
Interviewer
I have to mention this, and
- [46:34]
Gareth Gates
we
- [46:35]
Interviewer
can pass over it quickly.
- [46:36]
Gareth Gates
My stammer's gonna become very bad now, and I'm not gonna get a word out.
- [46:42]
Interviewer
Chris can ask for me.
- [46:44]
Chris (Speech Coach)
You're on your own, Gareth.
- [46:49]
Interviewer
Katie Price.
- [46:49]
Gareth Gates
Yes.
- [46:51]
Interviewer
Katie Price claimed in one of her books that, you know, she took your virginity.
- [46:57]
Gareth Gates
No comment. Oh, yeah. Hey, I was.
- [47:01]
Interviewer
Is there truth in that or.
- [47:04]
Gareth Gates
I'll just say I was extremely inexperienced with a girl that was extremely experienced. So, yeah, I could see why she thought that.
- [47:14]
Interviewer
Yeah. Yeah, it's a very good answer.
- [47:17]
Gareth Gates
Yeah.
- [47:19]
Interviewer
But you did, but you did. And I'll go over this very quickly. It's just important to mention. Right. You said that when that whole happened and she spoke about that, you felt that people almost didn't take you seriously afterwards in a way.
- [47:31]
Gareth Gates
No, it was, it was. I, I haven't ever spoke about relationships. You know, I, you know, I believe that relationships are between two people and I couldn't believe that somebody else was selling stories about, you know, very, very intimate details. You know, I, and, and I was shocked and I learned a lot about that, you know, about people and about the industry and about trust, I guess, you know, I would have never have ever have done that to her or to anybody else, you know, and so it was, yeah, it was a real sort of learning curve for me.
- [48:16]
Interviewer
Well said. That is so true. Because they are. It doesn't matter what the situation is. They are quite sacred.
- [48:21]
Gareth Gates
Yes.
- [48:22]
Interviewer
And it's two people.
- [48:24]
Gareth Gates
Yes. Yeah.
- [48:25]
Interviewer
And if there's no sort of harm done in any place and it was just a romantic night, whatever, why is someone talking about that?
- [48:33]
Gareth Gates
Yeah, I felt exactly the same, you know, at the time and yeah, it was a shame. It was because she's a really, really lovely girl, you know, but I couldn't quite believe that somebody would do that, I guess.
- [48:47]
Interviewer
How is your, how has your idea of trust changed?
- [48:52]
Gareth Gates
Yeah, I, I became sort of very wary of trusting people, you know, after that because that was such a big thing on such a massive, massive scale. It was, it was everywhere. It was all of the newspapers, all of the magazines, you know, it was everywhere. You know, it became the main thing that, you know, in, in every interview, you know, everybody just wanted to know about that and not about my brand new album, which I've worked tirelessly on. It was like, oh, that's a shame that I'm now, you know, sort of having to talk about this when actually I just want to be an artist. And yeah, that was, that was tough. And it really sort of made me re. It just kind of made me extremely wary of people in the industry, I guess.
- [49:47]
Interviewer
Did you become anxious at the time? How does that, did you just. Do you go into yourself? Do you become quite. What happens mentally?
- [49:54]
Gareth Gates
Yeah, you become very careful about what you text people what you say to people because you always. And you know, if, if you're a single man as well. Well, I was a boy at the time. I wasn't even an adult. But you become so very, very wary about what you're saying to people because you're thinking to yourself, you know, they could sell this. You know, they twisted. Yeah. And, and yeah, it was tough times at the time because, you know, I was so young as well. This, you know, literally all happened before I was, before I was 18 even, you know, and it was just like, ah, this is a shame. Yeah.
- [50:45]
Interviewer
But even the words that you use in saying it's just a shame, it says that you're, you're, you're just, you're so kind about that. And, and obviously for the things that you've been through and experience, you, you have so much, like, forgiveness in your space. You're just like, it's a shame that that happen because there's, you know, not even with that, but just with everything. There's a, there's a great quote which is seeking revenge is like drinking poison and wanting the other person to die.
- [51:10]
Gareth Gates
That's right.
- [51:11]
Interviewer
And what we do, annoyingly in life, I think, is when we are felt wrong, wronged by, or bullies are horrible to us, we remember it and we, we, we, we hate because that's the natural thing to do because they hurt you so much.
- [51:25]
Gareth Gates
Much.
- [51:25]
Interviewer
But the most important thing to try and do is forgive.
- [51:28]
Gareth Gates
That's right.
- [51:28]
Interviewer
Because when you forgive, that's when you become free.
- [51:31]
Gareth Gates
That's right.
- [51:32]
Interviewer
Otherwise it just eats you up and it feels like you have forgiven a lot in your life.
- [51:36]
Gareth Gates
Yeah. You. I didn't see any point in, you know, holding onto grudges. It's. I've, I've. I've actually done the opposite. I've actually used, you know, all that hurt as a kid and to make me a stronger and a better person. And, you know, everything that I've been through in life, I've just seen it as, as character building. And, you know, I'm a, I'm a much stronger. I'm a much, I'm a much resilient person as a result of that.
- [52:11]
Interviewer
When you were releasing your albums and your, your first album had huge success.
- [52:15]
Gareth Gates
Yes.
- [52:16]
Interviewer
Then the second album again, and then you had a little bit of a break, wasn't it? Yeah. Before your third album. Album.
- [52:21]
Gareth Gates
Yes.
- [52:21]
Interviewer
And your third album didn't do as well as you hoped.
- [52:24]
Gareth Gates
No.
- [52:25]
Interviewer
If you've had so much success in the past, you automatically expect that the Next album is going to be as successful. Yes, I imagine. When it doesn't become as successful, what does that make you feel?
- [52:37]
Gareth Gates
It was just kind of part of the times and part of the journey, I, you know, think. I mean, it's, you know, it's disappointing when you've had so much success and then the album that you release after all that, that success or the singles you put out, you know, don't go straight to number one, which they, you know, always did. And then you're like, oh, that's a. That's a shame. But I put the next sort of batch of talent competition winners were out. You know, they'd already moved on to Pop Idol to, you know, they'd already moved on to X Factor, you know, and it. I think that that's the nature of the industry and particularly at that time, you know, where there was a brand new show, you know, sort of each and every year also pushes you in different directions as well, you know, I then went back to my original passion of musical theater. And I think if you hadn't have been for that third album, not doing as well, I don't think I'd have ever gone down that path, you know, which has led onto lots more. It's even led, you know, onto me even. Even writing my own musical, which, you know, I think, you know, well, hopefully Touchwood, if it does well, will. Will be my legacy.
- [54:11]
Interviewer
I was watching earlier your. And I. And I saw bits of it, but I was watching the clips of your celebrity sas.
- [54:16]
Gareth Gates
Yes.
- [54:18]
Interviewer
Which was just amazing. And Izzy was also watching one of the clips and it made us very emotional when you were being interrogated and you, you break down and start talking about the bullies and everything. And it's just.
- [54:33]
Gareth Gates
I didn't have Chris there with me, so my speech was much worse. And, you know, being put into that situation, they're. They're very. They're hard men and they know exactly how to get out of you, you know, what's under the surface and what's. And you're stretched in every way possible, physically, mentally, emotionally. And, you know, as soon as they start to tap into that, everything just comes out. And it was awful. It was. Celebrity SAS was one of the hardest things I've ever, ever done, you know, and those final stages where you hearing these awful sounds in your ears and you're having to hold stress positions, you know, there were times you wanted to tap out, but I just, you know, had to dig deep. And, you know, all that was going through my head is, you Know, this isn't as bad as what you've been through as a kid. You know, this isn't as bad as we've been through as a kid. And, you know, and I think that's the reason why I sort of won the show.
- [55:39]
Interviewer
You said I was unearthing trauma and exposing scars I hadn't spoken about before.
- [55:43]
Gareth Gates
Yeah, yeah. That's. I. You bury things, don't you, and just, you know, hope that they never, ever resurfaced. But touching upon that, it was. It was hard at first, but it then become very therapeutic. And. And. And actually, since then, I've talked about that a lot more, and I've dealt with it a lot more now. Yeah. Which is, you know, in turn, made me stronger because.
- [56:10]
Interviewer
Yeah. Because I heard that it was the first time you. They offered you a therapist after the show.
- [56:15]
Gareth Gates
Yes.
- [56:15]
Interviewer
It's the first time you'd ever been to therapy.
- [56:17]
Gareth Gates
Yeah, I. I had therapy for about six or seven weeks afterwards because. Yeah, they expose things. They kind of dig up things you've put to bed many, many years ago, you know, and it really, really, really brought a lot out. And. Yeah, just, you know, talking to somebody is. And what's by far the best way to deal with that?
- [56:46]
Interviewer
Because as men, we don't talk about things.
- [56:48]
Gareth Gates
No.
- [56:49]
Interviewer
And I've been very open about this, and I never spoke about anything. My anxieties, my things that I was feeling internally. And it's. That's also a very lonely place to be because you think you're different and you don't want to even speak it. That's what you're thinking, because you think you're going to be judged and you're just trying to hide it.
- [57:10]
Gareth Gates
Yeah. And, you know, all of those feelings, and if you actually find it hard to talk as it is, you never talk. And, you know, that's. That's a problem of mine. You know, I don't talk much. I don't, you know, sort of air what's in my mind. I keep it all in. And I think that TV show was the first time that they, you know, kind of picked off that scab, and then everything, you know, kind of came out.
- [57:36]
Interviewer
I'd even think of it like that, Gareth. Where the.
- [57:39]
Gareth Gates
The.
- [57:40]
Interviewer
The best remedy is talking. Right. That's why we say, like, therapy is talking. But if you don't want to talk that much because you're almost afraid of talking. It's. It's almost a double.
- [57:47]
Gareth Gates
Yeah, that's right. That's right. Yeah.
- [57:51]
Interviewer
And can I ask. Because if someone's listening right now who perhaps is in that position and they're having a really tough time and whatever they may be going through, what would you say to that person?
- [58:01]
Gareth Gates
I'd encourage them that being different isn't such a bad thing. And it actually makes you. You, you know, and these scars that we bear and these, you know, sort of hard times that we go through actually makes you a much better and a stronger person in the long run. And a piece of advice I'd give to lots of people as well, lots of people in the same situation is to try and find the. Try sort of laugh at yourself at times. At times, you know, I. I have a funny story about having a stammer. I was asked to present a TV award at a TV award show. This was probably 10 years ago, and I was waiting in the wings, you know, and that, for a stammer, is a massively, highly pressurized situation. You know, you have to open the envelope and call out the winner. And I said, oh, God. So I'm there waiting in the wings. The presenter says, and to present the best daytime television award is Mr. Gareth Gates. And so I come sort of walking on and I begin to read the auto cue. And I said something like, and the nominees for best daytime television program R. And they showed like a vt. Then I opened the envelope and the winner was a TV show called Country File. Now, often as a stammerer, it's the first syllable of the word that you find hard. And so I said, and the winner is. And I was so bad. It was so bad. I mean, thankfully it was a pre record. And the director said, cut, cut. And come running up to the stage. He was like, what you doing? I was like, do you mean, what am I doing? I have a stammer. And so then the next time, I really hammed it up. And the winner is.
- [60:33]
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- [61:02]
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- [61:20]
Interviewer
So where do your passions lie now? So you're writing this musical, right? And you're gonna write the other half. When, when do you think that will be released?
- [61:28]
Gareth Gates
Well, we're. We're hoping for autumn 2027. I'm, you know, so exciting. Yeah, it's really cool actually. I, you know, to. It's hard to write something so personal and, you know, it has to come from a place of truth, you know. And I'm a producer now as well. I'm producing lots and lots of shows.
- [61:56]
Interviewer
Boy Band in the Buff.
- [61:57]
Gareth Gates
Yes. I train hard in the gym now every day and I have done for the past seven or eight years.
- [62:07]
Interviewer
I'm Buddy. You look good. Seeing the top off you over there. Nodded.
- [62:18]
Gareth Gates
Yeah. But it was, it was actually celebrity SAS that gave me the, you know, so even more, more drive to train harder and be better. And then. Yeah, it was only last year I was kind of coming up with ideas for shows and yeah, I came up with this idea of boy band in the buff. It's. It's all the big 90s and noughties boy band hits from bands like so good. Backstreet Boys, NSync, Westlife. Take that, Boys on blue to name a few.
- [62:51]
Interviewer
Five. Is five in there, Is that.
- [62:52]
Gareth Gates
Yeah, lots of five in there.
- [62:53]
Interviewer
Everybody get up. Singing. That is unbelievable, dude.
- [62:59]
Gareth Gates
And it's my self and forward. The lads, very, very talented boys who've done lots of western shows, all sing, all dance and just so happen to look half decent without a topper. Perfect. Perfect night out.
- [63:13]
Interviewer
Wait, so who's your favorite band of all time?
- [63:17]
Gareth Gates
Well, boy band of all time.
- [63:18]
Interviewer
Yeah, boy.
- [63:20]
Gareth Gates
I, I mean, I dreamed of being in, in Westlife when I was young. I just really wanted to be in Westlife. And then I, I had absolutely no idea that Simon Cowell, like created Westlife. You know, I had no idea before my first audition. Just so happened I sang one of the Westlife songs in my first audition to the man that created it. And. And then after Pop Idol, Westlife were on. On tour and I performed with them at Wembley and I kind of came up and. And sang one of their songs with Westlife and I was.
- [63:55]
Interviewer
What is that like? Well, yeah, what is that like?
- [63:57]
Gareth Gates
It was just, you know, these were songs that I'd performed, you know, as a kid, you know, in my school talent show. And to be singing with, you know, your, your idols were. Yeah, it was incredible. But to now be singing these songs, you know, every night now on this brand new tour, Boy Band in the Buff. We're going all over the country. We've extended now into the autumn of this year and into next spring. Yeah.
- [64:26]
Interviewer
Thank you.
- [64:27]
Gareth Gates
Thank you for having me.
- [64:28]
Interviewer
Are you kidding me? That was just beyond amazing.
- [64:33]
Gareth Gates
Thank you for being so sort of open and, you know, these things are hard for me still. And, you know, as you saw, I'm sure I started off very strong and then.
- [64:43]
Interviewer
But I would disagree. I don't think there was a point ever, which. Where the way was lost or something faltered. I thought you were pinpoint. Perfect.
- [64:54]
Gareth Gates
Yeah.
- [64:55]
Interviewer
Truth. I promise you, maybe that.
- [64:57]
Gareth Gates
Chris. Chris. What do you think? Joe?
- [65:00]
Chris (Speech Coach)
I think it was a great interview. I think it was good. It went well.
- [65:04]
Interviewer
I think you were fantastic.
- [65:05]
Chris (Speech Coach)
And thank you for allowing me to interrupt.
- [65:09]
Interviewer
Anytime. Chris, you can stay there forever if you want.
- [65:14]
Gareth Gates
Thank you for, you know, having us as well, because I absolutely know that me talking about my speech will, you know, will absolutely reach somebody on your podcast, you know, and it'll make a difference, you know, so just talking about it, you know, and raising awareness is a big, big thing. So thank you.
- [65:34]
Interviewer
Kath, we'd like to end the conversation with eight quick fire questions.
- [65:38]
Gareth Gates
Okay, go. Okay.
- [65:39]
Interviewer
Don't have to make them quick. We can make them as slow as you want. What's the saying or phrase that makes you smile or cheers you up?
- [65:50]
Gareth Gates
Saying or phrase? I would have to say adapt and overcome. I've had to do that my entire life. When you struggle with something, you have to be quick on your feet. You have to adapt, but still be sort of pushing to overcome and to push through whatever you're going through.
- [66:12]
Interviewer
Best compliment anyone's ever given you.
- [66:17]
Gareth Gates
So not long after Pop Idol, I was doing Comic Relief, actually. I. I did Spirit in the sky for Comic Relief, you know, had a big hit with that for the charity, and I was doing some promo for that, and I walked into a TV studio, and Rowan Atkinson was there. Rowan Atkinson, Mr. Bean. And he came up to me, actually. He said, he. I suffer the same affliction as you do. And he was really, really, really stammering. And I was like, what? That's crazy. You know, all those big comedic roles that he's done, and comedy for a stammerer is the hardest thing because it's all about timing, and you have to get the punchline, you know, so out at the right time. And I couldn't believe what I was seeing and hearing. And he then told me that the character, Mr. Bean was actually born from you not being able to speak very much, you know, that brain. And. And I was like, what? You know, so that's another example.
- [67:26]
Interviewer
Wow.
- [67:27]
Gareth Gates
Of a person that has a stammer, you know, but actually using that, you know, and. And then creating this. This character in the show. Which is now worldwide. You know, everybody knows Mr. Bean, and that's through him having a. Having a stammer. And that kind of blew my mind.
- [67:44]
Interviewer
That's totally blown my mind.
- [67:45]
Gareth Gates
Yeah.
- [67:46]
Interviewer
That is so cool.
- [67:47]
Gareth Gates
Yeah. Seeing sort of fellow person in the industry that's going through the same as you are and that it's okay to be different.
- [67:58]
Interviewer
What scares you most about yourself?
- [68:02]
Gareth Gates
Stammering live on television. That, for me, is my biggest, biggest fear.
- [68:08]
Interviewer
Really?
- [68:09]
Gareth Gates
Yeah, yeah. It's still a big one. Every time I do any of the. The live tv, you know, like this morning, all the rain we did a few a couple of months ago. And the fear level, you know, for that, you know, even. Even years and years after is sort of hard work.
- [68:28]
Interviewer
Yeah, but it's so amazing that you put yourself out there and actually do it, even if that's your biggest fear.
- [68:32]
Gareth Gates
Yeah, I have to, really, because, you know, as soon as you start to say no to those things, things get even harder.
- [68:43]
Interviewer
When was the last time you cried?
- [68:48]
Gareth Gates
The last time I cried was possibly last week. My beautiful, beautiful daughter turned 17 and we actually got her first car and she was like, really, really, really made up now. She cried, I cried, we all cried.
- [69:14]
Interviewer
What's something you can't let go of?
- [69:19]
Gareth Gates
Probably, probably, probably the memories of having to stand up at school and speak, you know, those. Those will stay with me forever, I think.
- [69:29]
Interviewer
What's your guilty pleasure?
- [69:34]
Gareth Gates
My guilty pleasure would have to be boy band music.
- [69:37]
Interviewer
Yeah, it's phenomenal.
- [69:39]
Gareth Gates
I mean, it's the best.
- [69:40]
Interviewer
It's actually the best.
- [69:41]
Gareth Gates
Yeah. And I did a lot, A lot of research for this brand new show that I'm doing and. Yeah. And it just kind of rekindles my love for boy.
- [69:50]
Interviewer
So good.
- [69:51]
Gareth Gates
It's. Yeah, I, you know, I was, I was extremely fortunate that I actually grew up in that golden era of pop. Yeah. And it's, you know, I think at the time it was sort of criticized to be, you know, sort of two pop, but it's. It's just brilliant.
- [70:08]
Interviewer
It's so good.
- [70:09]
Gareth Gates
Exactly.
- [70:10]
Interviewer
I Want it that Way is.
- [70:11]
Gareth Gates
Oh, the best. It's actually a song ever written.
- [70:13]
Interviewer
I think I generally, I think it's up there with like, Let It Be by the Beatles. It's like. It's the greatest.
- [70:19]
Gareth Gates
That, that guy who wrote that, Max Martin, he. He's just an absolute genius. And, you know. And yes, it's extremely pop, but it's pretty, you know, it kind of evokes an emotion and it's. And it's brilliant.
- [70:35]
Interviewer
What turns you off?
- [70:36]
Gareth Gates
Turns me. Arrogance.
- [70:38]
Interviewer
What turns you on?
- [70:43]
Gareth Gates
The gym.
- [70:45]
Interviewer
Let's go. Turns me on. Let's go.
- [70:48]
Gareth Gates
I just love it.
- [70:52]
Interviewer
What do you like most about yourself?
- [70:59]
Gareth Gates
That's a tough point. I'm not the best at finding things
- [71:07]
Interviewer
that you're gonna have to say.
- [71:08]
Gareth Gates
Yeah. That I like about myself. I don't know. I'm actually gonna say my new teeth. Yeah, it's great. They're perfect.
- [71:24]
Interviewer
Gareth, thank you so much. Thank you. To Chris as well. Everyone needs to go and buy a ticket to boy bands and the buff. We're going to leave all the links in the show description.
- [71:34]
Gareth Gates
Thank you so much.
- [71:34]
Interviewer
Fabulous. Are you kidding me? You're the greatest. And thank you so much. Come back anytime. We adore you and you've been great company. So thank you so much.
- [71:40]
Gareth Gates
Thank you.
- [71:41]
Interviewer
You've been amazing.
- [71:41]
Gareth Gates
Thank you so much.
- [71:55]
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