Gareth Gates
Gareth Gates
Gareth Paul Gatesis an English singer-songwriter. He was the runner-up in the first series of the ITV talent show Pop Idol. Gates has sold over 3.5 million records in the UK. He is also known for having a stutter, and has talked about his speech impediment publicly. Gates used the McGuire Programme to manage the problem and is now a speech coach with the programme...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionPop Singer
Date of Birth12 July 1984
CityBradford, England
hear inherit knows speech sure work
No one knows for sure if you can inherit a stammer, and so I worry that my baby might. It's why I want to work on my speech before he arrives. I don't want him to hear me stammer.
jobs hard-work phones
Young adults living with a stutter is hard work. How do they handle job interviews? What do they do when the phone rings? How do they chat someone up? All these things the average person takes for granted prove to be a stammerers biggest challenge.
closing continue demand public separate solo ways work
I'm not closing the door on my solo career, but with 5th Story, if the public demand is there, then I'll continue to work with the band. If not, we'll all go our separate ways again.
course days maintain therapy work
I'm part of a speech therapy course called the Maguire Programme. It isn't a cure; it's something you need to maintain and work on. I get days where I find things more difficult than others.
life people remember saw stammer stand time worked
Before all this happened, I always used to see my stammer as being a negative, all my life, but then when I went on 'Pop Idol,' and the first time I saw it on television, it was really, really bad, but also it made me stand out; it made people remember me. So for the first time in my life, it worked to my advantage.
amazing dad good mum
Because I see my mum and dad as such amazing friends, I think I'll be a really good dad.
clinging dear life onto side terrible tour
I was terrible when I first started skating and was clinging onto the side for dear life, but it's something I'll always have now, and the tour is always so much fun.
gave joseph musical west
Musical theatre is something that I always wanted to be a part of, and my first ever role on the West End as Joseph in 'Joseph And The Technicolor Dreamcoat' gave me a taste for it.
music name speech until
My speech is really important to me, but the thing is at the moment it can't be more important than my singing. Until I'm an established name all over the world, my speech won't be more important than my music.
britney wants
If Britney wants to give me a call, she should. But she's got to make the first move.
numbers years able
Having my first number one single and being able to travel to places I've never been before has been amazing. The tour was also fantastic. There are so many things which I've experienced this year which I never even dreamed of.
speech fans thanks
I do find my speech difficult at times, but it's getting so much better as my confidence grows and that's thanks to the position I'm now in, which is totally due to my fans.
pay garlic bread
I had a meal in Pizza Hut and the waitress told me I didn't need to pay. So I decided to be a bit cheeky and ask for more pizza and garlic bread.
girl life-changing college
I've got my feet firmly on the ground, I can't see life changing too much. I reckon more girls will talk to me at college and more people will look at me, but they know me for who I am.