Pop Idol legend Gareth Gates reveals the Scottish pop icon helped cure his stutter

GARETH Gates has revealed how a Wet Wet Wet star helped him hit all the right notes throughout his long-running career.

The Bradford-born singer shot to fame in 2002 when he finished runner-up to Will Young on the original Pop Idol talent show.

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He went on to top the charts with his debut single Unchained Melody before finally deciding to tackle his tribe that had ruined his childhood.

And it was Graeme Duffin – guitarist and backing singer from The Wets – who taught Gareth to overcome his speech difficulties.

Gareth, who will play a series of concerts in Scotland from next month, says: “I’m part of the McGuire program, which teaches people with a stutter a new way to speak and a new way to breathe.

“But most importantly, it teaches a new way to deal with the mindset that comes with stuttering.

“It’s also run by stutterers—people who live with it every day, but who have learned to gain some control over it, and one of them is the amazing Graeme Duffin.

“When I went on my very first course, he was a coach and I knew he was in Wet Wet Wet. I was like, ‘Wow, you’re exactly like me.’

Like Gareth, Graeme, now 68, struggled to speak all his life – but amazingly could sing flawlessly and it gave them an instant bond.

He explains: “Having someone like Graeme mentor me was exactly what I needed.

“He had been in exactly the same position as me, dealing with this disorder every day, but he hadn’t let it hold him back, which is really quite special.

“So we had that bond from the start and we still talk today.”

Gareth was just 17 when he reached the final TV phenomenon, which attracted an astonishing 10 million viewers.

He went on to sell 3.5 million records – including four No1 singles – before turning his attention to West End musicals when he landed the lead in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in 2009.

Gareth recalls: “A school the teacher noticed that I could sing and gave me the role of Joseph.

“Then about 15 years later I was in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s office auditioning for the role of Joseph and he gave me the part in the West End. It was kind of a full-circle moment.”

He also took part in Dancing on Ice in 2014, finishing seventh, but in 2023 he finally came first in a TV talent show, beating former MP Matt Hannock and model Danielle Lloyd in the final of Channel 4’s Celebrity SAS: Who dares wins.

Instructor Jason “Foxy” Fox later insisted that Gareth was one of the strongest celebrities ever appeared on the show, adding: “He was a machine, physically. I was like ‘what the hell, where did that come from?’.”

Gareth, now 40, says: “We flew back from filming in Vietnam together and I sat next to him and Billy Billingham and heard all their incredible stories.

“Foxy is one of the nicest but toughest guys you’ll meet. So for someone like him to say I was one of the best contestants is unbelievable – so basically I’m like a SAS level operational now.”

Gareth – who dates dancer and fitness trainer Allana Taylor – adds: “But I go to the gym every day, even when I’m on tour I want to find a place to work out.

“I rarely drink these days, maybe a blow-out once every few months, but when I was in my 20s, I was always out.

“After a few drinks my speech was always much better as it relaxed me, but I gave all that up when I turned 30.”

And Gareth believes that a childhood of being bullied gave him the right mindset for the toughest reality show on tv.

He says: “Physically I knew I had what it took – mentally I told myself the only way I’m going to get out of here is if I’m injured.

“But I don’t think I would have lasted half as long if I hadn’t gone through all the hardships that child.

“I was badly bullied, sometimes beaten at school because of my speech. And so actually these SAS instructors were like pussycats compared to the bullying I experienced as a child.”

Now the artist returns to the stage next month with his stage show Gareth Gates sings love songs from the movies.

But Gareth says: “I will always be a stutterer but Graeme Duffin and the McGuire program really helped me and continues to do so.

“Put it that way, I wouldn’t have been able to have this long career if I wasn’t able to speak.”

*Gareth Gates sings love songs from the movies will be at Glasgow’s Pavilion Theater on February 13, Perth’s Royal Concert Hall on February 14, Ayr’s Gaiety Theatre on April 1 and Inverness Eden Court on 3 April.

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