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Gareth Paul Gates (born July 12, 1984, Bradford) is a British pop singer who shot to fame in 2002 when he came second in the television talent show Pop Idol. A year earlier, he also appeared in the televised talent show Steps to the Stars presented by Claire Richards and Ian Watkins (known as H) from the pop group Steps.

Despite not winning the competition, he was soon signed up with Simon Cowell's record label BMG, alongside the Pop Idol winner, Will Young. (Cowell had been one of the Pop Idol judges, and had been notorious for his harsh criticisms of many of the contestants.) His first single, a cover of Unchained Melody, entered the UK Top 40 at number one, knocking Will Young's first single - the double A-sided "Evergreen"/"Anything is Possible" - off the top of the chart (as Young's single was intended for the winner of Pop Idol Gates also recorded versions of both songs, which were used as B-sides for Unchained Melody). The single was voted 2002's Record of the Year by ITV viewers.

With The Kumars, Gates sang the 2003 Comic Relief charity single, "Spirit In The Sky", another cover of an old song. This was also a new entry at number one, and stayed there for two weeks. He also appeared in the charity's Celebrity Driving School.

Gareth was one of just a number of people to gain fame from Pop Idol however his fame his been eclipsed by other stars from the second series including the winner Michelle McManus.

Gareth also suffers from a stammer, but with the help of the McGuire program he is overcoming it.

In 2002, Smash Hits magazine dedicated the 7th of November as International Gareth Day for his fans. On this day, fans around the world light candles and pay homage to the singer.

Gareth infamously had a sexual liaison in a London hotel with glamour model Jordan who was pregnant at the time. Despite initially denying the incident, he later admitted the affair.

Contents 1 Discography 2 Outside the UK 3 Tours 4 Other Music Successes 5 Other Success 6 External links

Discography

UK

Singles

1. Unchained Melody # 1
2. Anyone of Us (Stupid Mistake) #1
3. The Long And Winding Road/Suspicious Minds #1
4. What My Heart Wants To Say # 5
5. Spirit In The Sky #1
6. Sunshine # 3
7. Say It Isn't So #4

Albums

1. What My Heart Wants To Say #2
2. Go Your Own Way #11

Outside the UK

SINGLES 1 singles in:

• - France
• - Germany
• - Ireland
• - South Korea
• - Thailand
• - South Africa
• - Taiwan
• - Holland
• - Hong Kong
• - Malaysia
• - Norway
• - Sweden
• - Macedonia
• - Singapore
• - pan - Asia (SIIS)
• - AOU Platinum in Norway

ALBUMS What My Heart Wants To Say

• - Triple platinum in Taiwan
• - Biggest selling western artist album in Taiwan
• - #1 in Taiwan, and S. Korea
• - Platinum in Indonesia
• - Platinum in Malaysia
• - 2nd biggest selling western artist album in MTV Asia area
• - Gold in Norway
• - 48,000 in Spain
• - Sold well in Germany (no figures)
• - 140,000 in S.A (BMG award for sales for an album - probably WMHWTS)
• - Sold well in India (no figures)

Go Your Own Way

• - 1 in Taiwan, Double Platinum after 3 weeks. Stayed high in the charts for weeks afterwards so final sales figures likely to be even higher.
• - Gold award confirmed in South Africa - but sales will be considerably more given long chart run.
• 1 in Singapore
• - Spain c.30,000
• - Germany sold relatively well (no figures)
• - #1 in Korea
• - #1 in Malaysia
• - Sold well in Indonesia (no figures)
• - Sold well in France
• - Sold well in Germany

Tours

• - Pop Idol Arena Tour 2002
• - Will and Gareth Arena Tour 2003
• - Go Your Own Way Tour - UK and Asia 2004
• - Private concert for the Prince of Brunei. January 2005

Other Music Successes

• - Contributor to #1 albums (Compilation Charts)
• - Pop Idol: Big Band (no sales figures)
• - Greasemania (no sales figures)

Other Success

DVD’s

1. - Gareth Gates Live #1
2. - Spirit in the Sky #1
3. - Pop Idol Tour DVD #1

Books:

1. - Right from the Start #1 (2002's biggest selling music book)
2. - Talking Point #10

Calendars

1. - Top 10 sales 2003
2. - Top 10 sales 2004

Awards (naming a few out of many) UK

• - Record of the Year 2002: Unchained Melody
• - National Music Awards 2003: Best Male 2003. Favourite TV Music performance
• - National Music Awards 2002 Favourite TV music performance. PI Unchained melody
• - Disney Awards 2002: best male
• - Disney Awards 2003: best male
• - Smash Hits 2002: best male, best hair, best newcomer, most fancible male
• - Smash Hits 2003: 2003 best male and best single for Sunshine
• - Capital FM awards 2003: Best Tour. Pop Idol
• - 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

Outside the UK

• - MTV Asia: Best International Male 2003/2004
• - MTV China: Best International Male 2003/2004
• - MTV Taiwan: Best International Male 2003/2004
• - TMF Belgium Best International Pop
• - MTV Taiwan. Inspiration to Youth
• - G-Music (Taiwan) Best International artist 2003
• - Hit Fm Best single of 2003 (AOU)

Charitable work

• - Raised over £600,000 directly through involvement with Comic Relief (SITS and Driving School)
• - Patron of Body and Soul
• - Princes Youth Trust
• - Restoration Trust
• - Great Ormond Street
• - Robyn Brooks Trust
• - Children in Need
• - Sports Relief
• - Childline in Ireland
• - Children of Courage
• - Disabled Children’s charity in Korea
• - The Chantelle Bleau Memorial Fund
• - Bradford's Bravest - Abundant Life Centre Awards
• - Bradford Royal Infirmary. SCBU Appeal
• – MTV Asia HIV awareness concert (Indonesia)

McGuire programme

• - Youngest UK person to qualify as primary coach and course instructor intern
• - After running workshops at a number of courses, co-led first full course February 2005

Commercial Contracts

• - Pepsi
• - Wella
• - Louis Vuitton
• - Asia showcase sponsorship- ? Siemens
• - Asia Tour sponsorship - ??
• - Songs used as adverts for coffee and ice cream in Asia

Records

• - Youngest male to enter at #1 . He was 17 years and 255 days old when he debuted at number 1 with "Unchained Melody" on 24th March 2002.
• - Not only is Gareth the youngest solo male artist to have four no 1's,but he was also the first male solo artist to have 4 no 1 singles in a 12 month period since Frank Ifield in 1965
• - Fans with the loudest screams: Sheffield Arena during "Mack the Knife" Pop Idol Tour. Recorded at 130 decibels. Tried to beat it at PITP 2004 by actually telling people to scream but it still couldn't be beaten.

Films

• - Part in "Seeing Double"
• - Theme song for Disney's "Lilo and Stitch"

External links

• Gareth Gates website
• "Chart battle for Pop Idol finalists" - BBC News article, dated Monday, March 18, 2002
• "Pop Idol's Gareth is number one" - BBC News article, dated Sunday, March 24, 2002
• Gareth Gates fan website page describing International Gareth Day

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