Post by carol on May 17, 2013 13:41:56 GMT
Here is another lovely interview with Gareth ahead of his live and unplugged gig in Berkshire. Enjoy! 
love Carol xxx
Gareth Gates speaks about new acoustic tour
Pop star-turned West End actor Gareth Gates is back on the road this summer with an acoustic tour.
He will be performing new songs, as well as some of his old hits, at venues including South Hill Park.
We spoke to Gareth ahead of the tour. Read an extract from the interview below.
Gareth Gates
Gareth Gates
He may be only 28 years old, but it feels like Gareth Gates has been around forever. In a good way, of course.
The Bradford-born star won the nation's hearts in 2002 when, as a shy teenager with a prominent speech impediment, he finished second on the ITV talent show Pop Idol.
It was the springboard for a pop career which saw him sell 3.5 million records, bag four UK number one singles, and win 'record of the year' in 2002 for his cover of Unchained Melody.
Since then he's gone on to enjoy success as a musical theatre performer, most recently appearing in a touring production of Boogie Nights.
But this year Gareth has returned to his first love, singing, and embarked on a small-scale acoustic tour which began earlier this month.
"I've been in musical theatre now for about four years and I've not really been doing much as an artist, not much writing or my own gigs, and when you're out of the loop for a while you start to miss it," he explained.
"Recently I was performing with my band, we do quite a few corporate gigs, and I thought well I'm at my happiest when I'm performing with the band and so I decided to start to write again."
Gareth describes the tour as an opportunity to showcase a few new songs, as well as playing some old ones, to see how people react to them, with a view to recording another album if all goes to plan.
Anyone who is familiar with the former choirboy will be aware of how much music means to him.
Far from just being a passion, writing songs is an important way for him to express himself, as his stammer has always made talking a challenge.
"When I was a child I wasn't really ever able to speak because of my stammer and so naturally my only form of expression was music," he said.
"So I'd write songs to try and express how I was feeling and writing just became a very natural thing for me."
Gareth has seen improvements in his speech over the years, largely down to the McGuire Programme; a treatment which uses breathing techniques to help control stammering.
In fact, he has himself qualified as a speech coach in order to help other people in the same situation.
"As a child I'd never met anyone else who stammered and so it's quite a lonely place. I didn't know of anybody in the public eye who had a stammer so I couldn't relate to anybody. And so I try and do as much as I can. Things like The King's Speech, that just heightens awareness and that's great, and me helping out as much as possible means a lot to me, but in turn it really helps my speech too," he said.
"I've worked hard at it, it's still a constant battle but the more work I put in the more results I see."
Read the full interview in today's Advertiser and tomorrow's Express.
See Gareth live at South Hill Park in Bracknell on Thursday, June 6.
< Back
love Carol xxx
Gareth Gates speaks about new acoustic tour
Pop star-turned West End actor Gareth Gates is back on the road this summer with an acoustic tour.
He will be performing new songs, as well as some of his old hits, at venues including South Hill Park.
We spoke to Gareth ahead of the tour. Read an extract from the interview below.
Gareth Gates
Gareth Gates
He may be only 28 years old, but it feels like Gareth Gates has been around forever. In a good way, of course.
The Bradford-born star won the nation's hearts in 2002 when, as a shy teenager with a prominent speech impediment, he finished second on the ITV talent show Pop Idol.
It was the springboard for a pop career which saw him sell 3.5 million records, bag four UK number one singles, and win 'record of the year' in 2002 for his cover of Unchained Melody.
Since then he's gone on to enjoy success as a musical theatre performer, most recently appearing in a touring production of Boogie Nights.
But this year Gareth has returned to his first love, singing, and embarked on a small-scale acoustic tour which began earlier this month.
"I've been in musical theatre now for about four years and I've not really been doing much as an artist, not much writing or my own gigs, and when you're out of the loop for a while you start to miss it," he explained.
"Recently I was performing with my band, we do quite a few corporate gigs, and I thought well I'm at my happiest when I'm performing with the band and so I decided to start to write again."
Gareth describes the tour as an opportunity to showcase a few new songs, as well as playing some old ones, to see how people react to them, with a view to recording another album if all goes to plan.
Anyone who is familiar with the former choirboy will be aware of how much music means to him.
Far from just being a passion, writing songs is an important way for him to express himself, as his stammer has always made talking a challenge.
"When I was a child I wasn't really ever able to speak because of my stammer and so naturally my only form of expression was music," he said.
"So I'd write songs to try and express how I was feeling and writing just became a very natural thing for me."
Gareth has seen improvements in his speech over the years, largely down to the McGuire Programme; a treatment which uses breathing techniques to help control stammering.
In fact, he has himself qualified as a speech coach in order to help other people in the same situation.
"As a child I'd never met anyone else who stammered and so it's quite a lonely place. I didn't know of anybody in the public eye who had a stammer so I couldn't relate to anybody. And so I try and do as much as I can. Things like The King's Speech, that just heightens awareness and that's great, and me helping out as much as possible means a lot to me, but in turn it really helps my speech too," he said.
"I've worked hard at it, it's still a constant battle but the more work I put in the more results I see."
Read the full interview in today's Advertiser and tomorrow's Express.
See Gareth live at South Hill Park in Bracknell on Thursday, June 6.
< Back
