This is an accepted version of this page Gareth Paul Gates (born 12 July 1984) is an English singer-songwriter and actor.

[6] Gates gained a reserve place at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester before the finals of Pop Idol.

His third single, a double A-side "Suspicious Minds"/"The Long and Winding Road", a duet with Pop Idol winner Will Young, also reached number one.

The album enjoyed slightly more success in a number of Asian countries however, and Gates won MTV Asia's award for Best International Male in 2003/04.

At the start of 2004 he did an arena tour of the UK, then continued to promote his album throughout Europe and Asia, before taking a break and training as a speech coach and course instructor with the McGuire Programme.

The documentary was screened in December 2006, and confirmed a new record deal with UMTV (part of Universal) and a new album as well as showcasing snippets of the new material.

On 30 March 2007, Gates appeared on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, the first time he had participated in an interview for a mainstream television chat-show since his speech improvement.

In 2009, Gates was cast in the lead role in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the Adelphi Theatre, London.

Gates performed at the charity event "Broadway To West End by Special Arrangement" on 4 October 2009 at the Drury Lane Theatre, singing "Why God, Why?"

The event was to honour the work of orchestrator William David Brohm and raised funds for CLIC Sargent Cancer care.

In June 2009, it was announced that Gates was joining the cast of the International 25th Anniversary World Tour production of Les Misérables in the role of Marius.

In December 2009, Gates took part in ITV's All Star Family Fortunes, along with his then wife Suzanne, mum Wendy, sister Nicola and best friend Matt, and won £30,000 for The Bobby Moore Fund for bowel cancer.

[18] Following the final performance of the anniversary tour at The Barbican, London, in October 2010, Gates joined the West End production of Les Misérables at Queen's Theatre where he continued to play the part of Marius until June 2011.

Gates took a break from musical theatre to work on other projects, including writing a new album,[citation needed] but planned to return in March 2012, taking the part of Claude in the UK touring production of Hair It was later announced that the musical would not proceed as efforts to rescue the tour following the bankruptcy of the original production company had failed.

In January 2012, Gates featured in a one night only charity production of Children of Eden playing the part of Cain/Japeth[19] in aid of Crohn's disease.

[25] In early 2013 he toured in the musical Boogie Nights,[26] with members of The Osmonds, Louise Lytton, Shane Ritchie, Chico & Andy Abraham.

On 27 December 2013, it was announced that Gates, along with Dane Bowers (from Another Level), Kenzie (from Blazin' Squad), Adam Rickitt, and Kavana would be forming a "supergroup" called 5th Story for the ITV2 documentary The Big Reunion.

In January 2014, Gates again took part in Dancing on Ice for the final series, partnered this time by Brianne Delcourt.

[28] In June 2022, Gates hosted a Bradford-based Jubilee party, Big 80s Festival, in celebration of the Queen's seventieth year on the throne.

[30][31][32] Gates won the 2023 edition of British reality TV show Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins, beating Member of Parliament Matt Hancock and model Danielle Lloyd in the final.

[34] However, Gates and Mole got engaged on New Year's Eve 2007 and were married on 18 July 2008 in a private ceremony for family and friends.

[35] Gates met Faye Brookes in 2012 when they starred together in Legally Blonde: The Musical, shortly before he split from his wife.

Gates qualified as a speech coach and latterly as a course instructor with the McGuire Programme where he helps those with stammers similar to his own.

Gates spoke to MPs including David Amess, Robert Buckland, and Steve Brine at the Palace of Westminster as part of a briefing on communication disability hosted by the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists and the Centre for Social Justice.

Gates said, "By speaking today I hope to shed light on the issues that surround speech and language difficulties.

In particular, through my own experiences, I want to explain how the inability to converse and communicate drastically shapes and moulds people's lives.

"[23][42] On 18 October 2011, his work as an ambassador, raising awareness of the issues surrounding speech difficulties, was recognised at the Giving Voice Awards Ceremony.

[47] Gates is a patron of the HIV/AIDS charity Body and Soul and of The Bobby Moore Fund,[48] which supports research into bowel cancer.