Gareth Paul Gates was born on July 12, 1984 in Bradford, Yorkshire to Wendy and Paul. Gareth has 3 younger sisters, Nicola, Charlotte and Jessica. The Gates family also fostered a number of other children. At the age of 9 Gareth joined the choir of Bradford Cathedral and by 11 was Head Chorister. In 1997 Gareth sang a solo for the Queen at the Maundy ceremony. Gareth is an accomplished classically trained musician, achieving grade 8 in singing by the age of 16 as well as playing the piano and classical guitar to grade 8 standard.
Gareth also plays the drums and was in a church based band from the age of 13, where he played the electric guitar.Gareth shot to fame in 2002 when he came second to Will Young in the television talent show phenomenon, Pop Idol, hosted by Ant and Dec overseen by the infamous Simon Cowell, the legendary Pete Waterman, the delectable Nicky Chapman and Dr Fox. Gareth was immediately signed up with record label BMG and management company 19 Entertainment and had to abandon his A level studies (he was studying music, English and maths) and his coveted place at the Northern College of Music (where he was accepted to study opera) to pursue his career in the pop industry.
His first single, a cover of Unchained Melody, entered the UK Top 40 at number one. The single was voted 2002's Record of the Year by ITV viewers and was the second biggest selling single of the year. Two more number 1s followed in quick succession, Anyone of us (Stupid Mistake), which was the 6th biggest selling single of 2002 and The Long and Winding Road (duet with Will Young), a double A side with Suspicious Minds, used in the soundtrack to Disney’s successful Lilo and Stitch animated film.
Gareth holds a number of records. Gareth was the 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). As well as being the youngest solo male artist to have four no 1s, Gareth was also the first male solo artist to have 4 no 1 singles in a 12 month period since Frank Ifield did so in 1965.With The Kumars, Gareth sang the 2003 Comic Relief charity single, "Spirit in the Sky. This was his fourth number one and was the second best selling single of 2003. He also appeared in the charity's Celebrity Driving School. He has had three successful arena tours, the first with Pop Idol in 2002, the second with Will Young and Zoe Birkett in 2003 and the third a solo tour in 2004 – which also continued on to Asia.