MUSIC FEATURE: Unchained Melody, Indeed
4:17 PM
by Jamiellie Brianne S. Chua
3SLP
"It can happen to... anyone of us,
anyone you think of. Anyone can fall. Anyone can hurt someone they love. Hearts
will break… 'cause I made a stupid mistake… a stupid mistake…"
If these lyrics are familiar to you, then
you have an awesome playlist (If not, well, you’re missing out, buddy). But not
only that! You most probably didn’t even know that the voice you listen to as
you sit by the window on a rainy afternoon, or even the song you belt out after
reciting the wrong answer in perhaps, an AnaPhy class, is actually sang by a
stutterer! That’s right. You read it here. Gareth Gates is a stutterer.
Gareth Gates had a heart for performing
music. As a young lad, he was the head chorister for Bradford Cathedral Choir.
He can even play the piano and guitar excellently. But what jump started his
career was his first audition in UK’s Pop Idol in 2002.
He was 16 years old,
then. According to Funtrivia.com, and if you watch his audition which is
accessible in Youtube, it took thirty (30) seconds for him to say his name. He
sang “Flying Without Wings” by Westlife as his audition piece. One of the
judges, Simon Cowell, said:
“You do have a problem with your voice, I understand that, but you don’t have a problem with your singing voice. You are 100 percent coming to London for the next audition.”
The season ended with him runner-up to Will
Young. According to FunTrivia.com, nearly 9 million votes were registered on
the Pop Idol finals, and 46.9% voted for Gareth’s. It was a close fight. From
there, instead of getting discouraged, he pursued his career. As stated in garethgates.com/bio/,
“In the UK alone Gareth sold 3.5 million records, released 3 albums and had 4
UK number 1 singles. He won record of the year in 2002 and with that has the
second best selling single of the ‘noughties’ with Unchained Melody.” He was
also “awarded Best International Male in 2003/4 from MTV Asia, MTV China and
MTV Taiwan.”
He still struggled with his speech problem
and enrolled in the McGuire Programme, a speech therapy program. He had trained
and is now himself a qualified speech coach. He still works out on his stammer
himself each day, though. And from there, he went to TV shows, performed on
Dancing on Ice in 2008, performed in Musical Theatre, wherein he “auditioned
and impressed Sir Cameron Mackintosh, which lead to the role of Marius, in the
25th anniversary tour of Les Miserables”, the production of his own
documentary “Stop My Stutter”, and more
musical success.
Here is Gareth Gates' Unchained Melody.
For more information, check out: http://www.garethgates.com/bio/
0 comments