GARETH GATES
Gareth Gates (born 12 July 1984) is an English singer-songwriter. He was the runner-up in the first series of the ITV talent show Pop Idol. Gates has sold over 3.5 million records in the UK. He is also known for having a stutter, and has talked about his speech impediment publicly. In 2009, Gates moved into musical theatre, playing the title role in the West End production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat at the Adelphi Theatre. In 2009–2011, Gates completed an eighteen-month stint as Marius, initially in the touring production and then in the West End production of Les Misérables. (More from Wikipedia)
There have been several cover versions over the years; two that I have are by Doctor and the Medics – who also reached #1 on the U.K. charts with “Spirit in the Sky” (Gareth Gates is yet a third artist who reached Number One in the U.K. with “Spirit in the Sky”) – and by the all-female band Fuzzbox.
(July 2014)
