Now a highly sought-after Diversity & Inclusion speaker, Mental Health speaker, and Mental Resilience speaker, Gareth uses his platform to inspire others to embrace their vulnerabilities, challenge their limitations, and speak their truth—literally and figuratively.
In this exclusive interview with the Champions Speakers Agency, Gareth reflects on the value of mentorship, how to overcome fear with courage, and why it’s so important to focus on what you can do, not what you can’t.
Q: As someone who grew up in Bradford, West Yorkshire, how important has having a strong mentor been in your personal and professional journey—from Pop Idol to public speaking?
Gareth Gates: Well, Simon Cowell championed me from that very first audition all those 22 years ago, and I think he saw something in me that he wanted to nurture. So he helped to shape and mould me into the artist that I became.
Simon essentially became my mentor. He's a great guy, Simon Cowell. I remember first going into his office, and I was amazed to see a mirror on the wall that read, "Yes Simon, you are the most handsome in the land."
I think what you see is what you get with Simon — and annoyingly, he's always right. But jokes aside, I think having a mentor and surrounding yourself with like-minded people is very important. Someone said to me to stick with the winners, and at first I didn't quite understand what they meant by that.
But as I've grown and developed, I know exactly what they mean. So often we waste our time hanging out with the wrong people. I've had friends that I still have now, that I've had since a child — and they are some of my best friends — but I try to limit my time with them.
I now choose to spend my time with like-minded people who bring the very best out of me, who encourage me to be better, and who challenge me when they feel that I can be better. And I challenge you today by asking this question: What company are you keeping? Are they inspiring you to be better, or are they dragging you down and being a distraction?
Whenever I do an interview, whenever I'm giving a speech, I try to have my mentor with me — and it's a guy called Chris. As I'm doing this speech right now, he's actually on another device listening in, giving me grief when I'm not speaking properly.
But we're both part of a speech therapy programme called the McGuire Programme, and this teaches us a new way to breathe, a new way to speak, and to also tackle the mindsets that come with having a stammer.
So Chris is always there for me when I'm doing a speech like this because if I was to run into trouble with my speech, he can help me out of it. And I think having a mentor, and somebody with you who's going through the same, who shares that same affliction, who shares the same mindset, I think is very, very important.
Q: Many people in Yorkshire and beyond struggle with confidence and fear—what advice would you offer when it comes to confronting those fears, especially in public settings?
Gareth Gates: Well, giving this speech today, or giving a live interview on TV or public speaking in general, is one of my biggest fears. As a stammerer, speaking in front of somebody — you know, the fear level is always very, very high.
And so, part of the speech therapy programme I'm on — they teach you to face that fear head on. And we head out onto the street in the busiest of town centres, and our task for the afternoon is to introduce ourselves to over 100 people.
Now the first person we speak to is horrendous, and it goes terribly wrong because the fear level is too high. But the second person, the third person, becomes that little bit easier.
By the time you've spoken to 50, 60 people, it actually becomes enjoyable. And it's something that we call "exciting fear", because you've had a good level of success of doing it in the past. And so actually, facing that fear becomes fun.
And I try to apply this to every area in life now. Every time I'm fearful of something, I think: well, the only way I'm going to melt that fear away and try and diminish it that little bit is to face that fear head on.
Yes — and I encourage you to do the same. I'm sure there's people out there who are scared of certain situations, worried about it going wrong. And you know, as a result of that, I'm sure people are stuck in the exact same place that they've been for years.
And I challenge people to take that leap of faith, as I did with my speech. And eventually, you'll be even wondering why you were fearful in the first place.
Q: Your journey has inspired thousands across the UK. What do you most hope audiences—particularly young people in places like Bradford—take away from your story and speeches?
Gareth Gates: In my speeches, I talk about lots of things, but the main points I try to get across are to encourage you to find your thing.
I've always suffered with a debilitating speech impediment, but I realised as a child I could actually get words out of my mouth through music. And so, that became my thing. I put everything into that. I shifted my focus from something I can't do to something I do well.
And, you know, we all have things in our life that we do excel at. And so, to find your thing and to really, really put all your energy into that.
I also like to encourage people to find a mentor and to stick with the winners, to rub shoulders with people who are going to inspire you to be better.
And finally — which is the biggest thing I try and encourage people to do — is to face their fears. You know, me standing in front of you today, speaking, is my biggest fear.
And I hope to plant a seed to encourage you to do the same. Because if I can do it, then so can you.
This exclusive interview with Gareth Gates was conducted by Jack Hayes.