Gareth Gates

“I'm part of a speech therapy programme called the McGuire Programme. It teaches you a new way to breathe, a new way to speak, a brand new way of tackling the mind-sets that come with having a speech impediment. Mainly, it teaches you how to slow things down, and that has really helped me.”

“I was always used to being centre stage - something that had its good and bad points.”

“I really love it in Belfast. I always stay in the most bombed hotel, the Europa!”

“My speech is really important to me, but the thing is at the moment it can't be more important than my singing. Until I'm an established name all over the world, my speech won't be more important than my music.”

“I live for my daughter. Every decision I make is about her and for her. It's great. She's perfect.”

“I'm not closing the door on my solo career, but with 5th Story, if the public demand is there, then I'll continue to work with the band. If not, we'll all go our separate ways again.”

“The last thing I wanted was to be with someone who's the same age as me and wanted the limelight, wanted the attention. There's lots of girls out there who do.”

“Breathing is fundamental to speech. A stammer is caused by erratic airflow, so if you have a smooth airflow, you have smooth speech.”

“I've got my feet firmly on the ground, I can't see life changing too much. I reckon more girls will talk to me at college and more people will look at me, but they know me for who I am.”

“At the age of 13, I felt it was up to me to decide whether I wanted to go to church or be with my mates, and I chose to go to church.”

“Musical theatre is something that I always wanted to be a part of, and my first ever role on the West End as Joseph in 'Joseph And The Technicolor Dreamcoat' gave me a taste for it.”

“Having my first number one single and being able to travel to places I've never been before has been amazing. The tour was also fantastic. There are so many things which I've experienced this year which I never even dreamed of.”

“Young adults living with a stutter is hard work. How do they handle job interviews? What do they do when the phone rings? How do they 'chat someone up'? All these things the average person takes for granted prove to be a stammerer's biggest challenge.”

“I'm very driven, and I always have been. So I'd like to release a successful album, continue in musical theatre, and be more involved in business.”

“I love musical theatre because I love doing a live performance eight times a week.”

“Finally having the freedom to speak is a really liberating feeling.”

“On the McGuire course, there's a technique called 'cancellation' where negative experiences are replaced with positive ones.”

“Living with a stammer is difficult. It's a daily uphill struggle with emotional baggage weighing you down. You can't be the person you want to be.”

“The moment an athlete doesn't train, things start to get a bit rusty.”

“Speech and having a stammer is obviously a big part of my life.”