Inside Gareth Gates’ VERY raunchy new male strip show with cheeky shower scene & what his daughter, 16, thinks about it
THERE will be plenty of fans desperate to see Gareth Gates’ raunchy new stage show – but his teenage daughter isn’t one of them.
The singer admits his only child Missy is “mortified” at the thought of him stripping off during nostalgic concert, Boyband In The Buff.
And despite being supportive of his career, the schoolgirl, 16 — who is just a few months younger than Gareth was when he first found fame on 2002’s Pop Idol — doesn’t want to see posters of her topless dad promoting the Magic Mike-style extravaganza.
The show is a nostalgic, cheeky concert tour starring a scantily clad Gareth and a cast of male performers — also in minimal clothing — belting out hits from Nineties and Noughties boybands including Take That, Blue, NSYNC and Backstreet Boys.
In an exclusive interview, Gareth says: “Missy is mortified. She goes to school in Wiltshire and she’s very pleased that I’m not going to a theatre near there.
“She says she couldn’t handle seeing Daddy topless on a poster so close to her school.
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“When I first told her about it, she was speechless. She went, ‘What?!’
“She was shocked. She’s always been a big fan of everything I’ve done, but she’s sceptical about this one. She may well want to see some of the other lads on stage — she’s of that age — but not her dad!”
Gareth and Missy have a close bond and the singer, who lives mostly in West London, has even bought a second home near her boarding school to see more of her.
He says: “Any opportunity I get to go down there and see her, I do.
‘Raunchy and cheeky’
“I just gravitate there when I’m not on the road because it’s tough being away from her.
“I bought it a year before Covid and locked down there with her – which was perfect, as I hadn’t ever had that amount of time with her before.
“We have a great relationship and I feel very lucky. She’s a beautiful soul inside and out. I’m very proud of her.
“Fatherhood changes you as a person — your whole perspective of life.
“You’re not living for yourself any more, you are living for somebody else.
“I’ll always perform because I love it and it’s what I do best, but I invest in other areas, such as property, and I’m producing now.
“It’s all to give her the best life possible and to leave her a bit of an empire when I’m not around.”
Gareth continues: “The hardest thing about being on tour is being away from her. As I’m getting older, I’m trying to put into place that I don’t have to be away as much.
“I can produce shows and be at home with her a bit more, because you miss out on key moments when you’re away, which is tough.”
I’ll always perform because I love it and it’s what I do best, but I invest in other areas, such as property, and I’m producing now
Gareth Gates
Gareth reckons that as his daughter hits her late teens, it won’t hurt to have him around keeping an eye on her.
He says: “Missy is 16 now, which is quite scary for Daddy. She’s a very sensible girl, though.
“She goes to dance class and singing every night of the week, so she’s keeping busy and keeping away from boys – or so she tells me!”
At a similar age, Gareth, now 41, had a colourful love life.
After finishing as runner-up on Pop Idol to Will Young, he hooked up with Katie Price while she was pregnant with her son Harvey.
And in her book, Being Jordan, she claimed that she took his virginity.
Then, in 2008, Gareth married Missy’s mum — dancer Suzanne Mole.
The pair split after four years amid claims he cheated on her with Corrie actress Faye Brookes.
Gareth and Faye were together on and off for seven years, before splitting for good in 2018.
And from 2020 to December 2022, he was in a relationship with DJ Chloe McLennan.
Gareth has been with West End actress and singer Allana Taylor, 26, for the past three years after they appeared together in panto.
He says: “The show’s name was actually Allana’s idea. She’s in the industry herself, so she’s fully supportive. Our relationship is going from strength to strength.
“We live together and we have a brand new puppy together called Lady Gates, so we’ll see what happens in the future.”
Gareth has had a successful career after finding fame on Pop Idol and releasing his single Unchained Melody, which went to No1 in 2002.
Boyband In The Buff is not just a male strip show. It has elements of that. There’s water involved — there’s a shower scene — so we’re in swimwear. It’s raunchy and cheeky
Gareth Gates
He recorded three studio albums, starred in Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Les Miserables in the West End, and appeared in nationwide tours of Boogie Nights and Footloose.
‘Marrying passions’
He not only stars in Boyband In The Buff but he produces it, too.
The idea for the musical came from seeing the success of the Magic Mike films and West End show.
And part of his research involved going to strip shows for real.
Gareth says: “With my producer hat on, I saw that Magic Mike was doing very well and I wanted a slice of that pie, so there’s that same look and choreography.
“Boyband In The Buff is not just a male strip show. It has elements of that. There’s water involved — there’s a shower scene — so we’re in swimwear. It’s raunchy and cheeky.
“We get girls on stage and we celebrate the male form, but it’s not full frontal nudity.
“I have seen a couple of these types of shows for research and there are ones that make you cringe.
“Ours isn’t that show. Plus, we sing, so it’s a pop concert as well.
“Obviously, a lot of the people who come to see it will remember the hits — it’s a very nostalgic night — so we’ll take them back to their youth.”
Gareth has transformed himself from a skinny Bradford teenager into a man with bulging muscles.
He works out every day for two hours, lifting weights and bench pressing almost 19st.
The star says of combining his first loves on stage: “I’ve always loved boyband music – I sang the Westlife song, Flying Without Wings, for my Pop Idol audition.
“I’m also a big gym-goer, so it’s marrying my two passions.
“I’ve cast four amazing lads who are all big West End performers — great singers and great dancers — but they just so happen to look half decent without a top on.
‘Held back by stutter’
“There’s nothing like the fear of getting your kit off on stage to kick you up the backside to go to the gym.
“The show is actually just an extension of what I do.
“I train very hard in the gym — I won Celebrity SAS two years ago – and now I’m a male stripper. Some people have said that the pictures of me with my shirt off look like AI, but it really isn’t.
“I rarely go out these days, I rarely drink and I feel better for it. Hand on heart, I feel the best I’ve ever felt.”
I rarely go out these days, I rarely drink and I feel better for it
Gareth Gates
When the Boyband In The Buff tour ends in October, Gareth is producing his first panto — Beauty And The Beast in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk – in which he also stars.
And he is producing a new West End show, which is a transfer from Broadway and likely to open in early 2027, plus two soon-to-be released films.
Meanwhile, he has written a musical entitled Speechless, about a man who stammers, which is based on his own experiences. Gareth’s stutter dates back to his childhood.
These days he manages it with the help of a speech therapist and a speech coach, who sits in remotely on all his interviews to support him and remind him to talk more slowly.
Gareth explains: “Stammering isn’t just repetition of sound. It really controls you.
“You can’t be the person that you want to be because you’re held back by your affliction. That can be very hard at times. The thought of a live interview on TV still, 24 years on, fills me with terror.”
- For more information about Gareth’s musical stage show or to buy tickets, see boybandinthebuff.com.