Gareth Gates credits Wet Wet Wet icon for helping to cure his stammer

Gareth Gates has shared how a Scottish pop icon helped him overcome the battle with his stutter and shape his successful career.

The Bradford-born singer, 40, who rose to fame back in 2002 as the runner-up on Pop Idol, revealed that Graeme Duffin, guitarist and backing vocalist for Wet Wet Wet, taught him techniques to manage his speech difficulties.

Ahead of performing in Scotland next month, Gareth said: “I am part of the McGuire Programme, which teaches people with a stammer a new way of speaking and a new way of breathing.”

He added that the programme also helps change the mindset associated with having a stammer. “It’s also run by stammerers – people who live with it every day but who have learned to gain some level of control over it and one of them is the amazing Graeme Duffin.“

Gareth recalled his first meeting with Graeme as reported by The Sun, saying: “When I went on my very first course he was the coach and I knew he was in Wet Wet Wet. I went, ‘Wow, you’re exactly the same as me’.”

Glasgow-born Graeme, 68, also struggled with speech all his life, yet could sing flawlessly, creating an immediate connection between them.

He told the Sun back in 2007: “My stammer was debilitating. I even structured my own wedding around nobody making any speeches because I didn’t want to look like the odd one out.

“It was a bit weird having no speeches because that is part of the vibe at a wedding. People tell stories and tell people how they feel about their hopes and dreams. Because I couldn’t speak at the wedding, I said I was sorry but, as a person who stammers, it would be too traumatic.”

Gareth concluded: “To have someone like Graeme become my mentor was exactly what I needed. He had been in the exact same position as me, having to deal with this affliction every day but not letting it hold him back, which is really quite special. So we had that bond from the start and we still speak today.”

At the tender age of just 17, Gareth made it to the final of Pop Idol. He then went on to sell 3.5 million records, including four hit number one singles, before shifting his focus to West End musicals when he bagged the lead role in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in 2009.

Join the Daily Record’s WhatsApp community hereand get the latest news sent straight to your messages.

The performer is set to return to the stage next month with his show Gareth Gates Sings Love Songs From The Movies. However, he admitted: “I will always be a stammerer, but Graeme Duffin and the McGuire Programme really helped me and continue to do so.

“Put it this way I wouldn’t have been able to have this lengthy career, if I wasn’t able to speak.”

Get the latest celebrity gossip and telly news sent straight to your inbox. Sign up to our daily Showbiz newsletter here.