Gareth Gates stole the nation’s hearts when he auditioned for Pop Idol as a spiky-haired 16-year-old, with a stammer so severe he could barely tell the judges his name.

In true reality show fashion, despite not being crowned the winner (he lost out to Will Young in the final), he has gone on to have a hugely successful pop and musical theatre career, and is now touring the nation with a new production, which takes him right back to where it all began.

Gareth, now 31, was approached to become a part of Mad About The Musicals, for its tenth anniversary tour, and is thrilled to be returning to the genre which sparked his yearning for a career in showbiz.

“Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat was the reason I got into singing and music,” he tells Seven Days.

“I played the role of Joseph when I was eight years old at school, and from there my love for both music and musical theatre started to grow. Ever since then I wanted to do music.”

Gareth has performed in shows including Les Miserables and Legally Blonde, and says he jumped at the chance to be a part of the tour, which comes to Poole’s Lighthouse on October 30.

“It’s a whole mixture of old and new, with shows like Phantom and Les Mis right through to more recent shows like We Will Rock You, so a whole mixture of genres and different types of music, for all age ranges.”

Rehearsals have just begun for the tour, which kicks off on October 1. It’s perfect timing for Gareth, who has just taken six weeks off to undergo “rehab” for problems with his voice.

“I was suffering with my vocal chords,” he explains.

“I had to have a steroid injection to one of my vocal chords and I have this ongoing vocal rehab to try and get them working again.

“This is the first interview I’ve done since I’ve been able to speak again and I have my first gig back this weekend, so hopefully I will be fit for this music tour.”

Gareth, who is dad to six-year-old Missy, really doesn’t have time to be off sick – his schedule is pretty much fully booked until August of next year.

“I never, ever stop,” he says.

“Mad About The Musicals ends mid-November, then I fly out to Asia as I’ve got a big corporate gig in Kuala Lumpur. Asia is one of my biggest markets.

“I come back after that and start panto in Crewe.

It’s Cinderella and I play the prince, obviously!

The day after panto finishes I start with a tour of Footloose. That runs for about nine months and I have a break to do another leg of Mad About The Musicals.”

His workload means time off is even more precious for Gareth, as it’s when he gets to see Missy.

His little girl often travels to performances with him, even getting up on the stage from time to time.

“She’s always in the front row, and during the gigs that I do with my band I try to get her up on the stage as she loves singing and dancing.”

Will she be following in Daddy’s footsteps?

“I don’t think I have a choice,” he laughs.

Gareth, who has also turned his talents to ice skating as part of the now defunct show Dancing on Ice, was last in Dorset as part of The Big Reunion tour, with boyband 5th Story.

While the band – which also featured former Blazin’ Squad star Kenzie, Another Level’s Dane Bowers, actor turned singer Adam Rickett and 90s star Kavana - were welcomed into the fold, Gareth thinks it’s unlikely they’ll be performing as a group again.

“I think it may have run its course,” he says, tactfully.

“It was fun and different, certainly for me never having worked in a band before, but it was pretty much for the show and the tour. I had fun while it lasted.”

So what does the future hold?

“I’m constantly writing music and I’d love to make a new album but it’s just finding the time to write and then record, but that’s something I will definitely do in the future, that will definitely happen.

“But for now, I’m looking forward to being in Poole and the show is going to be lots of fun.”

  • Mad About The Musicals is at Lighthouse, Poole, on October 30. Tickets from 0844 406 8666 or lighthousepoole.co.uk.