Gareth Malone brings Sing Along show to Bradford

Choir maestro Gareth Malone is heading to town with his interactive singing show - and he wants the audience to help him compose a song all about our district.

“It’s something I do in each place I visit on the tour,” says Gareth. “I ask the audience for suggestions and we create a song in the style of, say, Oasis, Pulp or Elvis, about local heroes, landmarks, stories etc. We’ve done songs about everything from roundabouts to Robin Hood. It’s entirely dictated by the audience.”

Maybe Bradford’s forthcoming year as UK City of Culture could be woven into Gareth’s song when he comes to St George’s Hall next month..?

After the success of his show Sing-Along-A-Gareth, the choirmaster, musician and broadcaster is back on the road, getting the nation singing, but this time with a more personal twist.

Sing-Along-A-Gareth: My Life Through Song is billed as “an intimate musical odyssey” that delves into his own journey through music.

“I’ll be sharing songs that have been the soundtrack to my life,” says Gareth. “I’ll be telling my stories, with a collection of songs and anecdotes from my birth - David Bowie’s Space Oddity was No.1 when I was born - to right now.

“I’ve chosen a selection of my favourite songs to perform, with my band of stellar musicians, and audiences will, of course, be invited to sing along - and dance too, if they wish.”

Featuring a fusion of songs from the Sixties to the present, Gareth has curated a song sheet that includes the nostalgic melodies that united his parents, the very first record he bought and the playful tunes that have filled his home during bath time with his children.

Gareth is celebrating the songs that accompany us through life (Image: Trevor Leighton)

Music accompanies us through life, from the songs we grew up with to wedding dances, the songs we sing with children, and the music we select to say goodbye to loves ones. Gareth’s song list celebrates the way music weaves through our lives.

“I’ve put together a wide-ranging set list - by artists including Beyonce, Dusty, the Beatles and Lizzo - and the lyrics will come up in huge letters on the stage. There’s also a QR code so audience members can download the lyrics too,” says Gareth.

He reveals that the set list includes Make You Feel My Love by Adele; Take On Me by Aha; Proud Mary by Tina Turner;

I Want You Back by Michael Jackson; Kiss From a Rose by Seal; Tonight from West Side Story; One by U2 and Faith by George Michael - along with “some party bangers that we all know and love”. He’ll also be showcasing his skills as a multi-instrumentalist.

Gareth’s parents met at their local Gilbert and Sullivan society and from an early age he loved singing and playing music. As a child he sang with the chorus of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and was in the choir at university in Norwich. He went on to study at the Royal Academy of Music then worked for the London Symphony Orchestra.

It was while he was running the LSO’s youth choir and community choir that Gareth was approached by a production company planning a TV series about singing in schools. They wanted a community choirmaster at the helm - and Gareth was chosen to front The Choir, which went on to win two BAFTAs.

The first series, broadcast on BBC2 in 2007, focused on teaching choral singing to teenagers with zero experience, or interest, in a London comprehensive school. It led to other programmes where Gareth took choral music to challenging situations; in Boys Don’t Sing he worked with pupils at a Leicester boys school and Unsung Town saw him forming a community choir in a housing estate in Watford.

In 2011 The Choir: Military Wives documented Gareth’s attempt to create a choir comprising wives and partners of armed forces personnel serving in Afghanistan. The Military Wives Choir performed at the Royal British Legion’s Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall and their moving song Wherever You Are was the Christmas Number 1 in 2011.

During the pandemic Gareth formed Great British Home Chorus, an online choir which saw thousands of people singing with him from their kitchens, bedrooms and living-rooms.

Choral singing is, says Gareth, good for body and soul. “I see its extraordinary effect on so many people. It can be particularly transformative for people who are lonely - singing together is such a joyful social experience,” he says. “Sometimes a life event, like bereavement, can spur someone on to join a choir.”

He’s looking forward to performing at St George’s Hall and is intrigued to learn of its music heritage and historic links to the Bradford Festival Choral Society.

“I find that link between music and industry - particularly choirs, operatic societies and brass bands - fascinating,” he says.

“Music has long been a way of life for working people. Every mill and pit had its own choir or band, and that left a great legacy.”

* Sing along a Gareth is at St George’s Hall on Saturday, November 2. Call (01274) 432000 or visit bradford-theatres.co.uk