Gareth Edmund Malone (born 9 November 1975) is an English choirmaster and broadcaster, self-described as an " animateur, presenter and populariser of choral singing". He is best known for his television appearances in programmes such as '' The Choir'', which focus on singing and introducing

choral music A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

to new participants. Malone was appointed

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(OBE) in the

2012 Birthday Honours The Birthday Honours List 2012 was released on 16 June 2012 in the United Kingdom, on 11 June 2012 in Australia on 4 June 2012 in New Zealand,Irish descent as the only child of James and Sian Malone, who had met at their local

Gilbert and Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900) and to the works they jointly created. The two men collaborated on fourteen com ...

society. His father, James Malone, grew up in

Parkhead Parkhead () is a district in the East End of Glasgow. Its name comes from a small weaving hamlet (place), hamlet at the meeting place of the Great Eastern Road (now the Gallowgate and Tollcross Road) and Westmuir Street. Glasgow's Eastern Necro ...

in Scotland in an Irish family,Gibb, Bill (13 April 2014
Scots singsongs were the making of Gareth Malone
The Sunday Post, Retrieved 1 June 2014 and was a bank manager. His English mother of Irish descent, Sian, worked in the

civil service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

.Black, Claire (1 June 2014
Gareth Malone on The Choir, and his new album
The Scotsman, Retrieved 1 June 2014 Gareth was educated at

Bournemouth School Bournemouth School is an 11–18 boys grammar school, with a co-educational sixth form, located in Charminster, Bournemouth, Charminster, Bournemouth, Dorset, England, for children aged 11 to 18. The school was founded by E. Fenwick and opened o ...

. He sang with the Symphony Chorus of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (BSO) and he studied drama at the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a Public university, public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus university, campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and twenty-six schools of ...

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

, where he was in the university choir and composed music for theatre productions. After graduating he gave private tuition and then applied for a

postgraduate Postgraduate education, graduate education, or graduate school consists of academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications usually pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachelor' ...

vocal studies course at the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is one of the oldest music schools in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the firs ...

; he passed with distinction in 2005. Gareth Malone

Until December 2009, Malone worked for the

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

at LSO St Luke's where he ran their youth choir and community choir. Whilst working at the L.S.O., Malone was awarded the position of

Edward Heath Sir Edward Richard George Heath (9 July 1916 – 17 July 2005) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1965 ...

Assistant Animateur in 2001. He entered television work when approached by 20/20, a production company which wanted to make a series about singing in schools. Without knowing who could front the programme they had researched the term "community choirmasters" and discovered Malone's name. ''The Choir'' was the result and won two

BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

s and a

Broadcast Broadcasting is the data distribution, distribution of sound, audio audiovisual content to dispersed audiences via a electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), ...

award. On 31 December 2009, Malone conducted the first New Year's Eve Twitter Community Choir performance of

Auld Lang Syne "Auld Lang Syne" () is a Scottish song. In the English-speaking world, it is traditionally sung to bid farewell to the old year at the stroke of midnight on Hogmanay/New Year's Eve. It is also often heard at funerals, graduations, and as a far ...

. He asked his followers on

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, and friends on

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, to join in with the event. A later project was '' The Knight Crew'', a youth opera based on a book written by Nicky Singer and performed at Glyndebourne. After choosing approximately 50 cast out of over 400 applicants between the ages of 14 and 20 through workshops and auditions, and months of rehearsals, ''The Knight Crew'' was performed at Glyndebourne between 3 and 6 March 2010. The project was filmed for a television series, ''Gareth Malone Goes to Glyndebourne'' and aired on the BBC on 1 July 2010. In May 2010, Malone was awarded the Freedom of the City of London by

Nick Anstee Nicholas John Anstee (born 27 May 1958, Gloucestershire) is the former Lord Mayor of the City of London, Lord Mayor of the City of London; he was the 682nd person to serve as mayor and his term was from 2009 to 2010. He served as Alderman for t ...

Lord Mayor of the City of London Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or are ...

(not to be confused with the

Mayor of London The mayor of London is the chief executive of the Greater London Authority. The role was created in 2000 after the Greater London devolution referendum in 1998, and was the first directly elected mayor in the United Kingdom. The current ...

) in recognition of his music education work in that city. In 2013, Malone recruited 16 singers aged from 18 to 27 for his Gareth Malone Voices choir. They recorded a CD album and gave concerts at 14 locations throughout Britain in 2014. In October 2023, Malone became the patron of the Canterbury Choral Society.

Television work

Gareth Malone's television appearances began in 2007 with his

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

series '' The Choir'', broadcast on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

. The series focused on teaching choral singing to teenagers with no such experience, the first programme being set in Northolt High School, a

comprehensive school A comprehensive school is a secondary school for pupils aged 11–16 or 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is restricted on the basis ...

in the west London suburbs. Subsequent programmes continued the theme by taking choral music to challenging situations: ''Boys Don't Sing'' (2008) featured pupils at Lancaster School,

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

, an all-boys school where there was reluctance to sing; the third series, entitled ''Unsung Town'', featured the formation of a community choir in South Oxhey, a suburban town where singing was not a common activity. In 2010 Malone presented a children's programme for

CBBC CBBC is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged 6 to 12. Its sister c ...

, '' The Big Performance'' in which ten keen, but extremely shy, young singers took the opportunity to overcome their fears. They sang for a larger audience each week, taking it in turns to be the soloist, and in the final week they performed for BBC Proms in the Park. A second series was broadcast in 2011 with the final week taking the form of a performance of a choral arrangement of the song " Keep Holding On" for the BBC charity

telethon A telethon (a portmanteau of "television" and "marathon") is a televised fundraising event that lasts many hours or days, the purpose of which is to raise money for a charitable, political or other cause. Most telethons feature heavy solicitatio ...

Children in Need 2011. The ten singers led a live choir in the studio along with children's choirs nationwide, linked by

satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...

. For the

programme ''The Choir: Military Wives'', first broadcast in November 2011, Malone went to Chivenor Barracks in

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, creating a choir from wives and partners of military personnel deployed to

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

. The culmination of the programme was the opening performance for the

Royal British Legion The Royal British Legion (RBL), formerly the British Legion, is a British charity providing financial, social and emotional support to members and veterans of the British Armed Forces, their families and dependants. Membership Service in th ...

's Festival of Remembrance at the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, England. It has a seating capacity of 5,272. Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres ...

on 12 November 2011. The three-minute piece performed by the Military Wives Choir was the song '' Wherever You Are'', a love poem compiled from letters written between the women and their absent husbands and partners and set to music by composer Paul Mealor. A successful campaign was launched to promote sales of the CD single, with the aim of it becoming the 2011 Christmas number one in the UK Singles Chart, which was supported by

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the List of most-listened-to radio programs, most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 14 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the sta ...

DJ Chris Evans. First day sales, which included all pre-orders, indicated that they were outselling their closest rivals, Little Mix, by a hundred singles to one, causing

Ladbrokes Ladbrokes Coral is a British gambling company. Its product offering includes sports betting, online casino, online poker, and online bingo. The Ladbrokes portion of the group was established in 1886, and Coral in 1926. In November 2016, th ...

to close betting for the Christmas number one, and

Simon Cowell Simon Phillip Cowell (; born 7 October 1959) is an English television personality and businessman. He has judged on the British television talent competition shows ''Pop Idol'' (2001–2003), ''The X Factor (British TV series), The X Factor UK ...

to admit defeat in the race. The pre-order sales caused the single to become one of the top 20 best-selling music products of all-time at Amazon.co.uk. In 2011, Malone's show ''Gareth Malone Goes to Glyndebourne'' won an

International Emmy Award The International Emmy Awards, or International Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. Bestowed by the New York City, New York–based International Academy of Televisi ...

in the Best Arts Programme category. On 16 November 2014, it was announced that Malone and a group of celebrities he had mentored had reached the UK number 1 with their

Children in Need ''BBC Children in Need'' is the BBC's UK Charitable organization, charity dedicated to supporting disadvantaged children and young people across the country. Established in 1980, the organisation has raised over £1 billion by 2023 through its ...

charity single " Wake Me Up", a cover of the song originally recorded by Swedish dance act

Avicii Tim Bergling (8 September 1989 – 20 April 2018), known professionally as Avicii, was a Swedish DJ, remixer, and record producer. At age 16, he began posting his remixes on electronic music forums, which led to his first record deal. He rose ...

. On 10 September 2015, Malone appeared on the BBC One programme '' Who Do You Think You Are?'' In 2017, Malone presented ''Pitch Battle'' on BBC One, which ''The Guardian'' described as a "new Saturday teatime singing contest". The review continued: "His Pitch Battle entrance – following the sort of VT explainer that Celebrity Big Brother contestants tend to receive – was excruciating. As the crowd roared, he opened his jacket and showed off his shirt, like a professional wrestler would if he was doing double duty as an usher at his cousin’s wedding." The show was axed after one series, although Malone defended the series in a ''Radio Times'' interview, saying: "I thought it was good". In March 2020, Malone announced an initiative titled the ''Great British Home Chorus'', a new home choir for people internationally whilst everyone was stuck at home during the COVID-19 pandemic. He also revealed he had been in talks with the BBC about making another television programme. In the first week over 100,000 people viewed the first session on YouTube. In July 2020, as a finale to the ''Great British Home Chorus'', Malone orchestrated a choral version of ''

You Are My Sunshine "You Are My Sunshine" is an American standard of old-time and country music and the state song of Louisiana. Its original writer is disputed. According to the performance rights organization BMI, by the year 2000 the song had been recorded by ...

'' with over 11,000 singers taking part, accompanied by the

. The song was released as a single, with all the profits being donated to NHS Charities Together. In August 2022, Malone appeared on ''Celebrity Masterchef''. He was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the competition. In September 2022, Malone appeared in series 2 of ''The Masked Dancer'' as Cactus.

Personal life

Malone is married to Becky, an English teacher. They live in North London with their three children. Their eldest daughter, Esther, was born in 2010. Their son, Gilbert, was born in 2013. They also have a younger daughter, Dvora, who was born in 2019.

Bibliography

Gareth Malone has written two books on the subject of choral singing. His most recent title, ''Choir: Gareth Malone'', is an account of the production of his television series ''The Choir''. * *

Television filmography

Malone's television appearances include to date:

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

External links

* *
''Gareth Malone - Desert Island Discs''Youtube video of Gareth conducting the Military Wives choir
performing a Paul Mealor composition {{DEFAULTSORT:Malone, Gareth 1975 births Living people People educated at Bournemouth School Alumni of the University of East Anglia Musicians from Bournemouth English male singers English male conductors (music) English television presenters Alumni of the Royal College of Music Officers of the Order of the British Empire English people of Irish descent 21st-century English singers 21st-century English conductors (music) 21st-century English male singers Mass media people from Bournemouth