After a second audition the newcomer managed to get through to the final and came in second on February 9, 2002. Simon Cowell signed him as a solo artist.

After participating in a collection of classic traditional pop and vocal pop songs from the 1950s and 1960s called Pop Idol: Big Band Album, covering "Mack the Knife" and "Oh Look at Me Now," Gareth Gates climbed to the top in the U.K. Top 40 singles chart with a contemporary version of the Righteous Brothers' "Unchained Melody"; setting the record for the youngest British male artist to have a number one single. "Anyone of Us (Stupid Mistake)" followed in July 2002. ~ Drago Bonacich