Gareth Malone, the nation's favourite choirmaster, is inviting the next Prime Minister to join him on his new UK sing-along tour. Following Keir Starmer's resignation, Malone, 50, extends the invitation to whoever will run the country soon, hoping they will issue a mandate for more music in schools.
Malone says: “I hope the new PM takes it more seriously and then considers mandating for more music in schools. There are so many kids up and down the country who aren't going to get As at A-level in physics. That's fine, you know, we can't all do that. But for those kids, and especially the ones that struggle at school, music can be a lifeline.”
Music as a Lifeline for Confidence and Skills
Malone, who shot to fame in 2006 with his BAFTA-winning BBC Two documentary series The Choir, believes making music from an early age prepares people for the jobs market. He says: “Music and singing are the things that give people the confidence to go stand up at the job interview. It's those experiences that you have when you're young that form character - you can't just sit and shove facts into kids like you’re making sausages.”
He adds: “You have to take care of the whole person. Part of that is being fit, part of that is eating well and part of that is having confidence - and that comes through music. No-one, no politician for a long time, has taken that seriously.”
After-School Activities and Uniting People
Malone, who has had three number one records in the UK with the Military Wives Choir and the Gareth Malone All Star Choir for Children in Need, also hopes the new leader will place greater emphasis on after-school activities. He says: “I'm hopeful because I'm seeing that after school activities are going to become a hot topic again and important.”
Speaking as tickets go on sale for his Sing-A-Long-A-Gareth: At The Movies tour, which starts in Edinburgh on October 15, he hopes to utilise music's power to unite people in turbulent times. His repertoire includes feel-good favourites from movies such as Moon River, Stayin’ Alive and Take My Breath Away, backed by a band and local choirs.
Malone says: “Singing is a great unifier, and something we’ve done as a society since the dawn of time. It’s British people coming together regardless of creed, colour or background. You can just get in a room, sing a song and feel like you're part of something bigger. That is a really essential ingredient in life - and something we could all do with right now when things feel so divided.”
Preserving the Art of Singing Together
Malone fears we risk losing the art of singing together. He says: “I was walking past a church the other day, it was Sunday morning and there was hardly anyone there. Two hundred years ago, when that church was built, it would be absolutely thriving and loud with song. Singing is euphoric. In a very healthy way, it gets you out of your head. Much better to do that through sport or music than it is to do it through illegal means. My show is a legal high!”
Pitching his music to appeal to the whole family, he continues: “We have kids coming. I love it when people bring three generations of a family. Grandma, mum and daughter all sat together. The daughter knows the one by Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, and the grandma knows Bohemian Rhapsody.”
Despite his wholesome image, Malone, who has three children with his wife, English teacher Becky Malone, has had knickers thrown at him but is yet to receive a bra. He says: “I'm always hopeful for bras, one lives in hope. Somebody went to Primark and bought a load of happily brand new clean knickers and threw them at me in Liverpool.”
Engaging Communities Through Music
Malone, who lives in north London, has always been keen to engage the public and harness the power of singing through his shows. For the BBC's The Choir: Our School by the Tower, he worked with students and staff at Kensington Aldridge Academy, a secondary school next to Grenfell Tower, to help them heal through music after the 2017 tragedy. Since 2025, he has delighted fans with Gareth Malone’s Messiah, a new choral challenge that helps eight rookie singers discover Handel's masterpiece.
He remains astonished that his work has made him famous. He says: “Suddenly, I was playing to 40,000 people in Hyde Park for Proms in the Park, then it was The Mall, with 250,000 people plus a global TV audience for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. I've met Gary Barlow, I can retire now!”
Malone, who studied drama at the University of East Anglia, explains his motivation: “I do it because I truly believe in the life changing power of music.” In the BBC series The Choir: Aylesbury Prison, he went to HMP YOI Aylesbury, one of the toughest young offenders' institutions in the UK, to form and conduct a choir with inmates aged 18 to 21. He says: “I remember talking to a psychotherapist who said you can get further with music in an hour than you can in weeks and weeks of therapy. Music just softens people up.”
Personal Reflections and Future Plans
Malone, who was made an OBE in 2012 for services to music, advises: “Put your phone down and be in a room with people singing. It is so intensely good, it's intensely powerful. It transforms people's moods, it transforms people's confidence. It's amazing for young people.” After a hectic few years, turning 50 in 2025 made him take stock. He says: “I was exhausted. I'd been on tour, I wasn't fit, I was feeling awful and I just watched it back and thought ‘oh I look a bit grey.’”
Consequently, he found hot yoga and has now become hooked. He says: “I’ve become a yoga bore I’m afraid. I took up hot yoga and hot pilates and I now go six times a week. I want to be one of those 60 or 70 year olds that are in great shape. I want to enjoy life as I get older and to live as long as I can.”
Growing up with singing parents, bank manager James and civil servant Sian, Malone says: “They met at an amateur opera. They would sing Rodgers and Hammerstein, Gilbert and Sullivan, ABBA, and The Beatles.” Music is so important to him that he admits, had Becky been tone deaf, their relationship could have hit a bum note. He laughs: “I’m happy to report that my wife can sing. It would be awful if she couldn’t, wouldn't it? I'm pretty sure it would have been a deal breaker. We sing songs round the piano together - Motown, Whitney Houston. My three kids all like to sing too. So, yeah, I think that my work is done.”
In fact, music is the subject of the family’s only house rule. He explains: “In our house, anyone can sing whenever they like. Sometimes I do make up silly songs when I'm putting on the breakfast, and my kids think, ‘Oh for goodness sake, it is 7am!’”
Alongside preparing for his show, Malone has another exciting revelation. He teases: “I am the new James Bond!” Of course, he is joking, but he will be taking on a secret acting role. “Watch this space,” he says. “Exciting things to come.”
*Gareth Malone’s Sing-A-Long-A-Gareth: At The Movies UK tour runs throughout October/November, tickets are on-sale now at myticket.co.uk
