With his trademark white suit and 2:2:1 hair formation, Gareth Gates is set to take his next step on the road to pop stardom - and has already been compared to a young Elvis in his new video.

Gareth's debut single, Unchained Melody, is set to hit the shops on Monday, March 18, and as these pictures from the video show, he looks every inch the pop star.

The video was filmed in Tampa, Florida just days after the Pop Idol final. It starts with him singing in an empty street, and, as the song progresses, he ends up surrounded by an army of fans.

Gareth's biggest fan, mum Wendy, says she is thrilled with his choice of song as it is her all-time favourite.

" I liked the Robson and Jerome rendition, but Gareth's version is absolutely fantastic - what he's done with it is make it his own," she said.

As well as promoting the single, Gareth is also rehearsing in London for the Pop Idol tour, which starts on Thursday, and Wendy says he is coping well with the workload.

"Gareth is best when he's working - I've known that for a long time. Him doing what he wants to do gives me peace. I think he's got one of the best management teams and one of the best record labels anywhere and they are really looking after him."

Gareth has appeared on GMTV to promote the single, but his management company, 19 Management, says that he has such a high profile from Pop Idol that promotional work is being kept to a minimum to give him time to concentrate on the forthcoming tour.

"It's difficult to say whether Gareth will do as well as Will, who sold more than a million copies in his first week," a spokesman said.

But, judging by pre-orders at Bradford record stores, Gareth's single will be flying off the shelves.

HMV in Bradford reports that it has had 20 times the amount of pre-orders for Unchained Melody compared to Will's debut single.

Orders are also flooding in at Shipley's Woolworths store. Beverley Porter, service team leader, says that the store will be opening an hour early on Monday so people can pick up a copy on their way to school and work.

"It's the first time we've ever done that for a single but there's been such huge interest in this we decided to do it for Gareth," she said.