Barratt was born in Swindon, Wiltshire, England and while still very young moved north to Mansfield in Nottinghamshire. He started singing and dancing in junior school and had to put up with years of bullying because of it. He might well have become a professional dancer and even attended The Royal Ballet for a while but, in his early teens, he was ‘spotted’ singing by comedian and TV host Michael Barrymore, and appeared on his ‘My Kind of People’ and ‘My Kind of Music’ programmes.