Originally from Tulsa, Oklahoma, Gates was surrounded by music from infancy, as the son of a band director and a piano teacher. He became proficient in piano, bass and guitar by the time he enrolled in Tulsa’s Will Rogers High School. Gates joined local bands around Tulsa. During a concert in 1957, his high school band backed Chuck Berry. Later, Gates released his first local hit single, “Jo-Baby”, a song he had written for his sweetheart, Jo Rita, whom he married in 1958 while enrolled at the University of Oklahoma. At Oklahoma he became a member of Delta Tau Delta International Fraternity.

In 1961, he and his family moved to Los Angeles, where Gates continued writing songs, and he worked as a music copyist, as a studio musician, and as a producer for many artists – including Pat Boone. Success soon followed. His composition “Popsicles and Icicles” hit No. 3 on the US Hot 100 for The Murmaids in January 1964.