Gaze was born in
Adelaide, South Australia, son of William Henry Gaze (c. 1855 – 21 August 1918), a medical doctor with a practice in Norwood and Thebarton. The family moved to
Christchurch, New Zealand, where Gaze was educated and sang in
St John's Church,
Latimer Square, Christchurch. By 1897 the family had moved to Victoria, where his father acted as consulting chemist, apart from his medical practice. He left for England, intending to establish a career in medicine, but chose the stage instead, and following an introduction by
Willie Edouin, played with several touring London comedy companies, a hand-to-mouth existence. After some training with
Ernesto Baraldi he won a place with
William Greet's company, playing in
The Earl and the Girl, for
Frank Curzon in
Sergeant Brue,
Robert Courtneidge in
The Blue Moon and
George Edwardes in
The Girls of Gottenberg. He had a few engagements in America, then returned to England. By December 1910 Gaze was in Ireland with George Edwardes' company, playing Slithers in
Our Miss Gibbs, starring
Carrie Moore. with
Winifred O'Connor as Nadi. The season concluded at Adelaide in April 1912. Gaze left for Europe and America by ship; his wife Belle died on the voyage, at
Aden on 14 May 1912. He played in
Oscar Hammerstein's New York production of
The Firefly starring
Emma Trentini. In October 1914 he returned to Melbourne, where he set himself up as a teacher of singing. In June 1921 he returned to the concert stage, King's Hall, 69 Hunter Street, Sydney, with some of his students. In 1922 Gaze and his family moved to Los Angeles, where he operated as a real estate agent, later as teacher and insurance broker. ==Other interests==