Ronan Keating pays tribute to Boyzone bandmate Stephen Gately on 14th anniversary of death
Boyzone star Ronan Keating said it feels as though bandmate Stephen Gately is “still here because of the music” as he marked the 14th anniversary of his death.
Irish pop star Gately died at his holiday home in Majorca in 2009, aged 33, as a result of an undiagnosed heart condition.
Keating shared a montage of photographs of the boyband in their heyday, as well as portraits of his friend in an emotional tribute.
He wrote: “Ah Brother how I miss you.
“14 years passed and it’s like you’re still here because of the music.
“I just imagine you are still in north london loving life. Hanging with Phil the butcher and pat the baker.
“I do wonder what you would make of it all today. You had such a definite idea of what we are, who we are and when someone was a total waffler.
“Love ya Pal miss ya every day.”
Keating has a tattoo in tribute to Gately, bearing the numbers 76 and 09, referring to Gately’s years of birth and death.
Gately, Keating, Keith Duffy, Mikey Graham and Shane Lynch rose to fame in the Irish boyband Boyzone in the 1990s, selling millions of albums and releasing hit singles including Words, A Different Beat and No Matter What.
After Gately’s death the group continued as a four-piece and released a farewell album, Thank You & Goodnight, in 2018.
It featured a song in tribute to Gately, a reworking of a demo he recorded in 2002 featuring his vocals.
Duffy also formed “supergroup” Boyzlife with Brian McFadden of Westlife.
