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Heartbroken Boyzone pals slept next to Stephen Gately’s coffin

Band mates give first interview since death of 'Steo'

By
KENNETH HAYNES,
IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Monday, November 2, 2009, 2:05 PM
Updated Monday, November 2, 2009, 2:52 PM

 

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Late Boyzone member Stephen Gately is surrounded by his bandmates (L-R): Ronan Keating, Mikey Graham, Shane Lynch and Keith Duffy
Late Boyzone member Stephen Gately is surrounded by his bandmates (L-R): Ronan Keating, Mikey Graham, Shane Lynch and Keith Duffy

Boyzone has given their first interview since Stephen Gately tragically died on October 10 in Majorca.

The Irish boy banders revealed that they slept on the church floor next to Gately’s coffin to be with him the night before his funeral.

The four remaining members of the band, Ronan Keating, Shane Lynch, Keith Duffy and Mikey Graham, spoke about their reaction to the loss of their 33-year-old dear friend.

They said that choosing a coffin for Gately’s was one of the hardest things they ever had to do, telling Sky News they “crumbled” when they first arrived at the funeral home.

"I fell to pieces, it was there that I realized he was gone, really gone and that was very hard, for all of us . . . that for me was when it really became real, I struggled from then on,” Keating said.

But the boys found solace by spending the night at St. Laurence O’Toole’s Church in Dublin the night before the funeral.

"The four of us decided to stay with him on the Friday night in the church,” Keating said. “All of us are so happy that we did it. It was our last night together as a five piece, our last real night together.

"We lay on the floor to the left of the coffin in our sleeping bags and we cried and we laughed and we could hear him telling us jokes and answering back.

“We didn't get much sleep, a little bit, but that's not what it was about, it was just about spending time with Steo and we knew Steo well; he didn't like the dark, he didn't like being on his own.

"Yes, we had a nice time, the five of us. We toasted and we had a drink and it was our way of saying goodbye, it was our way of dealing with it."

Boyzone is determined to keep the band going as a four-member group, and still have plans to release their upcoming album, which will be dedicated to Stephen Gately’s memory. The album will include tracks featuring Gately that were recorded before his death.

"We're going to make the next album for Stephen," Keating said. "We're going to go forward as Boyzone and we're going to make this new record. We . . . find comfort in being together at the moment and, also, when we're together we feel Stephen's here."

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