Stephen Gately

Gately grew up in relative poverty in the working-class Sheriff Street area of Dublin. He was the fourth of five children; his father Martin was a decorator and his mother, Margaret (born 1949) a cleaner. He was particularly close to sister Michelle throughout his life. Gately's father had an accident as a result of which he had to be hospitalised for three months from September 2004. He was estranged from his parents for years, but reconciled with them in 2008 and visited them with Andrew Cowles that year. ==Career==

Boyzone Gately joined Boyzone upon their formation in 1993. The group became known in Ireland after an infamous appearance on The Late Late Show that year, which presenter Gay Byrne dismissed—although he later concluded: "They certainly had the last laugh on us". Boyzone's first success outside Ireland was when the song "Love Me for a Reason" reached number two in the UK Singles Chart in 1995. The group split suddenly following a string of performances in Dublin's Point Theatre in 2000. After his death, manager Louis Walsh described Gately as "the glue in Boyzone, he kept them all together". Keating informed the congregation at Gately's funeral that he had nicknames for them all; "the campest straight band in the world"—Rosaleen, Michaela, Kitty, Shanice and Stephanie. Solo career After success with Boyzone, the band decided in 2000 to move on to solo projects. Gately was the second, with his debut solo single, "New Beginning", released on 29 May 2000. The single reached number three in the UK charts. Two weeks later the album New Beginning was released and entered the charts. The album included twelve tracks including a version of the classic "Bright Eyes", which he recorded for the soundtrack to the TV version of Watership Down. He also voiced one of the characters in the series, Blackavar, which was created to look like him. His character only spoke for 3 episodes, before becoming a background character. The second single taken from the album was "I Believe". Released on 2 October 2000, this song also featured on the soundtrack to the film Billy Elliot. The single just missed the UK top ten, peaking at number eleven. He attended the premieres of the film both at the Edinburgh Film Festival and at the Empire, Leicester Square, along with the stars of the film, Julie Walters and Jamie Bell. In May 2001, Gately's third single, "Stay", was released and reached number thirteen in the UK chart. That month, with his single still in the charts, his record company Polydor dropped him from the label. Boyzone's reformation and final projects In 2008 following his solo career and various bouts of acting and television appearances, Gately rejoined his old colleagues when Boyzone reformed, following the success of revived contemporaries Take That. Gately had been the most eager to reform and urged his bandmates to come together again. They sold out two more tours of the United Kingdom. Boyzone released a brand new single, "Love You Anyway", followed by a new compilation album in October 2008. December 2008 saw the release of a second new single, "Better". The video for the song generated controversy, as scenes depicting romantic couples included a shot of two men embracing, in an inclusive nod to Gately's homosexuality. The group unanimously agreed that Gately should be allowed to pair with a male actor. It was condemned by, among others, the minister of the Dromore Reformed Presbyterian Church. Others, however, cite that milestone as among the reasons why Gately is a "gay rights hero". Wrote Tim Teeman of the Times Online, "Gately showed that an unflamboyant guy could be a pop star and gay...the real shame should be reserved for those managers and showbusiness power-brokers who practise that kind of discrimination, and also maintain the closet, to line their pockets." At the time of Gately's death the group had selected thirty songs which they intended to record for a new album to be released in 2010. This was to have been followed by a tour. ==Other work==

Acting and television In 1999 Gately took part in animated television series Watership Down, where he voiced Blackavar and performed show's theme song, a cover of Art Garfunkel's "Bright Eyes" (included in the previous adaptation from 1978). In December 2002, Gately took the lead role in Bill Kenwright's new production of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, In September 2007, Gately began touring the UK in an 11-week run of Stephen Schwartz's rock musical Godspell but withdrew from the production after just three weeks for contractual reasons. In 2008, Gately appeared in the independent horror film, Credo, which was released in the United States as ''Devil's Curse''. Philanthropy Gately was a vice patron of the charity Missing People (formerly National Missing Persons Helpline), supporting their Runaway Helpline service for young people. He was an ambassador for the Caudwell Children Charity in Stoke and on one occasion gave a private Christmas performance, raising thousands of pounds. Writing During the three years prior to his death, Gately had been writing a children's fantasy novel called The Tree of Seasons. In an April 2009 interview with the Press Association he declared that he was nearly finished, had publisher interest, and hoped for a Christmas 2009 release. Boyzone bandmate Ronan Keating promised at Gately's funeral that "by hook or by crook" the book would be finished. The Tree of Seasons was written in collaboration with June Considine and Jules Williams. Based on Gately's handwritten notes – the day he died he had just worked out the ending. The book released in the UK and Ireland on 13 May 2010, published by Hodder & Stoughton. It contains a foreword by Elton John and David Furnish, and is illustrated by Keith Wilson. The Tree of Seasons remained a bestseller and a top-ten seller for three consecutive weeks. The paperback version was released in April 2011. ==Personal life==

Gately came out as gay in 1999 after discovering that an acquaintance was about to sell the details of his sexuality to the media. From 2000 to 2002, Gately suffered from depression and addiction to prescription drugs. who had been introduced to him by mutual friends Elton John and David Furnish. Gately and Cowles held a commitment ceremony in a wedding chapel while on holiday in Las Vegas in 2003. On 19 March 2006, Gately entered into a civil partnership with Cowles in a ceremony in London. The couple lived together in the north London village of Highgate. Gately spoke of his love for the village, saying he "wouldn't move away for the world. It has a great vibe and the people here are brilliant". Gately was based in London for the rest of his life. His manager Louis Walsh was unaware of Gately's sexuality when he selected him for Boyzone and has said that, had he known, he would have thought twice before picking him, claiming less than a year before his death that "it wasn't cool then to have a gay guy in a band". After the singer's death, Walsh described Gately as his "very, very best friend", saying: "Of all the people I've worked with I don't think anybody thanked me as much as Stephen. He used to always say to me, 'If I wasn't in Boyzone I don't know where I'd be today, thank you'". Gately's idol was Michael Jackson, whom he met at RDS Arena in 1997 when Jackson was embarking on his HIStory World Tour. Jackson died four months prior to Gately's death. ==Death==

Gately died at his home in Port d'Andratx, Mallorca, early on 10 October 2009. His body was discovered later in the morning. His death was later determined to have been caused by a pulmonary oedema resulting from an undiagnosed heart condition. Gately had spent the evening with his partner Cowles at the Black Cat club in Mallorca's capital, Palma. They returned home with a man that they had met that night, Bulgarian national Georgi Dochev. Dochev stayed in the spare bedroom. According to Dochev, he discovered Gately's body lying on a sofa as he was about to leave. He woke Cowles, who was sleeping alone in the couple's bedroom. The surviving members of Boyzone flew to Mallorca on 11 October 2009. The remaining members of Boyzone, Keith Duffy, Michael Graham, Ronan Keating, and Shane Lynch, issued a joint statement: We are completely devastated by the loss of our friend and brother, Stephen. We have shared such wonderful times together over the years and were all looking forward to sharing many more. Stephen was a beautiful person in both body and spirit. He lit up our lives and those of the many friends he had all over the world. Our love and sympathy go out to Andrew and Stephen's family. We love you and will miss you forever, 'Steo'.A post-mortem and toxicology tests took place on 13 October and this examination showed that Gately died of natural causes. On 16 October, accompanied by the four remaining members of Boyzone, his body was brought from Mallorca to Dublin where his funeral took place at St Laurence O'Toole's Church, Seville Place the following day. The four surviving members of Boyzone maintained an overnight vigil in the church the night before. Thousands of fans, celebrities, and politicians were in attendance at the funeral. Fans had travelled from as far as South Africa, and Taiwan to attend the funeral. Gately's coffin was carried into and out of the church by his bandmates, and during the service Ronan Keating gave a eulogy, during which he broke down several times and apologised to the congregation. Keith Duffy reminisced on the early days: "He told Louis [Walsh] he was 5ft 7in (170 cm). When he auditioned for The Hobbit later on, he said he was 5ft 3in (160 cm). But he was a true giant of a man". The funeral clashed with the wedding of a niece of Bertie Ahern and several of her guests defected to the funeral instead. Reaction Fans responded with messages of sympathy on Twitter and Facebook. Thousands of pounds were donated by fans to a Stoke-based children's charity which Gately had endorsed. Boyzone's record catalogue was propelled back into the music charts. The single "No Matter What", on which Gately is a prominent vocalist, received heavy play on radio. My First Time, a stage show which was set to star bandmember Keith Duffy, was cancelled entirely. The four surviving members of Boyzone had memorial tattoos when they brought Gately's body home. Irish boy band Westlife said: "We are, like everyone else, in shock today. We met Stephen Gately back in 1998 when we first started out and since then had the pleasure of meeting him many times. Himself and the Boyzone lads paved the way for us as a band. Our thoughts are with Andy and the rest of his family, his friends, his legions of fans and of course his bandmates Keith, Mikey, Shane and Ronan who will be devastated at the loss of a truly beautiful person." Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said: "It's so sad. Boyzone and Stephen, they've all been part of Irish life and far wider than that, the last 15 years, and so successful, so it's a huge, huge tragedy. He was 33 years of age, 15 years at the top, a fine musician, it's just a huge tragedy to Irish entertainment, Irish music and further afield as well". Daily Mail article An article by Jan Moir in the Daily Mail on 16 October 2009 claimed: "Healthy and fit 33-year-old men do not just climb into their pyjamas and go to sleep on the sofa, never to wake up again. Whatever the cause of death is, it is not, by any yardstick, a natural one." She suggested that drugs and a "dangerous lifestyle" were to blame for Gately's death. Moir's article resulted in over 25,000 complaints to the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) that day. The article was widely criticised in the media. The PCC did not uphold the complaint, stating: "It found the article caused some offence but there was insufficient evidence it breached the law". Legacy In September 2020, Dublin City Council agreed to name "Stephen Gately Park" after the singer. This has yet to be enacted, due to Dublin City Council regulations that require a person to be dead for at least 20 years before a place can be named after them. ==Discography==

With Boyzone • Said and Done (1995) • A Different Beat (1996) • Where We Belong (1998) Solo ;Albums ;Singles Other appearances ==Filmography==

Audio Film Television ==Books==

• The Tree of Seasons (2010) ==References==