It May Be Quiet Around Here

On Saturday 17th October friends, fans and celebrities joined Stephen’s Gately’s family for an emotional funeral service at Dublin’s St Lawrence O’Toole church in the north inner city. It was a remarkable and moving occasion, which was broadcast live on Sky News and covered extensively in media all over the world.

A born entertainer, Stephen Gately grew up in Sheriff Street, the fourth of five children. In addition to Stephen, his father and Mother, Martin and Margaret, who worked as a cleaner, had one girl and three boys: Michelle, Tony, Alan and Mark. They lived in an under-privileged and often beleaguered inner-city community, where everyone was battling to one degree or another against the odds. There was a lot of poverty and crime. It was a tough and rough area but [with] nice people and good community spirit,” Stephen once said – and the community responded in kind at the funeral, coming out in huge numbers to wish farewell to the local boy-dun-good. They were joined by thousands of fans, who flew in from all over the world to pay tribute to their hero: it was a hugely sad and emotional goodbye.
Before he found success with Boyzone, Stephen Gately worked as a barman and shop assistant. However, from a young age he dreamed of a career in show business. Later known as the “cute one” in Boyzone, he went to the Gaiety School of Acting, joined a modelling agency in his teens and entered several dance competitions around Ireland, becoming Irish disco dancing champion at the age of 14. His first real taste of success came in 1991 with a small part in Alan Parker’s The Commitments. He was on his way.
In 1993 Gately answered an advert placed by Louis Walsh, who wanted to create Ireland’s first boy band. The rest, as they say, is history. Gately was one of the original six chosen ones (later to become five with slightly altered personnel) and Boyzone were unleashed upon Ireland in the now-legendary shambolic appearance on The Late Late Show. But that was the showbiz equivalent of playing possum. Boyzone quickly learned to dance, sing and perform. They worked night and day to improve. And they did, coming on in leaps and bounds until they had matured into a thoroughly viable pop proposition, the major rivals of the era to Take That.
Sharing lead vocal duties with Ronan Keating, who in his funeral tribute called him “my wingman”, Gately was an integral part of Boyzone, and Louis Walsh described him as the “glue” that held the group together. They had their first Irish hit with a cover of ‘Working My Way Back To You’ and went to No.1 in Ireland and the UK with ‘Love Me For A Reason’, the first single from their debut album, Said And Done, which also went to No.1 – and became a triple platinum seller.
At the height of their fame, the Boyz achieved phenomenal success, with 17 UK and international Top 20 singles, including six number ones, and four number one albums in the UK charts. Perhaps Stephen Gately’s finest moment came in 1998, when he took the lead vocals on ‘No Matter What’, a song from the musical Whistle Down The Wind, written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Jim Steinman, which appeared on the band’s Where We Belong album. It was a huge hit, going to No.1 in five countries and almost providing the band with a breakthrough in the US, where it went to No.12 in the Adult Contemporary chart. The note of defiance sounded in the song proved to be unexpectedly relevant to Stephen in his personal life, when he came out as being gay in 1999.
After the band was put on ice in 2000, and with the future looking decidedly uncertain for all five members, Stephen Gately made a confident beginning to a solo career. At first it looked as if solo stardom might beckon: the title track from his album New Beginning, released in 2000, made it to No.3 in the UK charts and the album produced two more top 20 singles. Despite the record's relatively impressive performance, he was dropped by Polydor, a rejection that hurt and disappointed him.
Nonetheless, he went on to carve out a successful identity as a solo performer, particularly on stage. He had always had a passion for theatre and took on the lead role in Joseph & The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, which was crowned with a run in the West End in London, and played the Child Catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. He also did pantomime, starring in Cinderella and as The Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz.
Naturally creative and driven, before his death, Gately had been writing a children’s fantasy novel called The Tree of Seasons which was due to be released this Christmas. Just days before his death, Gately posted his last message on the social networking site Twitter: “Still busy – lots going on. Focusing on finishing my book next, so may be quiet here.”
And so it proved, but, poignantly, not in the way that might have been imagined. By now, the facts of Stephen’s death are well known. He was holidaying in Majorca with his husband Andrew Cowles, staying in the apartment they owned in Port d’Andtrax. They enjoyed a night out together at the Black Cat club in Palma, where they met up with Georgi Dochev, a 25-year-old Bulgarian man, whom they befriended. It was Dochev who found Gately’s body the following morning, hunched over the couch in the apartment in what was described as “a praying position”.
The fevered speculation concerning the circumstances of his death, which followed, proved to be completely wide of the mark. The post mortem carried out by the Spanish authorities concluded that Stephen died of natural causes, caused by pulmonary oedema – a condition where fluid gathers in the lungs – resulting from a genetic and previously unidentified heart condition and leading to respiratory failure.
Described by those who knew him as an incredibly warm, honest, humorous and wonderfully likeable character, Stephen’s funeral was held in Dublin on Saturday October 17 and he was created in a private ceremony at Glasnevin Cemetery.

GLAD TO BE GAY
He didn’t come out until The Sun put the gun to his head in 1999. But Stephen Gately felt much happier having done so, and went on to become one of the most important gay icons in recent Irish history.
While his fans will remember Stephen Gately as an entertainer, in his own quiet way, he was an important gay icon.
Boyzone manager Louis Walsh was unaware that Stephen was homosexual when he was selected to be part of the band; indeed it is highly unlikely that Stephen would have been chosen if his sexuality had been known, as it was crucial for the members of boybands to appeal to an audience of teenage girls. Stephen of course did, with many young female fans falling for his bright and innocent, wide-eyed, fairytale prince good looks.
During the course of the band’s first six years, Stephen hid his sexuality and was involved in what amounted to covert relationships with manfriends, until finally becoming the first boy band member to openly admit to being homosexual.
He made the decision to come out in 1999 after a member of Boyzone’s crew approached The Sun with the offer of an exposé. With the tabloid gun effectively to his head, Gately decided to tell his story himself, revealing that he was in a relationship with Eloy de Jong, a singer in the Dutch boy band, the ironically named Caught In The Act.
At the time Gately said: “I wanted my fans to hear the facts from me and Eloy before anyone else got the chance to publish a twisted version of the truth… This is the hardest thing I have ever had to do but I owe it to our fans, as well as myself, to be honest… I hope the fans who have supported us from day one will respect my honesty.”
They did. Although thousands of fans were naturally devastated at the news, many came out in support of the singer, texting and emailing the media, as well as leaving messages of support on Boyzone’s website. It was an especially important development in Ireland, where so few people in public life – and indeed so few musicians – have declared themselves to be homosexual.
The relationship with de Jong coincided with a difficult period in Stephen’s life, with depression and dependency on prescription drugs becoming factors in his life. But he proved to be resilient. Having split up with de Jong he first returned to Dublin – but moved back to London when he formed a relationship with Andy Cowles, who had been introduced to him by Elton John’s partner Dave Furnish.
Stephen married Andrew Cowles, first in a commitment ceremony in Las Vegas in 2003 and formally in a civil partnership ceremony in London, in 2006. In doing so, he paved the way for artists such as Will Young and Westlife’s Mark Feehily to come out as gay. It was also a significant public statement from an Irish perspective: here was a hugely popular and well known Irish singer and performer getting married to his boyfriend. It happened in London, but it begged the question: why could they not get married in Dublin? Stephen lived with Cowles in a house in Highgate in London and talked often of how happy he was in the relationship. There was no need for secrets any more. For the video to Boyzone’s 2008 single, ‘Better’, Gately is teamed with another man as his love interest. Speaking about the decision to do this, he said: “For me, it’s just me being me and I don’t think there should be a real big issue about the whole thing anyway.”
Very few people in Ireland have done as much to normalise gay love as Stephen Gately. For this, he will surely be remembered as a gay hero.

TRIBUTES

BOYZONE: “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’. From Ronan, Keith, Mikey and Shane.”

LOUIS WALSH: “(He was) a great, great, great professional kid. All Stephen lived for was to be singing music. I think he was the glue in the band because he kept everybody happy.”

ELTON JOHN: David and I are stunned by this tragedy. Stephen was the kindest, gentlest soul. We send our love and condolences to his partner Andy and to all his friends everywhere.

DAVID FURNISH: “I think sometimes God wants the good pure souls early and that’s the way I think of it. I can’t make sense of it any other way because he was such a good man. The world is a much less brighter place without him.”

ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER: “Madeleine and I are shocked and deeply upset by Stephen’s untimely death. He was enormously talented and I very much enjoyed working with him on Joseph and the Technicolour Dreamcoat and the Boyzone hit ‘No Matter What’ – my biggest selling single. Madeleine and I got to know him well over the years entertaining him at our Sydmonton Festival. His death is a great loss to the musical world.”

WESTLIFE: “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. He was a friendly, positive spirit and a passionate performer. 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.”

BRIAN McFADDEN (on Twitter): “Heartbroken! R.I.P the beautiful Stephen Gately. Life is so unfair. We loved you and you’ll be in our hearts forever.”

STEPHEN FRY (on Twitter): “Just heard the very sad news about dear Stephen Gately. What a dreadful shock. He was loveable and sweet natured and will be hugely missed.

Former Taoiseach BERTIE AHERN: “It’s just such a tragedy. 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. It’s so sad. 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.”