Stephen Gately - 1976-2009

Stephen Gately - 1976-2009
Gately was born in Ireland in March 1976 and joined Boyzone in 1993 after answering an advert in Dublin to audition for Ireland's first boyband.
He and Ronan Keating shared lead vocals and band had huge success with six singles reaching reaching number one, including "Stay" in 2001.

The band decided in 2000 to move on to solo projects. Gately was the first with his debut solo single titled New Beginning and later a debut solo album of the same name.

He went on to appear in various stage productions including starring in Joseph & The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

Gately hit the head lines in June 1999 when he admitted he was gay in our sister paper the Sun disappointing hundreds of his girl fans. His manager Louis Walsh was unaware of Gately's sexuality when he selected him for the band and has said that, had he known, he would have thought twice before picking him, citing that "it wasn't cool then to have a gay guy in a band

Gately wed Andrew Cowles, first in a commitment ceremony in Las Vegas in 2003 and more formally in a civil partnership ceremony in London in 2006.

Boyzone got back together in 2008 and Gately was enjoying the second coming when he tragically died last night in Majorca. This year in had made his film debut in the horror movie Credo.

Last week he attended the Pride of Britain Awards and the band were intending on bringing out a new album in 2010.

Thanks to News Of The World.