Boyzone Singer Stephen Gately Dies

In a sad bit of news, Stephen Gately, the 33-year-old openly gay member of Irish boyband, Boyzone, was found dead Friday in his Majorca hotel room where he’d been vacationing with his husband, Andy Cowles. According to reports, Gately went to sleep in his hotel room after a night of drinking with friends and never woke up. No official cause of death has been released.
It saddens us especially since the last time QC caught up with Gately, it was to celebrate his marriage. News of the World has more details about Gately’s rise to fame and the impact of his death on Boyzone’s other members:

Gately joined Boyzone in 1993 after answering an advertisement in Dublin to audition for Ireland’s first boyband. 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.”

He and Ronan Keating shared lead vocals and band had huge success with six singles reaching reaching number one, including “Stay” in 2001. Ronan Keating, who is in Chicago, has been left devastated. A pal revealed: “Ronan is completely distraught. No-one saw this coming. He loved Stephen like a brother, they were so close, it’s absolutely floored him. “It’s a massive shock to everyone and no one can take it in yet. He was a man in the prime of his life, and this is a huge tragedy.”

The other members of Boyzone, Keith Duffy, Mikey Graham, Ronan Keating and Shane Lynch, have issued this joint statement on their website:

“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.”

We’ll post more details as they become available.
For more gay boy band stuff on QC, check out:
Duncan James of UK Boy-Band Blue Announces Bisexuality
You Know… The Gay New Kid On The Block
QCA Film: The Boys In The Band