Stephen Gately will always live on in Boyzone’s hearts
BOYZONE have no fear of dying young — and say they still flirt with danger, despite losing bandmate Stephen Gately at the age of 33.
The Irish group are set to pay tribute to Gately, who died from a congenital heart defect in Majorca in 2009, with a farewell tour and album.
Speaking exclusively to Guilty Pleasures, band member Shane Lynch, 42, says Gately’s death taught him to live life to the full.
‘For me, personally, I don’t think it’s changed my perspective of life, because I drive race cars and if I thought dying was a fearful thing then I wouldn’t get into one,’ said the No Matter What singer.
‘When you lose somebody you love, everyone has different ways of dealing with that. But it hasn’t affected me, as in thinking, “Will I die young?”
‘What happened is a tragedy and a loss. Stephen has gone in the physical sense but he is always there in my memory and the rest of the band always think about him too. And that’s why we have recorded a bonus track on our new album that is dedicated to Stephen.’
While Shane and the rest of the lads — Ronan Keating, 41, Keith Duffy, 44, and Mikey Graham, 46 — don’t live in fear of death, they admit they are now looking after their dad bods.
Gearing up for their final tour, which starts in January, and farewell album Thank You and Goodnight, Keating said: ‘The tour is what we are going to be remembered for, so it’s important as a group, but also as individuals, to be the best version of ourselves.
‘That will mean getting into the gym, training hard and watching our diet. We don’t want to fade away. We want to go out on a high!’
And for Lynch, that means chopping out the booze.
‘We did a tour of Asia earlier this year and I didn’t feel tired because I had cut out booze and I was fresh in the morning,’ he said. ‘It’s a different way of approaching things from back in the day and I found it easier.’
Boyzone’s new single, Love, is out now. Their new album Thank You and Goodnight is out on November 16.
Author: Andrei Harmsworth
