Weather: Hi 13°C / Lo 7°C
Ronan Keating: How I broke Stephen Gately news to Boyzone
Tuesday, 3 November 2009
More pictures
Print
Email
Heartbroken Boyzone have opened up about their grief over the tragic death of bandmate Stephen Gately.
An emotional Mikey Graham confessed that he felt as if he lost his "brother" when he learned of his death.
"I loved Steo to bits, he was one of my best friends, a brother whom I always confided in. I think Steo was ... he was the glue in many senses.
"He was the main inner city guy ... and his ways, his manners and travelling the world with Steo was incredible entertainment more than anything else and he was what kept us all positive.
"I think he knew a lot more of the industry than we did because wholeheartedly he was an entertainer, he was a singer, he was a dancer, he was a performer.
"He was all of those things that I ever wanted to be but he naturally had.
"Realistically we looked up to Steo, we looked up to him within the group, he was the glue, he really was," he said.
Mikey also confessed that they are constantly waiting for him to walk back into the room.
"Most of the time he was the last one to arrive when we were doing any kind of gathering and he'd come in, tiptoe through the room in his usual way, with his usual manner about him and to us, that's how we felt, that he was just going to come in to the room," he said.
Ronan Keating spoke of how he was the one to initially break the news to his bandmates, who were all in different parts of the world at the time.
"As soon as possible I called Andrew, Stephen's husband, to find out was it true basically because I didn't want to call anyone else.
"I then called the lads and I got hold of Shane first. Then I got hold of Keith, who was in Dublin also.
"He was in a car and he obviously didn't believe it either so he got hold of Shane and they got together and he also got hold of Mikey."
Meanwhile, Keith admitted he just wanted to give Stephen a hug when he heard.
"Stephen would be the one that would look after and protect you. He liked us to do that, you know, he was very tactile with us and he would always make sure that we looked after him and give him a hug ... but Steo is the one that we kind of take care of. I just wanted to hug him."
He went on to say that they are now trying to cope with the return to reality.
"We just have to take one day at a time and try and move forward and be responsible," he said.
Post a comment
Limit: 500 characters
View all comments that have been posted about this article
Offensive or abusive comments will be removed and your IP address logged and may be used to prevent further submissions. In submitting a comment to the site, you agree to be bound by BelfastTelegraph.co.uk's Terms of Use.
Posts submitted in UPPERCASE letters will be rejected.
90%
10%
it was actualy Shane Lynch that Said this
"I loved Steo to bits, he was one of my best friends, a brother whom I always confided in. I think Steo was ... he was the glue in many senses.
"He was the main inner city guy ... and his ways, his manners and travelling the world with Steo was incredible entertainment more than anything else and he was what kept us all positive.
"I think he knew a lot more of the industry than we did because wholeheartedly he was an entertainer, he was a singer, he was a dancer, he was a performer.
"He was all of those things that I ever wanted to be but he naturally had.
"Realistically we looked up to Steo, we looked up to him within the group, he was the glue, he really was,"
not Mikey Graham please get yr facts right b4 going to print!
Posted by Charlie | 08.11.09, 14:53 GMT