top of page

TRIBUTES

Over the past 10 years since Stephen's passing, many tributes have been done to remember him and keep his light shining  despite his absence. This is where you can find just a few of them.

TV SPECIALS

Boyzone - A Tribute to Stephen Gately

Aired on March 21, 2010 on ITV

Aired on March 21, 2010 on ITV2

Aired on December 29, 2009 on RTE

Aired in March 2010 on Film 24

MISC VIDEOS

Stephen Gately - boyzone - xpose the celebs year 2009

Stephen Gately - boyzone - xpose the celebs year 2009

Play Video
Tribute to Stephen Gately at the Meteor Ireland Music Awards 2010

Tribute to Stephen Gately at the Meteor Ireland Music Awards 2010

Play Video
Childline tribute to Stephen Gately

Childline tribute to Stephen Gately

Play Video
Eloy de Jong - Egal was andere sagen (offizielles Video aus dem Album "Kopf aus - Herz an"

Eloy de Jong - Egal was andere sagen (offizielles Video aus dem Album "Kopf aus - Herz an"

Play Video
He's Still Around - Tony Gately

He's Still Around - Tony Gately

Play Video

DAVID FURNISH ORBITUARY

Originally published in The Observer newspaper on 13th December 2009

david furnish.jpg

"Stephen's death seemed so unbelievably random and inexplicable. The only way I can make sense of it is to figure that God sometimes wants the best souls in heaven earlier rather than later, and that's why Stephen was taken away from us so soon.

The last time I saw Stephen was at a friend's 40th birthday party. We were seated beside each other, and I hadn't seen him for quite a while, but we always kept in touch by text or message. Stephen was one of those people who would unfailingly check in: "I'm sending you warm thoughts" – that kind of thing. He was very unaffected by his fame and celebrity; he had no ego. But he very much enjoyed being a performing artist, whether he was singing, acting or dancing.

 

The way Stephen came into the life of myself and Elton was serendipitous. Boyzone had split up and Stephen had been dropped from a solo record deal. Elton and I were down in the south of France, and Elton was reading a magazine article about this and how Stephen had split up with his then-boyfriend. He just said: "Poor guy – he must be bereft. You know what? Let's have him down here to stay." So Elton rang him out of the blue. Stephen was convinced it was a prank, but we put him on a plane and brought him down to Nice. And it was like a ray of sunshine coming into our lives. We have fairly defined groups of friends, but he fitted in with everybody; people instantly fell in love with him.

My best memory of him is from that stay in Nice. One night we were all having dinner on the terrace and Stephen was recalling his very first public performance – when he won a disco-dancing contest in Dublin. He then proceeded to jump up and reprise his award-winning routine in front of (for him at that time) a group of relative strangers. We were just bowled over.

He had natural charm; there was nothing contrived about Stephen. Some people work very hard to put themselves forward in a particular way, but Stephen was just himself, whether he was insecure about something or happy about something. He was a major participant in life, not a sideline kind of guy.

Elton and I actually introduced Stephen to his partner, Andrew. He'd been dating a friend of mine, and I thought he and Stephen would be good for each other, so I suggested they go for coffee. They got on like a house on fire. It was a good hunch.

Stephen didn't live his life by his sexuality. Some gay men live exclusively gay existences; Stephen had friends from across the spectrum. He didn't lead with his minority card. Yes, his coming out was a big thing at the time – the fear was always that such an admission would frighten off the teen girls that make up the boy-band audience, that this magical compact would somehow be broken. But not in Stephen's case. His fanbase increased, if anything. So it was, in some respects, a pioneering step.

Jan Moir's Daily Mail article implying there was something sordid about Stephen's death was unfortunate on so many levels. I can only describe it as deeply homophobic. She passed a judgment on a death that was clearly ruled as natural causes by a coroner, and she used it as a club to try and beat up on civil partnerships. This had nothing to do with Stephen himself. What a distasteful thing to do, to publish such a bigoted rant the day before his funeral. It was like she was dancing on his grave. But I think Stephen would have been proud that the piece inspired this wave of outrage at the inherent homophobia in certain sections of society. My phone, my email box, my Facebook page were all inundated with incredulous messages. It's so ironic that this firestorm should be raised over someone who never had any agendas or axes to grind.

When I think about Stephen now I just think of pure goodness. At my 40th birthday party I sat him next to my mother. Now you're always careful about who you seat beside your mother, but I knew Stephen would charm the pants off her. And I was right. One of the cruellest aspects of his death was that I'm sure his greatest achievements were yet to come. He was devoted to the theatre, and I believe he'd just landed a role in Jersey Boys, which was a show he loved. Plus Boyzone were going back into the studio. He had it all in front of him. At least he died at a happy time in his life; I suppose there's some solace in that.

But I still can't believe he's not here. I can't take his number off my phone. I keep expecting one of those cheery texts to come through."

PHOTOS

BOYZONE

Throughout the years, Shane, Ronan, Mikey and Keith have always made sure to keep Stephen's memory alive. From writing songs for him, putting together tv shows, creating a website for fans to remember him, never missing an opportunity to talk about him, recalling stories of his antics or using his vocals during each tour, tweeting on each anniversary and birthday or sharing photos, the boys have continued to make Stephen live through them and in doing so, have ensured their missing brother was not forgotten.

Stephen's Funeral - October 17, 2009

"On behalf of Steo’s Husband and family we would like to thank you all for all of your kind words, gestures and tributes over the last week. The level of support from the public, media and the music industry has been overwelming. 

 

We would also like to say a massive thank you to An Garda Siochana for all they have done for Stephen."

1/18

Released on 5th March 2010

Ronan

"Steo and I spoke about this album every day for about six months before he passed. He was so excited about this record, about our new sound, about our new vision but most importantly about us really being back together as a group, promoting a new album, touring and singing these new songs." 

Last Boyzone single featuring Stephen's vocals. Released on 1st March 2010. - The official video for the song is a tribute to Steo.

Song dedicated to Stephen on the Brother album.

Released on 18th November 2018

Ronan

"Boyz, it's been one hell of a ride! We started this thing 25 years ago not knowing out arse from our elbow. We made it up as we went along with no one guiding us and look what we created. It's crazy when ya look back and try to take it all in. But we did it, we succeeded, whatever success is and however you measure it, we made it."

Originally one of Stephen's song from his solo years called 'I Can Dream'. After getting the song from the person who wrote it with Stephen, the boys worked on the lyrics and remastered the song to turn it into a special tribute to Stephen and their friendship. It features on their farawell album 'Thank You and Goodnight'.

Listen to the boys explain how the song came to be and talking about Stephen on the Late Late Show in November 2018.

Interview about their farawell album and Stephen / Dream from November 2018

Video tribute and performance of Dream at Wembley during the Thank You and Goodnight Farawell tour in the UK in January and February 2019.

A different video tribute and performance of Dream at Tennis Indoor Stadium in Jakarta during the Thank You and Goodnight Farawell tour in Asia in March 2019.

Eulogy from the boys
Brother Album Dedications
Thank You & Goodnight Album Dedications
Gave It All Away
One More Song
Dream

Reactions from various celebrities and friends of Stephen after his passing.

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'"

CELEBRITIES TRIBUTES

WEBSITES

Previous and current tribute websites, official and fanmade from the last 10 years.

1.jpg

Put together by Ronan, Shane, Keith and Mikey, the website launched in October 2010 with the purpose of giving fans a place to share memories of Stephen. Here's their message:

"On 10th October 2009 life changed forever. We lost on that day not only an integral part of boyzone, but a really special and important human being. We want this site to be a place where people can share their memories of Stephen - if you have a photo of yourself with Stephen please upload it to the gallery.

Ronan, Mikey, Keith & Shane XXXX"

4.jpg
2.jpg

A continuation of Stephen's Official website created by fans. The site came back online in March 2010 with the purpose of becoming an archive of Stephen's career history and life.

3.jpg

A fansite originally created in 2007 that became a tribute website from March 2010 until 2014.

Stephengatelyremembered.co.uk

Stephengately.co.uk

Stephengatelyfans.co.uk

bottom of page