On Monday it will be 13 years since the world suffered the devastating sudden loss of talented Boyzone singer Stephen Gately.
He was just 33 when he collapsed and died from an undiagnosed heart condition. His bandmates were stunned to lose a friend who was like a brother to them.
And for Keith Duffy the grieving is not over. Monday will be a deeply emotional day as he honours his best friend.
Keith, 48, has revealed he speaks to Stephen every day and still feels his presence each time he steps on to a stage. And rather than try to block out Stephen’s death, Keith is determined to keep his mate’s memory alive.
He has created a shrine to his former bandmate at the home he shares with wife Lisa and daughter Mia, 21. Keith, also a former Coronation Street star, said: “I have photographs of me and Ste all over my house. He’s a big part of my family still, and will always be a big part of my life.
Keith said: “I can’t actually believe it’s 13 years since Stephen passed. It’s still hard for me to believe he is no longer with us.
“It’s so tragic. He really was taken too soon. He left a massive hole in my life.
“Stephen was my brother and my best friend. I talk to him all the time. I still feel his presence. He’s on stage with me every time I go on.”
Stephen was on holiday in Majorca with his husband Andrew Cowles when he died. A postmortem showed he had a pulmonary oedema – fluid in his lungs – because of the undiagnosed congenital heart defect.
Keith and his Boyzone bandmates Ronan Keating, now 45, Shane Lynch, 46, and Mikey Graham, 50, gave the eulogy at Stephen’s funeral in Dublin. Keith and Ronan helped carry their friend’s coffin as the city gathered to say goodbye to one of its best-loved sons.
Since Stephen’s tragic passing the four normally get together on the anniversary of his death to toast his life.
But on Monday Keith has had to break with that tradition because he is on tour with ex-Westlife singer Brian McFadden, 42, who now appear as the duo Boyzlife.
Keith said: “We will do something special but every single show we keep his memory alive. We ask the audience to think of their favourite memory of him and then we sing a song for him. He is always with me.”
Irish boyband Boyzone were launched by manager Louis Walsh in 1993 and went on to become one of the UK’s biggest pop acts of the decade alongside huge names like Take That and the Spice Girls.
They split in 1999 before making a comeback in 2007, two years before Stephen’s death. The grieving band carried on as a four-piece to honour Stephen before eventually calling it a day in 2018.
They had six number one singles and four number one albums. Keith has also had a successful acting career, starring in Coronation Street as charming ladies’ man Ciaran McCarthy on and off between 2002 and 2011. Ciaran had realtionships with Sunita Alahan and Michelle Connor and Keith was so successful in the role that he won nominations for best soap newcomer and sexiest male.
He has performed with Brian – who has two daughters with reality TV star Kerry Katona – under the name Boyzlife since 2016.
The duo are currently in the middle of a UK tour before heading to Australia. The pair are close but Keith admits he is lonely on the road without Lisa and Mia.
Keith, who also has a grown son, Jordan, said: “You know the older I get the more difficult it becomes. There are lonely times. I don’t particularly like it. I prefer not to be away so much.
“I have a daughter Mia with special needs and although she was quite severely autistic as a kid, she’s a wonderful young lady. She’s finished university, she’s started her first big job with a big American pharmaceutical company.
“She’s doing great but Lisa kind of mollycoddles her a little bit too much, if I’m honest.
“Lisa could allow her to become a lot more independent and travel with me a lot more. But she just doesn’t like leaving her.”
Keith said he is incredibly proud and grateful for such a long career.
But he doesn’t know whether he would audition to be in the band if he had his time again.
He said: “Fame isn’t all it is cracked up to be. I read an intense interview recently with Melanie C about how the Spice Girls affected her life and the pitfalls of stardom and fame, which I can relate to. Had I been told the pitfalls of the business, of being famous and the whole situation, would I still make the same decision?
“Well it’s a very complex, difficult question to answer.
“There are so many parts of it that you’d say, ‘Absolutely yes’, but then again, there’s so many parts of it, that you’d say, ‘I don’t know’. I missed out on a lot of time with my kids.”
But while Keith’s not sure he made the right decision, there’s still a lot of screaming women who are so glad he did choose to become a pop star.
The laughing singer added: “We’ve got a real loyal fan base. They aren’t as crazy as they used to be though.
“We used to get sexy underwear thrown at us but now it’s gone from G-strings to Bridget Jones-style big knickers.”
