28-01-2025
Boyzone doc is 'beautiful' celebration of queer pioneer Stephen Gately
Watch Boyzone members reflect on Stephen Gately's legacy:
For Boyzone making documentary No Matter What gave them the chance to tell their story in their own words, including for late band member Stephen Gately who died in 2009 and whose legacy they wanted to celebrate, Ronan Keating and Keith Duffy tell Yahoo UK.
Gately was the first openly gay singer from a boy band in the UK when he came out in 1999, and his coming out was the subject of much public interest at the time. In the documentary his fellow band members share insight into what the press intrusion was like for him and the group at the time, but also the ways in which his life and work will stand the test of time.
The Sky documentary is a "beautiful" celebration of Gately for Keating, as he tells Yahoo: "It's been a tough watch every time, I've watched it multiple times and every time I'm a mess. Stephen's story had to be told and I'm delighted that we got to do this, to honour him like he is honoured in this film.
"This is his legacy, this is his story. It's incredible, it's heartbreaking that he's not here, he's obviously part of it but he's not here to celebrate it. He, at 33 years of age, had just found [himself], he'd become comfortable in his own skin and he was a bright shining star.
"He was ready to take on anything and that's the injustice of it all. It's very tough, so to celebrate his life and for everybody to see that, the character that he truly was, is beautiful to watch."
Gately came out in 1999, speaking out himself after learning that an acquaintance planned to sell stories to tabloids about his sexuality. He went on to wed Andrew Cowles in a civil ceremony in 2006, and for the public he became a queer pioneer according to Keating.
Reflecting on his life and legacy, Keating went on: "He was the first out there, a pioneer, and my God we were so caught up in the whole thing that we didn't even realise that at the time. But when you look back on it years later, you realise what he did for all those other guys and girls that were having to hide behind different characters and [hide] the real people that they were.
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"They were scared and Steven was there to guide them and to help them through that, and if he can do it anyone can — you know 'I can do it too', that kind of thing. I mean that will live forever."
Duffy said that the documentary "portrayed Stephen great" and was "very respectful to him", and gave them the chance to reminisce on memories they made before his death from a pulmonary oedema caused by an undiagnosed heart condition.
The singer reflected: "It gives us something that we can always look at, to remind us if we ever forget —which we won't— but it was such a special time in all of our lives.
"The thing that we're most grateful for is that when we did get back together at the end of 2007, into 2008, we got back together to do ChildLine, to do a medley of three of our songs on ChildLine, and we went to the studio for a week rehearsal before the performance and it was the first time we were out again in just over seven years.
"It was just amazing how we all gelled again, that's when we were offered a tour... and now we didn't know at the time but looking back now those two years were incredible years because it gave us the opportunity to go back and do what we did in the nineties as more mature and grown up guys."
He added: "We toured right through 2008 into 2009, and we didn't realise how important that was going to be because ultimately Steven passed away in the October and if we had never have got back together it would have been lost. It would have been a huge, huge void in our lives, the memories that we made in 2008 and 2009 are amazing.
"The performances that we did together in that time were phenomenal and, like I said, we didn't realise at the time how important that time was. We got the opportunity to to have nearly two years back together before Steven passed, so it was a very, very, very important time. It gave us the ability to make new memories and have a more solid friendship with each other."
Boyzone: No Matter What premieres on Sky Documentaries on Sunday, 2 February.
