Boyzonewillalways befive..stevowillbe withusuntiltheend
HAVING Stephen Gately’s voice on the final Boyzone album was a “bittersweet blessing” as the group say goodbye to fans after 25 years.
Stephen died aged just 33 in 2009 from a congenital heart defect.
Nine years on from losing him, bandmates Ronan Keating, Shane Lynch, Keith Duffy and Mikey Graham wanted Stephen – nicknamed Stevo – to be part of their finale.
Shane, 42, vowed: “Boyzone will always be five so it was important that as we said goodbye, we said it with him.”
“We have a piece of Stevo on the album. It’s amazing. A bittersweet blessing without a doubt.
“It was just lovely to have him around. We miss him.”
Boyzone revealed earlier this year that their forthcoming album Thank You and Goodnight would be their final one.
As well as collaborating with the likes of Ed Sheeran and Gary Barlow, they also found a track Stephen had done and the group have turned it into a new song, I Can Dream.
Stephen’s vocals had last featured on Boyzone’s album Brother – on songs Gave It All Away and Stronger – which was released in 2010 after his death.
But the group didn’t realise there was more of his music that hadn’t been released.
Shane said: “We were blessed with a producer who happened to come across some stuff he’d worked on with Stevo for his solo album in 2002.
“We had the opportunity to re-work the song and add our harmonies alongside his lead vocal.
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“It was a bittersweet experience to hear all our voices together again. It’s the closest the five of us will ever get to being in a room together again making music.”
The boys have just released their new single Because, which Ronan co-wrote with Ed, who sang at his 2015 wedding. It starts the countdown to the release of the album in November and their final tour in January next year including a date at the 3Arena in Dublin on January 24.
Shane said: “We are delighted to have Ed on board and Gary Barlow wrote another song, Love, on the album.”
While they may have been rivals in the 90s, Boyzone and Take That are good pals and both have spanned generations with mums now taking their kids to their shows.
Music mogul Louis Walsh put the group together as an “Irish Take That”.
The auditions for the boyband were held in Dublin in 1993 and more than 300 people applied, singing their version of George Michael’s Careless Whisper.
Louis, who went on to manage Westlife and be a judge on The X Factor, then whittled down the hopefuls to Ronan, Stephen, Keith, Shane and original members Richard Rock and Mark Walton. Mikey was rejected at that point only to be brought back in after Richard clashed with Ronan.
But before Mikey joined up, the six-strong Boyzone line-up made their debut TV appearance on Gay Byrne’s Late Late Show.
They hadn’t even recorded any music so had to dance, somewhat manically, to a tittering audience.
Louis tweaked the group, bringing back Mikey and getting rid of Richard and Mark.
Their second single Love Me for a Reason reached No2 and the group went on to have six UK No1 singles including Words and No Matter What.
They also had five UK
No1 albums. ouis managed them until
1998 and Shane has nothing but admiration for the man who steered them to chart success.
He said: “He’s an amazing guy.
We
Lsevered that cord many years ago but I love Louis.”
The group split for the first time in 2000, making a comeback in 2007 with the intention of just touring.
But after Stephen’s death, they released the well-received Brother, followed by two more albums. But there has been no new music from them in the last four years.
Shane explained: “The fans have been asking us what was happening, when there would be another album or a tour.
“And for me, the uncertainty of what Boyzone were doing from the noughties to now has always been unsettling. Are we gigging? Are we doing an album?
“Now we all understand and have clarity about where we stand.”
And while he will say goodbye to Boyzone, Shane won’t be bidding farewell to his three bandmates.
He added: “We are in each other’s lives. It’s not the end of me seeing the boys. I love the boys. We spend a reasonable amount of time outside music.”
They have fans who have known them for 25 years and were young girls or teenagers when the group started.
Many of them are now mums or even grandmothers.
They have retained a strong following through the years and Shane says that’s down to the relationship they built with their fans.
He said: “We didn’t play the pop star roles and hide from fans. Our fans knew they could meet us, talk to us and take photos. We were always a people’s band.”
Shane has moved on from the squeaky-clean boyband look and most of his body is covered in tattoos. But he’s not dissing the career that has been his life.
He said: “It’s given me everything I could have dreamed of. To be able to finish a band after 25 years still being able to play big gigs is the sign of huge success.”
The lads have different careers with Ronan now a breakfast show presenter, Keith an actor and Mikey mixing music with reality shows.
Dubliner Shane also gave reality shows a go and was on Celebrity Big Brother earlier this year. But his big love is motor racing.
He said: “I’m a petrolhead. It’s what flows through my veins. I’m building a car for 2020 so will be riding out the next couple of years and getting back into motorsport then.”
Not that he won’t say yes to Strictly Come Dancing or I’m a Celebrity.
Even after 25 years of recording, touring, hotels and speeding round racetracks, Shane admitted: “I just like keeping busy.”