Ronan Keating, lead singer Boyzone, has admitted it was a mistake the band going on tour so soon after the death of band member Stephen Gately.
Gately was an original member of the band who enjoyed global success in the 1990s. They split in 2000 before re-forming for a comeback tour in 2007.
The tour was a huge success but a couple of months later Gately unexpectedly died in his apartment in Majorca in 2009. The band members were distraught flew out to personally chaperone his body back to Dublin for the funeral.
Boyzone didn’t tour again until 2011, now as a four piece but Keating admits that it was a mistake. Speaking to the Sun he said: “It was a weird time, that Brother tour in 2011. I wish we hadn’t done it, to be honest. It was my most emotional and the most difficult thing I’ve ever done in terms of work.”
‘We were all in a really dark place’
The band were still grieving for their friend and Gately’s death overshadowed the whole tour. Fellow band member Keith Duffy received counselling to help him come to terms with his loss. He said: “It was a painful tour. By the time we came out the other end of it, we were all in a really dark place.”
Clearly it was too soon for the band to go on stage with the pain at their friend’s death still fresh.
Boyzone were put together in 1993 by music producer Louis Walsh who would later go on to achieve even greater fame as a judge on the UK version of the X-Factor.
Keating has been the most successful band member in terms of following a solo career, having had several hit singles in the UK. He has also worked with major figures like Burt Bacharach. Keith Duffy developed a successful acting career and has starred in the long-running British TV soap, Coronation Street.
The members of Boyzone have now recovered and are preparing to go on tour again to promote their latest album.
Read about Ronan Keating’s compilation album with Burt Bacharach
