Celebrating two decades as a band, Irish pop sensation Boyzone are back together for a television special - minus one member. The 'Boyz' tell Keeley Bolger how they're still mourning for Stephen Gately, right, and why it's more nice cups of tea than wild parties for this boyband
IT'S A bittersweet time for Boyzone. On the one hand, the Irish band are back in the limelight with a new television special to mark their 20th anniversary. On the other, it highlights the fact they're missing founding member Stephen Gately, who died in 2009 of an undiagnosed heart condition.
Gately was only 33 and his absence hangs over his former bandmates, who each now have tattoos with 76-09 to mark their late friend's life. "Bittersweet is what this is," says 39-year-old singer Keith Duffy of the reunion. "He [Gately] would be so delighted to be part of this now."
Four years after Gately's death, the group is using the one-off ITV special, Boyzone At 20: No Matter What, to discuss their career highs, bitter break up, and to reminisce about Gately. "We kind of feel he's in the room when the four of us are together," says Duffy who, from 2002 until 2005, played ladies' man Ciaran McCarthy in Coronation Street. "We constantly reminisce about him because he was a character, great fun. Stephen did some fantastic performances but most of them weren't on stage, it was in the dressing room."
Going back on stage as a four-piece, instead of five, has been difficult for each of the singers. "When you're standing out there, you do get moments of reflection," says Duffy. "He's not there on stage beside you, and there are moments when it's sad and bitter. But the sweet part is, he'd be delighted looking down on us, doing what we're doing."
The band performed together shortly after Gately died but the experience left them emotionally drained. "We did a tour about two and a half years ago, our first tour after Stephen passed away, and we were all very emotionally unstable," says Mikey Graham, who at 41, is the oldest of the band. "We hadn't grieved correctly at all. It was quite awful, to be honest with you.
Frontman Ronan Keating agrees. "I think it was a bad idea," says father-of-three Keating (36). "Looking back on it now, I didn't enjoy the tour. I think we all felt that. Now we're ready," he adds.
Hosted by Dannii Minogue, Keating, Duffy, Graham and fellow bandmate Shane Lynch (37) will perform their best-loved hits, including Love Me For A Reason, Picture Of You and Father And Son, and share insights into their career.
At their peak, the band, who were managed by Louis Walsh, scored 18 UK Top Ten hits, six number one singles in the UK alone and 25 million record sales worldwide.
In 2000 they split up at the height of their powers to pursue separate projects. Keating, whom Lynch admits that he "hated with a passion" at the time of their break-up, went on to have a successful solo career and has recently appeared on the Australian version of The X Factor with Minogue.
After the split, Graham, a father-of-two, trained as an actor and competed in the fifth series of ITV's Dancing On Ice in 2010, a show which Gately took part in a few years before him. Lynch took up his passion for motorsports and also recently appeared on Celebrity Masterchef, finishing fifth.
Meanwhile, as well as a role in Corrie, Duffy played a drug dealer in Dublin crime drama Love/Hate and is an active campaigner for various autism charities, a cause close to his heart as his daughter has the condition.
With 20 years in the business behind them, the 'Boyz' admit that it's more "cups of tea and hugs" than sex and drugs and rock'n'roll these days. "We were reared on the quiet side of the tracks," says Lynch, whose sisters Keavy and Edele are members of recently reunited nineties girl group B*Witched. "We were nice lads, none of us were the tough guys in our area," he adds, laughing. "We got together, went off in our own bubble and we were on an exciting rollercoaster."
And they're ready for a new journey. "The memories will always be there, but we've managed since Stephen's passing to accept the new shape of Boyzone, and to build upon that slowly," says Graham. "It's mad," adds Keating. "Warner Music are doing a four-album deal [with us] so it doesn't mean it stops here - it's only just started."
* Boyzone At 20: No Matter What is on ITV on Friday December 13.