Entertainment

Ronan Keating recalls emotional reaction to song about Stephen Gately

The pop star appeared on Sunday Brunch to discuss his new album Twenty Twenty.
The pop star appeared on Sunday Brunch to discuss his new album Twenty Twenty. The pop star appeared on Sunday Brunch to discuss his new album Twenty Twenty.

Boyzone star Ronan Keating has said hearing Robbie Williams’ song about his late bandmate Stephen Gately left him with “tears coming down my face”.

The track, called The Big Goodbye, appears on Keating’s new album, Twenty Twenty, as a duet between the two pop singers.

Gately died as a result of an undiagnosed heart condition at the age of 33 in 2009.

Speaking on Sunday Brunch, Keating said: “Last October was Stephen Gately’s 10-year anniversary and the boys and I were out celebrating Stephen’s life and honouring him.

“I got home that night and there was an email from Rob saying: ‘I’ve seen you boys on the telly and I forgot that I wrote this song 10 years ago about Steo and I put it away’.

“I’m standing in the kitchen with tears coming down my face listening to this song.

“I said: ‘Man we’ve got to do something’ and he said ‘Let’s do it’.

“That song is on the album and it’s amazing. I find it hard to even listen to it. It’s a very special song.”

Stephen Gately dies
Stephen Gately dies Boyzone’s Stephen Gately (Barry Batchelor/PA)

Keating, 43, and his wife Storm, 38, welcomed a daughter named Coco Knox Keating in March

He said they were “blessed” she was still sleeping much of the time

“Four months old and she is still asleep – 13 hours she is sleeping,” he said.

“It’s ridiculous. We are so blessed. She is incredible, gorgeous.”

Keating said the child had not yet met his family in Ireland because of the lockdown.

He said: “The older kids, their brothers and sisters, have but no, my brothers and sisters and my dad haven’t seen her yet unfortunately.

“Most of them are in Ireland so they just can’t travel.

“So that has been difficult but thank God for FaceTime and Zoom and all these tools we have now to make it work.”

The Dubliner married Storm, an Australian fashion designer, in 2015.

They are also parents to a son called Cooper.

Keating has three other children from his first marriage to Yvonne Connolly.