Stephen Gately of 'Boyzone' Gone

Who wouldn't remember Boyzone, the very first boyband that captured our hearts?
I have copy of their best hit singles album, By Request.

1. "I Love the Way You Love Me"
2. "No Matter What"
3. "All That I Need"
4. "Baby Can I Hold You"
5. "Picture of You"
6. "Isn't It a Wonder"
7. "A Different Beat"
8. "Words" –
9. "Father and Son"
10. "So Good" –
11. "Coming Home Now"
12. "Key to My Life"
13. "Love Me for a Reason"
14. "When the Going Gets Tough"
15. "You Needed Me"
16. "All the Time in the World"
17. "When You Say Nothing at All"
18. "I'll Never Not Need You"
19. "So They Told Me"

But they have sad news today...

PORT D'ANDRATX, Mallorca — Stephen Gately, a singer with the Irish boy band Boyzone who made headlines when he came out as gay a decade ago, has died while on vacation in Spain, the group said on its Web site. He was 33.

Gately "tragically died" on Saturday while visiting the island of Mallorca, the band said in a brief statement. The cause of death was not immediately clear.

Gerald Kean, a Gately family friend in Ireland, said Sunday the singer died of natural causes, without identifying them.

"There's no foul play involved, and it's not suicide. It's just a tragic accident is what we've been told, and we're happy that that is correct information," Kean said. "There is nothing untoward. It's not drugs, we don't believe. It's not suicide. It's not murder. It's not a fight. That's what we've been told."

Kean said an autopsy was expected to be conducted Tuesday.

Gately and his partner Andrew Cowles, who were wed in a civil union in 2006, were in Mallorca together, the band's statement said.

"At present we don't have too many details," the statement said. Members of the group were expected to arrive at Palma de Mallorca international airport Sunday afternoon.

Spanish police said they were called to a house near Port d'Andratx on the western tip of the island on Saturday afternoon. The cause of death was unknown and there were no signs of violence, a police spokesman said, on condition of anonymity in keeping with police rules. He said there was likely to be an autopsy.
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The house, situated on an exclusive tree-lined seafront street, overlooks a rocky bay reputed to have some of the best sunset views on Spain's favorite holiday island.

By midday Sunday journalists had begun to gather outside the quiet, seaside building with several vacation apartments.

Boyzone members Ronan Keating, Keith Duffy, Mikey Graham and Shane Lynch said they were "completely devastated by the loss of our friend and brother, Stephen."

"We have shared such wonderful times together over the years and were all looking forward to sharing many more. Stephen was a beautiful person in both body and spirit. He lit up our lives and those of the many friends he had all over the world. Our love and sympathy go out to Andrew and Stephen's family. We love you and will miss you forever, 'Steo'," their statement said.

Boyzone was a U.K. hitmaker in the 1990s and announced a comeback tour at the end of last year. Gately also had released several solo singles and appeared in stage musicals, including "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat."

He revealed his sexual orientation to a British newspaper in 1999.

Elton John said Sunday that he and his partner, David Furnish, were "stunned by this tragedy."

"Stephen was the kindest, gentlest soul. We send our love and condolences to his partner Andy and to all his friends everywhere," John said in a statement.

Boyzone was one of the biggest acts to come out of Ireland in the 1990s. Former Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern said Gately's death was "a huge tragedy to Irish entertainment, Irish music and further afield as well."

"Boyzone and Stephen, they've all been part of Irish life and far wider than that, the last 15 years, and so successful, so it's a huge, huge tragedy. It's so sad," Ahern said.

Boyzone sold millions of records and topped the British charts with six No. 1 singles during the 1990s, including "All That I Need" and a cover of the Bee Gees' "Words."

The group was formed in 1993 by impresario Louis Walsh, who placed an ad in the press announcing auditions for Ireland's first boy band. Among the unsuccessful hopefuls was actor Colin Farrell.

______

Associated Press writers Harold Heckle in Madrid and Jill Lawless in London contributed to this story.


Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/11/stephen-gately-dead-boyzo_n_316795.html




Related sites:

http://www.boyzonetour.com/
Boyzone on Wiki

Goodbye, Michael!

The greatest pop singer of all time is finally gone. CNN ( read more here) has confirmed that he died at age 50 yesterday, Thursday. According to reports, he collapsed at his rented home in west LA.

Jackson has sold more than 750 million albums and won 13 Grammys, but has not staged a major tour since 1997 or released an album of new material since 2001. His last live performance in Britain was at the 2006 World Music Awards, when he managed just a few lines of "We Are the World" before leaving the stage.

His albums are among the world's best-selling records: Off the Wall (1979), Thriller (1982), Bad (1987), Dangerous (1991) and HIStory (1995).

He appeared in public infrequently since being acquitted of child molestation in California in 2005, and he has struggled to pay his debts. Last year, he was forced to give up the deed to Neverland, his 2,500-acre ranch and miniature amusement park in California.

I was always amazed how he does the moonwalk, and how his face changed over the years.

There are so many eccentric people on this earth, but Michael's one of the most public. Jackson's skin was a medium-brown color for the entire duration of his youth, but starting in the early 1980s, his skin gradually grew paler. This change gained widespread media coverage, including rumors that Jackson was bleaching his skin.In the mid-1980s, Jackson was diagnosed with vitiligo and lupus; the latter was in remission in Jackson's case, and both illnesses made him sensitive to sunlight. The treatments he uses for his condition further lighten his skin tone, and, with the application of pancake makeup to even out blotches, he could appear very pale. The structure of his face changed as well; several surgeons have speculated that Jackson had undergone multiple nasal surgeries, a forehead lift, thinned lips and a cheekbone surgery.Changes to his face were, in part, due to periods of significant weight loss.Jackson lost weight in the early 1980s because of a change in diet and a desire for "a dancer's body"..Witnesses reported that Jackson was often dizzy and speculated that he was suffering from anorexia nervosa; periods of weight loss would become a recurring problem for the singer later in life. Some medical professionals have publicly stated their belief that the singer had body dysmorphic disorder, a psychological condition whereby the sufferer has no concept of how they are perceived by others.

He wasn't just a part of the pop culture, he was the pop culture.

His famous quotes:

"Everyone who knows me will know the truth which is that my children come first in my life and that I would never harm any child."

~After British TV documentary by Martin Bashir Living With Michael Jackson was shown on February 3, 2003

"Why can't you share your bed? That's the most loving thing to do, to share your bed with someone. You say, 'You can have my bed if you want it. Sleep in it. I'll sleep on the floor. It's yours.' I always give the beds to the company."

~Admitting he shared his bed with children, in British TV documentary by Martin Bashir, February 2003

"I love E. T. 'cos it reminds me of me. Someone from another world coming down and you becoming friends with them and this person is, like, 800 years old and he's filling you with all kinds of wisdom and he can teach you to fly. That whole fantasy thing which I think is great. I mean, who don't wanna fly?"

~Interview in Smash Hits, January 20, 1983 - Jackson collaborated with E. T. director Steven Spielberg on the E. T. Storybook album and also narrated it

My father was a management genius. But what I really wanted was a dad.

~Speech at Oxford Union, on his children's Bill of Rights

"If you enter this world knowing you are loved and you leave this world knowing the same, then everything that happens in between can be dealt with."

Related Links:

• ALL MICHAEL JACKSON


• Biography forMichael Jackson

My Favorite Sad Songs

Thinking Of You - Katy Perry

Comparisons are easily done

Once you’ve had a taste of perfection

Like an apple hanging from a tree

I picked the ripest one

I still got the seed

You said move on

Where do I go

I guess second best

Is all I will know

Cause when I’m with him

I am thinking of you

Thinking of you

What you would do if

You were the one

Who was spending the night

Oh I wish that I

Was looking into your eyes

You’re like an Indian summer

In the middle of winter

Like a hard candy

With a surprise center

How do I get better

Once I’ve had the best

You said there’s

Tons of fish in the water

So the waters I will test

He kissed my lips

I taste your mouth

He pulled me in

I was disgusted with myself

Cause when I’m with him

I am thinking of you

Thinking of you

What you would do if

You were the one

Who was spending the night

Oh I wish that I

Was looking into…

You’re the best

And yes I do regret

How I could let myself

Let you go

Now the lesson’s learned

I touched it I was burned

Oh I think you should know

Cause when I’m with him

I am thinking of you

Thinking of you

What you would do if

You were the one

Who was spending the night

Oh I wish that I

Was looking into your eyes

Looking into your eyes

Looking into your eyes

Oh won’t you walk through

And bust in the door

And take me away

Oh no more mistakes

Cause in your eyes I’d like to stay…

stay….

She put him out like the burnin’ end of a midnight cigarette
She broke his heart he spent his whole life tryin’ to forget
We watched him drink his pain away a little at a time
But he never could get drunk enough to get her off his mind
Until the night
1st Chorus

He put that bottle to his head and pulled the trigger
And finally drank away her memory
Life is short but this time it was bigger
Than the strength he had to get up off his knees
We found him with his face down in the pillow
With a note that said I’ll love her till I die
And when we buried him beneath the willow
The angels sang a whiskey lullaby
(Sing lullaby)
The rumors flew but nobody know how much she blamed herself
For years and years she tried to hide the whiskey on her breath
She finally drank her pain away a little at a time
But she never could get drunk enough to get him off her mind
Until the night
2nd Chorus

She put that bottle to her head and pulled the trigger
And finally drank away his memory
Life is short but this time it was bigger
Than the strength she had to get up off her knees
We found her with her face down in the pillow
Clinging to his picture for dear life
We laid her next to him beneath the willow
While the angels sang a whiskey lullaby
(Sing lullaby)

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