Farewell and good bye Stephen Gately

I can be quite emotional at the very best of times and in recent weeks I have had to deal with the sudden diagnosis and then death of my Mum, that has hit me harder than I had ever realised it would.

Sometimes watching things like Holby City and Casualty are just a little too bit close to home, if they hit me then my Sister must go through nightmares during those programmes.

So, last night watching the coverage of Stephen's funeral was hard, listening to Ronan Keating breaking down was just a little too close to comfort. Stephen was just 33, say that out loud, thirty three - it is just so young - he and his partner had their lives ahead of them.

The coverage last night reminded me a little bit of Princess Diana's funeral, the thousands of people who turned up to pay their final respects, to show Stephen's family and friends that they cared as well.

We forget the impact that boybands, and popstars generally have on young people and that was why I was so delighted that Stephen came out, whatever the circumstances were that maybe forced his hand, he was supported by the remaining band members who were close then and are still today.

Yesterday Ireland and the world said goodbye to one of it's young sons, the streets of Dublin around the St Laurence O'Toole's church in North Dublin were crammed with people who wanted to say goodbye, people who lived in the area came out with food and drinks, opened their homes for people to use their bathrooms and some even brought out pillows and duvets.

I hope Jan Moir watched yesterday and I really hope she is feeling a little bit embarrassed, I suspect not because she works for the Daily Mail when all said and done, I blogged about her column the other day and I am still as angry now about it as I was then - you can read it here or you can read Stephen Glenn's take on it all here.

I hope Stephen Gately's family, partner, friends and family will be allowed some private time now. Farewell Stephen, you were part of my growing up as a gay man with your music, RIP.

Stephen Gately

I had the BBC News on this morning in the absence of Match of the Day, as I woke up a little later than normal and wasn't really listening while mooching around making coffee when I heard the paper review and Stephen Gately had died.

I couldn't believe it, he was way too young, exactly how I felt last year when I was told of Neil Trafford's tragic death last year.

I then sat and listened and it appears that after a night in Majorca where Stephen and his partner Andrew were on holiday, they returned home and he never woke up this morning.

He was only 33, although he had lived an exciting life, he was born in Dublin in March 1976 and as everyone knows was a member of the very successful boy band, Boyzone. All of their albums hit the number one spot as did six singles and after the band split in 2000, although this was an amicable split unlike their counterparts in Take That, Stephen went solo and had a top ten album and he then went onto star on stage as Joseph which I think he did amazingly well.

Stephen had a really varied career including commentating on Match of the Day for an Ireland game - that is something I had really forgotten.

Stephen's top 3 hit, New Beginning was used by the Liberal Democrats in the 2001 General Election campaign. I still have the copy, and of course all of the Boyzone albums and singles!

Only last year Boyzone reformed and have been a hit again since. They released a new single "Love You Anyway" and then a compilation album in October last year. Then in December 2008 they released a second single called "Better", the accompanying video generated a lot of controversy because it showed a lot of romantic couples including two men embracing, it was condemned by many including the Reformed Presbyterian Church.

In 1999, just ten years ago Stephen came out, but on the front page of The Sun, it was rumoured that a former member of the band's security firm was going to out him, so he went first as it were. Stephen was aged just 23 at this point and also admitted that he had been in a relationship since 1998 with Eloy de Jong, who was a member of a Dutch boy band, Caught in the Act.

Stephen and Eloy split up in 2002 and through mutual friends Elton John and David Furnish he then met Andrew Cowles who Stephen went on and had a civil partnership with in London in 2006.

I cannot begin to imagine what Andrew is going through now and I couldn't begin to imagine life without Roger in the same way.

It is always a tragedy when anyone dies, but when it is young it makes it so much harder to deal with, Stephen was just 33 and still had so much of his life ahead of him, our thoughts are with Andrew, the band and his family at this awful time.