- 9 months ago
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00:00THE END
00:10Okay, so we're rolling.
00:115, 4, 3, 2...
00:15Hi, I'm Steve.
00:16How are you doing? I'm Mike.
00:17I'm Shane.
00:18I'm Keith.
00:19And I'm Ro.
00:20And we're boys on.
00:21We'd like to thank you, our fans, for owning us the best group.
00:25See you later, bye.
00:31Louis Walsh promised us the sun, noon and stars.
00:38And boy, did he do that.
00:42Everything changed. It became bigger and bigger.
00:47Everything we did, booked.
00:49Every single we released, every album we released,
00:52every ticket we put on sale, sold.
00:55We're setting sex, really, at the end of the day on stage.
00:58Young girls with hormones, you know, go through puberty and adolescence
01:02and it's exciting to see five lads jumping around the stage.
01:05You don't want to break that illusion.
01:08It wasn't possible for Stephen to be a gay man in a boy band in the 90s.
01:15I was covering up his sexuality all the time.
01:18And I was pretending he was straight.
01:20Absolutely.
01:21At night time, we got a picture with a pretty girl.
01:23I put him in there and say he was going out there.
01:27And he went with it.
01:29You see all the girls coming back?
01:30I see something.
01:33We were saying hello to them.
01:36He was quite happy going along with what he was doing.
01:39Go away.
01:40I'm doing an interview.
01:41Go away.
01:42I don't think he would have come out himself, you know, of his own will.
01:47No.
01:49The push and pull of fame, the constant scrutiny.
01:55The band, it got more and more intense.
01:59Relationships broke down.
02:02Resentment started within the band.
02:05That was the beginning of the end.
02:06That was the beginning of the end.
02:34The pop group Take That have confirmed they're to split up after three years of success, including seven number one hits.
02:47The band's record company has set up a special phone line to counsel distraught fans.
02:52When Take That split, we thought we'd won the bleeding Super Bowl, I think.
02:57Because, you know, we were nipping away at their heels so much.
03:00I mean, we were the Irish take that.
03:02We looked up to them boys.
03:04There was a shift in gear for us.
03:06When Take That decided to call it a day.
03:09You know, the fans needed somewhere to go.
03:12There's no doubt our audience grew.
03:19It was a big year for the band, yeah.
03:21It was a huge year.
03:22Successfully, Love Me For A Reason was number two.
03:25All the singles after that floated around.
03:26But it wasn't until Words, the first single on the second album, that we went number one.
03:32It's only words
03:35And words are all I have
03:38To take your heart away
03:42Sharing the stage with the Bee Gees was a big moment for us.
03:44I remember this dreamy realisation that there I was, stood on the same stage, singing with these icons.
03:54That was mind-blowing, that was, you know.
03:58Ladies and gentlemen, boys out. Thank you.
04:02We were kind of the biggest boy band in the world at the time. It was a pretty big deal.
04:05After that, it went crazy.
04:17The success of it all was so much that you literally couldn't walk down the street without being noticed.
04:25It was absolute fame. It was everywhere. Everywhere you looked. Everywhere you went.
04:38We didn't get any media training or any sort of, any sort of training.
04:43Kind of made it up as we went along.
04:52It can be dangerous, you know. There's pitfalls in that.
04:58Looking forward to a Scotch.
05:00I was a showbiz journalist from 95 to 2008.
05:12For me, it was Get The Splash, which is the front page.
05:15That's all I cared about. That was the Holy Grail.
05:17I think it's over 50 splashes from pages I got, which is a lot.
05:22And I'm not obviously bragging, but I'm quite proud of what I did.
05:28What were you known for?
05:31I don't know. I think a lot of people have got various words for me.
05:34But to be honest, I just got stories.
05:38No show was gossip, and obviously the majority was pop at that time.
05:42Because it was the charts for a huge thing.
05:47We were losing to The Sun every week, almost every day.
05:53It was a really unrelenting war of attrition between The Sun and The Mirror.
05:59You were always trying to work out their next move
06:01or what their next interview was, or what story they got.
06:05Boyzone became my biggest obsession.
06:10Money is no obstacle.
06:13Everybody was on the payroll.
06:16Security guards at clubs, they told me stuff.
06:19Drivers, coke room attendants, all sorts.
06:23And a lot of it was they were cheating on people or whatever it was.
06:26But they did it. So we wrote it.
06:31Most of the times, Lewis said, write what you want.
06:34There were times when he said, don't write certain stuff,
06:36but 99% can do what the hell you want.
06:42We're doing okay.
06:43We're doing okay so far.
06:44I'm trying to be honest with you.
06:45I got to know Ralph Singh very well, and he would come to Ireland to see me and get stories of me.
06:59He needed stories.
07:01I needed press.
07:02It worked for both of us.
07:04He would call me up.
07:05I would give him everything on the group, and we would, you know, we kept the badge in the papers, basically.
07:12I've respected him a lot.
07:15We had a good relationship.
07:17Louie would tell me, oh, just don't put this in.
07:20And I said, okay, fine, but then you owe me one, or the other way around, or, you know.
07:24And that's how it was done.
07:38Steven was just absolutely living the life that he had dreamt.
07:41The fans absolutely adored him.
07:43They loved him to bits.
07:53But he seemed anxious.
07:55I think he might have been a bit lost or worried about, like, what people might think of his sexuality.
08:02He had to watch himself all the time, like, everything had to be in secret, you know.
08:08The papers didn't know he was seeing someone at the time.
08:12Bonjour, je m'appelle Lee.
08:16Bonjour, je m'appelle Yvonne.
08:23I used to be in a boy band called Tim Yacht.
08:26Half British, half Dutch.
08:28We were a boy band, like Boyzone.
08:31Love is everywhere.
08:35We managed to become the biggest boy band in Germany.
08:39Turn around whenever you need someone.
08:46Yeah, probably the same audience Boyzone had.
08:50It was a big secret that I'm gay, you know.
08:55Me hiding my sexuality as well was quite a, yeah, difficult thing.
09:01I always felt like a Mickey Mouse in Disneyland, you know.
09:06I mean, in Disneyland it's not allowed to take your head off, because once you take your head off, the whole magic is gone.
09:12And that's how I felt as well.
09:13If I really show who I am, then people won't like me anymore.
09:17Me and Michael's best friends look at us really great, for example.
09:22These look wonderful together.
09:24These look wonderful.
09:26When I met Stephen for the first time, I was on the airport in England, and on the same flight was Boyzone.
09:33And that was the first time we sort of met, and the moment he looked in my eyes and I looked in his eyes.
09:39And I thought, wow.
09:41Yeah, blue eyes, very, very sweet face.
09:45Almost like love at first sight.
09:48It was very difficult to start a relationship then, with somebody who's traveling all the time, you know.
09:58Kaylee, get away from me before I break your hand.
10:01No, you won't.
10:03It's very, very difficult keeping up a relationship with anybody.
10:06You're never in the one place at the one time.
10:09You're traveling so much.
10:12I tried to call him with my credit card in the airplane and stuff, and he tried calling me.
10:17You know why I made those phone calls on the telephone last night?
10:21How am I going to take him?
10:2320 years ago, so no iPhones and stuff then.
10:27I'll have to stay here and go to prison.
10:32Still was dating Eli for quite a period of time.
10:37We knew Eli well. He used to call on the tour bus.
10:40There was lots of moving pieces around to try and, you know, make it happen that they were there and they could be together.
10:47This person goes in this car and this, you know, making sure that they got some time together.
10:52We were so, like, used to hiding our sexuality, but slowly we started getting friends in and then my friends introduced.
11:02I introduced Stephen to them.
11:06I went over to Ireland, met Michel, his family, stayed with his family, used to go to the pub, drink a Guinness and stuff, you know.
11:13And that was the nicest, just experiencing normal life, you know.
11:18I remember Stephen being very excited and telling me, oh, I've met somebody and I think this is the, this is definitely the real thing and I'm absolutely mad about him.
11:27Sometimes I used to look at him and wish I was as happy as he was.
11:36Okay, he might have lived in a certain amount of fear, but he didn't show that.
11:41He didn't show that, he didn't show that because he almost didn't believe that was possible for anyone to come in and take, strip him away, strip that away from him.
11:51I guess he was almost in a bubble of covering and he thought that was impenetrable and was soon to find that it wasn't.
12:00Somebody came to The Sun was selling the story that, um, that Stephen was gay.
12:16Somebody sold him out.
12:18Somebody sold STOL.
12:19Who was it that sold the story?
12:22I can't tell you.
12:23I know you're going to push me on it, but I can't say any more than that.
12:25I really can't.
12:27Do you know the circumstance of how Rav came to getting that story?
12:31No, I don't.
12:32I don't know, I swear.
12:34I swear to God.
12:36I didn't want Rav to write anything.
12:39His editor was put under pressure to do it.
12:42And if The Sun didn't do it, the Mirror were going to do it.
12:45Or somebody was going to do it.
12:46I think we were flying somewhere and this meeting had to happen before we flew away.
12:52We were all brought into a room and we didn't know why.
12:56We knew there was something going on with Stephen because he was very upset, but we didn't know why.
13:00Louie told us that the press were going to write a story about Stephen if he didn't come out as a gay man.
13:08How do you see it?
13:10Well, I think in a way, if he was forced, he was forced from his inner circle, not The Sun.
13:16So we did the best we could.
13:19But he was forced by somebody he knew, not us.
13:26He wasn't ready for that.
13:28The poor little fella, he was so afraid, so scared.
13:32And I think we as a band too were like, whoa, what's this going to do for us?
13:37I know how scared he was.
13:39It's awful.
13:41It was fucking horrible.
13:44Like, it was horrible for Steele.
13:48Stephen went to ground, locked himself in his room.
13:50We didn't know what was going to happen.
13:56I want to understand, how big a deal was it for you, for the paper?
14:01Yeah, can I have some more water? Can I have some more water?
14:04Yeah, of course.
14:05Sorry.
14:07It's all right, I just need to, because my mouth's getting dry.
14:13I mean, it was a big thing.
14:15I mean, it's huge.
14:16I had so many phone calls to drive about it.
14:20We knew we could trust him a certain amount.
14:24Not totally, but we could do it our way.
14:28That phone call we always feared was finally happening.
14:32I think Stephen and me were very nervous about it.
14:35I was worrying so much, you know, sleepless nights, worrying, panicking, you know, it was a hard time.
14:48And I remember just putting my arm around him and just saying to him,
14:52listen, you know, we'll still be here.
14:55You're not going to lose us.
14:56But he was very concerned as to what damage it would cause us as a band.
15:08He felt like I'm put in a position that I've no choice, you know, but to do it, like.
15:14Stephen was only 23 years old when he was outed by the newspapers.
15:21Did any part of you feel uncomfortable about writing the article?
15:24No, I never felt uncomfortable at all.
15:28Not.
15:29How am I a celebrity journalist?
15:30I have to write it.
15:31It's a show business.
15:32That's my job.
15:33You know.
15:36I actually have the newspaper.
15:37I wonder if I can show it to you.
15:39Oh, yeah.
15:45I was fucked, man.
15:55Boys on Stare, Stephen Gale has chosen The Sun to make his courageous announcement.
15:59Fuck you.
16:01You can fucking choose.
16:02What can choose?
16:21It's just a bit difficult.
16:27Just seeing all that again.
16:30What does it bring back for you? What does it, kind of, the stress of it?
16:35Yeah.
16:38Yeah, I suppose just, just everything you went through.
16:45You know, it was very, very difficult for him.
16:50It's horrible for him. It's heartbreaking.
16:53That paper doesn't show any of the truth in what he felt or what was going on.
17:00Awful. Fuck me, it was awful. It was a terrible time for him.
17:03Oh, you got the full paper. Oh, my God.
17:07Boy, it's on Stephen, I'm gay and I'm in love.
17:09Oh, he's talking. It's a great picture. World exclusive. Wow.
17:15I love it. Page 22, 23.
17:18This is when the song was big.
17:19And it's, it's the lead story. Wow.
17:25It's good to see it. And he got the front page.
17:29What's Louie's role in this as the manager and the kind of press manipulator?
17:32I don't know. Wasn't, wasn't seen. Wasn't anywhere around.
17:45I was trying to protect him all along.
17:47I thought, well, it's going to come out anyway.
17:50And Stephen might be happier.
17:53Well, good morning to you. Hi. Morning.
17:55If you haven't heard, boy's own Stephen Gately has come out.
17:58He's said that he's not ashamed of being gay. Why should he be?
18:00And he thinks it's time to be honest and tell everybody.
18:03Mind you, we hear that, as usual, the poor lad wasn't given that much of a choice in the timing of that statement
18:07because another newspaper had kindly decided to out him themselves.
18:11I thought they said they wouldn't do that anymore.
18:20Shortly after the headlines in the newspapers, we had to play into 100,000 people in Hyde Park.
18:26Obviously, with all the press that we're getting lately with certain members of the group and stuff, it's quite difficult, you know what I mean?
18:33That would be Stephen you're talking about, isn't it?
18:35Absolutely.
18:36Stephen's kind of keeping a bit of a low profile.
18:38We were all just concerned about Stephen's well-being and his happiness.
18:42He was our brother.
18:45But Stephen was concerned about the reaction that the fans would have to him being gay.
18:50I didn't know which way it was going to go, whether it was going to go negative or whether it was going to go positive.
18:55And I, you know, always think of the worst.
18:58I just think of the worst.
19:28It's a very pleasant surprise for everybody when the reaction was so positive.
19:39The fans embraced him. That's what really carried him.
19:43The love they showed him was powerful. It was amazing.
19:48There was nothing but messages of love and support.
19:52You know, the burden of a lifetime was lifted off his shoulders
19:55and he was free to be who he truly was.
20:14Even after he came out, he was still the favourite one
20:17and he was still the one that everyone wanted to marry,
20:20even though they knew he was gay.
20:25Everything went well.
20:27The sport's been amazing from all directions, male, female, young, old.
20:32At the end of the day, it's about giving hope to other people
20:36and I hope that I have done that, you know.
20:41It should be your own decision.
20:43And I know because the story got offered, it wasn't our own decision in the beginning,
20:48but the biggest gift we got was freedom.
20:53Freedom is such a beautiful thing, what we all deserve, you know.
20:58And in the end, we were not hiding a horrible secret, we were hiding love.
21:04Before we perform it, I'd just like to say a big thank you to everybody out there.
21:15For making Byron Pressed, our latest, greatest hits album, number one!
21:22And today it's gone right back into the charts at number one again,
21:25so thank you very much to all you out there who bought it once again.
21:28And also a big thank you for making this record our sixth, number one.
21:34This is your new to play.
21:39We were big for a minute, and we did all right, you know.
21:45The six months after Steele came out, it was crazy.
21:49It was absolutely crazy.
21:50How are you all? I'm Ro, and we're Boys Only.
21:52I'd like to say a big hello to all our fans in Southeast Asia.
21:55We're looking forward to seeing you soon.
21:56Your single would drop in the country that you weren't expecting,
21:58and you'd go, holy God, right?
21:59It's just after breaking there, we've got to get the boys over there.
22:04I love you, all my love!
22:06Coming from where we came from, very humble beginnings,
22:10and all of a sudden being catapulted into this superstardom,
22:14travelling in private jets around the world, staying in five-star hotels.
22:17We filled in a lifetime of memories in six years.
22:21Once we conquered one country, we went to the next country,
22:25and we grew there.
22:27We're going under the tunnel over to the island of Hong Kong.
22:30Right now we're underneath the water.
22:33I don't remember anybody really looking out for us,
22:36apart from Mark Plunkett.
22:38I was hired to look after them as tour manager.
22:42With the band, day in, day out, you know,
22:4550 weeks of the year, you know, we saw everything together.
22:48Boys on at the Peak would be one of the biggest bands in the world.
22:55It really was like Beastlemania.
22:57I remember one time, they literally shut the airport down.
22:59There were so many girls there.
23:01We just could not move.
23:02We just couldn't get them out of the airport for about half an hour.
23:05It was crazy.
23:05The engine was in full flow.
23:10Trips out to Southeast Asia and Australia, South America and Europe.
23:16It became nuts just the amount of travelling we did.
23:19You could see everyone was getting tired.
23:21The pressures of stardom, the pressures of touring, family pressures,
23:26do start to take its toll.
23:28At some point, something goes bang.
23:3299 was probably the too big for our Boots tour.
23:35We'd lost the run of ourselves at this stage.
23:36This is it.
23:37We couldn't have got any bigger.
23:40As it got bigger, it became harder to keep them happy
23:44because they wanted more and they wanted more time off.
23:47At its peak is a grueling time.
23:52Grueling time.
23:52There's no mercy whatsoever.
23:55We were all physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted.
23:59We hadn't more than three weeks off in six years.
24:02We were tired.
24:03We were tired.
24:04We were broken.
24:07Very excited about the release, aren't we, lads?
24:09Yeah.
24:10See?
24:10Yay!
24:11Show them how excited.
24:12Yay!
24:15We had spent too much time together.
24:18And with that comes difficulties, you know, relationship difficulties between us.
24:26You know, and maybe that was the start of cracks.
24:29What does Nick rhyme with?
24:40Crudick.
24:41Ah, that wasn't nice, Keith.
24:42What does Keith rhyme with?
24:45Dickhead.
24:49It's a difficult job being a manager.
24:51They all had egos and they all wanted to be more famous than they were.
24:56Ronan was the one I could depend on.
24:58I knew if I needed something done or if there was a gig somewhere that they didn't want to do,
25:03I knew he would talk them into doing it.
25:05I was the line of communication to the rest of the lads.
25:14I was willing to be up earlier than anyone else, to contact everybody, to make sure that the flights were booked, the taxis were booked, whatever it took.
25:23He was managing the group kind of with me, you know, he was making a lot of decisions.
25:28I was talking to him almost daily on the phone about everything.
25:32There was nothing I didn't talk to him about.
25:34But I knew it wasn't going to last forever, boys aren't.
25:40I knew the little girls that loved them were all grown up and they were going to find somebody else.
25:50You look great.
25:51I remember we were touring Southeast Asia.
25:59I used to get a bit homesick.
26:00We all did.
26:01And if you had too much to drink, you might get a bit teary-eyed and ring home and reminisce and have a little cry on the phone.
26:06And, you know, your mum and dad would pick you up and put you back.
26:09And I was talking to my dad and my dad was always brutally honest.
26:12And he said, I think your days are pretty much numbered, son.
26:15You better enjoy what you're doing.
26:17And I said, how do you mean, dad?
26:18He said, well, while you guys are over there, Louis Walsh is all over the papers, putting auditions together for a new boy band.
26:24At the time, they were called I.O.U.
26:26And then they changed their name to Westside and then ultimately to Westlife.
26:33I thought, how will I promote Westlife?
26:37And I said, we should get Ronan involved.
26:41We thought that's going to help with boys on fans.
26:44Louis brought Ronan in as 50% manager of Westlife.
26:47While boys on, we're still together.
26:50You may have heard the band I'm in, it's boys on.
26:52I've had so much crack being in a band that I've decided to manage my own band with Louis Walsh.
26:56So here they are.
26:58How you doing? I'm Brian.
26:59I'm Nicky.
27:01Hello, I'm Shane.
27:02Do you think the boys felt threatened by Westlife coming in and your attention to them?
27:05I think probably boys were a bit threatened when they heard Westlife sing and all that, yeah.
27:13But that's kind of natural.
27:17Westlife came as our support act on our arena tour.
27:34Whenever you have a support act, your agent will secure what's called a buy-on, which is a significant amount of money for us, for the band, from the record company of the support act.
27:44You get them on your stage.
27:46But Westlife never paid on.
27:47They get on for free, which was a significant amount of money lost.
27:52And that was down to the fact that they were managed by Louis and Ronan.
27:55People were asking me to do things and some of the others weren't getting asked.
28:02And it definitely created a little bit of animosity.
28:05You could feel that.
28:06Welcome back to the last MTV Europe Music Awards of the millennium, where you can't get tickets for love, no money.
28:13Believe me, I was offered both on the way in.
28:15Anyway, on with the show and here to present the award for best hip-hop.
28:17I was pushing him to host Eurovision, to do MTV Awards, to do anything that was going on TV.
28:24I was always pushing him.
28:25I knew he wouldn't let me down and I knew he would do a good job.
28:30Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the lead singer of Boyzone, Ronan Keating.
28:35How are you?
28:37I'm fine. How are you?
28:38Good, thanks.
28:39I had learned through the years how to weed Ronan.
28:43He had a lot of big ideas.
28:46He always taught big.
28:49You could see this guy was breaking away.
28:51He was making new tracks.
28:54I was just surprised that nobody else could see that.
28:59Yes, you know, I maximised an opportunity.
29:02I can get rid of these if you want.
29:05I wasn't embarrassed or feel guilty, you know, because I was the one who was going out doing all the work.
29:10So I worked hard and it paid off.
29:13Nothing at all was Ronan's first solo single.
29:29Notting Hill was massive.
29:30No matter who would sing it, that was going to be a hit.
29:33Add Ronan to the mix, it's going to be a massive hit.
29:35The smile on your face lets me know that you need me.
29:41There's a truth in your eyes saying you'll never leave me.
29:46The touch of me.
29:47It's called When You Say Nothing At All.
29:49They ask me what I do and I jump to the opportunity.
29:51I think it's a fantastic opportunity for me because it's my first solo record.
29:56Fingers crossed it goes well.
29:57You say it best when you say nothing at all.
30:03I mean, it was incredible.
30:06It was an incredible moment.
30:07Such a huge, massive record globally.
30:11It was just a catapult to go everywhere.
30:14We promoted that song all over the world.
30:17I got a taste for that on my own.
30:20It's euphoric, that feeling that you've had that success on your own.
30:25I think that's when, realistically, Polydor looked at that and thought, hang on a second.
30:29They saw more future in Ronan than they did in Boyzor.
30:43He's on a bit of a solo buzz at the moment, you know?
30:45He's trying to get a bit of self-praise.
30:47A bit of a sound trip going on there.
30:49Don't mind that.
30:50He'll land.
30:50He'll land soon.
30:51He'll land soon.
30:51I think that was the first look at, ooh, how's this going to work out?
31:12I think it was a hard rock cafe, and we all ended up in a bathroom.
31:18And when we all ended up in a bathroom together, it was because we were being overcrowded.
31:21Or we were being overcome by fans or people.
31:24And we'd go in there to get away, to have a breather.
31:26And we'd all look in the mirror and headbang like we're in a rock band.
31:30It was just something that we did.
31:32And we'd laugh and scream and, I suppose, release some of the energy of the realization of our success.
31:39It was like, ooh, you know?
31:40And it was that moment when Ronan had voiced the idea of possibly taking from Christmas off for a year.
31:49Ronan simply said, we're going to take a break.
31:51I was shocked.
31:53But that sounded okay to me.
31:55I needed a break.
31:56For me, it was music to my ears because I had had enough.
32:03I just wanted out, you know?
32:05I think it was more of a shock to me than anybody else.
32:08I do remember feeling, you know, I'm loving this.
32:11This is great.
32:11This is, you know, I'm 26 years of age.
32:13I'm a pop star, traveling around the world.
32:16You know, I'm providing a great future for myself and my family.
32:19I didn't, I didn't want to break up.
32:23Nobody wanted to break up, but everybody wanted a break.
32:26It was, it's liberating.
32:29Scary, fine, but it was liberating.
32:32Everyone was ready for a break just because they were so tired.
32:35But then I think, you know, certain people knew exactly what they were going to do.
32:39Others weren't quite as sure.
32:41So I guess they'd be a bit more tentative, a bit more concerned.
32:44We decided that we will fulfill our obligations in our diary until the end of that year.
32:51We did a whole millennium tour, so there were shows across the UK and Europe.
32:57They were massive, those shows.
33:02Good evening.
33:07Welcome to the last night of the Boys Out Tour.
33:10At the end of the tour, we played back home in the Point Depot.
33:12Let's try and make a one to remember.
33:16And there was nine nights in a row.
33:18And they put a plaque on the wall outside the venue commemorating our success.
33:23And there was a plaque beside us that would belong to U2,
33:25who had done seven or eight nights, and we'd beaten their record.
33:29Come on!
33:31Turn the wires like lightning
33:33Overland and ocean
33:36No more than isolation
33:38That probably was the pinnacle of our career.
33:42Why would I want to give that up?
33:45Why would I want to give that up?
33:45Why would I want to give that up?
33:47From the eyes of a child
33:49Let the machine roll
33:52Let us know what I'm free
33:54Because we're free
33:55Thank you so much for the last six years.
34:01It has been unbelievable.
34:02Thank you so much.
34:04But we're not going anywhere
34:07We're not going anywhere
34:09We've all got some stuff to do on our own for a while
34:13But believe me, Boyzone is stronger than it's ever been before
34:17Good luck, God bless you
34:30I was just looking forward to a break from it all
34:33And to get home and spend time with my daughter more
34:37What's the best bit, Stephen, for you?
34:40It was all the best bit
34:40It's kind of the best bit for her
34:42It's just all great
34:44I don't think I could ever give up the business
34:47I love it so much
34:48The same with the rest of the guys
34:49So keep the best part
34:51How are you?
34:53I don't know, still on a bit of a high to be honest
34:58I think tomorrow we'll tell all and then bring me eyes in
35:00You know, it was tough, it was tough leaving the band
35:09There was a sense of guilt
35:11But excitement for me as well
35:15I had zero problem with him actually going on to do his own album
35:22I think there was probably a fear that he would never come back
35:26And if that happens, what am I going to do with my life?
35:30Now you might recognize this next bloke
35:40He's usually got other boys with him
35:42But he's now on his own
35:43Yes, of course, it's the wonderful Stephen Gatley
35:46With the boys and guys taking a break
36:01And Stephen thought the attention is there
36:03I need to continue my success
36:04He loved being on stage and performing and stuff
36:09So he made a solo album
36:11He was very positive about his solo album
36:19He loved being able to put his own input
36:22You know, his own songs and writing his own songs
36:24He was absolutely delighted with it
36:27I'm just out doing my own album
36:30Hoping for the best
36:31Hoping that's going to be a success
36:33I've worked very hard on this album
36:36I spent a lot of time on it
36:37Spent a lot of talk
36:38And I wrote most of the songs myself
36:40And I've been heavily involved
36:42After being in Boyzone
36:44I mean, they had so many hits
36:45So the pressure was on
36:47I classed myself as one of the luckiest persons around
36:50But the soul of success
36:51Everybody sort of expected to happen
36:53Didn't get as big as people hoped for
36:57He thought his childhood dream was over
37:04It was difficult for Stephen
37:10And you saw his mood change
37:12Always described Stephen as a little angel
37:18But the angel wasn't happy anymore
37:22And it was just too difficult to be together
37:26So we broke up
37:29I was heartbroken
37:32And he was heartbroken as well
37:36It was not that there was no love anymore
37:41I mean, I still love him now
37:44But sometimes it's just not possible to be together
37:48Our next guest remembers
37:53One of the most famous and prolific bands of the last decade
37:55They've taken a break from the band to team up
37:57With their own duet
37:58And they're here to tell us more
37:59Would you please welcome two old mates to the show
38:01They are Shane Lynch and Keith Duffy
38:03Ladies and gentlemen
38:03Good morning
38:06Top of the morning to you
38:08Top of the morning to you
38:09We have got a clip of your brand new single
38:11Let's have a look
38:12We're all doing solo projects
38:27Trying to re-establish our identities as individuals
38:33I did release some music
38:44The record company were like
38:48Oh, that's great
38:50Thanks very much
38:51We'll have a look at that
38:52All right
38:53What about you and boys only?
38:55Are you doing anything else together?
38:56It was really a case of once the band was over
38:59So were you
39:01You know
39:02We went from going three countries
39:07Sometimes in one day
39:09To going nowhere
39:12And no cars turning up
39:14Nobody knocking on the door
39:15A free man
39:17But actually
39:18Felt more jailed than ever
39:20Because he didn't have to be anywhere
39:23He didn't go anywhere
39:23I didn't go anywhere for months
39:24I stopped socialising
39:28I pretty much
39:30Hid myself away
39:31For me
39:35I wasn't sure where I was going
39:36I felt at the time
39:39That I was kind of left in the desert
39:41To die a tourist
39:43Because I didn't know what way to go
39:45I couldn't look after them all
39:49I had to pick who I wanted to work with
39:53And I picked Ron Keating
39:55Because I just knew
39:56He ticked all the boxes
39:57He works hard
39:58And I knew he had something special
40:00Louis had vision
40:18He had songs
40:19He had melodies
40:20He had ideas
40:21I looked up to him
40:22I was picking songs
40:24He was singing them
40:24We were having hits
40:26It all worked
40:27The juggernaut that was my solo career at the time
40:46Was so big and moving so fast
40:49It was almost like a next level
40:51That I had never witnessed before
40:53I'm here with the single
40:56Hopefully to challenge the number one spot
40:58Tomorrow
40:59Ronan Keating
41:00And Loving Each Day
41:01Ronan Keating
41:02The chart successes
41:06The respect
41:06The kudos
41:07The people are praising you
41:09And all that
41:09It's just overwhelming
41:10It's incredible
41:11I was having more fun
41:21More freedom
41:22It's the best move I made
41:24I could have made
41:25Absolutely
41:25Good to see you again
41:35You too
41:36It's been a year
41:37And a lot's happening that time
41:39Plenty
41:39Solo career
41:40Yeah
41:41Thank God
41:42And what about Boyzone
41:46You know a lot has gone on
41:48I haven't talked to the guys in quite a while
41:50So to be really honest
41:52I don't think anything's going to happen
41:53You think you and the group have split that
41:55I can't see it coming back together
41:58By no fault of mine
41:59Whose fault would it be?
42:01Well you know
42:02We all made a commitment
42:03There's word coming through Louis
42:06You know
42:08The band want to get back together
42:09And the guys are going
42:10Are you coming back?
42:11Are we making a record?
42:12What's going on?
42:13And
42:13Me being sheepish about it
42:17And me being childish about it
42:18And me being
42:19Scared
42:20I just back away
42:22I just back away from the lads
42:25And I back away from
42:26The commitment
42:27In the band
42:28And
42:30I'm chicken shit
42:33What do I do?
42:34I ignore the guys
42:35I ignore them
42:36Unfortunately
42:38Ronan
42:38Is happy enough
42:39Without his friends
42:41From Boyzone
42:41And that's something
42:42I can't understand
42:43You know
42:44I know Ronan of Boyzone
42:45I don't know the Ronan of today
42:47I really don't
42:48I was probably a little bit envious
42:50And lost
42:51Our friendship fell apart
42:53And I kind of felt left behind
42:56Ronan was being very successful
42:59He was selling a lot of records
43:00He was making Polo a lot of money
43:02And they weren't going to let that stop
43:04You can't blame him for that
43:05It wasn't until
43:07A good year
43:09Into that break
43:11That the realisation came
43:13That oh shit this is over
43:14And we ain't coming back
43:16We got a phone call
43:28From Ronan
43:29Telling me that Stephen was dead
43:31And
43:33I said Stephen who?
43:35What do you mean?
43:36No no
43:37Not our Stephen
43:38Thank you for listening To be endpoint
43:52And
43:52We're
43:53We're
43:55We're
43:55We
43:56We're
43:57We're
43:58Transcription by CastingWords
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