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South Yorkshire tribute's to Boyzone's Stephen Gateley
SHEFFIELD based songwriter-to-the-stars Eliot Kennedy has paid tribute to tragic Boyzone member Stephen Gately following his shock death aged 33.
Eliot, who runs Steelworks Studio in Sheffield and has worked with artists including the Spice Girls, Take That, Bryan Adams and Celine Dion as well as Boyzone, said he was shocked by the pop star's death.
The Irish boy band singer was in Majorca with his husband Andrew Cowles when he was found dead in their villa on Saturday. The cause of death is not yet known, and a post mortem examination is due to be carried out today.
"My memory of him is that he was just a lovely guy who loved music, loved entertaining, and who had a great rapport with his fans," Eliot told The Star today.
"The death of anyone so young is always tragic. I was shocked when I heard about Stephen - his death will be a huge loss to all his and Boyzone fans."
Eliot wrote the hit single Picture of You for the band, which was put together in 1993 by X Factor judge Louis Walsh and which reformed for a reunion tour last year. The four remaining members of Boyzone - Ronan Keating, Mikey Graham, Keith Duffy and Shane Lynch - flew to Majorca on Sunday after news of the tragedy broke.
Eliot said of the band: "I wrote Picture of You and when I met the band it was Stephen and Ronan Keating who had the meeting. They were on tour at the time and I remember Stephen being really excited about everything they were doing - he was full of life.
"My thoughts are with his family and the other band members - they are such a good bunch of friends. I am sure they will pay a fitting tribute to him once they have come to terms with this."
In Bawtry, Doncaster, there was shock today over the death of a star who treated the town as his 'home from home'.
Stephen was last in Bawtry in May when he stayed with the rest of Boyzone at The Crown Hotel preparing for their tour. The group arrived with a fleet of tour buses and took up 55 rooms at the four star hotel, where their five night stay was kept secret until after they had left.
Staff at the hotel yesterday sent a message of condolence to Stephen Gately's loved ones via the group's management.
Hotel sales manager Katey Dent said: "We were gutted to hear about Stephen's death. Boyzone had stayed with us twice and were potentially due to come back again next year.
"We had a lot of contact with them while they were here. Stephen was absolutely fantastic, and shone out of all of them. He was lovely - a cheeky chap. Obviously there were people who recognised them while they were here, and he stood out as the one who was always ready to talk and share a joke with them.
He was a genuinely nice guy."
Luke Walker, who runs Bawtry Health and Fitness Studios where the group trained on their visits to South Yorkshire, said items signed by the star had been auctioned off only on Saturday evening as part of a fundraiser for the Yorkshire Kidney Research Foundation.
Boyzone had used the Bawtry gym every day during their stay in Doncaster, and Luke and club member Simon Boguszewski had rushed to get the items signed by the stars minutes before they were due to leave. "Stephen and the other guys were so helpful, signing anything for us," he said.
"Everyone who has been in the gym since the news broke has said how sad it is.
"It feels like one of our members has died.''
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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