The funeral of the late Boyzone singer, Stephen Gately, will be held on Saturday, 17 October 2009, in Dublin.
Gately’s family plans to hold the funeral service at St. Lawrence O’Toole’s Church. Prior to this, a private family mass will take place.
Inevitably, the rest of the band, which includes Keith Duffy, Shane Lynch, Ronan Keating and Mikey Graham, will attend the funeral.
Aside from Gately’s loved ones and fans who are saddened by his death, Louis Walsh, the brains behind Boyzone’s success, is devastated as well. In fact, he will not appear on the ‘X-Factor’ show on Saturday and will instead attend Gately’s funeral. In an interview with Irish broadcaster RTE, he expressed his feelings and the band’s emotions, “It’s like they have lost their very, very best friend and me too.”
After a night out with his partner Andrew Cowles, Gately was found lifeless on a sofa in his apartment in Majorca. His band mates plan to bring his body home on Friday.
Prior to the release of Gately’s body, the Spanish authorities conducted a post-mortem examination. They revealed that the Irish singer died because of natural causes. The results show that Gately suffered from pulmonary oedema, implying that his lungs had accumulated fluid.
This is in contrast to the speculation that Gately had taken drugs or was drunk the night he passed away.
Gerald Kean, the family’s lawyer said, “The family is pleased that the post-mortem has been completed.” He added, “They are pleased that the results of the post-mortem vindicate exactly what they said all along, that Stephen died as a result of natural causes.”
