New Boyzone album is "tribute to Gately"

Boyzone star Keith Duffy has declared the group's new record a "tribute" to late member Stephen Gately.

The Irish boyband release Brothers, their first collection of entirely new songs since 1998, on March 8.

"It's all completely original material. There are no covers on it and there's not really any ballads on it either," he told Digital Spy. "It's a whole new sound and it's a whole new dynamic for Boyzone."

Duffy, who reprises his role as chef Ciaran McCarthy on Coronation Street next week, also revealed that Gately was heavily involved in shaping the album's direction.
"Stephen was a big part of picking the tunes that are on the album. I think Stephen would really want us to continue and to release the songs and the album," he said.

However, Duffy also admitted that the group have yet to make any long-term plans.
"I don't know what's going to happen after the album," he said. "Whether we tour again and whether we perform together again, I really don't know. For now we're going to release this album as a tribute to Stephen.

"I'm on Corrie for six months as well so I'm not going to be available for any kind of promotion. I'm just going to let the album work itself - if it's a hit, it's a hit, and if it isn't, it isn't."

Lead tributes to Gately Beyzone

Boyzone led tributes to their "friend and brother" Stephen Gately, saying he was a "beautiful person in both body and spirit".
Stars of the music world, Sir Elton John and Andrew Lloyd Webber including, praised the 33 year old singer, calling his "untimely death" in Majorca a "tragedy".
Ronan Keating, Keith Duffy, Mikey Graham and Shane Lynch said: "We are completely devastated by the loss of our friend and brother, Stephen. We have shared such excellent times together over the years and were all looking forward to sharing many more."
They continued: "Stephen was a beautiful 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'."
Sir Elton said: "David (Furnish) and I are stunned by thisin both bodies of Stephen person in both body and spirit. He lit up our lives and those of the many friends tragedy. Stephen was the kindest, gentlest soul. We send our love and condolences to his partner Andy and to all his friends everywhere."
And musical impresario Andrew Lloyd Webber added that Gately was "enormously talented". "I very much enjoyed working with him on Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat and the Boyzone hit No Matter What my biggest selling single," he said. "His death is a great loss to the musical world."
Phillip Schofield, who also played Joseph in the West End production, wrote on Twitter: "My God. What terrible news to wake up to. Poor Stephen. My deepest condolences to his friends family and fans. He was a actually lovely guy".
Westlife band members Kian Egan, Mark Feehily, Nicky Byrne and Shane Filan said Gately was "friendly, positive spirit and a passionate performer".
Boyzone manager Louis Walsh's spokeswoman said he was "very shocked and exceptionally upset" and he had pulled out of the X Factor live finals.
Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, whose daughter Georgina is married to Nicky Byrne of boyband Westlife, told the BBC's Andrew Marr show: "It's just such a tragedy.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."

Boyzone's Ronan loves to bring family on Archerfield trips

HE is a global pop star who could pick any five star resort in the world to get away from it all.
But Boyzone frontman Ronan Keating likes nothing better than taking his family on holiday to East Lothian.The keen golfer has even become a member of the Archerfield Links course after holding a charity event there last year.He was there again at the weekend for the latest Ronan Keating & Sir Ian Botham Charity Golf Classic, and told the Evening News the area had become his favourite holiday spot.The 32-year-old said: "I come up here outside the event as well, with friends and my family, too. I love bringing the kids here. When I'm away a lot I need to go somewhere with my three kids and feel they are being diverted and there's certainly a good family atmosphere at Archerfield."Keating, who performed at a gala dinner in a marquee on the Archerfield estate on Sunday, and Botham raised over £135,000 from their event last year. Among those taking part this time around were rugby star Matt Dawson,snooker's Dennis Taylor and former football stars Trevor Steven and Phil Babb. Keating added: "While we started up at Gleneagles, it was such a great event at Archerfield last year that we decided to keep it here and I think this is it now I don't think we'll be moving anywhere because we love it here."With Muirfield and all the other great courses around, some people might have thought they were mad when it first came out that they were going to build two courses at Archerfield."But what they've done here is unbelievable. They've made it very special and very exclusive, I suppose, but, at the same time, it's also very homely and I think the staff have a lot to do with that."There are some great houses on the site, too, and, all in all, it is a really special place."The Open returns to Muirfield in 2013. "I've never played Muirfield but I would certainly like to," Keating said. "I love my golf and Barry, who has looked after me for 15 years, and I travel around the world with our golf clubs. "Any city we get to, we need to get the golf bag out and hit a few balls. It's a great way for me to shut down, switch off and get away from it all."Next up for Keating on the golf front is the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, a star-studded pro-am being held at St Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns at the beginning of October.

Irish Stars See Off St Patrick's Day at Meteor Music Awards

Irish musicians celebrated St Patrick's Day at the Meteor Ireland Music Awards in Dublin last night. Your favourite Irish band Boyzone partied at the ceremony alongside Westlife's Shane Filan and Nicky Byrne, who collected the group's gong for Best Irish Pop Act. The Script picked up two awards for Best Irish Album and Best Irish Band, while James Morrison was named Best International Male. He performed on stage, as did Stereophonics and Elbow. Caprice was her usual shy and retiring self in gold, while Gabriella Cilmi shimmered in silver after performing at Sound Relief in Australia.

Wed, 18/03/2009 - 10:45 by PopSugarUK