Gately to appear in West End production
A year ago, Stephen Gately’s world seemed to have come crashing down – his relationship with his long-term partner Eloy De Jong was over and he had been dropped by his record company.
After a shaky start to his solo career, the former Boyzone singer seemed to have vanished from the public gaze. But the Dublin-born star hadn’t turned his back on performing, and now he’s back with a new West End production of Joseph, opening on Monday, March 3.
Already a hit after a month-long run in Liverpool, Gately is delighted to be back on stage again.
He says: “The bottom line is I want to be on the stage and singing – that is what my whole life is about. It is in my blood, I could never give it up.”
But the 26-year-old admits that he wasn’t so calm on the opening night.
“The first time was so nerve-racking. I swallowed a bottle of Bach’s Rescue Remedy and went on, thinking, ‘Just go for it’.
“I really enjoyed it, I didn’t mess up on the first night so I was really pleased. The second night, I messed up and the third night, but the first I got everything right,” he laughs.
After seven years with Boyzone, the first act in chart history to reach the top three with their first 14 singles, collecting the adulation of millions of fans along the way, you might expect the singer to have any stage-fright well under control.
But Gately says he found Joseph a very different experience from packed stadium concerts.
“Instead of having 15,000 screaming fans, screaming through your song, you can hear a pin drop when I sing Close Every Door, which is quite amazing for me because I’ve never really had that kind of quietness.”
With piercing blue eyes, the diminutive singer – he gives his height at 5’6” - is still a personality to be reckoned with, even when he is relaxing casually on a sofa with a coffee.
He seems determined to concentrate on the future, rather than dwelling on the darker days of last year.
“I’m happy and that’s how you should be. People go through hard times in their life, and I went through a tough time a year ago, but now things are really good.”
The only dark cloud is his current single status. “I’m more of a relationship guy,” he says, admitting he wishes he was back together with Eloy, his Dutch-born boyfriend of three and a half years.
“I’d give anything to get back,” he adds wistfully. “He’s a lovely guy, and we’re still good friends.”
Eloy, a major boy-band star himself in Europe, was with Gately when the Boyzone star decided to break the news that he was gay, something he’d had to keep secret for almost six years.
The pair had even discussed adopting a child together, and Gately, an uncle of four himself, hasn’t ruled out a family in the future.
“I think kids take a lot of dedication and you need a lot of time to give to kids, and at the moment I couldn’t give that time.
“But I would love a kid some time. Maybe just one, I think one’s enough,” he says with a smile.
For now he’s concentrating on Joseph, which takes up most of his time, and waiting to see what the future holds.
“God knows what I’ll be doing in six months, I’ll play things by ear.
“I don’t plan, I think it’s wrong to plan because you never know what’s going to happen so I take things day by day. It’s worked for me so hopefully it’ll work for me in the future,” he adds.
“I’ve turned down a couple of musicals before – the timing was wrong and some of them I didn’t think it was appropriate for me to do. This one was much more suitable.
“I’d love to get back into acting, theatre is great. This is combining singing, acting and dancing, the three things that I love, so I’m enjoying it.
“I’d love to do a movie – anything. Comedy would be good, serious would be good, horror would be good. In the past we’ve had offers, but we were tied up. I’ve had no offers since but maybe they’ll come in.”
For now he’s making the most of living in central London and spending time with his friends.
“I do miss Ireland but I like London, there’s so much to do you can never get bored.”
He adds: “I’m quite good friends with the rest of the guys [from Boyzone]. Keith [Duffy] in particular is my best pal, and the rest of the guys I still see - except for Ronan.
“I haven’t seen him for a while but that’s a whole other story,” he says, deftly avoiding the subject of the band’s sudden end after Ronan Keating left abruptly. The group has still not officially split up.
“Keith’s seen me perform already, he loved it. He’s very supportive.”
And having the freedom to make his own decisions after so long in a group obviously appeals to Gately. While his solo career didn’t go as well as hoped - partly, he says, because his heart wasn’t completely in it and he wanted a break - he’s also glad he can now be open with fans about his sexuality.
“Life has been easier. I’m more free, happier, more in control and that’s the way I like to be. I think it was really probably the best thing I could have done.
“I’ve had so much support. It was a risk I was taking but the risk was that I could then be happy and free, doing what I’m doing, and I am.
“You have to be yourself, be happy with what you’re doing, happy with who you are.”
