Goodbye Stephen Gately

Looking at these pictures literally brought tears to my eyes.

Stephen Gately, former member of the Irish group Boyzone was laid to rest today, a week after he died of natural causes while vacationing in Majorca. The singer was 33 years old.

A private memorial service was held last night for his family and close friends while the funeral service was held today in Dublin, Ireland. Ronan Keating, one of the remaining members of Boyzone broke down in tears while eulogizing Stephen.

"The world has lost one of its brightest stars, we have lost our brother."

The remaining guys also rendered a tribute to their fallen bandmate.

Boyzone was first formed in 1993 by Louis Walsh who is also responsible for putting together my heartstring band Westlife.

For me the group's song No Matter What stands out in my mind as Stephen's Song as his vocals are features prominently.

I can't embed the video but it can be viewed here.

Rest in peace Stephen.

OMG...NKOTB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

New Kids on the Block put down a performance at the AMA's last night that gave me chills each time the took me through memory lane.

I was literally screaming at the TV with excitement. After all this time they still got the right stuff!!!!

More *N Sync to come

I'm majorly excited about this - if it's actually true. I grew up during the height of the boy-band phenomenon, Backstreet Boys, 98 Degrees, Westlife, Plus One, O-Town, 3Deep, BBMak, 5ive...you name them, I knew them.

So now this year seems to be bringing a re-emergence of the boy-band craze. The Jonas Brothers are doing their thing and appealing to a new era of tweens while old staples like Backstreet Boys and New Kids on the Block are out again and doing wonders for their way-past-post-pubescent fans.

And now it seems like *N Sync may be on this path as well. The rumour mill is buzzing with the news that this reunion may be happening sooner rather than later.

N Sync is contractually obliged to deliver two more albums and band member, Lance Bass has alluded that the group intends to fulfill this commitment.

Bass said:

“We’re definitely itching to do some music. We’ve always discussed it. It’s always a possibility and we still owe some records to the record companies. I’m serious!......it could be possibly a year, it could be five years from now. Depends on everyone’s schedules kind of aligning together.”

The group made their last public appearance in 2002. Since then each member has embarked on solo endeavours. Most popular of the group of course has been Justin Timberlake, who imo had the best album of 2006 FutureSex/LoveSounds.

The question still remains, will N Sync be able to recapture their past successes?