Massive tragedy

Today has been a strange day, because the UK woke up to the news that Stephen Gately of Boyzone has died. If we'd woken up to the news that Stephen Gately had done anything else other than dying, we'd have laughed - we'd got used to him being a figure of fun, possibly because he was short and a bit too nice (read "boring") for the entertainment industry.

But this is horribly sad news. Not because he was a massive influence on music, or especially talented (and I hope none of the tributes are making him out to be either of these things, because I'm sure he realised that he wasn't), but simply because he seemed to be a kind, gentle, well-meaning, hard-working man who had a lot of courage and enjoyed his life.

I saw him performing in the stage version of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang a few years ago, as the Childcatcher. He wasn't particularly good, but this seems to fit well with what everyone's saying about him today - that he couldn't make a very convincing villain because he was basically a good person. And not an actor by trade.

And, of course, he was a boyband member who came out as gay when it wasn't the done thing, having no idea how people would react. I'm sure he did it against Louis Walsh's advice too, which makes him a bit of a hero.

It's an urban myth that boybands in the nineties had it written into their contracts that they weren't allowed girlfriends. I'm sure their management would deny this, but if you believe the autobiographies it was certainly an unwritten rule at the very least. And gayness was a big no-no, despite boybands heavily relying on the pink pound and being part of a very gay industry. This meant a very strictly-enforced lifestyle of hiding their sexuality from everyone but their closest friends and family, and Stephen Gately was the first member of such a group to react against this, as if coming out to an Irish Catholic family wasn't difficult enough.

Regardless of why he did it (someone was about to sell the story to a newspaper if Gately hadn't done it himself) it must have been a massive nightmare. But he handled this stage of his life, and its aftermath, with dignity, courage and humility. I don't think he meant to, but he set the standard for the way current popstars' private lives are handled much better by their record companies - that's no small feat, and it's his legacy. I hope his family is proud.

He was only 33 when he died, and that would be too young for anyone, but I'm sure Gately had a lot more to give. Perhaps not in terms of the music (although Boyzone were in the midst of an underwhelming reunion) but in other areas - apparently he was writing a children's book. I'm sure it would have been lovely.

And I can't quite believe he just dropped down dead at that age. Actually I'm keeping my fingers crossed for suspicious circumstances - at least if there's a scandal we can call it "Gatelygate".