Dublin, Oct 17 (DPA) More than 1,000 fans turned up Saturday outside Saint Laurence O’Toole church in Dublin to join in the funeral farewell to Irish pop singer Stephen Gately.
The fans followed the funeral services via loudspeaker outside, a week after Gately - a member of Boyzone, a highly successful boy-band outfit that had a string of international hits in the 1990s - died of natural causes aged 33 while on holiday in Majorca.

During the ceremonies, the remaining Boyzone group-members led by Ronan Keating sang a final song to Gately.

Keating choked back tears as he said “I am going to miss you, my brother. We know that Stephen has now found perfect peace.”

Among the prominent personalities in attendance inside the church were former Irish prime minister Bertie Ahern and British composer Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Outside, weeping fans placed flowers, wreaths and stuffed toy animals at a fence which was set up around the church, located in the neighbourhood where Gately had grown up.

The crowd then broke into applause as the Boyzone band members carried Gately’s light brown wooden coffin out of the church. Many mourners threw flowers onto the coffin as it passed. The band members then stood together as the doors of the hearse closed behind the coffin.

The hearse then proceeded slowly as it carried Gately’s remains to a crematorium.

Saturday’s funeral proceedings followed a night-long wake by relatives and members of the band. Gately’s remains had only been flown into Dublin on Friday from Majorca. Hundreds of fans bearing candles began gathering overnight outside the church while neighbours brought warm drinks.

–dpa

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