又一段同性姻缘：前Boyzone成员Stephen Gately结婚了！（附图）

Stephen Gately Weds his Man...

Ex Boyzone star Stephen Gately is currently honeymooning in London after getting married to his gay lover Andy Cowles after a ceremony in Las Vegas.

It only seems like yesterday that Stephen Gately broke up with Dutch singer Eloy De Jong after a their very public long term relationship.

Now the 27 year old Dubliner has married his new partner Andy and hopes to adopt a child.

The two exchanged their vows at the Viva Las Vegas wedding chapel in the US where you can get married by Elvis if you wish!

Stephen 'came out' in 1998 when he was still in Boyzone.

Boyzone star holds gay wedding in London

19-March-206
Benjamin Cohen

Former Boyzone singer Stephen Gately today married his gay partner in a civil ceremony at an exclusive hotel next door to Buckingham Palace.

The 30-year-old singer had previously held a commitment ceremony with the internet entrepreneur, Andy Cowles, in Las Vegas three years ago.

A spokesman for the Goring Hotel said that Sir Elton John, who was expected to be one of the guests, was not present. He refused to disclose the other guests at the star's wedding: “It doesn’t matter how many were there. It’s a private function and that’s the end of the story,” he said.

Former Boyzone manager and X-Factor judge, Louis Walsh was unable to attend due to illness. “I couldn’t make it because I’ve got a touch of the flu. But I think Keith Duffy and Shane Lynch (former members of Boyzone) are going,” he said.

Gately first came into the public eye when he played a small part in the Alan Parker film the Commitments in 1991. In 1993, he joined the Irish band, Boyzone.

The manufactured boy band scored six UK number ones and sold over ten million albums. The band split in 1999 following the decision of lead singer, Ronan Keating to pursue a solo career.

Gately attempted his own solo career but was dropped by his record label in 2001. Since then he has led a successful career as a musical actor.

The star had previously said that he would have preferred to wed in Ireland, but the country has yet to introduce civil partnerships for gay couples.

About Stephen Gately

As one fifth of Boyzone, Stephen Gately is a household name. Boyzone were one of the most successful boybands in history, who over seven years notched up no less than six number one singles, four number one albums and played to millions of fans the world over.

In his own right, Stephen's incredible popularity was personified in two great honours. Firstly, Stephen was named, Irish Personality Of The Year and then he followed this up with the accolade "Hero of 1999" at The Smash Hits Poll Winners Party. Stephen dedicated the awards to his fans saying "It's been one hell of a year to say the least, but it's all been worth it." High acclaim for a young lad hailing from a normal family, the second youngest of five kids, from a suburban house in Sheriff Street, one of the toughest areas of Dublin. As a child, like most kids, Stephen dreamed of being famous, Stephen got his first break with a small part in the film The Commitments' beating 10,000 other young hopefuls to the part, then was catapulted into the pop world when he secured his place in Boyzone.

Stephen has achieved more than most thanks to seven amazing years with one of the biggest boybands of all time, "A lot of people didn't think we would make it out of Ireland back then. We knew we were going to be successful, but I don't think you can ever imagine to what degree. We were overwhelmed when Boyzone began to take off, it was incredible." Boyzone's debut single Love Me For A Reason' flew into the charts at no. 2 in 1994 ensuring that Ronan Keating, Stephen Gately, Keith Duffy, Shane Lynch and Mikey Graham became the most promising and exciting Irish export of all time.

They followed this success with the singles Key To My Life' (No. 3), So Good' (No. 3) and then their cover of the Cat Stevens classic Father and Son' which hit the number two spot. Hit after Hit after hit ensued, from Baby Can I Hold You', Isn't It A Wonder' to I Love the Way You Love Me' Boyzone's string of number one singles and albums is a guide book and bible to all future boybands. Boyzone have picked up virtually every award known to man, from their Ivor Novello Award for the single Picture of You' to the innumerable Smash Hits Awards for everything from the best band in the world to the best haircut. They recorded their version of When The Going Gets Tough' for Comic Relief which sold over 700,000 copies in the UK. It wasn't until Boyzone began scoring number one hits and sales continued to soar that Stephen realised just how well and how far Boyzone had come. Since their first release Boyzone have become the first act in chart history to reach the top three with their first 14 singles and the first act since The Beatles to debut at number one with their first four albums.

The continuing popularity of Boyzone was shown when an album called Boyzone Ballads - The Love Songs Collection was released in the UK and Europe in March 2003 and reached No6 in the UK charts without any promotional work

In June of 1999, at the age of 23, Stephen discovered someone was trying to sell a story to the papers that he was gay, so Stephen decided to tell the fans himself. A brave move from a young man who has thousands of young fans, mostly girls and is part of one of the most talked about boy bands of the past decade. In coming out' so publicly Stephen, broke barriers that had previously existed for gay artists and has paved the way for others. If Stephen had a band persona it is the modest, gentle, vulnerable and prone to blushing one. Fame and fortune has not changed him, he is true to himself and he admits freely that at the time of his coming out, he was a bit nervous about the reaction he would get. Of course the rest of the band and their loyal fans gave Stephen the support he needed

Having achieved so much with Boyzone, the band decided that in 2000 they would spend some time on solo projects. Stephen was the first of the boys to strike with his debut solo single titled New Beginning' and then his debut solo album, also named New Beginning'.

The album ‘New Beginning' is a testament to where Stephen has come from, both personally and professionally. The album included 12 brand new tracks including Stephen's version of the classic track Bright Eyes' which he recorded for the soundtrack to the new TV version of the classic Watership Down'. They also asked him to do a voice-over for one of the characters ‘Blackavar' which was created to look like him. Other standout tracks on the album include ‘Stay' and the hit single ‘I Believe' (taken from the Billy Elliot' soundtrack). New Beginning' really showed how Stephen had grown as an artist and performer and produced a debut album of real quality.

On May 29 2000, ‘New Beginning' was released. Stephen's first bold step into the solo world reached number 3 in the UK charts. Two weeks later the album was released which also entered the charts in Stephen's familiar top chart territory

The second single to be taken from the album was the beautiful ‘I Believe' which was released on 2nd October 2001. Taken from the soundtrack to the smash hit film "Billy Elliot", this song became another hit to add to Stephen's collection. Stephen was inspired to record this track after he had seen the film. Much like his own story it chronicles a young boy achieving success in the face of adversity. Stephen attended the premieres of the film both at the Edinburgh Film Festival and in Empire, Leicester Square, London along with the actors from the film including Julie Walters and Jamie Bell. In April 2001, Stephen's third single, taken from New Beginning', entitled ‘Stay' was released and reached No 11 in the UK chart.

In May 2001 it was announced that Stephen had parted company with his record company. Polydor and he decided that after so many years of constantly being on the road with Boyzone and then subsequently as a solo artist the time was right for him to take a break from the music business for a while.

In December 2002 Stephen came back refreshed and with a bang – playing the lead role in Bill Kenwright’s new production of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat which previewed in Oxford in December 2002 before moving to Liverpool over Christmas 2002 and finally to London’s West End and the New London Theatre in Drury Lane in February 2003. Stephen received fantastic reviews for Joseph and played to enthusiastic audiences until September 2003 when he left the role for pastures new.

In September 2004 Stephen took on a quite different role where he became quite unrecognisable after being transformed into the evil Child Catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the London Palladium - where he frightened children at each show until March 2005.

Stephen has recently become a vice patron of National Missing Persons Helpline and is pleased to be supporting the Runaway Helpline which provides an essential service for vulnerable people in their time of need and is a vital resource.

Stephen made his debut in pantomime at the Churchill Theatre in Bromley in December 2005 starring as Dandini in Cinderella and showcased another of his talents by writing a song called A Brighter Day especially for the show.

In April 2006 Stephen will take on another new role in his musical theatre career - as the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz at the Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury.

There is no doubt Stephen belongs performing. When asked about his career he said ‘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.’