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Former Boyzone member Stephen Gately was found dead at his vacation residence in Majorca, Spain over the weekend. ABC news reports no evidence of foul play, as well as a lack of suicide note or any indication of excessive drug use. Gately was found dead on his sofa at 1:45 am on Saturday.

A source told the Independent: “All we know so far is that they had gone out the night before till late and had quite a few drinks and raised the alert when they found Stephen dead.”

The  singer, whose group had a number of hit singles, was best remembered for being the first Irish pop star of his time to come out as gay. He did so after one of the band’s security men threatened to tell his secret to a tabloid newspaper.

A friend of Gately’s, Irish lawyer Gerald Kean, spoke on his behalf when he said: “There was no foul play involved and it’s not suicide. There is nothing untoward, it’s not drugs, we don’t believe, it’s not suicide, it’s not murder, it’s not a fight. That’s what we’ve been told.”

 

Gately was admired for the way he handled coming out in the media, though Boyzone manager and X Factor judge said at the time that he would have reconsidered Gately’s selection had he known about his sexuality, as “it wasn’t cool then to have a gay guy in a band.”