Ronan Keating pays touching tribute to Stephen Gately on the 7 year anniversary of his death

Ronan Keating took to Instagram yesterday to pay tribute to his former Boyzone bandmate, Stephen Gately, on the seven-year anniversary of his death.

Stephen tragically passed away on 10th October 2009 from a congenital heart defect at his home in Spain.

Sharing a photo of Stephen on his social media page, Ronan referenced the Disney film ‘Hercules’ in the caption, writing: “Hey Steo. ‘A true hero isn’t measured by the size of his strength but by the strength of his heart.’

“Miss ya bro.”

Stephen was much-loved by his Boyzone bandmates, who were Ireland’s biggest boyband back in the ’90s, and the singers were left absolutely devastated by their friend’s shock death.

In fact, at Stephen’s funeral Ronan alongside bandmates Keith Duffy, Mikey Graham and Shane Lynch, stayed overnight in the church with Stephen as they didn’t want to leave him alone due to his fear of the dark.

Shane previously told Fern Britton in an interview: “We got our sleeping bags, the priest came in with some wine for us and at about 12 o’clock at night we were starving hungry.

“We didn’t think of food but then there was a knock on the church door and no word of a lie, but in came Daniel O’Donnell with a load of fish and chips.

“We sat and ate and laughed and joked and just told amazing stories, about Steo. It was an amazing thing to do, a magical thing to do.

“We saw him off with joy and not sorrow.”

And we can’t imagine that Stephen would have wanted it any other way.