Irish boy band Boyzone are back on top of the Irish charts with their first release for new single "Gave It All Away" since the loss of their bandmate, Stephen Gately. "Gave It All Away" is the lead single, features Stephen in a recording made last summer, from the Irish boy band's latest fourth studio album, "Brother," which pays tribute to Gately. The success of single is particularly poignant for Boyzone as it features a vocal from their departed friend who died suddenly last October while on holiday in Majorca. They also managed to top their album, dedicated to their late former colleague for the UK chart.The song was written by London-based pop star Mika, and was originally meant to be Boyzone's comeback single after their 2007 reformation, however Mika did not allow it. The song includes lead vocals from Ronan Keating and Stephen Gately. After Gately's death, Mika allowed the song to be released as a tribute to the singer. He said "I was shocked and saddened when to hear about Gately's passing. He touched so many people's lives both with his music and with his wonderful personality. It's an honor to hear him sing my song. I wish all the best to the rest of the boys. I'm proud of the song and proud of their version." The song received its first airplay on January 17 on Keating's radio show.
The Irish boy band had popular mainstream success during the 1990s. The group were most successful in Ireland, UK, Australia and New Zealand. They also had differing levels of success in parts of Europe. The group have released six No.1 UK hit singles, and four No.1 albums with sales approaching 30 million records as of 2008. Following disappointing chart positions for Boyzone's previously recorded new material (Love You Anyway and Better) "Gave It All Away" reached No.1 in the Irish singles chart, knocking Jedward's Under Pressure (Ice Ice Baby) off the top place. Given Boyzone haven't had that much out recently, this is still a fantastic result. It shows once again just how broad their appeal is and how loyal their fans are. I'm sure many fans are also buying the single directly because of him and to demonstrate how much they still care for and miss him.
Boyzone's new video may just tip you over the edge. The band said of the filming, "We found it really hard to make this video and the footage is incredibly raw and tough to watch at times. But we didn't want it being too mournful all the way through. There's a nice scene of us four brothers sat around a table at the end with Stephen's favorite picture hanging up behind us. It's us reminiscing about the good times and the laughter we had with our other brother and again Phil just filmed us fly-on-the-wall for that so it's just us as we are."
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