Stephen Gately's ex-boyfriend's final heartbreaking act to hear his voice after death

As a new Sky documentary takes a look back at the life and times of Irish five-piece Boyzone, we recall the tragic early death of one of its most beloved singers

The members of Boyzone suffered incredible highs and crushing lows throughout their time in the band - and the saddest was the loss of Stephen Gately.

The much-loved singer was just 33 when he died at his holiday home in Port d'Andratx, Majorca. The Dublin-born star was on a month-long working holiday with his partner Andrew Cowles, when he suffered an "acute" pulmonary oedema, or fluid on the lungs, caused by an undiagnosed heart condition.

The four remaining members of the band, Ronan Keating, Shane Lynch, Keith Duffy and Mikey Graham, stayed with Stephen as he lay in a church the night before his funeral. The men who called themselves his "brothers" then carried the singer's coffin for the final farewell.

Stephen and his civil partners Andrew, an internet tycoon, had been together for seven years when tragedy struck. Before this, he had been with Dutch popstar Eloy de Jong for three years.

Eloy was so stunned by the news of his former lover's death that he called his mobile phone. "I rang him, and it went to voicemail, but I didn't get his voice," he said. "He didn't have a message set up. I wanted to hear him. Just one last time."

Eloy was in the boyband Caught In The Act when he met Stephen at a concert in Switzerland. They went to a party together, and Eloy recalled how he and Stephen had chatted for hours.

"I remember it being so difficult to let our guard down because we were not openly gay," he said. "Ronan used to help us keep things quiet. We had to be clever about the way we hid our relationship."

Stephen came out in 1999, when the couple were together. "We agreed we wouldn't let anyone blackmail us and we made the decision to tell everyone, because Stephen was in love with me and we felt it was right," said Eloy. "Afterwards it was such a relief for him."

The Dutch singer described his relationship with Stephen as a "rollercoaster", saying he had fond memories of the time they lived together in Amsterdam. "Those were great years," said Eloy. "We had a canal boat and used to just leave our mobiles behind, leave all the madness and go on the boat.

"We loved cooking together. He never ate enough vegetables, so I would make him eat his greens. He used to sing and dance in front of me. He was so talented."

"The final time I spoke to Stephen was last year," added the star. "He rang me for a catch-up. I can't believe we'll never speak again. It's so sad. He was so young. I'll never forget him."

Stephen later moved to Highgate, North London, with new love Andrew. "The night he died, we'd had such a good time, a lovely evening in our favourite restaurant," he told The Mirror. "He was the most happy and confident he'd been in his life. He died under my arm, curled up on the sofa and it was a few good hours before I realised he wasn't sleeping."

Watch Boyzone: No Matter What on Sky Documentaries and NOW from Sunday, February 2.