Almost 15 years ago, I got irritated whenever my sisters mentioned Boyzone. But as soon as I heard Love Me For a Reason, I was instantly crazy over them too.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSXa9eHjaVU&feature=fvsr]

We became obsessed with them. We had every cassette, every VCR, almost all Boyzone Official Magazine ever since it was first published. Posters after posters were collected and pasted all over the four walls of our room. Articles in the newspapers were not left. Every magazine that had them featured will surely be bought. Smash Hits and Top of The Pops were still cheap at that time. And when we had the time, we would compile those articles into clear file folders.

Whichever TV shows that had them featured will surely be recorded into a VCR. When I was in Year 6, I was always down with asthma. I would then stay at home with my sister who was in the afternoon session. My sister and I would then rewatch the recorded shows or the official VCR over and over again. Our fav being Boyzone: Live at Wembley. Those VCR became our daily dose that we had actually memorized what was being said or sang by them.

Boyzone’s songs became my personal favourites and they are still my favourites. Among them are; Father and Son, Love Me for a Reason, So Good, I Love The Way You Love Me, Everyday I Love you, Key to My Life, Mystical Experience, Isn’t It A Wonder, You Needed me and many many others.

My sister sacrificed her weekly allowance in order to make sure that she got her hands on a Boyzone’s watch specially made by Swatch. The watch was actually an entrance ticket to their concert in KL back in 1998. Too bad that even though that Boyzone came to KL almost every year during that time, we never had the opportunity to see them live.

And when we doodled, we would always doodled the word Boyzone or the name of the member that we love the most. Lame, I know.

We bought Mr. Bean The Movie original VCD and OST just because Picture of You was featured in that movie.

My parents never objected our obsession towards Boyzone. My mum looked at it positively. She believed that by listening to English songs and reading English magazines, we would eventually improve our English language. I guess, she was right. We memorised each and every Boyzone’s song and from all the reading, we have actully acquire a certain amount of English language.

Last year, Boyzone made a reunion after a few years of pursuing own career path. I was back to the 12-year-old me. I rewatched the concert over and over again on Astro just to make sure that I did not miss any bits of the concert. It was also one of the ways of knowing how many songs that I still remember the lyrics to and how many that I have forgotten.

Well, most of the songs are still well remembered. Hihi.

And just today, my brother broke the news that Stephen Gately has died whilst on a holiday with his partner in Majorca, Spain. The official website stated that Ronan, Mikey, Keith and Shane have said,

We are completely devastated by the loss of our friend and brother, Stephen. We have shared such wonderful times together over the years and were all looking forward to sharing many more. Stephen was a beautiful person in both body and spirit. He lit up our lives and those of the many friends he had all over the world. Our love and sympathy go out to Andrew and Stephen’s family. We love you and will miss you forever, ‘Steo’.

The COD have not been determined and post mortem will be conducted in a few days.

Whatever the reason is, Stephen would definitely be missed by all fans out there. RIP.