Ronan Keating pays moving tribute to Stephen Gately on his 7th anniversary

It's hard to believe it's been seven years since Boyzone's Stephen Gately passed away. It was October 10th 2009 when the singer died suddenly from a congenital heart defect in Spain at just 33-years-old.

His fellow bandmate Ronan Keating paid tribute to his friend yesterday on an Instagram post with a message referencing the Disney movie Hercules, of which Stephen was a fan; "Hey Steo. ‘A true hero isn’t measured by the size of his strength but by the strength of his heart. Miss ya bro."

Gately's death devastated Keating and his fellow Boyzone bandmates Keith Duffy, Mikey Graham and Shane Lynch. The lads chose to stay overnight in the church where Stephen was the night before his funeral so he wouldn't be alone.

(Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

Keating 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."