Ronan Keating has called on pal Robbie Williams to work with him on a special tribute to late Boyzone star Stephen Gately.
Love Me For A Reason singer Stephen sadly passed away at his holiday home in Port D’Andratx, Majorca, on October 10th, 2009. He was 33.
In an interview with Irish publication Goss.ie, Ronan revealed he “had tears running down my face” after listening to the song penned by former Take That star Robbie, in honour of his bandmate.
Ronan said Robbie contacted him “out of the blue” with a song he wrote on the 10th anniversary of Stephen’s death, explaining: “It was Stephen’s 10th anniversary, and the boys and I were doing a TV show in London. Robbie saw the show and he emailed me that night.
“He said, ‘Hey Ro, I have this song I wrote and I wrote it the week Stephen died.’ And I’m standing in my kitchen, listening to this song with tears running down my face.
“I said, ‘Let’s do something together on it it would be lovely.’ And then we worked on this record, it’s a very special song,” the star shared.
Ronan and Robbie arranged the song, called The Big Goodbye, to work as a duet. The track will feature on Ronan’s new album, Twenty Twenty.
The forthcoming release, Twenty Twenty, is Ronan’s 11th studio album and marks 20 years since his solo debut.
It features several duets, including a track with Shania Twain, and is due for release on July 24th.
