'We have lost our brother'

Hundreds of fans crowded streets around a Dublin church on Saturday for the funeral of Irish Boyzone singer Stephen Gately, who died from pulmonary oedema, or fluid in the lungs, last week while on vacation on the Spanish resort island of Mallorca.

His funeral service included a performance by his bandmates, relayed via loudspeaker from the St. Laurence O'Toole Church.

Ireland's former prime minister Bertie Ahern, Elton John's partner David Furnish and members of Irish pop group Westlife joined the ceremony alongside Gately's family and partner Andrew Cowles.

"It's a difficult day but we have to celebrate his life," said impresario Louis Walsh, who formed Boyzone in 1993 after holding auditions for Ireland's first boy band.

Bandmate Ronan Keating wept as he addressed the funeral mass. "We have lost our brother and I've lost my wing man," Keating said. "He will live on in our songs, and whenever us four are together his spirit is alive."

Keating said the band would continue to perform. "For Stephen we'll carry on, but it will never be the same without him," he said. Gately was found dead on October 11 in a house near Port d'Andratx on the western tip of Mallorca.

Wendy Lee, a 26-year-old fan, said she'd travelled from Taiwan to join fellow mourners in Dublin. "I want to say my final goodbye," she said. "I am absolutely devastated."