Gately, hailed as an immensely talented singer and an LGBT+ icon, died in 2009 at the age of just 2003.
Boyzone returned to touring a couple of years later, which Duffy has now said was – understandably – far from being their best memory.
“We did two huge [comeback] tours in 2008 and 2009, and we did four nights in each venue,” he told Express.co.uk.
“We then came back with the Greatest Hits album in 2009, and in the October we were in the middle of recording the Brother album when we lost Stephen.
“He died in 2009 and we were back on the road in 2011, two years later – which was way too soon. Way too soon.
“Emotionally and psychologically… I’ll be very honest, myself and Shane were drinking too much, trying to numb the pain, onstage and offstage.
“It just didn’t work, and it wasn’t enjoyable. We didn’t want to be together. That’s when we took a sabbatical.
“Then in 2013 and 2014 we decided to try and tour again but by that stage the success wasn’t as good, though we probably pretended it was. We actually did one night in each venue, as opposed to four in 2009.
“Coming back now, who knows how successful it’s going to be?”
Indeed, the group will be back together in 2018 to mark their 25th anniversary – but first, Duffy is back on the road with Brian McFadden of Westlife to revive their hugely successful double-act, Boyzlife.
Recalling when they first launched the venture, McFadden said: “When the tickets were going on sale, it’s not like the old days where you sell out tours and every single goes to number one.
“So we were like, ‘let’s put the tickets on sale and go do some TV shows, do some promo and hopefully closer to the time we’ll sell out.’
“And we got the call that the presale – just the presale tickets! – had sold out the whole tour within four hours.”
The group’s next jaunt begins on December 6 in Liverpool and concludes on December 19 in Nottingham.
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