Ronan Keating

Ronan Keating

Ronan Patrick John Keating (born March 3, 1977) is an Irish recording artist, singer-songwriter and philanthropist. Keating made his debut, alongside with Keith Duffy, Mikey Graham, Shane Lynch and Stephen Gately, in 1994 as the lead singer of Boyzone. His solo career started in 1999, and resulted in 7 studio albums. Keating gained worldwide attention when his single "When You Say Nothing at All" was featured in the film Notting Hill and peaked at number one in several charts. As a solo artist he's sold over 20 million records worldwide.

Keating has worked as a charity campaigner most notably for the Marie Keating Foundation, a foundation that raises awareness for breast cancer. It is named after his mother, who died of the disease.

Life and career

Early life, marriage and Boyzone (1994-1999)

Boyzone performing at the tour with Ronan Keating as the lead singer.

Ronan Keating was born on 3 March 1977, the youngest of five children, Keating grew up on the Northside of Dublin and Westmeath. His father Gerry Keating was a taxicab driver; his mother Marie was a hairdresser. Keating has one sister: Linda, and three brothers: Ciaran, Gerard and Gary. When his mother died of breast cancer, their family home, which Keating had bought at the age of eighteen was sold, rendering his father homeless and resulting in a bitter feud between father and son. The two were reconciled with each other after two years without communication. Keating was a track and field athlete and represented Ireland on several tournaments, winning the All Ireland under-13 200m title. Keating also worked as an assistant in a shoe shop just as his siblings emigrated to the United States. Keating is a supporter of Celtic F.C., and a friend of tottenham and Ireland striker Robbie Keane.

Ronan is also god father to Mackenzie Bannatyne. Keating joined the band Boyzone on 1993. Ronan, along with Keith Duffy, Richard Rock, Shane Lynch and Stephen Gately were chosen as Boyzone members. Rock would later leave the group before being replaced by Mikey Graham. The group performed in various clubs and pubs before being signed by PolyGram in 1994 and released a cover version of "Working My Way Back to You" by The Four Seasons. The group also released a cover version of "Love Me for a Reason" which would peak on several charts. In 1998, his mother died at the age of 54 from breast cancer, resulting in the establishment of the Marie Keating Foundation, a charity to raise breast cancer awareness. Keating married Yvonne Connolly in April 1998 and together, the couple have three children: Jack (born 15 March 1999), Marie (born 18 February 2001) and Ali (born 7 September 2005). . From 1994-1999, Boyzone released 3 studio albums and 1 compilation album before disbanding in 2000.

Ronan and When You Say Nothing At All (1999-2000)

In 1999, while still a member of Boyzone, Keating recorded a version of "When You Say Nothing At All" for the motion picture Notting Hill. The single peaked at number one in the UK charts, leading to a successful solo career. Keating released his debut solo album entitled Ronan in 2000, peaking at number one in the UK Albums Chart.

Solo career (2000-2007)

After the successful debut album Ronan, Keating continued on with his solo career and since has released four more studio albums: Destination (2002), Turn It On (2003), 10 Years of Hits (2004) and Bring You Home (2006), four of which peaked at number one in the UK Albums Chart. Keating collaborated with several major stars, including Elton John, Lulu, LeAnn Rimes and the Bee Gees, for these albums.

Keating and Paul Brady co-wrote the 2001 hit single "The Long Goodbye", one of Keating's most loved hits amongst fans and a huge hit for Brooks & Dunn in the United States. Keating and Brady won the "BMI European song-writing award" for the single. In 2003, Keating was named Rear of the Year - an award given to celebrities with a notable posterior. In October 2007, Keating was listed in the Guinness Book of Records for being the only artist ever to have 30 consecutive top 10 singles in the UK chart, beating the likes of Elvis Presley. Keating also embarked on two world tours, won the Ivor Novello and BMI songwriting awards, released an autobiography, had a role as ambassador for Christian Aid and earnt sales in excess of 22 million albums worldwide. In 2007 he released 2 fragrances,the range consists of a female fragrance, Hope By Ronan, which is based upon musk and amber scents and a male scent, Believe by Ronan, based on Sicilian Lemon, Lavender and Clary Sage smells. All proceeds go to the Marie Keating foundation.

Keating performed at the 2006 FIFA World Cup opening party at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany, in front of an audience of nearly 250,000 people, and posed nude for Cosmopolitan magazine's 10 Years of Naked Centrefolds. On May 9, 2007, Keating became the first international number-one selling foreign artist to perform a concert in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Keating also performed at the Olympic Stadium Indoor Arena. Keating has dueted with Elton John at Madison Garden in New York and has sung for the Pope twice and performed for Prince Charles at the Prince's Trust 30th birthday, which took place at the Tower of London. He performed on stage for the Swedish Royal family at Crown Princess Victoria's birthday celebrations, and at the opening ceremony of the 19th European Athletics Championships in Gothenburg.

Back Again... No Matter What and Stephen Gately's death (2007-present)

Ronan Keating performing during a concert tour.

On 5 November 2007, Keating confirmed that Boyzone would reunite for a special appearance on the BBC's annual fundraiser, Children in Need, performing a medley of hits, although had not yet commented on the possibility of a new tour or album. Soon, the Boyzone went on a 29-date tour. The 29-date tour, taking in cities such as Cardiff, Newcastle, Liverpool, London at the O2 Arena and Wembley, Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Sheffield, Newcastle, Nottingham, Edinburgh Castle and the RDS in Dublin. Stephen Gately,close friend and band mate of Keating, died on 10 October 2009 of a pulmonary edema, or fluid in the lungs. This left Keating devastated. In 2009 Keating co-wrote the song "Believe Again" sung by Niels Brinck, who won the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix and represented Denmark in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow where it qualified for the final from the second semi-final and finished in 13th place with 74 points. Following the success of Ronan Keating's album Songs For My Mother, he has recorded another entitled Winter Songs. Teaming up again with Songs For My Mother producer Steve Lipson, Keating pulled together eleven songs that evoked memories of winter and Christmas for him. Winter Songs is a mix of traditional and modern festive classics, including tracks from artists such as Simon & Garfunkel, Joni Mitchell and Sugarland. Along with these, he has also included the poignant Christmas Hymn "Silent Night" and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas". The album also includes two brand new songs: Its Only Christmas and Scars.

On November 12, 2010, Keating released his seventh studio album entitled, Duet in Australia and New Zealand. "Believe Again" was released as the lead single from the album and features guest vocals from Australian singer, Paulini.

Boyzone Future?

Ronan Keating said on Friday 26th November 2010 that the next Boyzone tour may very well be the last thing the Irish act ever does together. “We will be touring in February and March. With Stephen passing away last year I don’t know if it can ever be the same again,” he tells undercover.fm. “I don’t know if there will be a life for Boyzone. The tour will tell us a lot, if the void is too big or if we can move along as a four piece. We haven’t done a whole lot of work together this year because it hasn’t felt right. The tour will show us everything and it could be the last thing we ever do together as a band”.

This year Ronan has been living in Australia and working as a judge in X Factor. Before that, the four surviving members of Boyzone recorded a released a new album featuring vocals from Stephen. “Stephen passed away in October and we recorded the album in December and January. We were still very numb,” he says. “We were around each other constantly, we kind of rallied around each other. The energy in the studio, it felt like Stephen was with us all the time. We were on this buzz. It was a strange buzz but it kept us going. We knew we had to make this album. We had recorded some of Stephen’s vocals earlier in the year so we used those as well. We very much felt like he was part of the album. Then as the year has gone on it has just been different. We have done the odd little performance but it hasn’t felt right. The tour will be a real guide for us whether we can go on”.

Charity work

In October 2005, shortly after joining Christian Aid and the Trade Justice Campaign in 2004, Keating went to Rome where he was appointed as a UN Goodwill Ambassador via the Food and Agricultural Organisation.

Keating ran in the London Marathon on 13 April 2008 to raise money for Cancer Research, with a personal best time of 3hr 59min. He has also walked the length of Ireland twice, each time raising money for the Marie Keating Foundation, now linked to Cancer Research in the UK. Each year the foundation holds charity balls and various events, raising funds to keep their mobile units on the road.

In 2009, Keating climbed Mount Kilimanjaro to raise money for Comic Relief; joining him were Gary Barlow, Chris Moyles, Ben Shephard, Kimberley Walsh, Denise van Outen, Fearne Cotton, Alesha Dixon and Cheryl Cole.

In June 2009, Keating received a Special Achievement Award from Cancer Research UK - he was singled out for his work with them since 2006. He, along with the Marie Keating Charity, has helped to raise over £1.7 million for the UK charity. This money is used to fund three special mobile units which raise awareness throughout the UK.

In October 2009, he pulled out of the Chicago Marathon due to the sudden death of his bandmate Stephen Gately; he had intended to run in memory of his mother.

Awards

Over the years he has won Smash Hits Best Solo Male. He was given a tree in London's Hyde Park for performing for The Prince's Trust. He also has a World Music Award for the best selling Irish artist.

Other work

Presenting

On 3 May 1997, Keating presented the Eurovision Song Contest along with Carrie Crowley. He presented the MTV Europe Music Awards in 1997 and 1999, and co-presented the MTV Asia Awards in 2002 with Mandy Moore. He also hosted Miss World 1998.

On 20 April 2009, Keating guest co-hosted The Morning Show in Australia alongside Kylie Gillies, while the show's regular male co-host Larry Emdur was on holiday. In addition, he has stood in for Steve Wright on his Sunday Love Songs on BBC Radio 2. He currently presents a Sunday request show on Magic 105.4 FM.

In a section for the Jeremy Clarkson 2009 DVD Duel, Keating was invited to take part in an off-road race to find "the fastest off-road celebrity", along with newsreader Kate Silverton, Rugby player Matt Dawson, and Clarkson. He came third overall, after being forced to abandon the car with only 20 seconds left to complete the course to disarm the on-board time bomb.

Keating is a judge on the Australian version of The X Factor on the Seven Network in 2010. Season one has him mentoring the over 25's category. His fellow Boyzone bandmembers helped him in the judges' house selection of the contest. Ronan was the winning mentor for the 2010 Season, his over 25 artist Altyian Childs won the show.

Acting

Keating has recently stated he would like to break into acting, but does not intend to stop working as a recording artist. He recently auditioned for a role in the upcoming fantasy movie "The Hobbit" and was unsuccessful. The film is based on the J. R. R. Tolkien novel of the same name.

Controversy

Louis Walsh

When Keating announced he wanted to take a break from Boyzone Louis Walsh continued to manage his career. Keating achieved a number one hit with "Life is a Rollercoaster" in 2000 while his album sold 4.4 million copies. Keating and Walsh later agreed to part company and then had a bitter falling out. Walsh told the press: "[Keating] wasn't the most talented one - he's not a great singer and he's got no personality." Keating later told Closer magazine: "That man absolutely tried to ruin me and if he thinks we can ever hug and make up he can forget it. I haven't heard from him in three years and I wouldn't have a problem if I never saw him again. He's not a nice character."

The feud between the two men had apparently ended by March 2008 and they helped in selecting the finalists in the Groups category in The X Factor, a TV show in the UK.

Thom Yorke

Keating has criticised Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke several times in the press throughout late 2008 and early 2009, calling him a "muppet" and an "idiot" due to Yorke allegedly ignoring Keating at a hotel. Shortly after Keating's remarks, Kanye West and Miley Cyrus also complained about Yorke's alleged rudeness. In response to the accusations, Yorke left a blog on Radiohead's official site for those who were not among "those people I have managed to offend by doing nothing."

Discography

Main article: Ronan Keating discography

See also: Boyzone discography

• Ronan (2000)
• Destination (2002)
• Turn It On (2003)
• 10 Years of Hits (2004)
• Bring You Home (2006)
• Songs for My Mother (2009)
• Winter Songs (2009)
• Duet (2010)

See also

• List of Eurovision Song Contest presenters

External links

• Ronan Keating- The Official Britain and Ireland Website
• Marie Keating Foundation
• Ronan Keating "This is Who I Am" Interview Heat World, June 2009
• FAO Goodwill Ambassador website