Boyzone Biography

Boyzone; the name constantly conjures up the ideologies of screaming fan
girls, huge pop singles, one of Ireland’s greatest music exports, and the
surge of 1990s boy bands.

In 1993, Westlife manager Louis Walsh set up an audition to search Ireland
for five of the greatest singers, to help front a boy band that would surely
shoot to fame, produce excellent records, and attract the attention of almost
every pop loving teenager in the UK. Among the thousands of people that
auditioned, five men made it. Ronan Keating, Stephen Gately, Mikey Graham,
Shane Lynch and Keith Duffy.

During the beginning stages of the band, they toured Ireland, playing almost
any venue that was available to them, and their fan base quickly grew. Within
a year of the band developing, they covered a 1966 hit ‘Working my Way Back
to You’ which subsequently shot the band to fame, and the song reached no.3
on the Irish charts.

In 1995 they released their first full length album ‘Said and Done’ on
August 21st. Due to their previous popularity from their cover single which
shot to number 3, the fan base was ready and waiting for the new album. The
album became no.1 on the UK charts, and was in the homes of millions of
teenagers in the UK. The album proved to make their sound and their image and
helped propel them to fame.

‘A Different Beat’ was released on October 28th in 1996. Within a heart
beat, the album reached #1 on the UK charts, and proved to be their second
most successful album in their career. The album made them household names,
and their music reached across the oceans and to many prevalent music
producing countries like the US, and Australia. The covered a Bee Gees hit, ‘
Words’ of which hit #1 on the charts, as well as a Michael Jackson song ‘Ben
’. The cover songs on the album weren’t the only songs to reach high chart
status; the album also contained two #1 singles, and two #2 singles.

Due to the success of ‘A Different Beat’, Boyzone were approached by a
cereal company to produce an ad for the popular cereal Sugar Puffs.

‘Where We Belong’ was released on May 25th in 1998, which included power
single ‘No Matter What’; A song, which reached every corner of the globe,
and played on every hit radio station. The song gained its popularity during
the peak of boy bands, and further solidified the fact that Boyzone were a
strong, and hit producing boy band; a force of which not to be reckoned with.
This was also the first album that Boyzone were able to co-write, which
helped gain the members awards and accolades for their writing efforts. ‘
Picture of You’ was written by Ronan Keating, which later featured in a Mr.
Bean movie, and then won the Ivor Novello Award for the song.

1999 was a big year for Boyzone, with the release of two singles albums ‘By
Request’ and ‘Singles’ which both reached #1 on the UK charts, no surprise
to the band, their manager, or their fans of course. This was also the year
that band mate Stephen Gately announced he was gay. Boyzone also appeared on
the U2 single ‘Sweetest Thing’ and consequently appeared in the video clip
along with Bono.

In 2000 Boyzone broke up, causing distress to many pop boy band loving
teenagers world wide. However, due to their breaking up the world was once
more reminded of their music, which caused a surge in purchasing their albums
and tickets to their final shows.

In 2003 Boyzone released their ‘Ballads’ album, which hit #6 on the UK
charts. Unfortunately by this time, the era of the boy band was well on its
way out, and catchy pop punk was definitely the ‘in’ genre.

However, by 2006 the elusive boy band was making its way back into music news
and the charts, with the rumours of several boy bands reuniting. In 2006
Boyzone also released ‘Key to my Life’ which reached #8 on the UK chart.
The release of this album caused the music industry to rumour about the
alleged regrouping of Boyzone.

In 2007 it was confirmed by Louis Walsh that there would be a reunion of
Boyzone. Unfortunately, the plan had fallen through due to lack of investment.

Long after the rise and fall of Boyzone, all members have gone on to lead
fulfilling and successful careers, either in music or television acting.
Shane and Keith are the only two members to not release a solo album;
however, Keith is a recurring character in Coronation Street and Shane
recently appeared in Celebrity Love Island. Stephen has made a career by
performing in musicals, and Ronan has since released five albums and has
helped manage and produce several records for other bands and performers.

Boyzone were one of the most successful boy bands, and Irish exports that the
country saw in the 1990s. Despite their constant rivalry with other boy band
Westlife, Boyzone managed to strive through many personal hurdles and
constantly produced amazing singles, brilliant pop albums, and kept their
fans happy throughout their career


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