When Boyzone was born in 1993, five Dublin boys were swept away from their normal lives and entered into global stardom. With their catchy brand of pop music, the boyband amassed swarms of fans across the globe and sold 25 million records worldwide under the wing of manager Louis Walsh.
As we now understand all too well, however, that degree of fame comes at a price.
For the first time in 30 years, the four surviving Boyzone band members – Ronan Keating, Keith Duffy, Shane Lynch, and Mikey Graham – are opening up about their personal journeys in three-part documentary series Boyzone: No Matter What.
With never-before-seen archive footage, emotional interviews, and reflections from those close to the late Stephen Gately, who died in 2009, the series tells the honest tale of one of the most-loved Irish boy bands.
We sat down with Ronan Keating - now aged 47 - to talk about how he’s told his side of the Boyzone story.
HOW WAS IT GOING DOWN MEMORY LANE – THROUGH THE GOOD TIMES AND THE BAD – FOR THIS DOCUMENTARY?
It has been harrowing at times. Very emotional. And fun, too.
I mean, there’s some great footage out there of Saturday morning Live and Kicking TV shows and all that, and we went through all of this content over years and years and years. It took us two years to get here and to make this film, and it was worth the wait.
There were times when I thought: ‘I’m making a mistake making this film’. I don’t really want the world to see the mistakes we made and the people that, maybe, at times, we were behind the scenes. That wasn’t pretty. But I realised that the truth needed to be told.
That’s why it is the film that it is. It’s incredibly honest, incredibly tough to watch at times, and upsetting, very upsetting – every time I watch it I’m a mess. But I’m proud of it.
Read more: Ronan Keating tearful in Boyzone documentary as he recalls Stephen Gately grief
YOUR ESTRANGED MANAGER, LOUIS WALSH, APPEARS IN THE DOCUMENTARY AND GIVES HIS SIDE OF THE STORY ABOUT ALL THE THINGS THAT WENT ON OVER THE YEARS. HOW DID YOU FEEL WATCHING WHAT HE HAD TO SAY?
I guess I appreciated his honesty, that he didn’t come guarded, you know? He let his walls down, he told the truth, and as did I about this situation, about the situation between Louis and I.
You know, I miss him. I miss him in my life. He was a father figure to me, and I would not be where I am if it wasn’t for Louis. The challenges that he had in front of him, and he pushed and pushed so that Boyzone succeeded when everyone else laughed at us.
So we owe him a lot, but too much was said afterwards, and there was a lot of hurt, not from my side, and he knew that.
It all comes out in the documentary. So, I guess it’s all been said now, it’s all out in the open. And I think when people see the documentary, they’ll realise that.
WAS IT DIFFICULT TO OPEN UP, TO BE SO HONEST ABOUT SUCH SENSITIVE SUBJECTS?
It took hours, actually, it was quite a while to let my walls come down. I think all of us felt the same.
You can’t just come in cold and sit down and start talking about the silly mistakes you made, and the fool that you were, or the things you did that you regret. So it took time, but we did it for, I don’t know, 15, 20 hours in front of the camera, filming…
Sophie (Oliver), our director, she knew the questions to ask, and she got answers that nobody’s ever heard before. And I think that’s really what’s special about it.
Read more: Ronan Keating: It would be harder for Boyzone to survive if we were starting now
There’s loads of content out there about Boyzone, loads of interviews from all of us individually, but there’s nothing like this on Boyzone…
So many people have said to me, that have watched it: ‘We had no idea it was like that in the band.’
And I think that’s, well, that’s why we made the film, because the truth needed to be told. It’s the good and the bad and the ugly, I guess.
THE DOCUMENTARY SHOWS JUST HOW YOUNG YOU ALL WERE WHEN BOYZONE STARTED OUT, AND WHAT IT MEANT FOR A GROUP OF LADS FROM IRELAND TO TRAVEL THE WORLD IN A BOYBAND. HOW DID YOUR HOME COUNTRY INSPIRE YOU IN THOSE EARLY YEARS?
It was an incredible thing to be able to travel around the world and say that we were Irish.
The door was swung open, anywhere in the world, from Japan to Mexico: As soon as they hear you’re Irish, you’re welcome with open arms. And it really helped us wherever we went. People loved it, and we played up to it – you know, we loved it too – incredibly proud of where we come from.
WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER OF HOW YOU WERE PERCEIVED BACK HOME, EVEN AS YOU WERE MAKING WAVES GLOBALLY?
Everybody kind of looked down their nose at us in Ireland, so it was very hard for a while. We wanted to be respected in our own country, and we were laughed at for a long time. And I guess some of those mistakes were ours, because we went on the Late, Late Show and danced around like a bunch of eejits, and people just laughed at it… (we) made the whole thing worse for ourselves.
But after a while… to go back home and play 10 nights in the arena, break all the records, it was incredible. (We were) incredibly proud, for us as Irishmen, to be able to come home and be respected like that in our hometown.
Boyzone: No Matter What comes to Sky Documentaries and NOW on Sunday, February 2
