Ronan Keating

Ronan Patrick John Keating[1] (born 3 March 1977) is an Irish singer, songwriter, actor and television and radio presenter.

Keating, Keith Duffy, Richard Rock, Shane Lynch, Mark Walton and Stephen Gately were chosen as Boyzone members.

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.

It debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart, and has been certified four-times platinum by the British Phonographic Industry for sales of 1.2 million copies.

In 2001, Ronan was certified two-times platinum by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry for shipments of two million copies inside Europe.

Keating collaborated with several major stars, including Elton John, Lulu, LeAnn Rimes and the Bee Gees, for these albums.

[17] 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 had sales in excess of 22 million albums worldwide.

[citation needed] 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.

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.

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.

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 perennials "Silent Night" and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas".

[26] In July 2012 he visited Malta and performed with Maltese tenor Joseph Calleja and Italian pop-singer Gigi D'Alessio.

[27] His ninth studio album named Fires (the fifth to contain original material) was released on 3 September 2012 in the UK and 30 August in Ireland, Germany, Australia and worldwide.

for charity (with proceeds raising money for The Trussell Trust, Crisis, Unicef, Shelter and Samaritans), which included Keating alongside Francis's Keith Lemon character, Pixie Lott, Rick Astley and Matt Goss amongst others.

[35] On 21 December 2020, a new version of the charity Christmas number one contender "Don't Stop Me Eatin'" by LadBaby was released which featured Ronan Keating performing the song with 'LadBabyMum' Roxanne Hoyle (a single also raising money for The Trussell Trust).

[43] That same year, Keating co-hosted the Royal Variety Performance alongside Ulrika Jonsson at the Lyceum Theatre in London.

In 2010, Keating became a judge and mentor on the Australian version of The X Factor, joining Guy Sebastian, Natalie Imbruglia, and Kyle Sandilands for the second season of the show.

During the second season, Keating mentored the Over 25s category and his fellow Boyzone band members helped him in the judges' house selection of the contest.

For the fifth season, he was assigned the Boys category and made series history; both his acts, Taylor Henderson and Jai Waetford, reached the grand-finals and finished runner-up and third place respectively.

[56][57] In April 2011, Keating began working on Goddess, a 2013 romantic comedy film co-starring British actress Laura Michelle Kelly.

In November 2014, he took over the part of 'Guy' in Once from David Hunter, at the Phoenix Theatre in London's West End, performing the role until March 2015.

He was the fourth principal 'Guy' in the West End production, and the first Irishman to have played the role since Glen Hansard in the Oscar-winning original film, on which the musical is based.

The same year, he also starred as Harold Le Druillenec, brother of Louisa Gould in the film Another Mother's Son, based on a true story from the German occupation of the Channel Islands.

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.

[61] 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.

[citation needed] 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.

[63] 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.

"[69] The feud between the two men had apparently ended by March 2008,[70] after which Keating helped in selecting the finalists in the groups category in The X Factor.

[80] On 10 March 2023, Keating became a grandfather for the first time at the age of 46, when his 23-year-old son Jack announced on his Instagram account that he had become the father of a baby girl.

Boyzone performing on tour with Ronan Keating as the lead singer
Keating in 2002
Keating performing with Boyzone, 2009
Keating performing "When You Say Nothing at All" in August 2012
Keating performing in 2016