BOYZONE GRACED THE FIRST ISSUE OF MAY LAST YEAR. A YEAR LATER, THEY'RE ON OUT COVER AGAIN!
EiLEEN S AND CHRIS TOH FIND OUT WHAT HAS BECOME OF THE FAMOUS FIVE FROM IRELAND.

Just over two years ago, Boyzone were just another boy band living in the shadow of Take That. Then they released their version of the Osmonds' "Love Me For A Reason" and the next thing you know, Boyzone become the hottest thing out of Ireland. They released mega-seling album Said And Done and followed this with more hits like "So Good", "Father And Son" and "Key To My Heart". Meanwhile, Keith and Mikey became fathers, tour after tour followed and late last year, they struck gold once again with "Words", the first single from their new album A Different Beat.

Eileen S find herself plnked in a teleconference with Ronan Keating.

Way back in 1994, a magazine reported you were still a virgin. Are you still?
"Yeah, I am actually, but i don't like talking about it. I am actually a Catholic and that's part of it. But i guess i'm just waiting for the right girl to come along."

So does that mean you're still a single?
"Yeah, I am. We all are."

(Female reporter(FR)From one daily):But i hear you're got a kid or something.
"Oh, i don't have a kid, but Keith does. He's actually a dad, but he's not married. He's got a beautiful baby boy and he's about four months old. His(the baby's)name is Jordan."

(Male reporter(MR)from another daily):Is that after Michael Jordan?
"No, because it's just a beautiful name".

How did you like being in this part of the world?
"wE WERE THERE BACK IN mARCH, AND WE LOVED IT! It's a bit of a long flight to get over there, but we had great time, and we really look forward to going back."

When are you coming back?
"We're hoping to do a show some time next year, but we're going for some time off for Christmas. Then we'll be doing Australia, South America and a European tour."

Have you guys changed a lot?
"Yeah, we've changed a bit. I guess philosophically it's changed us all. We're a bit more way now and we're wised up to people and things. We approach things a bit differentely now and we're beginning to take risks about what Boyzone is all about."

MR: So is fame difficiult to handle?
"No, not difficult at all. We get mobbed wherever we go, and that's a bit scary sometimes. In Ireland, it's crazy. We can't walk down the street without everybody following us. It's a bit claustrophobic, especially when you just want to chill out at home, and there's hundred kids waiting around your place for you to come out."

So with all of there mad fans, do you get weird mail?
"Oh no!(laughs)They're actually quite sweet. They send us lots of presents and write very nice letters. The nicest presents are the ones they make themselves - like cards and stuff."

Gotten any, uh, strange objects? fr(JUMPING IN EAGERLY): Ya, like obscene stuff?
"Whaaat?"

FR(even louder):Obscene, you know, OB-SCEE-NE!
"Oh, it's not me who gets that! It's usually other three, Shane, Keith and Mikey."

MR: Your new album is a lot different from the first one. It's a bit more romantic.
"It's a step in a new direction for us, but we don't think it's a huge difference from what our fans think Boyzone is all about. We're a bit more confident with this new album because we've written nine of the songs on A Different Beat. It's a bit more mature, but at the same time, our younger fans will still know it's us."

MR: You've done quite a lot of covers. There's 'Words' by the Bee Gees, Blue Mink's "Meling Pot" and "Ben" by Michael Jackson.
"They're songs that everone recognises. "Words" was chosen because it's a great song and plenty of people wanted to hear it again. "Ben" was Stephen's choice, and it was a big change for him vocally. As for "Meling Pot", it's a song with really nice sentiments and we thought it had a lot of meaning."