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***20 April 2003 - Ronan Keating's had some great reviews for his current tour; Dean Jackson caught up with the man after his gig in Nottingham. During the interview the Ronan talks about:-His new album, His current tour, His busy lifestyle, The wife and kids and His fansTo listen to the interview go to www.bbc.co.uk
***5 March 2003 - Soundbuzz
What's the best thing about being a popstar?
I don't really think of myself as a pop star. I don't care for the celebrity world. The thing that I love to do is traveling the world and I wouldn't see it if it wasn't for what I'm doing. And also being able to get up in front of ten, maybe twenty thousand to sing songs and they know the words and they sing them back to me. That's an incredible experience.
Are you afraid of not being part of it all one day?
That definitely scares me. It scares everybody that I wouldn't be here or the next album wouldn't be successful. But eventually you stop worrying about the #1 records and start worrying about being recognized a respected artist who sells albums worldwide. I don't fight for the chart positions anymore. I get out there to sell records. It's more about albums for me now.
Have you thought of venturing into other genres?
Yeah. I've touched on rock lately. I'm not making rock music like Aerosmith or anything but there's a lot of rock & roll in the guitar grooves. In my soul, I love rock music and that's what my music would eventually turn into. Not straight away but small changes every time.
Looking back, would you have preferred to be in a rock band or a boy band?
It would have been a lot easier to be in a rock band because you get less stig from the media. But I don't regret being in the pop act. I loved the six years with Boyzone and I got the opportunity to be here.
What kind of rock bands do you like?
I listen to Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, U2, Matchbox Twenty, Train -stuff like that. I listen to melodic rock, not heavy rock but pop rock. I bought the O-Town CD recently. I don't like the album but there's this one song that's genius - "These Are The Days". It's one of the greatest pop records.
What is the strangest present a fan has sent you?
I've got bananas to hair from the wrong places.
What favorite food or drink do you like that's Irish?
We don't have a lot. We have Guinness. I don't really drink it. I have a big belly on me. I drink Jack Daniels. Too much of it. I like Japanese food. It's my favorite food in the world.
What keeps you going on the road?
My mobile, my family and my music.
Would you consider crossing over to acting?
I'd like to try acting at some stage. I love action but I think they'd put me in a drama.
What do you think of reality talent shows like Pop Idol and American Idol?
I hate them. I don't have a problem with manufactured pop acts or pop bands who were put together. These TV shows take the soul out of the artist. The mystery of these artists is gone because everybody sees everything and knows everything about these artists. And then they just drop them like hot snot. They make one record and one album and the record labels just drop them. These artists are ruined - their careers are over and that's very sad.
Who would you like to do a duet with?
I'd like to do a record with Mary J. Blige. I think she's fantastic. She's got a great voice and great vibe and great energy.
If you were to retire, what would you do?
I'd like to open a bar or a shop selling old records in Dublin. Or maybe build a car - a kit car.
27 September 2002 - My Heart is in Music - World Entertainment News Network
Irish heartthrob R K has lashed out at critics' claims that he is only in the music industry to make money. The singer/songwriter was the former front man of boyband Boyzone. But in his heart he considers himself a serious musician and is enjoying a successful solo career with his next single "I Love It When We Do" released on Monday 9th September 2002.He says, "The worst thing a critic has said about
me is that I'm in it for the money or I'm manufactured pop, but my heart is in music. It always has been and for people to try and take it away from me like that, it hurts y'know? Because all i know and love in my career is music. It's all I've ever wanted to do."(WENN) Ronan owes it all to his wife - Irish pop crooner Ronan Keating would be in the gutter if it wasn't for his model wife Yvonne. The former Boyzone singer was confronted with
the death of his mother from cancer 4 years ago, and he believes he would have fallen apart without the support of the 28-year-old beauty. Keating says," Without her I'd be in the gutter. No question. I 'm a dreamer. She sees through all the nonsence.She's forever asking, 'Why on earth were you doing so-and-so or saying such-and-such? You're and idiot. And she's always right.' The couple married in a secret Caribbean ceremony three months
after the death of the former boyband man's mum Marie Keating.
***12 July 2002 - Pop Idol's A Family man- Sydney Confidential
To say heart-throb idol Ronan Keating breaks the mould is an understatement.
You won't see this Irish lad, who made headlines as a member of poster boy band Boyzone nine years ago, chucking a tanty. You definitely won't see him demanding M&M's with the blue ones taken out (he's more concerned with making everyone else comfortable). Nor will you see him out till six in the morning after a heavy night partying." I was six years in a van and we traveled the world," the 25-year-old told Confidential
yesterday." I met the right woman and I wanted to settle down. I'm not the type of person who throws TVs out of windows but it doesn't mean I don't have a good time." The singer, who has just released his sixth album, Destination and is playing at the Entertainment Centre this week, arrived in Sydney on Wednesday with his son Jack in tow." I've got my son here with me, he's 3½ the two of us are just hanging out,"
Keating says in a way that would break a thousand female hearts. Keating met his wife when he was 13 and the childhood sweethearts still live in Dublin.
"My wife, Yvonne, is meeting me in New Zealand on Sunday but our daughter Marie is only 18 months old and too young to travel." When Boyzone broke up they said there was a chance of a reunion, but Keating yesterday ruled out that possibility." It all went pear-shaped, to be honest, and sadly I don't see the boys any more," Keating said.
***5 July 2003 - Ronan Keating - The Interview Special to Phat Traffic www.phat-traffic.com By Tony Clayton-Lea
In the high-risk game of pop music, where success rarely depends on talent or creativity, there is one overriding factor: Ambition. Sure, you may be able to out-write Lennon & McCartney, look like a combination of Tom Cruise and David Bowie, even sing like Sinatra. But if you haven't got ambition, hunger, a fire in the belly well, you might as well bin your pop career right now and apply
for a job as a journalist. Ambition is what takes a 15-year-old boy from a shoe shop in Dublin's O'Connell Street to a solo record in Los Angeles. It is what takes a Northsider from his housing estate to being cosseted in the K Club.
If ambition is the desire to succeed beyond parameters previously laid down, then 24-year old Ronan Keating has it in spades. Although officially still a member of Boyzone, Keating is smart enough to realise that the currently dormant group might well become a fond memory for nostalgic adults if his solo career takes off the way he wants it to. And he could very well be right.
Born and reared in Dublin's Northside, the youngest of five children, Ronan Keating has one abiding childhood memory: his family moved home a lot. From various towns in County Meath to Dublin's Northside and then eventually to Swords, North County Dublin, the Keating family roved around making life busy for themselves. "My mam just liked moving," is Ronan's simple explanation. "If
she wasn't moving the furniture, she was redecorating the house. She loved all of that."
As the youngest member of the family, Keating slowly but surely witnessed the emigration of his older brothers and sisters to various parts of the world, eventually leaving him behind as the only child in a once bustling household. He has understood for quite some time why they had to go - in the 80s, Ireland was hardly the roaring, stalking Celtic Tiger it is now and the experience of being at
home alone with his parents, he says, gave him the strength and independence to stand on his own two feet, to grow up quickly.
A major interest for Keating as a youth was athletics (he holds national juvenile titles in 200m, and was on the Irish team), but as his teenage years beckoned music overrode everything else. Between what he listened to, and what his family members listened to, Ronan received a broad musical education. He joined a school band at 13, bashing out Nirvana covers and winning a local talent contest or
two. Then, whilst still at school, he started working in a shoe shop in Dublin's city centre. It was here, as he held his breath while taking off people's worn shoes and pretending not to notice the holes in their socks, that he heard of auditions for a new boy band. "I went in there along with three hundred other hopefuls," he says. "The rest is history."
Sitting in a private room in the K Club, Co. Kildare, Ronan Keating exudes a specific, thorough air of someone whose hard work has got him where he is today. He might occasionally bemoan the fact that it's more than hard work to sell records in Ireland, he might lightly carp about the lack of respect afforded both him and his music, but he says he does so because he cares. Whatever the critics say
about his music (or about Boyzone's, for that matter) there doesn't appear to be a bitter bone in his body only bemusement as to the way Ireland seems adept at knocking success.
Keating's early days in Boyzone were, he says, the best fun he and the band have experienced: innocent, naοve and ego-free. "It was simple," he relates. "It was all about the music, having fun and going on the road." In those early days Boyzone had no record deal. The band and their manager (Louis Walsh, who now manages the other Irish pop phenomenons, Westlife and Samantha
Mumba) drove around Ireland in a white transit van for 18 months singing other people's songs. "The fun we had in that van was just great," he recalls. "I wished I could have bottled it and kept it with me forever and had that memory of Boyzone, because that was a magical, brilliant time. We were drinking cans in the back of the van, returning home early in the morning; the other lads had parked their cars outside my house. They'd
get into their cars at 2am or 3am and drive home. Then we'd meet at the Royal Dublin Hotel in O'Connell Street the next day after work and off we'd go again to another gig, maybe in Galway, or Cork or Donegal. We thought our manager was throwing darts at the map of Ireland, because the travelling was madness. But we did it because we loved it."
Eventually, the band went over to London, launching themselves and their wares on a Smash Hits tour of the UK. Keating describes it as all hell breaking loose. After two years of life in a transit van, they were superstars. "We were told we were going to be the Irish answer to Take That, and I wanted all of that. I wanted to have number one albums, tour the world with music and songs. I wanted
to hear our songs on the radio. Before we knew it, we were there and that was quite scary, because we always thought there was someone better than us. That was one of the good things about Boyzone - we never really believed the hype. As a band we always had our feet on the ground, and I think it was the Irishness in us that generated that."
General teen-scream mayhem ensued, and followed Boyzone around for years. Yet despite the presence of four other members (Shane Lynch, Mikey Graham, Stephen Gateley and Keith Duffy), it was Ronan who became the best known face of the group. Extracurricular duties included co-presenting the Eurovision Song Contest, MTV music awards shows and presenting his own television show. Acquitting himself
adequately on these, a solo single (When You Say Nothing At All) recorded for the film Notting Hill (1999) was the push he needed to strike out on his own.
"That was the straw that broke the camel's back in relation to my solo career," he admits. "I enjoyed going out and about on my own and having the freedom to say what I wanted to say
I enjoyed doing that and performing the single with my band. That was the push I wanted and needed." With Boyzone on ice from January of 2000, Keating jumped on a plane to Los Angeles and spent
four months there writing and working on his debut solo album (Ronan, which was released in the summer of 2000). "It was a massive change," he says. "It was like a break for me - I could walk down the street and no one knew my name or cared."
The success of the record has proven that he can fashion a career outside the confines of Boyzone, although this inevitably means shedding a number of young fans (some of whom possibly see his solo career as a defection from the Boyzone unit). Yet the jump from one style to another indicates that slightly older people are buying into his solo music, targeting him as an albums man with a life span
slightly less erratic and fickle than the singles market. Ronan understands the commercial dictates of the music industry, but the need to write songs to be heard and to sell is a strong one. He has little time for the validation of talent and creativity through original songwriting: "I write some and I don't write some. If a great song comes along that I haven't written, then I'll want a piece of it and to put my voice on it. Success? It's
not all that important. I love music and I'm lucky enough to be selling albums. I could be sitting in my bedroom writing songs that nobody could care less about, or buy, but I don't want that. I want people to buy my records on a world-wide scale. Not because it brings flash cars and big houses, but to prove to people that I can do it."
For someone so young, Ronan Keating has lived a lot. In the space of several years, he has experienced more success than most pop stars could handle in decades. His world was cracked open a couple of years ago when his mother, Marie, died - a distressing episode that even ruffled him in public. Repair came in the shape of his wife, Yvonne, whom he openly regards as the one person who has kept his
feet on the ground, as well as given him a focus and a reason to embark on his solo career. "She is a practical person," he says, "and a pillar of strength
We're a very private family. We used to go to opening nights, but stopped because it's such a false thing to do. If anyone sees us at a film premier it's because we want to see the movie! Otherwise forget it. My time at home with my family is precious to me. I love life,
every day. Through losing my mam I've learned that life is so precious. Having children, ditto."
Does he think he has grown up before his time? "I had no choice," he replies. "What with my brothers and sisters moving away and having jobs from the age of 14. I left school six months before taking an exam (the Leaving Certificate) to join Boyzone. I promised my mam that if it failed I'd go back and sit the exams, but here we are. I was quite sensible as a young person, though.
Sure, I went to bars and was served drink, but my life has dramatically changed from those days - I have a wife, two children, a wonderful home and financial security. The only worries I have now are health ones, and making sure my family is cared for and how good my next record is going to be. So it's changed, but in some ways I haven't changed at all."
Is it easy to live a natural life, given all the hype, publicity and media interest in your every move? "Yes, we go for walks, and I pick up the groceries from the local supermarket. I don't go down the road driving a Ferrari in my Gucci slippers. What you see is what you get - a fairly focused, solid, grounded person. That's me."
6 June 2002 - 2002 Channel [v] Networks Asia
Channel [v] recently caught up with Ronan Keating in Jakarta, Indonesia. The result is An Audience with Ronan Keating where Channel [v] for the first time ever gave the opportunity to fans to ask their most desired questions to their favourite star directly.The end result is a show with a difference where for the first time Ronan gets to hear and see his fans and answer their questions, which range from personal to
the very bizarre. Here is a transcript of that interview...
Q1 (from Thailand) Do u have any more goals to achieve?
RONAN: I have plenty of goals to achieve. To stay in the business, longevity is very important. You know, I don't want to be like one of these flash-in-the-pan type - one hit wonders! So to stay here you need to have long term career in the business & to be happy more than anything else.
Q2. (from Thailand) Are You going to get into acting?
RONAN: Ummm, well, I haven't thought about it you know. I've been sent a lot of different scripts & stuff like that but to be honest I don't think... er, not right now. It's not something that I want to do right now. I want to focus on my music career right now more than anything else.
show host: Weren't you trying for James Bond?
RONAN: I'd like to do that. Maybe James Bond or Star Wars that would be the ideal roles, but not right now.
Q3. (from Thailand) Dublin is the hot-spot for pop acts these days. Do you guys socialize a lot and does Bono come over for dinner to your house?
RONAN: Yeah, Dublin and Ireland right now is blooming with successful pop acts. It started off with U2, Sinead o'Connor, then Boyzone, Westlife, Samantha Mumba. No, we dont have them over for dinner. The Westlife lads have come over and we've gone to their house, but the rest of them don't come over for dinner.
show host: What about Bono?
RONAN: Oh, we've met them a numerous times. Dublin is quite a small place, so if you are socialising, and you go out, there are only a few known cool places that you can go to. So you end up bumping into somebody or the other.
Q4 (Hong Kong) How come you are the most successful Boyzone member?
RONAN: Um, I dont know why I am the most successful out of the band. I had six great years of Boyzone and I enjoyed every one of them. I worked realy hard, and I treated people with the same respect that I wanted to be treated with, and I think that helped. I think people were willing to give me an opportunity you know, when I needed it as a solo artist for the 1st album. They were there for me because I guess I was there for them with the
band... so at the end of the day the songs are working you know, they are strong enough and good enough so... I must be doing something right.
Q5. (Thai) - Would you encourage your children to be singers?
RONAN: I wouldn't encourage them to be in the music business. If my kids came to me & said that they were you know, if Jack said that he wanted to be a great guitar player, Missy wanted to be a singer or something, I'd say sure, I'll help you out. But if they came to me saying that they wanted to do it because they wanted to be famous and follow me... I wouldn't encourage that, to be honest. It's not the best business in the world to be in.
Though I have been lucky enough to see the great side to it, not everybody gets to see that side.
Q6. (HK) - Most important moment of your life?
RONAN: Birth of my children, getting married. In my career making the change from Boyzone to solo - it was a big challenge. I've been lucky enough to have managed to cross it.
Q7. (Thai) - Is it true that you have the nickname of Tintin?
RONAN: When I was a kid in school, I had a stupid haircut like Tintin - like that quiff thing coming up. Now they just call me Gobshort (laughs out loudly) it's an Irish word. Now I dont have any nicknames everybody who knows me just calls me Ro.
Q8. Hi I'm Sabina from Hong Kong. I would like to know what was your chat-up line to ur wife... How did you woo her?
RONAN: We knew each other since we were kids. We were very good friends for many years. We were best friends before anything else. It wasnt like I had to chat her up. When I had these feelings for her, I was afraid to tell her, because I feared that she would not feel the same way and our friendship would then be affected by that. So, but it eventually came around, and I started getting the vibe, and it worked, you know, we fell for each other.
boy, I was lucky, you know.
Q9. Hi I'm Kim from hong Kong. I'm a major fan of yours. What's the best thing about being Ronan Keating?
RONAN: I have no idea. I am just lucky to do what I do, and travel around the world and to touch people with music. Its an incredible experience. I guess to be able to communicate. That's the best thing to communicate with people all over the world thru music. It's a blessing to be able to do it. I hope I can continue to do it for a long time.
Q10. Do you have any pets?
RONAN: We sed to have dogs when we were based in Moran Island. We had a horse at one stage! When the kids are a bit older, I would like to have animals again. I love dogs.
Q11.I'm Desmond from Hong Kong. What is the strangest thing that a fan has ever sent you?
RONAN: In the band we got some real odd ones. Bit dodgy. We got hair, people had sent us their hair.
Q12. What's the worst thing that you have done?
RONAN: I havent been too bad you know. I've made some mistakes and things like that. Just mistakes. Like when I was 16 and I was joining the band, in an interview they asked me about my sex life, and I'd said that I was a virgin. And immediately I went aarrggh, because I knew that I should not have said that because from then on, every interview would be like - are you still a virgin? It's now obvious now, that i'm no longer a virgin... but it
was the stupidest thing that I could have ever done.
Q13. What's it like being married to a model?
RONAN: (laughs) I don't know. I've not been married before! (laughs) Obviously, she was a very successful model. We got married and then she started traveling with me, and so she didnt work as much. She could do it again if she wanted to, but I guess she is not interested in it anymore. She's a beautiful woman, and I'm lucky. I dont think of the model aspect of it.
Q14. (India) If you weren't a singer, what would you be?
RONAN: There was a chance when I was going to go to an American college and become an athlete, I was in the Irish squad - athletics... track and field. My bro had done it before me, and so I was going to go to the same college. But luckily the band came up and I didnt have to do it, because I dont think I wd have been dedicated enough.
Q15. Which is the song that cheers you up the most?
RONAN: My summer song is Don Henley's Boys of Summer. Oh those open chords on the radio, I would turn up the stereo, roll down the windows. It puts a smile on my face. Great record.
Q16. What kind of girls do you like? Ronan: Oooh! Girls, you know. Female ones! (shy smile on his face). All sorts (he is obviously finding it difficult to answer the qs). Variety is the spice of life as they say (laughs mischievously). My wife is tall, blonde, blue-eyes. I think its important for a girl to be herself. I think that's a very attractive trait.
Q17. Are you going to drive through America on your Harley Davidson?
RONAN: I would like to do it. It's a dream of mine to drive across the US on my bike. Just haven't had the time to do it. I'm currently putting together a pilot series for a TV show, with a friend. And it's called Shock-On. It's about me and my bike - chatting to people, talking about music. Driving my favourite routes. it's going to be fun. But it's till in the early stages.
Q18. (Malaysia) - Which is your fav Boyzone song, and your fav solo song?
RONAN: You Needed Me. It's beautiful.
Q19. (Malaysia) - What is the most outrageous thing that you have read about yourself in the Press?
RONAN: Oh you read all sorts of things in the Press. One was that I was going bald. (Touches his hair) As you can see that I am far from going bald. The other one was that I had spent 20,000 Pounds for my teeth. You must be mad. You have to laugh you know, it doesnt bother me. As long as it does not affect my family. The other thing was that I was gay!!
Q20. is it true that you got married on a Caribean island withut telling anybody?
RONAN: Yes I got married on a beautiful island called Nevus. Got married on the beach. It was magical. And why I didnt tell people was that I hated all the fuss. The fuss of inviting 200 people to a wedding. A wedding is a special moment between you and your partner.
Q21. Which is your favourite movie?
RONAN; It changes every week. but I guess The Great Escape or... umm I loved the Mission Impossible movies. I liked the idea. I like the classics, the old ones. They dont seem to ake movies like that anymore. westerns like The Magnificient Seven.
Q22. Does it get lonely on tour now, especialy after touring earlier with the band?
RONAN: Initially it did and I missed the guys. But I have an 8 piece band around me and I've a great team on the road, so we enjoy ourselves, we laugh, we create our own world. I am OK now.
RONAN: All right guys, thanks a lot for asking all those questions. I really enjoyed them, and I hope you got all the answers that you needed. I'll see you soon. Thanks very much. God Bless You.
***6 June 2002 - world entertainment news network
Former boyzone star Ronan Keating regrets spending most of his youth on tour with the Irish boyband, because he missed out on the final years of his mum's life. The successful solo star started traveling the world at the age of 16 with the now-defunct chart-toppers, and still wishes he could have been in two places at once.
He says ,"She died from breast cancer four years ago, and it hurts me more than anything else. I lost it completely when she died; I was drinking too much and really hit rock bottom."
And the LIFE IS A ROLLERCOASTER singer says he couldn't have coped with his loss without the help of his wife YVONNE. He says ,"Thank god, Yvonne was around to pull me back together or I don't know what would have happened to me." I still talk to my mum every night; I ask her to guide me if I have to make a decision about the kids, and to look after my family when I'm away."
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