Ronan talks to John Daly: Day Out With Daly BBC Northern Ireland - March 29th 2005

Transcript and screen captures by Angela Griffiths - Please DO NOT use anywhere else!

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(Outside the Odyssey Arena, Belfast Northern Ireland December 2004)

John Daly: ‘Right now inside the Odyssey Arena thousands of adoring fans are waiting to greet their hero, who even though he’s only 28 has already had 10 years of hits 8 no.1 singles, 6 best selling albums 4 other boys in the band, 2 hit duets but there is only 1 Ronan Keating.

(Backstage signing for fans and meeting children with disabilities)

A packed house at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast as Ronan Keating’s concert tour arrives in the city, coming up to show time things are getting busy he may be a superstar but Ronan still finds time for all his fans.

J: There’s less than an hour before the gig how ya feeling?
R: Yeah I’m good yeah ready to go, looking forward to it
J: And ya see all this meeting and greeting how does that affect you before you go out to perform?
R: I mean ya know, especially when you meet kids it’s pretty hard, ya just get stuck in, focus on the show now and get into as best ya can. I’ll warm up now and start singing, as soon as I start singing I’m changing, changing my feelings and thoughts in my head ya know.
J: Where are you heading to now?
R: Dressing room which is actually that way so, that door is locked so (Anto moves everyone on in the corridor)

R: This is all I know, this is what I do I mean write songs I sing them, I get up on stage and perform them I love it.
J: When you were in school did you ever want to do anything else?
R: Not really no; I thought I was gonna be a policeman for a while; Garda, I remember getting the forms and all for the Garda Siochana. But I was still in a band at the time and I mean ya know you dream of being in a band but you never think it’s gonna happen. You dream of being in a successful band but you never think it’s gonna happen, so I was in a band and we didn’t have a record deal or anything and you just keep working at it and keep singing and I sung an audition for Boyzone and here I am ten years later, still having a go at it.
J: How can you compare with how you feel now with how you felt then, at the beginnings of Boyzone?
R: I was 16 years of age I didn’t have a clue didn’t know me arse from me elbow ya know (laughing), to be really honest I was just, I was up for it. I wanted to work very hard at it, all I wanted to be was a singer, the difference then was I wanted to be the best singer that I could be, and nowadays people are getting in bands coz they wanna be celebrities, they wanna be famous and that’s the difference between pop acts of then and the pop acts of now so for me all I wanted to do was be a singer to get the opportunity to get up there and work with those producers that I’d heard about and read about in all the books and all the booklets on the CDs. To get up and perform on Top of the pops and be on the cover of Smash Hits magazine, that’s all I cared about.

Yes Boyzone were rising stars, they had the looks they had the talent they had the sheer determination, they were destined for the top.

R: I was just a lover of music, I still am I just love music and any opportunity to get my foot stuck in there and it did. I just kept my eyes open I kept my ear to the ground I listened to everything, I watched everybody and I learnt my craft.

All that hard work paid off, Boyzone were heading for the no.1 spot for quite some time.

R: We were very close we were extremely close I mean we were like a family on the road, we ate slept drank eat everything together ya know, and that was 6 years I mean every single day. There was one year that we had 3 weeks in Dublin that was it, 3 weeks at home and we weren’t complaining but that’s it and it was…. we didn’t care we were just loving every moment.

But after 5 years the stresses and strains of being constantly on the road were taking their toll, all was not well with the band and the cracks were beginning to show. But while Ronan’s relationship with the band was fading, his love-life was blossoming he’d started to go out with top Irish model Yvonne Connolly.

R: I met Yvonne first about 16 years ago I guess 15/16 years ago first when we were very young and then I got to know her when I was about 18/19
J: How? what were the two of you doing then, you were in Boyzone at that time?
R: Yeah I was in Boyzone and she was a very successful model in Ireland and Dublin being such a small place everyone kind of hangs out in the same sort of areas so we’re hanging out regularly every other night in this place and it was just a friendship thing before anything else, we were just friends there was nothing……and that’s where the foundation was and that’s why I knew she was the right one for me. Because before anything else we got on well, we were soul mates before there had to be anything sexual or anything else involved it was just a friendship and that was everything to me.
J: Did that relationship affect you in Boyzone did you become distracted, is that the right word?
R: Erm, I think you get distracted with relationships sure but it never distracted me in Boyzone, no.

The fans were still loving it but by 1999 the boys weren’t and although they managed to keep the Boyzone band-wagon rolling on, their hearts were no longer in it and the final split was now on the cards. Despite their massive hit records and their millions of loyal fans across the world, it was now the end of the road. For both the boys and the fans things were never going to be the same again

R: Initially we all broke and it was fine everyone decided we were going to take a break we all wanted to take a break. We all said great we’ll see how we’re doing in a year or see how we’re doing in 6 months whatever it may be, so we all went out and did stuff. I started to do really well… we couldn’t go back to Boyzone because it would never be the same again, people have said things about other people, people have said things about me.
J: How hurt were you?
R: I was very upset initially, I was very very upset and then ya know what? You kind of grow up and ya think up and on just get on with it.

The fallout had been bad and in particular there was bad blood between Ronan and Shane, the boys hadn’t spoken to each for 4 years, but rather surprisingly it took Shane’s success in last years reality TV show The Games to bring the five of them back together once more.

J: But you’re back together again….
R: We’re talking again yeah we’re friends within reason, we don’t hang out like we used to.

20 minutes to show time (tour of the dressing room at the Odyssey)

R: This is my little area
J: This is lovely; ya know the most striking thing as you walk through the door is the smell, what is that?
R: Yeah its incense, now somebody bought me this incense right? (laughs) and it says cannabis on the top, it’s not really (more laughs) nah I think it’s a joke...I think it’s a joke.
J: And did you carry that through the airport yourself?
R: Ah no I didn’t I didn’t actually it was on the truck last night, I was quite worried (laughs) no it’s not really cannabis because you would know. It’s nice coz even though all of the rooms aren’t the same you create an environment and it feels the same everywhere, so the smell, the lights.
J: It’s very calm isn’t it?
R: Yeah it is, I am spoilt I mean this is the spoilt side of what I do and it’s nice to have it.
J: So what would you do now? What would be your next point of your routine?
R: Well if you come on through here you’ll see this is my kind of getting ready area this is the show times, this is the outfit, that’s what I wear
J: Oh very nice
R: This is one side of doing what I do that only happens 2/ 3 months in a year or even a year because you’re not always on tour it’s never like this usually, if I’m doing a promotional tour its just a hotel room to the airport and you don’t get all this kind of stuff, this is a real treat this is a luxury.
J: I don’t want to keep you back anymore but what’s your first warm up thing?
(Practicing vocal warm ups)
R: Very good John (laughs) OK I think I’m gonna leave ya there now John, you’re on animal noises now……. (more laughs)

(Pink Ribbon Ball preparations)

Four weeks earlier in Dublin and Ronan is preparing for a very different gig, one of the biggest charity events in the Dublin calendar in fact, the Pink Ribbon Ball in memory of his mother, just like old times with big sister Linda very much in charge.

R: It’s our biggest event of the year tonight, it’s our fourth year and for us it’s all about fundraising and tonight is our biggest fundraising event. I came in from Zurich this morning I was doing a gig last night in Basel and I came straight in, straight here and sound checking with some of the band, some of my other band are somewhere else today so they couldn’t play tonight so there’s some new band members tonight so we’re rehearsing some of the songs all over again.

It’s not just the music that has to be rehearsed and perfected, Ronan’s entire family gets involved, his dad filling goodie bags, his brother Gary organising the raffle and all this to ensure that this night is a huge success.

R: Linda’s up the wall she slams the phone down on me at least once a day over the last week (laughs)
Linda: When he answers the phone that is, he has a habit of saying oh sorry Lil I missed yer call (laughs)
R: This is Gary, my brother Gary. Gary does all the entertainment for the night, all the coordination of the stage the lights.

Ronan might be a star with his uses but to his 3 brothers and sister he is still just the baby of the Keating family. A close knit family that supported him throughout his teenage years and his rise to stardom, but all that was shattered in 1998 when his mum Marie died from breast cancer.

R: I’ve never performed at the Ball this is my first year and because I had the single out this year ‘I hope you dance’ which the proceeds went to the foundation here and to Tickled Pink campaign in the UK I thought this would be a good year to perform, there’s a good reason for me to be performing tonight.
J: Whose idea was it to set up the foundation?
R: I’d probably say Linda, I have to say Linda really when after mam died and we spent a few days in the house after mam died just me brothers and Linda, and I remember us all we were moping around the house ya know and all of a sudden the house felt really empty after the last person leaves after the drinking and the wake and everything else. And there was just the 5 of us I guess and dad left and a couple of friends and we’d just be sitting around talking and I guess it was Linda saying come on we gotta do this, this is what we’ve gotta do Ronan, with your profile and with our energy and with our ideas Linda, really Linda really turned it around.
J: Do you think the setting up of the foundation helped you all to cope with it better, with the grief?
R: Yeah, yeah it did it give us all something else to think about. At the same though it brought up a lot of pain coz you’re talking to doctors again and you’re talking to specialists and you’re asking them what we can do here and then you’re finding out all these things that mam could’ve done. So at the same time it helps you cope, it also brings up all the old memories again.
R: I went straight back into work and I think it was the wrong thing to do because I just crashed, I started drinking heavy and I broke down one day in London. I was doing interviews, I just broke down I couldn’t handle it.
J: I know your fathers here tonight it’s obvious the 2 of you get on well but there was there a time when there was a bit of friction there after your mother’s death?
R: I went off the rails a little bit I have to say and me dad and I didn’t see eye to eye for a while and we drifted apart very much so but thank god we’re back together again and everything’s fine. I mean I was a kid when I lost me mother it was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to go through in my life, so these things happen.

Ronan’s charity work isn’t all glitz and glamour, away from the spotlight he’s a tireless fundraiser. In 2003 he walked the entire length of Ireland to raise huge amounts of money for the Marie Keating Foundation. And away from home he’s also an ambassador for Christian Aid travelling with the charity to Ghana, once again using his profile this time to raise awareness about unfair trading practises in Africa.

The backstage warm-up, Ronan in perfect harmony with his band who have been with him for 10 years, perfect harmony mind you is a phrase that cannot be used to describe his relationship with his former manager and mentor Louis Walsh. Their very public break up still hurts even now.

R: Louis and I were extremely close, we were very very good friends and we made really good records together. He helped me get where I am today I mean I don’t…I would never say he hadn’t helped me, I would never take that away from him but he’s a very bitter man . It’s very sad though the things he’s said about me, I was a gentleman about it I had to move on from Louis coz he wasn’t managing me anymore and that’s plain and simple.
J: Can you understand though that he would be hurt, I suppose only because I can’t think of any other acts who have sacked him who have said Louis thanks but no thanks
R: They’re all afraid to …they’re all afraid to, ya know what? I won’t go there I could talk all night about Louis. I loved Louis to bits we were like that, he was like a father to me and it hurts me, it upsets me and he knows that it hurts me.

(Backstage at the Odyssey, warm-up and introducing the band members)

Teenage heart throb pop superstar but just where does Ronan go from here? Well he’s got movie star good looks, could that be the next route, the movies?

J: Is the film world somewhere where you would like to go though?
R: Yeah part time, not full time music is my life my passion I love it
J: Didn’t you audition for Moulin Rouge?
R: I did, they came to me Baz Luhrmann flew me into New York from Dublin and I did an audition with all these big-wigs, Leonardo was there, all these boys and there’s little Ol’ me toddlin’ in (laughs).
J: But that’s great isn’t it?
R: Oh it was super it was a great honour
J: So what was it like, is it like going to the dentist where you’re sitting outside ‘Leo you’re next (jokes)
R: Well it was, the guys are going around reading these scripts ya know just like you imagine it. I’m walking in and I learned my lines on the plane and his wife was there she was playing Nicole and I was to play obviously the part that Ewan got. It was the love scene where they’re in the elephant and she’s sliding up his leg trying to take his trousers off and here’s me toddlin’ in and she’s …..And he’s there and I just can’t handle this! (hysterics) I couldn’t get it together at all…didn’t get the gig but anyway it was good fun, it was a good laugh.
J: When you watched Ewan McGregor in that could you see yourself?
R: That would’ve been fantastic because of the relationship between the music and the acting coz I know I would’ve got away with the music but not the acting but when someone like Obe Wan Kinobe gets the gig you can’t complain ya have to bow down.

But musically speaking Ronan’s thinking of heading down that country road

R: LeAnn Rimes is someone I teamed up with last year and her audience could very well be my audience, I think we sell records to the same people here so I think we could do the same over there, the pop/country world. I’m going to Gstaad next September and I’m doing this huge country show where they bring in Garth Brookes and LeAnn Rimes and all the big country artists and a 100,000 people come to this show and they’re booking me next September so there’s an avenue there definitely so we’ll see what happens.

Father & Son the song which Ronan Keating sang for his audition for Boyzone and which was also a no.2 hit for him Christmas 2004 kept off the top of the charts only by Band Aid. The hits are still coming but with so much success what does Ronan himself see as the highlights of his life?

R: The birth of my children getting married to Yvonne and obviously the no.1 singles and albums they still excite me, I still get a buzz……..
J: Really? Is that still important?
R: Oh yeah the album still being in the top 5 after 10 weeks is unbelievable
J: But does it also terrify you that if the numbers game is so important that whenever those numbers aren’t there, for whatever reason, it’s not down to quality…..
R: Yeah it happened last year I brought an album out that didn’t go into the top 10 and I thought oh sh*t my careers over, but it’s ok I think these things are there to test ya. It made me work harder and made me understand that I’ve gotta make records for the people that I’ve already made records for, I’ve gotta remember who’s buying my records and who my fans really are.
R: Every venue’s different Belfast and Glasgow are probably the most exciting shows on the tour
J: You’ve always said that Belfast is the best audience, why is it?
R: I think they’re just up for it they really want it I don’t know what is.

(Calling Yvonne on the phone before the gig)

R: No it never gets easier, there’s hard times and then there’s easier times fair enough but no it doesn’t get easier no. You get the butterflies in your stomach before you go on stage.
J: How many times do you speak to Yvonne in a day?
R: About 6 or 7 times…..8 times
J: And do you always do that, do you always call her before you’re about to step on stage?
R: Yes getting on a plane, getting off a plane before I go on stage when I get off stage, important moments (laughs)
J: This is a great time for you isn’t it?
R: Yep I mean it goes up and down I know it’s my song but like any rollercoaster is it up and down; last year was probably the worst year I’ve had in 10 years in my career and then this years the best. I’ve never sold as many records, I’ve never had a tour as big, it’s just been magic
J: Have a good one Ronan
R: Thanks John God bless, thank you for having me

R: It’s very exciting to think that people still care, they still wanna listen to my songs, they still want me around

© Biritish Broadcasting Corporation