Ronan Keating chatted to Harriet as they celebrate 30 years of Boyzone.
It's been a massive 30 years since Boyzone were created, consisting of the original line-up of Keith Duffy, Mikey Graham, Ronan Keating, Shane Lynch, and the late Stephen Gately. To celebrate the milestone, Harriet Scott caught up with her co-host, Magic Radio presenter, and former Boyzone singer Ronan Keating.
During the chat with Harriet, Ronan opened up about his time as part of one of the biggest bands around in the 90s, selling six million albums and 7.8 million singles sold in the UK.
The band formed back in 1993, but in 1999 they decided to have a break and as Ronan explained, they made that big decision while chatting in the toilets.
"We had all decided we wanted a break from it, the pressure cooker was so intense," Ronan told Harriet.
"After six years of being on everyone else’s schedule, on that conveyor belt, we all wanted a break. I remember being in Holland doing a big press launch or album launch and we all took a break away from it.
"Again, we are back in the toilets. It’s the only place we all had space away from everyone and we were chatting… we had the meeting in the toilet that we were going to take a break. The five of us agreed it."
Ronan went on to admit that the band's extended break was down to his choices. Boyzone reformed in 2007, but as Ronan explained it was a longer break due to his solo success. "We had made a plan to take a break," he explained. "The break led to a seven-year break up because of my choices. I was riding a solo wave, and it was incredibly important to me."
Boyzone continued to release music following the untimely death of Stephen Gately, however, Ronan admitted that he thought it was the end of the band. He explained: "For me that was the end of the band all together and we probably should have just called it a day then, but we thought the right thing to do was to carry on in Stephen’s memory. For me a mistake. The band never felt the same again. It always felt like something was missing."
Stephen was just 33-years-old when he passed away back in 2009, and Ronan admitted it was tough losing him at such a young age. "What makes me sad and hurt more than anything is he had so much living to do, and he had so much to enjoy," Ronan said.
"I remember something that stays with me more than anything, is Stephen really loved Disney and he was really excited about seeing The Princess and the Frog, and he never got to see it. The movie came out a couple of weeks after he passed away and I couldn't watch the movie. I still haven’t been able to watch it to this day... none of us have gotten over it but at least we have the songs."
Listen to Magic Breakfast with Ronan and Harriet every weekday from 6am.