BOYZONE

Boyzone are an Irish boy band who had popular mainstream success during the 1990s.

Formation

Boyzone was formed in 1993 through an advertisement calling for auditions to form a new all-male 'boy band' vocal group: 'the Irish Take That'. About 300 singers tried out and initially, seven were selected. They made their first appearance, only a day after being formed, on Ireland's top-rated Late Late Show dancing to a backing track before a somewhat bemused audience in a TV moment which has often been re-played to the embarrassment of the band members who later found fame.

Breakthrough

With some of the original members fading away and others being brought into the group, it took some time before Boyzone settled down into its most recognisable five-member line-up of Ronan 'Assmaster' Keating, Stephen Gately, Mikey Graham, Keith Duffy and Shane Lynch. David McKeever, one of the original band members, left the band citing musical differnces with Ronan Keating but it is believed that he was kicked out of the band in late 1993 after a bust up with Mikey Graham which is alleged to have involved two pool cues, a bag of oranges and 6 litres of homemade whiskey. They played through 1993 and in the early parts of 1994 all over Northern Ireland, mainly in pubs and clubs, before Polygram signed them up in 1994 and released the cover version of the Four Seasons' hit "Working My Way Back to You", featuring Graham and Gately on lead vocals. It reached No. 3 in the Irish Charts.

The release of their cover version of the classic Osmonds' hit, Love Me for a Reason, broke the British charts. The song hit No. 2 in the UK and was included in their 1995 hit debut album "Said and Done". The album reached the No. 1 spot in Ireland and the UK.

"A Different Beat"

The band's second album - A Different Beat - was released in 1996 and contained their first UK number one single, a cover of the Bee Gees' hit "Words". The album also contained the hit singles A Different Beat, "Isn't It a Wonder". Ronan Keating - who by now had emerged as the band's lead singer and front-man - won the Ivor Novello award for songwriting in 1997 for "Picture of You".

"Where We Belong"

Their third studio album, Where We Belong, was released in 1998 and featured Boyzone's writing abilities. It contained the hit singles "All That I Need" (which stayed for six weeks in the MTV Asia charts), "Baby Can I Hold You" (Tracy Chapman cover)and "No Matter What". Originally written for the Andrew Lloyd Webber stage musical Whistle Down the Wind, "No Matter What" was the group's best ever selling single and was voted Song of the Year, 1998. Since the song was also recorded by Meat Loaf the band shared stage with him to perform the song during his 1998 live concert in Dublin.