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Ronan Keating
Keating in 2002
Background information
Born	March 3, 1977 (1977-03-03) (age 32) Swords, County Dublin, Ireland
Origin	Bayside, County Dublin, Ireland
Genres	Pop, ballad, dance pop, folk rock
Years active	1993–present
Labels	Polydor (1993–present)
Associated acts	Boyzone
Website	RonanKeating.com

Ronan Patrick John Keating (born March 3, 1977) is an Irish Pop artist who has had hits with boyband Boyzone and as a solo artist.

[edit] Personal life

Ronan Patrick John Keating was born on March 3, 1977 and grew up in both Bayside, Dublin and Swords, Dublin. His mother Marie died on February 2, 1998 from breast cancer; Ronan and his family have since set up a charity, the Marie Keating Foundation, to help find a cure for cancer.

Ronan married Irish model Yvonne Connolly (b. 1974) on April 30, 1998 on Nevis Island.

Ronan is also godfather to Mackenzie McDonnell (Browett).

On 16 October 2005 Ronan Keating was nominated Goodwill Ambassador of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

[edit] Boyzone

Keating joined the band Boyzone after being spotted by Louis Walsh when he turned 16, and later briefly co-managed fellow Irish boy band Westlife. Although Boyzone never officially disbanded, they had not released a single since 1999 but re-formed in 2007. He has continued with his own solo career, clocking up a total of 14 UK top 10 singles as well as four UK Number One albums in addition to nearly two and a half million copies worldwide. Also in October Ronan was entered in the Guinness Book of Records for being the only artist ever to have 30 consecutive top 10 singles in the UK chart.

In 2008 Keating rejoined his Boyzone bandmates and completed a 29-date reunion tour. Boyzone released their comeback single on 29 September 2008, 'Love You Anyway', which was followed by a Greatest Hit album released on 13 October 2008.

On 11 October 2009 Ronan learnt the news that bandmate and friend Stephen Gately had died while on holiday in Majorca. The remaining members of the band flew out to the Spanish island later that day. On 17 October 2009 at Gately's funeral, he read out an emotional speech ("I'm gonna really miss ya, brother. We've loved ya...and we always will. We know you've found peace. Perfect peace.") before he joined three other remaining members of Boyzone to carry the coffin.

[edit] Solo career

Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page. (December 2008)

Ronan just released a new album in Nov 2009. Following the success of Ronan Keating's international #1 album Songs For My Mother released earlier this year, Ronan has recorded another special set of songs entitled Winter Songs. Teaming up again with Songs For My Mother producer Steve Lipson, Ronan has pulled together a set of 11 songs that evoke special memories of winter and Christmas for him. Winter Songs is a mix of traditional and modern festive classics, including tracks from artists such as Simon & Garfunkel, Joni Mitchell and Grammy Award winning Sugarland. Along with these, Ronan has also included the poignant Christmas Hymn `Silent Night' and the beautiful `Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas'. The album also includes two brand new Ronan songs: `Its Only Christmas' and `Scars'. Polydor.

To date Ronan has released five solo albums, four of which went straight to number one in the UK. Ronan's last solo album 'Songs for My Mother' was released in 2009. Keating has collaborated with major stars including Elton John, Lulu, LeAnn Rimes and the Bee Gees. Keating and Paul Brady co-wrote the hit single 'The Long Goodbye', one of Ronan's most loved hits amongst fans. Ronan is listed in the Guinness Book of Records for being the only artist ever to have 30 consecutive top 10 singles in the UK chart, having beat the likes of Elvis. He also has two sell-out world tours under his belt, an Ivor Novello and BMI songwriting awards, an autobiography, a role as ambassador for Christian Aid and sales in excess of 22 million albums across the globe.

On June 6, 2006 Keating sang at the World Cup opening party at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany, in front of an audience of nearly 250,000 people. Also in June 2006 Keating posed naked for Cosmopolitan magazine's 10 Years of Naked Centrefolds.

On May 9, 2007 Ronan Keating became the first international number-one selling foreign artist to perform a concert in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh. Ronan performed at the Olympic Stadium Indoor Arena. Keating has dueted with Elton John at Madison Garden in New York and has sung for the Pope twice. He performed for Prince Charles at the Prince's Trust 30th birthday, which took place at the Tower of London. He performed on stage for the Swedish Royal family at Crown Princess Victoria's birthday celebrations, and at the opening ceremony of the 19th European Athletics Championships in Gothenburg.

In 2009 Keating co-wrote the song "Believe Again" sung by Brinck, which won the Danish national final, Dansk Melodi Grand Prix, and represented Denmark in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in May in Moscow where it qualified for the final from the second semi-final and eventually finished in 13th place with 74 points.^[1]

[edit] Awards

Over the years he has won Smash Hits best solo male. He was given a tree in London's Hyde Park for performing for the Prince's Trust. He also has a World Music Award for the best selling Irish artist.

In 2003 Keating was named Rear of the Year. In the same year he also was awarded the prestigious "BMI European song-writing award" in 2003, for his beautiful song The Long Goodbye

[edit] Other work

[edit] Presenting

On the 3rd May 1997 Keating presented the Eurovision Song Contest along with Carrie Crowley. He presented the MTV Europe Music Awards in 1997 and 1999, and co-presented the MTV Asia Awards in 2002 with Mandy Moore. He has also hosted the Miss World contest.

On April 20, 2009 Keating guest co-hosted The Morning Show in Australia alongside Kylie Gillies, while the show's regular male co-host Larry Emdur was on holidays.

On September 13th 2009 Keating presented Steve Wright Sunday Love Songs on BBC Radio 2

Ronan will co-host the Arthur's Day celebrations with Cat Deely on Sept 24th at St James Gate in Dublin.

Ronan will co-host alongside Amanda Holden a new TV show for ITV called Celebrating The Carpenters scheduled for later this year.

[edit] Charity work

In October 2005, Keating went to Rome where he was appointed as a UN Goodwill Ambassador via the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO). This came out of his work started in 2004 with Christian Aid and the Trade Justice Campaign.

Keating ran in the London Marathon on 13 April 2008 to raise money for Cancer Research. He ran a personal best time of 3hr 59min.

Keating has also walked the length of Ireland twice, each time raising money for the "Marie Keating Foundation" a charity Ronan and his family set up in Ireland which raises the awareness of cancer. They have now linked it to Cancer Research in the UK. Each year they hold Charity Ball's and various other events to raise funds to keep their mobile units on the road.

In 2009 Keating climbed Mt Kilimanjaro to raise money for Comic Relief. Joining him on the climb were Gary Barlow, Chris Moyles, Ben Shephard, Kimberley Walsh, Denise Van Outen, Fearne Cotton,Alesha Dixon and Cheryl Cole.

In June 2009 Ronan received a Special Achievement Award from Cancer Research UK - he was singled out for his work with them since 2006. Ronan along with The Marie Keating Charity has helped to raise over £1.7 million for the UK charity. This money is used to fund three special mobile units which raise awareness throughout the UK.

In October 2009 Ronan will be running the Chicago Marathon along with 150 Irish policemen in aid of the Marie Keating Foundation. He did not however make the starting line due to the sudden death of his bandmate Stephen Gately

[edit] Controversy

[edit] Louis Walsh

When Keating announced he wanted to take a break from Boyzone Louis Walsh continued to manage his career. Keating achieved a Number 1 hit with Life is a Rollercoaster in 2000 while his album sold 4.4 million copies. Keating and Walsh later agreed to part company and then had a bitter falling out.^[2][3] Walsh told the press: "He (Keating) wasn't the most talented one - he's not a great singer and he's got no personality."^{[citation needed]} Keating later told Closer magazine: "That man absolutely tried to ruin me and if he thinks we can ever hug and make up he can forget it. I haven't heard from him in three years and I wouldn't have a problem if I never saw him again. He's not a nice character."^[4]

The feud between the two men had apparently ended by March 2008^[5] and they worked together on the current series of The X Factor.

[edit] Thom Yorke

Keating has criticised Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke several times in the press throughout late 2008 and early 2009, calling him a "muppet" and an "idiot" due to Yorke's allegedly negative attitude towards him and members of Boyzone. ^[6] Shortly after Keating's remarks, Kanye West and Miley Cyrus also complained about Yorke's alleged rudeness. In response to the accusations, Yorke sarcastically left a blog on Radiohead's official site for those who weren't among "those people I have managed to offend by doing nothing."^[7]

[edit] Discography

For complete discography and chart information see: Ronan Keating discography

For Keating's releases with Boyzone, see Boyzone's discography

[edit] See also

• List of Eurovision Song Contest presenters

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Ronan Keating- The Official Britain and Ireland Website
• Marie Keating Foundation
• Ronan Keating "This is Who I Am" Interview Heat World, June 2009
• FAO Goodwill Ambassador website