The tumultuous internal conflicts that once rocked Boyzone have been laid bare in a new docuseries charting the rise and fall of the iconic Nineties’ boyband.
Boyzone: No Matter What offers an unprecedented look into the lives of manager Louis Walsh and members Ronan Keating, Keith Duffy, Mikey Graham, Shane Lynch, and the late Stephen Gately, featuring unseen footage and interviews with those closest to the band.
In the Sky series, set to air on February 2, Ronan – who embarked on a solo career during the band’s hiatus – candidly discusses the internal disputes within the band and his grievances with manager Louis.
Back in 1999, while still part of Boyzone, Ronan recorded a rendition of When You Say Nothing at All for the film Notting Hill. The track topped the UK charts and ignited his decision to go solo, leading to the band’s hiatus.
Ronan Keating claims ‘vicious’ Louis Walsh tried to ruin career after Boyzone (
Curious Films)
During this period, Ronan chose to retain Louis as his manager but grew increasingly frustrated with the direction his career was taking – with Ronan keen to alter his musical style and pen his own songs.
Taking a swipe at the music tycoon, Ronan stated: “He just got it wrong. He made the wrong choices. He didn’t know where the f**k I was.” Suggesting that Louis was more preoccupied with appearing on shows like Pop Idol and The X Factor than managing him, he added: “Louis became a TV personality – he was given that chance because he was the manager of Boyzone.
“Things started falling into place and you realise, Louis is not a great manager. I gave him multiple opportunities to fix things. I have one shot at my career and he didn’t give a f**k, it fell on deaf ears.”
In response, Louis retorted: “Ronan was a big middle of the road artist, he appealed to older women, that was his market, that was his line. He said he didn’t want to be a karaoke artist and wanted to record and write his own songs and be a proper artist – that shocked me.”
Reflecting on the moment Ronan sacked him as manager, Louis shared: “I always told him the truth, you’re a lucky f***er. There was a divorce, I called him talentless and things and there in the press… do I regret it? Yeah, a little bit.”
Ronan has never been able to forgive Louis (
Getty Images)
An angry Ronan continued: “He knew how to hurt me, vicious, f***ing bitchy horrible things. He tried to ruin me and my career.” Alongside his feud with Louis, Ronan was also dealing with a fallout with the other Boyzone members, who were pushing for a group reunion, while he was keen to pursue his solo career.
Tensions had been escalating between the bandmates even before their hiatus, with the group struggling under their demanding schedule and feeling resentment towards Louis for seemingly favouring Ronan.
Louis explained: “As it got bigger it became harder to keep them happy because they wanted more and they wanted more time off.” Meanwhile, Boyzone’s Shane shared: “At its peak was a gruelling time, there was no mercy whatsoever… we were tired, we were broken.”
Mikey chimed in: “We were all physically and mentally and emotionally exhausted’, while Ronan revealed the band hadn’t had more than three weeks off in six years. We had spent too much time together and with that comes relationship difficulties between us.”
Louis then offered his perspective on the tension, saying: “They all had egos and they all wanted to be more famous than they were. Ronan was the one I could depend on, if I needed something done, or if there was a gig somewhere they didn’t want to do, I knew he’d talk them into doing it. He was managing the group with me, he was making a lot of decisions, I was talking to him almost daily about everything.”
Boyzone: No Matter What is on February 2 on Sky Documentaries and streaming service NOW.
