This month, the team at Zingo Bingo fired up our time machine and went back to the 90’s to have a natter with boyband royalty – Boyzone’s Keith Duffy.
Boyzone were one of the biggest pop groups on the planet during the nineties, scoring six number one singles and picking up countless awards, so-years on from ‘Words’ topping the charts – we caught up with Keith to discuss Boyzone’s forthcoming mega gigs at the Emirates Stadium, his current project Boyzlife with Bryan McFadden and his time on the cobbles in Coronation Street.
Boyzone, Boyzlife and music
Boyzone have got some huge summer gigs at the Emirates Stadium lined up. How are you feeling about it all?
To be honest with you, we haven't even started rehearsals yet, and I'm feeling great about it. I'm gigging all the time with Brian McFadden and Boyzlife, so I'm kind of match-fit and ready to go.
It's been a long time since I performed with Boyzone—the last time was 2019.
I'm really excited about getting back on stage with the boys, 33 years later after we started, it's going to be very exciting.
I'm glad that, you know, I'm as busy as I am with Boyzlife because it just makes me feel more confident about jumping on stage for the 60,000 people, or whoever, however many there is.
Any nerves ahead of these massive shows?
There are no nerves or mad emotions at all. It's going to be a massive celebration.
Would you like to do more with Boyzone? Any future touring plans?
To be honest, it's not up to me. That's why I love Boyzlife, because I'm a director of the brand. I'm a co-manager of the brand and we decide what we do, where we go, how long we go for, what we record. We write together, we record together, and I just have a great understanding of what we're trying to achieve.
With Boyzone, I never had any control at all. I never had any control of us breaking up, staying together, taking a break, going into the studio... I wasn't in control of anything in Boyzone and that really upset me and frustrated me at the end. That's why the Boyzlife thing gives me so much satisfaction.
With Boyzone, I don't have any control. We did the documentary and I said to the lads, "You know what, if this documentary is received well and people really like it, there might be a chance of us coming back together to do a tour," I was right. But there were no preparations made. We weren't ready for it.
Our historical promoters and agents offered us big 40-date tours, which I was more than happy to step up and do. But I wasn't in control. I wasn't a decision-maker. Everybody has to agree to doing a tour like that. It takes a lot of time and effort and everybody needs to be dedicated to it.
I was 100% prepared to do a Boyzone tour. I thought that was the right thing to do. But Ronan didn't want to do it. Ronan wanted to do a couple of stadium shows and leave it there.
Ronan’s got his own career. We're not together. He's got an awful lot going on—he's doing The Voice Australia, The Voice Germany... he's living between Dubai and Australia. It's not right for him at this time of his life.
To get the opportunity to do these two nights at the Emirates Stadium, we have to be grateful for that.
If it was my choice, I would certainly go back and do a full tour with the boys I started off with when I was 17, 18. It would mean the world to me to spend that kind of quality time with them again.
I certainly wouldn't like to disregard Boyzlife. Maybe Bryan could come on tour with us and support, or maybe even as part of Boyzone, I don't know. I think that would have been an exciting idea.
Has the success of Boyzlife and that your helped you prepare for these massive gigs?
Absolutely. There's no doubt about it. By performing centre stage with Bryan, that has really helped me with my confidence. And we’re having a blast too!
The sound of Boyzone was always known as the voice of Ronan Keating, and Stephen Gately, a split vocal between the two lads. When we lost Stephen, Ronan took a lot of those vocals on.
I think somebody else should have helped Ronan out an taken on more of the vocals. But we'd never been encouraged, we'd never been backed, we'd never been pushed to the front. If anything, we were put down and insulted – that was hard.
Your confidence dies when you're being constantly put down and put to the back. And when you're standing on stage in front of 10,000, 20,000, 50,000 people, you really don't want to be self-conscious.
You want to be very confident, positive and secure in your situation. And that's where I am now. So now it's time for me to step up, you know, stand centre stage to take some of the pressure off Ronan…and I can’t wait!
How does working with Brian McFadden in BoyzLife compare to Boyzone with Ronan and the gang?
I absolutely love working with Bryan. In fact, he’s really helped bring my confidence up, because, unlike Boyzone, it’s the two of us carrying the show, and that gets you ready.
We're just really enjoying what we're doing. Last year we were in Indonesia supporting Mariah Carey, we were in Canada doing a tour with Debbie Gibson, and we did our own sellout tour earlier in the year. We've got another tour coming up now in October and we're doing all the festivals through the summer.
We're performing in loads of lovely old cathedrals, and those are really special nights—the acoustics are phenomenal, and we have our full live band behind us so that's a really enjoyable.
We're writing and recording new music, too. Our new song is finished and Radio 2 have been so good to us—they've played our last four songs that we've written and recorded, and the fifth one that's coming out soon, I think it's our best work so far. It's definitely the best song I've ever written.
I can’t wait to get back on stage with the boys, but I love what we’re doing with Boyzlife too.
Coronation Street
Fans of Coronation Street still talk about Ciaran McCarthy years after he left the show. Would you ever be tempted to return to the cobbles if the right storyline came along?
I don’t think I’d ever return to Corrie. And the reason for that is, I had a super amazing time in Coronation Street. I left there over 14 years ago—I was in Corrie on and off for 10 years, but it's 14 years since I was there.
And since the time I left, they've moved venues from Quay Street in Manchester over to MediaCity in Salford Quays. It's a whole new place and a whole new show now.
All the actors I was fortunate enough to work with—the icons of the show, Mike Baldwin, Jack Duckworth, Vera Duckworth, Deirdre Barlow, Fred Elliott, Betty Driver... I worked all of those iconic characters, and they're all gone now.
I look at Corrie now and I don't recognise anybody anymore. It wouldn't feel like I'm going back to something; it would feel like I'm starting something brand new again. And, despite the amazing times I had, I feel like that’s a part of my life that is closed.
I have so many amazing memories. Memories that will last forever. The people I met and the memories I made with them are very special to me. It was a very special time in my life because I was quite confused—my music career at the time was over, and I was essentially learning a new career. Coronation Street gave me the opportunity to hone my craft as an actor, and I’ll always be eternally grateful for that.
Keith, it is lovely to chat to you today. How are you getting on? My first question, I suppose, is about Boyzone. The last show is next month, and I'm just wondering what the emotions are? It's been such a big part of your life for so many years. Is it sadness, happiness, pride? How are we feeling?
Would acting interest you again?
Absolutely. It never left me; it's one of my passions. Coronation Street kind of picked me up out of the desert after my Boyzone career ended for the first time and I didn't know where to go. Nobody knew my singing voice because I never got that opportunity in Boyzone in the 90s, so I was never offered a solo deal or anything else in the music business. I didn't know what to do, and acting was always something I was passionate about. I originally only got a job for three episodes, and I ended up staying on and off for 10 years!
After that, I went out and did Dandelions with Pauline McLynn—who is in Coronation Street now, bizarrely enough. We did that show written by Fiona Looney with Deirdre O'Kane, Don Wycherley, and Pauline McLynn. That was my first real big experience of theatre. Then I went on to work with Garry Hynes, who hired me to be in Big Maggie, and we toured that all across Ireland.
More recently, I was in the West End in a Billy Roche play called A Handful of Stars, which is an Irish play based in the 70s in Wexford. We did that in the West End and that was a great experience for me as well. So I love that theatre experience—that's my passion. Not so much TV and the movies, but certainly theatre. I love theatre and I hope I get the opportunity again.
It scares the s**t out of me, which is why I love it. When you're doing that and you've got a 10-page monologue, you must make sure that people don't see Keith Duffy or Ciaran McCarthy or any of the characters I've ever portrayed. They have to see past that to the character you're trying to portray in that moment on that stage. Seeing the whites of people's eyes staring at you while delivering a 10-page monologue is terrifying. I love that fear; I love that aspect of performance. Hopefully, I'll get to experience that again one day.
