From messy divorces to fall outs with Louis Walsh, here’s what came next for Boyzone’s Ronan Keating, Keith Duffy, Stephen Gatley, Mikey Graham and Shane Lynch

Formed in 1993 by X Factor judge Louis Walsh, Boyzone were intended to be Ireland’s answer to Take That.

But their appeal went global, with Ronan Keating, Keith Duffy, Stephen Gately, Mikey Graham and Shane Lynch selling more than 25 million records worldwide by 2013.

The No Matter What singers went their separate ways in 1999 before reuniting in 2007 and then splitting for good after their 25th anniversary in 2018.

But what have the boys been up to since? From messy divorces, feuds and fall outs to soap careers, splinter groups and the heartbreaking tragedy that bonded them forever, here’s what came next for the second biggest band in Britain…

Stephen Gately

Boyzone’s Ronan Keating, Keith Duffy, Stephen Gatley, Mikey Graham and Shane Lynch found formed the band in 1993 (Image: Getty Images)

Boyzone had just reunited and finished their Back Again… No Matter What Tour when Stephen tragically died in October 2009.

He and his partner, internet tycoon Andrew Cowles, had just arrived at their £1million apartment in the upmarket Majorca resort of Port d’Andratx, for a month-long working holiday.

On the evening of Saturday, October 9, 2009, they headed out for dinner and drinks in the nearby city of Palma.

The next afternoon, Stephen was found dead on the sofa.

He had suffered ‘acute’ pulmonary oedema – or fluid on the lungs – caused by an undiagnosed heart condition.

The pathology report confirmed his death was not related to drink or drugs and he’d been on good form in the days before, with his widower telling The Mirror, “I do get some comfort from knowing how happy he was that day.

“The night he died, we’d had such a good time, a lovely evening in our favourite restaurant. He was the most happy and confident he’d been in his life.”

Stephen’s bandmates were distraught over his tragic death (Image: Getty Images)
His distraught bandmates immediately flew to Majorca to bring Stephen’s body back.

And when his devastated mum fretted that her son didn’t “like to be alone”, his ‘brothers’ decided to hold an overnight vigil before the funeral at St Laurence O’Toole Roman Catholic church, spending the night in sleeping bags the floor next to the 33-year-old’s coffin.

“We cried and we laughed and we could hear him telling us jokes and we could hear him answering back…” Ronan later said. “It was a beautiful, amazing experience to be there with Steo that night.”

Keith Duffy

Keith Duffy joined the cast of Coronation Street (Image: PA)
Like his bandmates, Keith, 46, was deeply affected by the loss of Stephen. And when they were tasked with choosing a coffin, he described it as the, “hardest thing that any of us have had to do in our lives.”

“This was something that was going to be the last thing that your friend is going to lie in,” he added.

But once the funeral was over, it was then that the true horror of the situation began to take its cruel toll.

For Keith, his grief took the form of chilling nightmares – so terrifying that he didn’t dare go to sleep.

“I was distraught – I felt anger, disbelief, I cried a lot and had terrible nightmares,” he previously told Closer magazine.

“In the first few weeks they were terrifying. I couldn’t breathe, I’d go light-headed and it was incredibly frightening.”

For years he struggled to understand the loss and tried to “knock himself out” with alcohol.

And when the band hit the road just two years later with their grief still raw, he said it ended in disaster.

Keith Duffy and Brian McFadden now perform together as Boyzlife
“He died in 2009 and we were back on the road in 2011, two years later – which was way too soon. Way too soon,” Keith told The Express.

“Emotionally and psychologically… I’ll be very honest, myself and Shane were drinking too much, trying to numb the pain, onstage and offstage.

“It just didn’t work, and it wasn’t enjoyable. We didn’t want to be together. That’s when we took a sabbatical.”

After Boyzone split, Keith joined Coronation Street as barman Ciaran McCarthy and also starred as John the security guard in 2014’s Mrs Brown’s Boys D’Movie.

He married wife Lisa in Las Vegas in 1998, with Ronan by his side as best man, and they have two children – Jay, 24, and Mia, 21.

As well as working the reality circuit with appearances on Celebrity Big Brother and Splash, in 2015 he formed a splinter group with Westlife star Brian McFadden – much to the mirth of Brian’s former bandmate Kian Egan, who branded the move ‘aggravating’.

“It’s a bit of an odd one – a member of Westlife who left the band after four years decides to use half the name for whatever it is that they’re doing,” he sniped.

However, Keith has vowed to keep doing what they’re doing as long as the fans want it.

“Myself and Brian have always been pals. We don’t take anything too seriously,” he told the Irish Independent.

“We’re doing gigs for cruise lines, for Euro Disney, it’s very busy.

“We’re going to keep going for as long as people want to see us.”

Shane Lynch

Shane Lynch was the bad boy of Boyzone (Image: Rex)
With his piercings, tattoos and temper, Shane, 44, was quickly dubbed the bad boy of Boyzone and he once had an actual fight with rapper P Diddy.

The pair had a fall after the MTV European Music Awards when P Diddy apparently tried to hijack Boyzone’s VIP area.

Speaking to The Mirror after the 2001 incident, he said: “They were ordering everybody to get out – and right in the middle of all the hassle was my [ex] wife Easther [Bennett, of Eternal fame].

“I saw red. My mood changed. I was like a bull in a china shop, it was really strange and everybody stood back.

“Puff Daddy was standing on a table holding a bottle of champagne. He pointed it and started to shoot it at me for whatever reason, I don’t know.

“So I jumped through the air and gave him a solid one to the jaw and he fell off the table. Then all hell broke loose.”

After Boyzone split, Shane branched out into reality TV, appearing on Celebrity Love Island, The Games, Cirque Du Celebrite and Celebrity Big Brother.

As well as singing, devout Christian Shane has tried his hand at acting, appearing in several pantos, but his love of motor racing has never left him and he continues to compete at a high level.

He has also appeared on Celebrity Masterchef and co-owns three barbershops in northern Ireland.

You might also recognise his famous sisters – twins Keavy and Edele Lynch who were in girl group B*Witched.

Shane split from Easther in 2000 and in 2007 he married singer Sheena White, who he had two daughters with, Billie Rae and Marley Mae.

Mikey Graham

Mikey Graham competed in Dancing On Ice in 2010
Now 48, Mikey made headlines in 2010 when he revealed he and Shane had secretly spent 15 years not speaking after a row about an exhaust pipe.

It was only when Boyzone made their comeback that the pair healed their ‘ridiculous’ rift – and became best pals.

He told The People: “For many years me and Mikey were the furthest apart – I mean we didn’t get on at all.

“When the band formed in 1993 I was 17, mad about cars and working as a car mechanic. Mikey was 21 and also a car mechanic but a more advanced one. One day we fell out. It wasn’t really ‘spanner envy’ but, quite ridiculously, we fell out over a bloody exhaust pipe.

“I remember it clearly. I was always into the racing side of cars and Mikey was more a straight mechanic on your average car.

Boyzone in 1995 – Shane Lynch, Ronan Keating, Mikey Graham, Keith Duffy and Shane Lynch (Image: Rex)
“We were discussing the exhaust pipe and how it would get the car to go a little bit faster and he told me I was talking absolute nonsense and that was impossible.

“And, believe it or not, we fell out over that and we didn’t talk for years.”

He continued: “We worked together but there was always the clear understanding that at that moment we were two individuals who had absolutely nothing in common.

“We didn’t totally ignore each other but we never hung out together. I’d hang out with Ronan and Stephen while Keith and Mikey hung out because they were closer in age.

“That’s just how it always was, right up until our comeback two years ago.

“When we got back together to tour it was just very apparent that we were all adults. We all wanted the same things from life, shared the same values. All five of us instantly became very, very close and understood each other.

“Ever since then Mikey and I have become really good pals and he’s actually a brilliant lad to know. He is a very, very knowledgeable guy, a great reader and he’s very, very wise.”

Meanwhile, he competed on Irish Celebrity Apprentice in 2013 and got to the finals of the Irish Eurovision Song Contest act show in 2010.

Mikey has daughters Hannah and Sienna Nicole from a previous relationship and married wife Karen Corradi in 2004.

Ronan Keating

Ronan’s first marriage to Yvonne ended in 2010
Ronan, 44, sold 20 million records as a solo artist with hits including Life is a Rollercoaster and When You Say Nothing At All.

he has worked as a judge on the Australian versions of The X Factor and The Voice and since September 2017 he has also hosted the breakfast show on Magic Radio..

His marriage to Yvonne Connolly collapsed in 2010 after his affair with dancer Francine Cornell, and soon after he met current wife, TV producer Storm Uechtritz, on the set of the X Factor Australia.

They tied the knot five years ago in a stunning Scottish ceremony and have since welcomed son Cooper, three, and 11-month-old daughter Coco.

Meanwhile, Ronan had a famous fall out with Louis Walsh when he dumped him as his manager in 2003.

Ronan and Louis Walsh have been feuding for years
They were were brought together again when Boyzone member Stephen Gately died unexpectedly during a holiday to Majorca in 2009.

But the feud reignited in 2013 when Louis told The Times they were no longer on ‘talking terms’ and branded Ronan “a manufactured popstar who actually believed his own publicity.

“Ronan thought he was George Michael,” he sniped. “He said he didn’t want to be a karaoke artist. Well, that’s what he is.”

For Ronan’s part, he told the Belfast Telegraph in 2020 that Boyzone’s former manager was just ‘bitter’.

“Boyzone happened because of Louis Walsh, he was fundamentally the reason we got our start,” he said. “After that it was all down to us and what we did individually.

“He was bitter. Someone like Louis, he’s been so successful and made so much money, he should be embracing everything about music that comes out of this country.”