On New Year’s Eve 2025, millions across the United Kingdom tuned in to BBC One for a nostalgic celebration with Ronan Keating, the Irish pop icon whose journey from a Dublin teenager to global stardom has spanned more than three decades. The program, titled Ronan Keating and Friends: A New Year’s Eve Party, was more than just a concert—it was a poignant reflection on friendship, family, and the enduring power of music.
At 48 years old, Ronan Keating remains as prominent as ever. Born on March 3, 1977, in Dublin, Keating grew up as the youngest of five children in a close-knit Irish family. Encouraged by his parents, Marie and Gerry, he gravitated towards music early, performing in local talent shows and school productions. But it was in the early 1990s that his life changed forever, when he became the frontman of Boyzone, a boyband assembled by manager Louis Walsh. Alongside Keith Duffy, Stephen Gately, Mikey Graham, and Shane Lynch, Keating helped Boyzone achieve phenomenal success. According to BBC, the group scored six number-one singles and four number-one albums, quickly becoming one of the UK and Ireland’s biggest pop acts.
After Boyzone’s initial split in 2000, Keating didn’t miss a beat. His debut solo single, “When You Say Nothing At All,” featured on the Notting Hill soundtrack, soared to number one across multiple countries. His first solo album, Ronan, also topped the UK charts. Hits like “Life Is a Rollercoaster,” “If Tomorrow Never Comes,” “Lovin’ Each Day,” and “The Long Goodbye” cemented his reputation as a mainstay of pop radio throughout the 2000s. Over the years, Keating has released more than ten solo albums, including Destination, Bring You Home, and Twenty Twenty, and has toured the world both as a solo artist and with Boyzone, who reunited several times for anniversary tours.
Keating’s talents extend beyond music. He’s a familiar face on television, having served as a judge on The X Factor Australia and appearing on The Voice Kids UK. He’s also a dedicated philanthropist, founding the Marie Keating Foundation for cancer research in memory of his late mother, Marie. His contributions to entertainment and charity have earned him multiple accolades, including Ivor Novello and MTV Europe awards.
Yet, for all his public achievements, Keating’s personal life has been equally eventful. He was first married to Irish model Yvonne Connolly from 1998 to 2015, and together they have three children: Jack, Missy, and Ali. In 2015, Keating married Australian producer and model Storm Uechtritz, whom he met in 2011 on the set of The X Factor Australia. Together, they share two younger children, Cooper and Coco. Speaking to HELLO! about his 2015 wedding, Keating reflected on the importance of family: “It was a perfect day. We always wanted the wedding party to be just us and the kids. It’s so special for me that Storm would want the girls to be by her side. I’m so proud and honoured. It means the world to me.”
As of January 2026, Keating’s children are Jack (26), Missy (24), Ali (20), Cooper (8), and Coco (5). Despite his busy career, family remains at the heart of his life. This New Year’s Eve, however, he found himself away from his loved ones, hosting the BBC’s festive special. It’s a familiar sacrifice for a performer whose career has often demanded time on the road or in the studio.
But the evening’s festivities were tinged with deeper emotion and reflection. Earlier in 2025, Keating sat down with Magic Radio to discuss a painful chapter from his Boyzone days: the forced outing of his bandmate Stephen Gately by the British tabloids in 1999. Gately, just 23 at the time, was outed as gay by The Sun newspaper after a former crew member threatened to sell the story. The revelation, splashed across the front page, caused shockwaves not just for Gately but for the entire group.
Keating recalled, “When that newspaper came out, I remember seeing that when it was printed on the day and the anxiety, the energy that was in the room [with] the five of us.” The band had flown back to Dublin the day before so Gately could tell his parents personally. “They did that to him,” Keating said, clearly still affected by the memory. “The anxiety, the pressure, the hurt—all of that on that front page. I remember that paper coming out and waking up the next morning in Dublin and the papers and just being with Stephen and the mess that he was, and worried that the fans were going to turn their back on him and Boyzone, and that was the total opposite of what happened. They created all of that. So when I saw that page again, it just brought everything back again.”
Gately’s coming out was a watershed moment, both for the band and for LGBTQ+ visibility in pop music. Contrary to Keating’s fears, fans rallied around Gately and Boyzone. Still, the episode left scars. In the recent Sky documentary Boyzone: No Matter What, bandmate Keith Duffy called the press invasion “absolutely scandalous” and “damaging.” Manager Louis Walsh, however, reportedly celebrated the front-page story, highlighting the complex and sometimes callous nature of the music industry.
Tragically, Stephen Gately died in 2009 at age 33 from pulmonary oedema, a sudden and devastating loss for the band and their fans. His memory, however, continues to be honored. During the New Year’s Eve concert, Boyzone members Keith Duffy and Shane Lynch joined Keating on stage, along with guest singers Louise Redknapp and Calum Scott. Scott, who is openly gay, performed Gately’s part on the band’s 1998 chart-topper “No Matter What,” a moving tribute broadcast in two parts—first at 23:30 GMT on December 31, then after midnight on January 1, 2026.
The night was also a preview of things to come. Boyzone, minus Michael Graham (who retired from public life in 2019), will reunite again in June 2026 for the “One For The Road: Live At Emirates Stadium” shows, giving fans another chance to relive the band’s greatest hits and celebrate their legacy.
As of the end of 2025, Ronan Keating’s estimated net worth stood at around £25 million, a testament to his longevity and adaptability in a fickle industry. Yet, as the New Year rang in, it was clear that his greatest achievements lay not just in sales or accolades, but in the enduring bonds of friendship, family, and the music that continues to bring people together—on stage and at home.
