Nobody thought we’d make it & we were called a joke – but we’re here after 30 years, say Boyzlife’s Keith and Brian

NEARLY 30 years on from dominating the charts in two of the 90s' biggest pop groups, Brian McFadden and Keith Duffy couldn't be happier.

The Irishmen now perform as BoyzLife, a combination of their respective boybands Boyzone and Westlife, and are gearing up for a 14-date 2025 tour which will draw heavily on the 21 number singles they have scored between them.

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But it won't be a complete nostalgia exercise. The duo will drop at least two new originals into the set including new single, I Would.

The anthemic, contemporary record sees the duo address the criticism they've faced over the years such as doubters initially branding them a short-lived joke act.

In an exclusive interview with The Sun, Brian says: "You know, when we came out first, nobody thought we'd make it. Everyone thought we'd be gone and it was a joke.

"We talk about how over the last 30 years, all the cuts and bruises, all the tears we've cried, everything we've gone through to get us where we are today, we would do it all again because it got us to right where we are now."

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Brian and Keith formed Boyzlife in 2016 and quickly became a hit on the touring circuit.

They released Strings Attached, an album of their rearranged boyband classics with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, in 2020.

That record was intended to respectfully put a bow around their past and allow them to move on and write new material, which they did with 2022 LP, Old School, their first all-original album.

It drew heavily on the sounds of the 80s and 90s that the lads and their fans grew up with, but with the world still reeling from the coronavirus pandemic the momentum the duo had built up was stifled.

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Undeterred, they soldiered on and put their heads together in the studio and the resulting record, I Would, is very much their most modern-sounding effort to date.

"I think the difference and why we're so emotionally connected is because it's the first time we actually have something to say," admits Brian.

"I think if you listen to the songs on Old School, you know, we wrote songs that everybody could relate to. We still want to do that, that everyone can relate to, but these songs are very, very personal to us, you know, because we've had people close to us die recently.

"A lot of things have changed in our life. So we're writing these songs from a very personal place. I feel like it's the first time in a long time that the songs we're releasing actually have something to say that we want to say.

"We're saying it through our music. I know that sounds pratty and trying to sound like an artiste, but it is like I would. Keith and I, we wrote that song about what people thought about us when we came out."

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UPS AND DOWNS

Over the years, both Brian and Keith have overcome personal adversity.

Brian's departure from Westlife at the height of their fame in 2004 caused a stir among fans and his former bandmates, who at the time felt his exit jeopardised their careers.

He has gone through three very public break-ups, firstly with Atomic Kitten's Kerry Katona in 2004 and later with Australian singer Delta Goodrem in 2011 and model Vogue Williams in 2015.

While Keith lost bandmate and close friend Stephen Gately in 2009 and split from wife of 25 years Lisa in January.

Dad-of-three Brian, who is now in a happy relationship with his partner Danielle Parkinson, says of the more difficult moments: "Well, look, me personally, the way I look at that whole thing is, yes, we've been through a lot. A lot of bad things have happened, the likes of the loss of Stephen and personal tragedies we've had in our life and the ups and downs in our life.

"But when you weigh it out, we still have, for the last 30 years, we've been the two luckiest guys on the planet. We've been given this amazing opportunity, an amazing life.

"We've had such a successful career that we've been able to give our children great lives. They've been well educated. They've all got great roofs over their heads. We've had fantastic colleagues.

"Our lives have been amazing. So I think we never complain about the bad stuff because we've been given so many good opportunities and so many blessings in our life that it would be stupid for us to complain about the bad things. That's what life is.

"Life has its ups and downs and you take the ups with the downs and the downs with the ups. And for us, you know, I'm still very, very thankful that I've got everything I have for the last 30 years."

With a laugh, Keith adds: "What he said."

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LEADING MAN

For Keith, 50, Boyzlife has enabled him to take centre stage, something he rarely got the opportunity to do in Boyzone, with Ronan Keating very much positioned in the role of band leader.

That shift has brought with it a new nervous energy when it comes to live shows in theatre venues, which are much more intimate and immediate than the cavernous arenas from his 90s music career.

"We can see the whites of people's eyes," says Keith. "There's nothing greater than that roar of an arena or stadium audience when you're standing backstage about to go on stage for the first time that night and the roar of the crowd.

"There's no better feeling. There's no better adrenaline rush in the world than that feeling. And the theatres don't have that same buzz.

"But if you love your music and you love what you do, there's a great satisfaction in performing in those theatres. As a music lover myself, if I was to go and see my favourite artists, I'd much rather see them in the theatres that we're playing in than seeing them in a big stadium. Watching the bands in the stadium, you might as well go and watch them on a widescreen, high definition TV.

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"If it was the thing that the popularity of BoyzLife was to grow and we started doing the odd arena here and there, I would love that. I'm love that buzz again. But for now, we're very, very content with what we're doing."

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