Ronan Keating finds his destination

While it is true that Ronan Keating does upbeat tunes quite well, he is at his best with soulful ballads. Proof: his take on the country standard If Tomorrow Never Comes is the big winner in his new album Destination. Think of it as another When You Say Nothing At All, which was used most effectively in the motion picture Notting Hill, and you will have a good idea of the sort of impact that this love song has.

Keating started out as a Boyzone, the biggest British boy group since Take That and the biggest Irish boy group of all time. I did not come across any official announcement but everybody seems to take it for granted that Boyzone is now kaput. Maybe Stephen Gately’s admission that he is gay did affect the group’s teen-aged girls’ following. Maybe nine years are all that five volatile young men are able to spend together. But whatever the reason, Ronan is now on his own.

Destination is Keating’s second solo album. The first one titled Ronan Keating came out in 2000. It had the hits When You Say Nothing At All and Life Is A Roller Coaster. Boyzone was still active at the time but Keating and later Gately both came out with solo efforts. Keating’s album turned out to be well rewarded. There have been 4.5 million copies sold worldwide as of this writing. This is proof that fans are receptive to the idea of listening to his music even without the other members of Boyzone.

Destination hews to the same formula used in the earlier album. It is in a more R&B spin to the Boyzone sound with ample doses of rock. What makes it more interesting is that Keating has gone into experimentation and produced some surprises in this new set. Very atypical is the boisterous You’re Pickin’ Me Up. So are the driving-on-the-freeway mood of Come Be My Baby and the sweet dramatic ballad Time for Love.

Keating is also very much into country music and gives the Irish boy band touch to two songs. These are The Long Goodbye, a tune he co-wrote with Paul Brady, which recently became a hit for the country duo Brooks and Dunn, and If Tomorrow Never Comes, which was originally popularized by the great Garth Brooks. Come to think of it, wasn’t When You Say Nothing At All a big hit earlier for bluegrass artist Allison Krauss? Bluegrass is not that far-off from country and that was probably what inspired Keating to check out the vast reserves of country love songs.

The other cuts included are I Love The Way We Do, Love Won’t Work if We Don’t Try, Lovin’ Each Day, My One Thing That’s Real, Blown Away, As Much As I Can Give You Girl, and Joy and Pain.

Keating was born to a poor family in Dublin on March 3, 1977. He was the youngest of five children. His success with Boyzone led to the charmed life he has today. He is married and has one son and a daughter. He has homes in Ireland and Britain. Aside from singing, he is also most in-demand as host for big events like the Eurovision Song Contest, MTV Awards and the Miss World Beauty Pageant. He is also the manager of the boy group Westlife.

Brian Harvey’s Solo

Another boy band member goes off on his own in the album simply titled Solo. He is Brian Harvey, former lead vocalist of the E-17. He is touted as Britain’s answer to Eminem and it looks like he is getting all the support he needs to prove that he has the right chops to do great rap R&B stuff. His first single is Loving You (Ole Ole Ole) and it is a duet with the great Wyclef Jean, formerly of the Fugees but now also on the solo trek.

Harvey is taking a lot of risk in radically changing his image. Alone with You, Better Than That and Love Online are funkier than anything he has done with E-17. So are Sexy, Solo and Señorita. His devoted fans however, will be glad to know that he has not completely shaken off his boy group image and there are solo pop tracks in the album like What If She Cheats and Straight Up (No Bends).