Shane & I saluted Stephen at Base Camp... I cannot believe it’s 14 years since we lost him
pressure made things so much worse and I was in agony. I was taken straight to the hospital from the airport, where a lot of the nurses are from the Philippines.
“Boyzone were massive there, so when word got out, everyone started taking photos of me – it was crazy.”
He will probably need keyhole surgery on his knee in the future, but for now, life is just manic with the success of Boyzlife.
But life at home hasn’t been without its struggles.
His daughter, Mia, was diagnosed with autism when she was just 18 months old in 2001.
Dubliner Keith and his wife Lisa, who married in 1998, noticed she had some unusual traits, such as putting one arm out and shaking vigorously and lining all her toys up on the floor.
Now, 23, Mia has graduated from college and is working for an American pharmaceutical company. “I couldn’t be prouder of her,” Keith beams. “She’s just amazed us all.
“We could get the right interventions and education in place for her incredibly quickly, which I know a lot of people don’t have.”
When Mia was diagnosed, Keith says he told Lisa they could either fight for just Mia or for all children with autism and their parents.
“I knew I could use my fame to do the latter,” he says. “Early detection is essential, yet the services in Ireland at the time were so limited.”
He started a charity, Irish Autism Action and successfully lobbied the Irish government to open a school for children with autism.
Many years later, Keith started the Keith Duffy Foundation, which supports a number of charities. Recently, he presented a UK National
Lottery Award to Julia Mckeever, from Portadown, Co Armagh, who set up The Autism Hive, which has been supported by National Lottery funding, after her son Luke O’hara took his own life.
“It’s the most devastating thing a parent can go through,” Keith says.
“It’s why it’s so important we keep raising awareness.”
Keith also has a son Jay, 27, an actor who has starred in Derry Girls and Hollyoaks.
His proud dad said: “He’s not interested in the fame side of things, just his craft.”
Coronation Street viewers will know Keith as charmer Ciaran Mccarthy, who trod the cobbles between 2002 and 2011.
“I loved Corrie and if I was ever going to do a soap again, it would only ever be Corrie, it’s the best,” says Keith.
For now, he
Boyzlife.
is concentrating on
He believes the success of the band is down to nostalgia for the way music used to be.
“In the 90s, bands had a platform,” Keith said. “You had chart battles.
“You’d go into HMV and buy an album.
“Now, people just download the songs they want.
“It’s killing the industry. Unless you’re Adele or Ed Sheeran, it’s so hard to break in.”
But what about a Boyzone reunion?
“It’s never teases.
People just download the songs they want... it’s killing the industry KEITH DUFFY ON THE MODERN MUSIC BUSINESS
off the cards,” Keith