Boys to men: three former stars who endured
ROBBIE WILLIAMS
Noel Gallagher once called him “the fat dancer from Take That” and there was little in Williams’ vocal contribution to the boy band to suggest that a glittering solo career was awaiting him. But when he went solo, he quickly racked up a string of number one hits. Williams had the advantage of providing a compelling press narrative, full of breakdowns, drugs and mini-comebacks. In Britain, he is the bestselling solo artist of all time; 11 of his 12 albums have gone to number one there.
JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE
It took a long time for the alumni of Disney’s Mickey Mouse club to scrub clean its wholesome image. For Britney Spears and Christina Aquilera this was achieved by sexy video makeovers; Timberlake’s journey to manhood took in membership of a boy band (NSYNC) in which he quickly established himself as the real star and graced the walls of a generation of teenage girls. A hugely successful solo career followed. Twelve Grammys and millions of records later, he can be said to have survived both a boyband and Britney; no mean feat.
MARK FEEHILY
It was said that every boyband had its gay one; NSYNC had Lance Bass, Blue had Duncan James and Wham! had George Michael. Westlife, when they first emerged, appeared to have corrected the mistakes of previous Louis Walsh efforts: all could sing, all looked good and they continued the tradition of having at least one Friend of Dorothy in the line-up. Feehily also had an epic set of pipes on him, taking the lead vocals in many of the Westies’ biggest hits and holding his own in a collaboration with Mariah Carey. After the group split, Feehily released an album of solo work, and was named as one of the most influential LGBT individuals in the UK. intermittent as Keating’s solo career took off.
As he rattles off his biggest hits, you realise that while they haven’t endured like other classics, they did tattoo themselves onto the brain like few other songs of the era. For the rest of the evening after our conversation I’m reflexively humming Let the Reason Be Love.
Love was something that propelled Keating into the headlines for much of his career. He dismissively waves his hand when I ask if he ever felt he got a hard time from the press — “I don’t give much thought to that” — but his personal life was