Our fans have loved these songs for a very long time

Boyzlife duo Brian McFadden and Keith Duffy tell

how they called a halt to lockdown binge eating and drinking to get back to the music

I’d not stepped foot in my garden for 10 years. I’d been away so much working and when it came to summer holidays we would normally book Spain or Portugal. But it’s a beautiful garden and I had completely forgotten that. “The first six weeks of lockdown there was binge eating and binge drinking, and then I stopped all that and started working in the garden with my son and we really enjoyed being together. We’d work five hours a day getting the garden ship-shape and then felt we’d earned a few bevvies.

“I would never go back to working the way I did before. We’d all been forced into this lockdown situation, but the experience has strengthened that family bond forever.” Former Coronation Street regular Keith, 45, had six UK number one hits with Boyzone and five number one albums worldwide with sales of more 25 million. Brian enjoyed similar success with Westlife with four number one albums and more than 30 million records sold.

“I first met Keith before Westlife, when my sister was in a production of the musical Annie in Dublin,” remembers Brian. “Keith came down and Boyzone had just broken in the UK and they had massive fans in Ireland.

“My sister had her photograph taken with Keith backstage and I was there with my mum. I must have been about 15 or 16 at the time. Then, when Westlife began, we supported Boyzone on two European tours. We had two tour buses, but Keith spent a lot of time on our bus and we became friends. ”

They say they can both take time off now to work on solo projects, but the growing popularity of Boyzlife means they get to enjoy the chance to sing and tour together.

Keith says: “We’ve got 20 years experience and the shows are full on bells and whistles. We started out playing at a hotel fo 200 to 300 people and now we are playing venues all over the UK.”