Ronan: Take That ending was big deal for Boyzone

FORMER Boyzone star Ronan Keating has revealed the boy band had six-figure budgets for lavish music videos at the height of their fame. And the singer said the band’s record company splashed £250,000 on the famous rain-soaked video for their hit single, Words.

‘It was a time when record companies were throwing money, there was £250,000 of a budget put on to our video for [Words] … unheard of nowadays unless you’re a big megastar,’ he tells a new BBC documentary, Top Of The Pops: The Story Of 1996, which airs next Saturday.

‘It rained indoors. That’s how important that video was, we needed it to rain indoors,’ he laughs.

But Keating admits getting to the top of the charts with the song was a very big moment in his career. ‘We went on and performed on Top Of The Pops. I’ll never forget the moment the presenter said, “Boyzone are Top Of The Pops”. That’s all that mattered – we did it, we succeeded, we proved so many people wrong who said we wouldn’t make it and this was the second album.’

Keating – pictured with wife Storm, below – said the band surprised many of their critics with their hit second album, A Different Beat, which was composed in the studio of British producer Ray Hedges.

However, Ronan admits Boyzone’s ascent to global fame was helped by the dramatic departure of Take That in 1996.

He adds: ‘That was it, the baton was passed – sad to see them go, but love to watch them leave.

‘It was a big deal for Boyzone. We were kind of next in line to the throne.’