Ireland have always somewhat lived in the shadow of the British in several aspects but then again, it seems that in recent years, musical wise at least, things have not been so far apart especially when noting the likes of Enya, The Corrs, Westlife and Boyzone. The focus here will be on the lead singer of the latter band whose name is none other than Ronan Keating. The connection of this individual with the Eurovision Song Contest goes quite a long way actually having been the host of the prestigious competition back in 1997 following the victory of The Voice as performed by Eimear Quinn as well as an interval performance by the group Boyzone before returning back a couple of years later as a co-writer to the Danish entry Believe Again as performed by Niels Brinck. It was not the first time that he tried his hand at writing a song for the event and pundits say it will not be his last. Nevertheless, he is back to the Irish music scene as a soloist by virtue of a new single preceding Fires, his first original studio album in six years.

Those who had the pleasure of watching Joseph Calleja perform on The Granaries in Floriana just a couple of weeks ago, also could watch the musical stylings of Ronan Keating who was one of the major international guests booked for the concert. During the event, he performed a number of his signature songs including When You Say Nothing At All and If Tomorrow Never Comes. The very fact of the matter remains that his original material was not being recorded with the performer going onto release a string of cover albums dedicated to Christmas Time, Mother's Day and even the renowned composer/producer Burt Bacharach. All of these albums were not only successful in Ireland and the United Kingdom but also managed to break the charts in Australia and New Zealand aided by fact that Ronan Keating is one of the judges on the Australian version of the X Factor alongside Melanie B, Guy Sebastian and Natalie Bassingthwaighte. Still, his brand new single entitled Fires has now been made available on YouTube and can be bought through the links provided within the video.

Source: Ronan Keating Official Website

Ireland are known to host a number of musical sensations, some of which have gone down well with Maltese audiences along the years. In fact, one of the most noteworthy names is that of Ronan Keating, the front man and most popular member of the band Boyzone. The group which first released their debut material way back in 1994 entitled Said and Done going onto record a number of well known hits including tracks such as Words, All That I Need, Father and Son, Gave It All Away and of course, No Matter What amongst others. Nevertheless, whilst success has been key for the group, Ronan Keating managed to carve out a hugely successful career for himself launching with a traditional Irish pop sound. He has already given a concert in Malta recently but this time round he is a guest in the concert of the biggest star that Malta has ever launched, Tenor Joseph Calleja.

Ronan Keating is best known for his songs When You Say Nothing At All, Life Is A Rollercoaster and If Tomorrow Never Comes whilst his albums have topped the charts in Ireland, United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, Norway and New Zealand having also reached the top five in Switzerland. Joseph Calleja on the other hand has been quickly rising to his feet and reaching the higher echelons of being a tenor. Performing together will fuse the mixture of pop and opera and this was the case when Michael Bolton came to Malta. It is important to note that for the Eurovision Song Contest world, Ronan Keating is not new having been the host of the 1997 edition whilst also co-writing the track Believe Again for Niels Brinck on behalf of Denmark in 2009 before he recorded it on his album Duets. The concert will take place on the 7th July 2012 and will be featuring Joseph Calleja, Ronan Keating and yet another unnamed star from Italy.

Source: NNG Promotions, Times of Malta