Ronan Keating

THE POP world was reeling yesterday at the announcement that Boyzone singer Ronan Keating has separated from his wife Yvonne after 12 years of marriage.

A statement issued on the couple’s behalf, which appeared on Keating’s website, described the separation as amicable, and said the couple “will continue to work together in order to provide the best for their children”.

The news came as a surprise to Keating’s former manager Louis Walsh, who said he had known nothing about the split. “I’m completely shocked. I hope they sort it out and get back together,” he said.

Keating (33) first became friendly with Yvonne Connolly (36) when they were teenagers, although they didn’t become romantically involved until some years later. They married after a short romance in April 1998 while on holiday on the island of Nevis in the Caribbean, just two months after the death of Keating’s mother Marie from breast cancer.

Later that summer, the newly weds threw a celebratory party in Powerscourt, Enniskerry with Keating’s fellow Boyzone member Keith Duffy and his wife Lisa Smith. Guests at the event included Brian Kennedy, Gerry Ryan and Dave Fanning.

Their son Jack was born within a year of their marriage and they have two daughters, Marie and Ali. Keating rose to fame as a member of boy band Boyzone, following which he carved out a solo career, selling more than 22 million records around the world releasing hit singles such as When You Say Nothing At All, from the film Notting Hill, and Life Is A Rollercoaster.

He is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the only artist to date to have 30 consecutive top 10 singles in the UK charts.

He won an Ivor Novello award in 1998 for a song he co-wrote called Picture of You and also co-wrote the Danish entry for the Eurovision Song Contest last year.

He assisted Louis Walsh in judging the group acts in last year’s X Factor . He recently confirmed that he would be working on the Australian version of the show.

Keating also helped create the Marie Keating foundation, set up with his family in honour of his mother, to help raise awareness about breast cancer and promote early detection. He lost his friend and fellow Boyzone member Stephen Gately in October last year after Gately’s sudden death while on holiday in Majorca.

Yvonne Keating was a model, but took time out of her career to raise the couple’s three children. Last year she announced she had been approached to take part in a programme about fashion and modelling, although the project was still in the early stages of development.