| Mikey Graham | |
|---|---|
Mikey Graham (right) with Ronan Keating (left) |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Michael Christopher Charles Graham |
| Born | 15 August 1972 Raheny, County Dublin, Ireland |
| Genres | Pop |
| Occupations | Musician, singer-songwriter, actor, music producer |
| Years active | 1993–present |
Michael Graham (born Michael Christopher Charles Graham, 15 August 1972) - also known as Mikey Graham [1] - is an Irish singer-songwriter, actor and music producer, best known as a member of pop group Boyzone, and in 2010 he was a contestant on Dancing on Ice.
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The youngest of seven children, Graham was born to housewife Sheila and carpenter William, and raised on the Northside of Dublin with five older sisters and one older brother.[1][2] He attended Billie Barry Stage School in Dublin [3] and started his life in the public eye at an early age, appearing in television adverts for Mikado biscuits and the Irish Electricity Board, T-Mobile. Like his bandmate Shane Lynch, Graham had worked as a mechanic before finding fame as a singer;[4] Lynch has stated in an interview that during the early days of Boyzone, he and Graham had a heated argument over exhaust pipes and did not speak to each other for fifteen years.[5]
In 1993, Graham - who had previously been a member of the band Ivory - [6] auditioned to be a member of a new boyband which would later be known as Boyzone, where he sang Meat Loaf's "Two Out of Three Ain't Bad".[4] Although he was not chosen as part of the final line-up, manager Louis Walsh changed his mind after firing two members for their lack of commitment.[7]
Graham gained a reputation as 'the quiet one' in the band. However, despite their success, he felt that Boyzone's pop-styles did not give him a chance to expand his own musical taste which included rock and folk. ("Creatively and musically, what I wanted to do personally wasn't what was required for the band's product, so that suppression of what I wanted led to low self-esteem.") [8] Following Boyzone's split in 2000, he sank into depression, but gradually recovered.[1] During his break from Boyzone, he trained as an actor in America, and studied Music Technology and Sound Production after his solo career as a singer failed.[9]
In 2007, Boyzone reunited, completed a 29-date reunion tour, and released their comeback single on 29 September 2008, Love You Anyway, which was followed by a Greatest Hits album entitiled Back Again... No Matter What released on 13 October 2008
In 1998 Graham broke into acting when he played Mikey Oprano the leader of a drugs gang in the full length Irish martial arts film Fatal Deviation, a low-budget cult film produced and set in Trim, Meath.
Graham appeared in the 2008 low budget Irish feature film Situations Vacant written by Steve Murray and directed by Lisa Mulcahy who is best known for directing Irish Television drama The Clinic,[10] and was also among the ten Irish actors who appeared on the RTÉ reality show Hollywood Trials[11]
On the BBC TV programme Something For The Weekend, Graham's bandmate Ronan Keating let slip that Graham would be taking part in the fifth series of Dancing on Ice, starting in January 2010. On the show he was paired with professional skater Melanie Lambert, but were voted off on March 7 in a skate-off with Daniella Westbrook and her partner Matt Gonzalez.[12] On participating, Graham has described his training as therapy which has helped him come to terms with the death of his bandmate Stephen Gately, who had participated in the show two years earlier.[13]
In February 2010 it was announced that Graham would be participating in Eurosong 2010, Ireland's final to select their Eurovision Song Contest entry. He performed the self-penned song "Baby,There's Nothing Wrong" on March 4 on RTÉ One, attempting to achieve an eighth victory for Ireland in the competition, but placed second, losing out to Eurovision 1993 winner Niamh Kavanagh.[14] [15]
He'll play the role of Abanazar in Aladdin, which will run in the Gaiety Theatre over December 2010 - January 2011.
Graham and Karen Corradi married on 16 August 2004, and the couple have a daughter together: Sienna Nicole (born 17 March 2006). Graham has another daughter, Hannah (born 30 April 1996) by his ex-girlfriend, Sharon Keane.[4]
| Year | Information | UK Album Chart Position |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Meet Me Halfway
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| Year | Single | UK Singles Chart[16] Position | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | "You're My Angel" | #13 | Meet Me Halfway |
| "If You'd Only... (Make Up Your Mind)" | — | ||
| 2001 | "You Could Be My Everything" | #62 |
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