Michael Graham (singer)

Michael Graham
Graham (right) with Ronan Keating (left)
Background information
Birth name	Michael Christopher Charles Graham
Born	15 August 1972 Raheny, County Dublin, Ireland
Genres	Pop
Occupation(s)	Musician, singer-songwriter, actor, music producer
Years active	1993–present
Labels	Polydor UK

Michael Christopher Charles "Mikey" Graham^[1] (born 15 August 1972) is an Irish singer-songwriter, actor and record producer, best known as the member of boy band Boyzone. In 2010 he was a contestant on Dancing on Ice.

Early life

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]

Boyzone

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 then he toured with Boyzone in 2009 and a brand new studio album with two singles in 2010, Gave It All Away and Love Is a Hurricane were released. In 2011 he joined his band mates to tour in 2011 and again in 2013 with a new album.

Film, pantomime and television appearances

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 7 March in a skate-off with Danniella 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 4 March 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]}

In 2013 he appeared in Celebrity Apprentice Ireland on TV3.^[16]

Personal life

Graham and Karen Corradi married in August 2004. He has two daughters Sienna Nicole (born March 2006) and Hannah from a previous relationship.

Discography

Albums

Year	Information	UK Album Chart Position
2001	Meet Me Halfway Debut studio album Released: 16 April 2001 Formats: CD	—

Singles

Year	Single	UK Singles Chart[17] Position	Irish Singles Chart Position	Album
2000	"You're My Angel"	No. 13	#15[18]	Meet Me Halfway
	"If You'd Only... (Make Up Your Mind)"	—	#29[19]
2001	"You Could Be My Everything"	No. 62

References

1. 'That day, I cried and cried like never before and I couldn't stop'
2. bio
3. Billie Barry
4. Mikey Graham profile: 10 things you need to know about the Dancing On Ice star
5. Shane Lynch: I had 15 year rift with Mikey over exhaust
6. Mikey Graham Website
7. BOYZONE HISTORY
8. Boyzone's Mikey Graham on his battle with depression
9. Mikey Graham from Boyzone chats to go!
10. "AMANDA MEETS... FAIR CITY STAR SAM CORRY". Sunday World. Retrieved 23 February 2010.
11. Hollywood Trials
12. "Mikey Graham: I'm doing Dancing on Ice for my pal Stephen Gately". People.co.uk. 8 November 2009. Retrieved 23 February 2010.
13. Dancing On Ice: Boyzone's Mikey Graham says training was 'therapy' over Stephen Gately's death
14. Spackman, Conor (11 February 2010). "Boyzone star Mikey Graham in Eurovision glory bid". BBC News. Retrieved 23 February 2010.
15. Niamh returns to Eurovision stage for Ireland
16. "Judges and Contestants". TV3.ie. Retrieved 25 September 2013.
17. Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 233. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
18. GFK Chart-Track. Chart-track.co.uk. Retrieved on 15 May 2012.
19. GFK Chart-Track. Chart-track.co.uk. Retrieved on 15 May 2012.

External Links

• Michael Graham at the Internet Movie Database