Ronan Keating Factfile
Occupation: singer
Lives: Straffan, Co Kildare
Born: 1977
Famous for: being the lead singer in the pop phenomenon Boyzone
Why in the news: he's the Grand Marshal of Dublin's St Patrick's Day Parade. Oh, and he's just had his 21st birthday.
Most likely to say: "Fair play."
He's blond, he's small, he's cute as a button, he's a millionaire and, unsurprisingly, he's every mammy's dream son-in-law.
He's Ronan Keating, the lead singer with Boyzone, and it's a devilishly hard task to find anybody who'll say a bad word about him.
That's not surprising, given all the above qualities (blond, cute etc), but it's unusual considering that he's a member of a boy band which was quite blatantly manufactured and, in the early days at least, was looked down on by the serious music industry and critics alike.
The 4 1/2-year history of Boyzone is phenomenal, not only because it charts the rise of a gauche Irish boy band to international pop super-group, but also because the period saw the phoenix-like transformation of Ronan Keating from "the small one" in the band to media darling and the Boyzone boy with cred.
Ronan dresses in Gucci and John Rocha (who is also a personal friend). He rides a Harley Davidson motorcycle, but he also has a rather classy Peugeot and an old Mustang, which was presented to him by the other Boyzone lads.
When he celebrated his 21st birthday a couple of weeks ago at the Red Box, the huge bash was attended by singers Mary and Frances Black; Newcastle footballers Alan Shearer and John Barnes; and Today FM's Eamon Dunphy, another personal friend of Ronan's.
Not bad for a young man from Swords, who just five years ago was working in Korky's shoe shop. The fairy godfather who took him from rags to riches is Louis Walsh, his manager, who found the boys and is still shaping their career with a sureness of touch that is admired by many in the industry.
John Reynolds, owner of the POD nightclub, is also a Boyzone manager, but is more of a "sleeping partner".
Ronan was 16 when he went along to auditions in Digges Lane for a new boy band, but Walsh says he "fell off his seat" with amazement at his innate confidence and charm. He was the natural leader and spokesman from day one, even collecting the money and paying everyone at country gigs during the early days.
The early days did not last long. The band's first single, Working My Way Back To You, made No 3 in the Irish charts when it was released in May 1994. Later that year Love Me For A Reason swung into the English charts and made it as far as No 2.
However, although Boyzone were quick to gather masses of prepubescent female fans, the chattering classes were still unconvinced.
We laughed when they appeared on The Late Late Show in boiler suits, we smirked when they posed topless holding roses, but somewhere along the way we started to respect them. Well, they were doing rather well and they were Irish.
By the end of 1994 Boyzone were ready to play their first real gig at the Point Theatre, Ireland's biggest rock venue. On that occasion thousands of comely maidens descended on the quays screaming for the boy of their choice.
Keith Duffy was hot favourite, closely followed by Steve Gately; Ronan was in the ha'penny place.
However, by 1997 it was Keating who was asked to co-present the Eurovision Song Contest with Carrie Crowley, and it was Keating who went on to present the MTV awards later that year. Now there is huge record company interest in his possible solo career.
He has just done a pilot for a TV series with Malcolm Gerrie. The world is his oyster.
The transformation of Ronan from band member into key player is hard to explain. It was noted that he had the strongest voice of the five, and gradually it was noticed that he also had the strongest presence. The "virgin" story didn't do him any harm either.
Nobody can quite remember to whom he said it, but it was widely reported that Ronan wished to remain a virgin until he married.
While this concept would be instant death for the likes of Liam Gallagher or Jarvis Cocker, it improved Ronan's standing no end. Young girls liked the idea that he was saving himself for them, and the nation's mothers breathed a sigh of relief. Here was one young man who wouldn't be sweating and breathing all over their daughters.
Whether or not this still holds true, or indeed ever was true, is anyone's guess, but recently you are more likely to see Ronan's name linked with a line of glamorous girls (including Vernie Bennett of girl band Eternal and, more recently, Irish model Yvonne Connolly) than you are to see vows of chastity.
Romantic attachments apart, the only slight whiff of controversy to be attached to Ronan and the boyz was when they departed on their tour of south-east Asia, where they are hugely popular.
Despite protests from the East Timor Ireland Solidarity Campaign and a number of their more politically-aware fans, Boyzone refused to cancel their shows in Indonesia, claiming that the contracts were signed and could not be broken.
At the end of last year Ronan presented the National Entertainment Awards and, to great whoops of applause, opened the envelope for Entertainer of the Year to find his own name therein.
This time there were no begrudgers, and his appointment as grand marshal for this year's parade was greated with similar delight.
"Nice" is not a word usually used in the heady world of rock and roll, but it just keeps cropping up when Ronan Keating is around.