Boyzone’s biggest-selling single very nearly didn’t happen, claims Andrew Lloyd Webber
Boyzone’s biggest-selling single very nearly didn’t happen, claims Andrew Lloyd Webber
Share:
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video. Up Next. Boyzone’s most successful number one single ever was almost scrapped, and now Andrew Lloyd Webber has revealed his secret further role in its release.
![[Undated Handout Photo from Boyzone: No Matter What. Pictured: Louis Walsh. See PA Feature SHOWBIZ TV Quickfire Keating. WARNING: This picture must only be used to accompany PA Feature SHOWBIZ TV Quickfire Keating. PA Photo. Picture credit should read: Jonathan Hession/?Sky UK Ltd. NOTE TO EDITORS: This picture must only be used to accompany PA Feature SHOWBIZ TV Quickfire Keating.]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SEI_237521162-c462.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
No Matter What, which sold over four million copies alone worldwide, propelled popular chart-toppers Boyzone ‘to a whole other level as a band’ in 1998, according to member Ronan Keating – but it was so close to never being heard by fans. Theatre impresario and composer Lloyd Webber, 76, originally co-wrote the song with Jim Steinman for their stage show musical, Whistle Down the Wind.
![[Stephen Gately (Boyzone), Andrew Lloyd Webber (Composer), Ronan Keating (Boyzone), Keith Duffy (Boyzone) and Jim Steinman (Lyricist) pose in London to celebrate the success of single No Matter What]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SEI_237713667-521f.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
However, the tune – which sat for three consecutive weeks in the top spot of the UK charts, making it Boyzone’s longest-running number one single, as well as their best-selling – was disliked by their manager Louis Walsh, who reportedly didn’t want it to come out.
Reflecting on working with Lloyd Webber, who has penned musicals hits like Phantom of the Opera and Cats, and how late member Stephen Gately had initially approached him, Keating, 47, called it ‘pretty incredible’. ‘Steo (Gately) was a big fan and wanted to work in the West End in any shape or form,’ he told The One Show’s Alex Jones in a junket interview for their upcoming docu-series, No Matter What, broadcast on Tuesday.
