How former pin-ups from the likes of Take That, Boyzone and East 17 have shunned the limelight for ‘normal’ lives

The golden era of boybands has spanned three decades, with many girls falling at the feet of East 17, Boyzone, Westlife, One Direction and Take That during their peak in the 90s.

Almost every day, the likes of Mikey Graham, Tony Mortimer, Brian McFadden and Jason Orange would get swamped by their female fans.

And although they seemingly adored the fame, many were unhappy with the work schedule and the way they were treated by managers – with some performers reportedly getting paid as little as £125 a week.

Boybands would often be expected to give up their late teens and early twenties for endless tours, leaving some frustrated that they were never able to have a break, or spend time with their families.

For Boyzone, the tension is said to have come from inside the group, culminating in the band choosing to go their own separate ways again in 2019, after taking their first break in 2000.

While the likes of Take That, Westlife and East 17 are still performing, the bands are smaller, as some members decided to bid farewell to the spotlight in the hopes of finally living a lower-key life. 

Some live on farms away from big cities and others have taken social media detoxes so they can spend more time with their families. 

Here, FEMAIL takes a look at the quiet lives of former boyband members who have drifted away from the limelight…

Mikey Graham from Boyzone 

Mikey, 52, was known as Boyzone’s quiet member, however, it didn’t stop his poster from being plastered all over fans’ walls in the 90s.

The Irish group was one of the most successful boy bands of all time, selling 25million records worldwide. 

But they took a break in 2000, which eventually became a split, seven years after they joined forces to make music together. 

They then reunited in 2008, but were hit with the shocking death of Stephen Gately, who passed away from a heart condition aged just 33 in 2009. 

Almost a decade after his death, Boyzone went on a tour in late 2018 with their final album, Thank You & Goodnight, but announced their split after playing their last Irish show in Dublin that year.

A newly released Sky and NowTV documentary, Boyzone: No Matter What saw surviving members of the band Ronan Keating, Keith Duffy, and Shane Lynch get together again to discuss their time in the band.

The series also showed never-seen-before footage of the band’s manager, Louis Walsh, and late member Steven Gately. 

The trio met up at a pub in the closing scenes, but it appeared to be too much for Mikey, as he did not appear in the reunion, and who struggled with his mental health during the band’s heyday.

Mikey explained: ‘I wish them all the best, no grudges, no animosity, nothing. However, I don’t want to go back to how I felt for many years. To see them, if it were for too long, would remind me of that.’

He concluded: ‘My future is far too important for me to waste it looking back at my past but I wish everybody well.’

During the band’s final tour, tensions again began to flare up within the group, as irritated Ronan and Mikey did not believe that party animals Shane and Keith were taking the shows seriously.

Ronan revealed: ‘They had been out all day, drinking all day and it was messy’, as Keith confessed: ‘We’d certainly partied a little harder than we usually did – it was the end of the road.’

The group found themselves embroiled in several arguments, the worst of which took place between Keith and Mikey in their dressing room.

Keith refused to touch on the details, simply saying: ‘There were things that had happened that were cruel and I’m not going to express any more than that.’

Mikey added: ‘I just wanted to get out and get away from that toxic environment’.

While the group finished the tour – for the first time in separate dressing rooms, things haven’t been the same since. 

Keith later confessed: ‘One of my biggest regrets is how much I clashed with Mikey.’ Mikey agreed, saying: ‘It didn’t have to be that way if we all had better skills at understanding each other better.

‘I am so grateful for all I have endured good and bad because it’s brought me to be the man I am today.’

Mikey also expressed that being older than other band members he therefore assumed he would be one of the frontmen for Boyzone.

However, he was disappointed when that job was given to Ronan and Stephen instead. 

He also claimed he was ignored by Louis for seven years, though the manager said he thought Mikey was ‘happy being the quiet one at the back,’ according to the Mirror.

Mikey suffered from drinking problems during his time in the boy band, admitting that there’d be days when he would drink an entire bottle of spirit in one night.

He told Event Magazine in 2018: ‘I didn’t get much of a look in when it came to the vocals, which were all mostly given to Ronan and Stephen. It badly damaged my self-esteem. 

‘At my worst I’d knock back a bottle of Jack Daniel’s a night. I suffered from depression and withdrew into myself. When we finally split, my first thought was, “thank God for that”.

‘Being famous is a Faustian deal: you get financial security, but for that you lose your life. When it all ended, I didn’t miss it for a moment. These days I don’t drink. I do a lot of meditation and studying of different philosophies.

‘Being in the band taught me to treasure the most important things in life: family, love and good emotional and mental health.’ 

Mikey said that when he auditioned, he reached the final four and claimed that Louis, who had already told him he was in – turned around and changed his mind.

But six months later, he claims Louis came back and asked him to join the band when his other options didn’t work out. 

After the band originally split in 2000, Mikey decided to try out acting in the US, starring in minor roles.

In 2001, he released a solo album called Meet Me Halfway, with his first single, You’re My Angel reaching 13 in the UK charts.

However, his songs did not gain the traction he needed, leading him to audition to represent Ireland for Eurovision in 201 with the song Baby, Nothing’s Wrong. But he missed out on the opportunity, with the previous winner, Niamh Kavanagh pipping him to the post.

After the death of his ex-bandmate Stephen a year prior, he went on Dancing on Ice in 2010, alongside professional skater Melanie Lambert.

He described the experience as therapeutic and added that it helped him process Stephen’s death. Three years later, he then took part in TV show Celebrity Apprentice Ireland.

Now he has certainly lived up to his reputation as the ‘quiet one,’ as he lives out of the spotlight in rural Ireland. He is still involved in the industry as a songwriter and has two children, Hannah and Sienna with his wife Karen Corradi.

Jason Orange from Take That

Jason Orange left Take That in favour of a quieter life away from the spotlight and is rarely seen out and about in public.

The singer, 54, never launched a solo career when Take That broke up in the 90s, but did re-join Take That when they reformed in the noughties. 

He went on to record Beautiful World, The Circus, Progress, Progressed and III, which was made in 2013.  

When he left the band in the same year, Jason released the following statement: ‘I want to start by saying how proud I am of what we have achieved together over the years.

‘I have spent some of the best years of my life with Take That and I’d like to thank everyone who has been a part of my journey, including my bandmates, who I feel are like brothers to me.

‘Most especially my gratitude goes to all of the good and kind, beautiful and ever-loyal fans of the band, without whom none of this could have been possible. Thank-you.’

He added: ‘At the start of this year, and with my full knowledge and blessing, the guys began writing new material.

‘There have been no fallings out, only a decision on my part that I no longer wish to do this.’

He ended the statement by saying that Mark, Gary and Howard had his ‘full support and encouragement’ to continue on another chapter, without him.

Jason revealed that he had begun to question whether it was time to give up his place in Take That towards the end of the Progress Tour  – which took place in 2011. 

In 2018, his former bandmate Howard revealed that Jason had stopped responding to calls after going completely off grid to live a ‘normal life’ in the countryside.

‘Jason has gone off the grid. He’s not taking emails or phone calls or stuff like that. That’s good for him,’ he told the Loose Women panel during an appearance on the daytime TV show.

‘That’s where he wants to be. I think he wants to be a million miles away from this at the moment.’

The star reportedly turned his back on the London party circuit, opting instead for quieter nights at low-key venues in and around his native Manchester.

Front man Gary previously told The Sun: ‘Jason isn’t coming back. Take That is Mark, Howard and me for the next few years.’

Mark even chimed in and told The Times: ‘I think [Jason] felt like he didn’t want to do it any more, but I’m not going to speak for him.’

He then said: ‘He’s still here anyway. The other day we were trying to work out who the best joke-teller in the band is and remembered how Jason always laughed before he got to the punchline.’

Jason wasn’t pictured for years, with the last public snap of him being taken in 2015 – until he was photographed in May 2023, showcasing a new longer hairstyle.

Then Jason was snapped again last September, while strolling around the affluent area of St John’s Wood in London. He was reportedly spotted getting into his gold classic Mercedes-Benz.

However, The Sun reported that the 90s star has now dipped his toes into a new career, becoming the co-owner of property business Nine The Firs and partnering with Leicester City football legend Neil Lennon.

A source told the publication: ‘Jason and Neil have known each other for a fair while and played in a charity football game together some years back.’

They explained: ‘Neil has a firm and Jason has come on board.

‘Jason prefers to live a quiet life out of the spotlight but has got a real flair for property.’

The source added that the star has already got stuck in and flogged a place to someone, with the customer reportedly saying he was ‘lovely’ and ‘professional’. 

Zayn Malik from One Direction 

Zayn Malik left One Direction in the middle of their tour in 2015 and said the reason he needed a break was due to ‘stress’ at the time. 

He was just 17 when he appeared on X-Factor and was put into the group alongside Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson by judges Nicole Scherzinger and Simon Cowell.

In a statement when Zayn quit the band, he said: ‘I am leaving because I want to be a normal 22-year-old who is able to relax and have some private time out of the spotlight.’ 

But he opened up about why he left the band further on the Call Her Daddy podcast with Alex Cooper in 2023.

The father-of-one said he thought the One Direction’s days were numbered when some of his bandmates were refusing to sign contracts.  

He said: ‘I don’t want to go into too much detail, but I knew for a minute there was a lot of politics, certain people didn’t want to sign contracts and I knew something was happening so I was like I’ll just get ahead of the curb and get out of here, I think this is done.’

He went on: ‘I completely selfishly wanted to be the first person to go and make my own record. I jumped the gun and when it comes to my music I’m serious and competitive and I wanted to be the first to do that.

‘I’m a passive dude, but when it comes to my music and my business, I’m serious about it and I’m competitive, so I wanted to be the first to go and do my own thing. That was the reason.

‘There were obviously underlying issues within our friendships too, we’d got sick of each other if I’m being completely honest.

‘We had been together nearly every day for five years. We were close and got to do crazy things together which no one else in the world will ever understand. I look back now in a much fonder light than when I first left. It just ran its course.’

Zayn, who shares his daughter Khai with his ex-girlfriend Gigi Hadid, now lives on a farm in Pennsylvania.

He has his four-year-old child half of the time after the pair agreed to co-parent following their split in 2021. 

Speaking on Fearne Cotton’s Happy Place podcast last May, Zayn admitted that being a father has ‘changed his approach to a lot of things in life’.

He said it had taught him patience and has given more depth to his songwriting.

Zayn also admitted that before having his daughter, he thought he would be a strict parent but actually that has been far from the case.

He told Fearne: ‘Fatherhood has changed me in general. It has changed my approach to a lot of things in life. I have developed a hell of a lot more patience.

‘That has influenced me across the board. Being a father also gives me so much more depth to my song writing when I am talking about real life things. When I was 17 I didn’t really have anything to write about, I had only just left school.

‘But I have more to say now, I have this love for this being that I never understood before. I have no fears expressing that as it is such a good feeling that I’ve been through. And I want to share that with the world in a good fatherly way.’

On what kind of parent he is he added: ‘I thought I was going to be way stricter than I am.

‘I thought “oh I won’t let them get away with this” and that but actually I do everything she asks me to do!’

Zayn said he traded the hustle and bustle of New York City for the quiet, idyllic countryside life in Pennsylvania because it was too ‘intrusive’ living in the city with a young child.

He described his joy at watching Khai ‘running through fields’, collecting eggs from their chickens and being able to go camping.

He said: ‘We left New York when having the kid as it was too intrusive and we wanted to have her away from all of that.

‘She gets to run round in the fields and we get to go camping and BBQ outside without people watching us straight out the front door. We have three dogs, four cats and 10 chickens. We collect the eggs every day with Khai she loves it.’

Zayn does still travel back to the Big Apple, as he was seen enjoying a cigarette after his concert last month. 

The tour is his first ever solo tour and it supports his album Room Under the Stairs. 

Zayn saw his ex-bandmates when they attended Liam Payne’s funeral after he passed away aged 31 in October 2024.

He posted a heartbreaking tribute to Liam following his death, where he wrote: ‘Liam I have found myself talking out loud to you, hoping you can hear me, I can’t help but think selfishly that there was so many more conversations for us to have in our lives [sic].’

He admitted that although the pair ‘butted heads a few times,’ Zayn ‘respected’ Liam for his honesty. 

Zayn ended the statement with: ‘I hope that wherever you are right now, you are good and are at peace and you know how loved you are. Love you bro.’ 

Brian McFadden from Westlife 

Seen as a heartthrob by many in the early noughties, Brian broke many teenage hearts when he announced he was leaving Westlife in 2004, eight years before they all went their separate ways.

Brian didn’t have the best time in Westlife as he alleged in the BBC series, Boybands Forever that the band’s manager, Louis Walsh, called him fat.

‘I hated Louis. Louis would walk into a room and go, ‘Hey everyone’, and then he’d look at me and go, “Brian…” (Blowing his cheeks out). Basically saying that I’m fat.

‘He was just horrendous. But very few things that he touched didn’t turn to gold.’ 

Brian quit as he struggled to raise his children with then-wife Kerry Katona as their schedules were demanding, however, the pair ended up splitting two years after he left the band. 

As reported by The Sun, he said in the documentary: ‘It was made very clear to us by the powers that be that our personal lives 100 per cent came second to Westlife.

‘We had times where we had relatives die and we couldn’t go to the funeral because there was a gig or an interview that day.’

 Brian opened up about his decision to leave the band in a heartfelt chat with former bandmate Nicky Byrne 20 years after he left.

He spoke about the moment he realised he no longer wanted to be a part of Westlife in the podcast, Nicky Byrne HQ, a couple of months ago.

Brian said: ‘It was when we were in the studio and Jake handed us the A4 thing and there was nowhere where we’re going to be able to go home and just switch off, and just take account of what’s going on, and I just remember looking and it didn’t stop and it really got on top of me.’

He admitted that he was ‘selfish’ for not considering the futures of the other members of Westlife. 

But Brian said that he wouldn’t change anything about his decision to leave if he could turn back time.

He is now in a new boyband called Boyzlife with Boyzone’s Keith Duffy. The name of the band is a combination of Westlife and Boyzone and was formed in 2016. 

The pair share stories from their pop heyday, as well as performing each of their bands’ best known hits and have now announced tours across the pond for 2025. 

When the new group was announced, Brian didn’t rule out the possibility of recruiting additional members, saying: ‘We could end up adding more people to the next one. Right now this is about me and Keith but the door is always open.’ 

Although they are planning on doing a worldwide tour, Brian insists it will be different to his Westlife days.

He said on the podcast that he does the gigs at his own speed, adding that his ‘number one priority is home and family life, and then I go and do the gigs to pay the bills,’ according to Dublin Live.

Westlife reformed in 2018 with Kian Egan, Nicky Byrne, Mark Feehily and Shane Filan.

Mark Feehily from Westlife 

The early 2010s was a hard time for Mark Feehily, as Westlife had made the decision to break up in 2011 while in Kuala Lumpur. 

At the time, Louis Walsh told the Mail on Sunday: ‘It was their decision, all theirs. That was always the way with Westlife and I had to respect that. 

‘Could they have gone on for longer? Most definitely. I would have liked them to take a break and come back with a cover album and a tour. 

‘But they all want to do other things. They have ended it on their terms and remain close friends. Had they gone on longer, who knows if that would happen?’

But a year after the band broke up and Mark was no longer touring with his close friends, his relationship also broke down.

In 2012, Mark split with his fiance Kevin McDaid after seven years together.

But in an interview in March 2011, Mark spoke of his plans to marry his long-time love and eventually become parents.

‘We’re best friends and we live together and we’re going to get married soon,’ he told the Mirror at the time. ‘I can’t wait, but we haven’t finalised the date.’

In 2017, Mark then returned back to music, releasing a Christmas single where he did covers of festive classics such as O Holy Night and Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas. 

A year later, Westlife announced their grand return – without Brian McFadden. 

Shane Filan, Kian Egan, Mark Feehily and Nicky Byrne sold-out shows at London’s Wembley Stadium and put on energetic shows for their fans, who were delighted they were back after a seven year break. 

However in February 2024, Mark revealed he was quitting the band after falling ill with sepsis just as the group were looking to embark on their first US tour.

Taking to Instagram, he wrote at the time: ‘I’m so devastated that i won’t be there to celebrate the upcoming concerts with you and the three lads. 

‘I hope you know and understand that I should have been there (I was so excited to be there!) and that I look forward to seeing you all again to make some more magic in the future.

‘But for now, I have to make the right decision for my health and wellbeing, for my family and for myself as a person. Please don’t worry.

‘Sending the most positive vibes in your direction, I will see you very soon beautiful people! Westlife forever!’ 

Mark deleted social media apps from his phone to take a break for a number of months before returning in May.

He then made a clip promoting Pride in June, saying that has received many positive messages before giving a ‘heartfelt thank you’ to his fans. However, he has not uploaded to his social media in months.

It is thought he is resting and taking things easier due to his health, spending less time online and instead making more memories with his partner and children  Cailean O’Neill and Layla, who they welcomed through surrogacy back in 2019. 

Tony Mortimer from East 17 

Known for their shaved heads, tattoos and bad boy image, East 17 became a hit in the 90s as they sported a different, grittier look compared to their squeaky clean rivals.

Tony Mortimer, Brian Harvey, John Hendy, and Terry Coldwell topped the charts with songs such as Stay Another Day and It’s Alright.

But lead singer Brian was sacked from the group in 1997 after boasting about his drug use, which affected the future of the band. 

When East 17 were formed, they were signed on a million pound record deal but their late manager Tom Watkins only paid them a wage of £125 a week – raised by £25 every four months. 

After leaving East 17 in 2014, Tony Mortimer stepped away from the spotlight to focus on songwriting and his family life and is living on a farm in Essex.

However, he re-released their festive classic Stay Another Day to celebrate its 30th anniversary last December.

He even re-wore a white padded jacket like in the original video as he teamed up with charity Nordoff and Robbins for the re-release.

Tony is no longer in touch with his bandmates and therefore released the track on his own.

Speaking about drifting apart from his bandmates, Tony said: ‘We were very young, and people forget how young we were. It was a great time, but it’s a huge change.’

Stay Another Day is a Christmas classic and features the band dressed in big white padded fur coats, singing as snow falls. 

But Tony explained that he finds the experience of hearing it bittersweet as it is a constant reminder of his brother’s suicide.

His older brother Ollie died by suicide when he was 22 and the emotional lyrics to Stay Another Day are about the heartbreaking loss.

Speaking to Songwriting Magazine in 2016, Tony said: ‘It was based on my brother’s suicide and losing someone,’ he explained. ‘What would you do if you had one more day with a loved one?

‘If you take the first verse, it was just sections like, “Don’t you know we’ve come too far now / just to go and try to throw it all away,” and “I’ve only just begun to know you / all I can say is won’t you stay another day”.

‘It was all based on conversations I’d had with my brother and I was trying to change it into a love song about the end of a relationship.’

But despite the song’s sad origins, he decided to leave the lyrics somewhat ambiguous in the hope that people would connect with it emotionally.

And it seems to have worked, as Tony told the Independent in December: ‘People come up to me and say: “That song means a lot to me…” I’m like: “Hang about, I’m not ready for that yet, I’m just in McDonald’s!” But I’ve got used to it, because it’s been so long. It never stops, though, and it’s every year.’

After leaving East 17 in 2013, Tony opened up about plunging into a depressing stage of his life where he considered suicide.

‘Without my family, the boyband could have ended my life. If I’d been on my own then definitely,’ Tony told the Mirror in 2015.

‘I didn’t go out at all. I spent a lot of time in bed. There was no reason to get up. I’d be on the PlayStation eight hours a day or more and all through the night. It was my escapism. And I’d be drinking wine – four or five bottles a night.

‘It’s very hard to replace being on stage. It’s easy to moan when the phone rings too much, but sometimes the silence is deafening.’