Boyzone was Europe's most successful boy band during the second half of the 1990s. Comprised of five Irish vocalists and funded by music manager Louis Walsh, the group embraced a similar style of pop music as Take That, whose breakup in 1996 created a void that Boyzone happily filled. By combining boyish charm with slick songwriting (much of which was co-written by the bandmates themselves), the singers found enormous success throughout the U.K., where 16 of their first 17 singles became Top Five hits. Six of those songs made it to number one, establishing Boyzone as the first Irish group to top the British charts so regularly, and bandmate Stephen Gately garnered additional headlines in 1999 by announcing his homosexuality, making Boyzone one of the only boy bands to include an openly gay member. The group didn't fare nearly as well in America, where acts like *NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys reigned supreme, but Boyzone's success in Europe was nearly unparalleled during the group's heyday.

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