Ronan Keating

Irish pop star Ronan Keating shot to fame aged just 17 with top-selling band Boyzone.

He has gone on to achieve major solo success with singles including Life is a Rollercoaster and When You Say Nothing At All, both of which topped the British and Irish music charts.

In 2004 he made a trip that was to change his life, visiting farmers and families in Ghana and other developing countries. He was shocked at the sight of poverty and at how unfair trade laws were destroying livelihoods.

Keating supports many charities and set up his own, the Marie Keating Foundation, after losing his mother to cancer in 1998.

He was nominated an FAO Goodwill Ambassador in October 2005.

He starred in a mega concert, Música vs hambre (Music Against Hunger), in Paraguay and, among other activities, has featured across international media highlighting the issue of hunger.

"This isn’t about people at home putting their hands in their pockets,” he said. “This is about joining a campaign to get our governments to change things.”