Ronan Keating on devastating real reason he quit Magic breakfast show

Ronan Keating says his decision to quit presenting his breakfast show on Magic Radio after seven years stemmed from a recent personal tragedy.

The Irish singer, 47, was left devastated after his older brother Ciaran was killed in a car crash last year and it made him re-evaluate his own life, including his broadcasting career.

“I lost my brother last year and, for us, that was the turning point in all of our lives,” he said at the Marie Keating Foundation’s golf gala, Dublin Live reports.

“Storm and I probably pushed ourselves and worked a little too hard this year so that we can back off from work. We’re assessing life. It has been a very tough 12 months.”

Ronan Keating (centre middle left) served as a pallbearer at his brother Ciaran Keating’s funeral last year (PA Wire)

The annual charity event is now in its 26th year and was set up to raise funds for breast cancer research after Keating’s mother Marie died from the disease in 1998.

The Boyzone star went on to explain how July marked the one-year anniversary of dad-of-one Ciaran’s death, a fact he found “very difficult” to comprehend.

He then started realising how much he was working and the precious time he was missing out on with his own family.

“I haven’t done The One Show in ages. I left about six months ago. I had a great time doing it, but I couldn’t fit it in anymore,” he said, explaining how his busy schedule would see him finishing the radio at 10am, have one hour at home, before going to the BBC for 2.30pm until 7.30pm.

“It was too much of a long day. I was going straight to bed when I got home to be ready to get up at 4am for radio the following day. It was a conveyor belt. I backed off from The One Show and then from Magic FM.”

Reflecting on Magic exit and looking to the future, he added: “I’ve had seven great years on Magic. I can’t believe it’s been seven years since I started. I’m going to concentrate on making an album, writing music and touring.

“We’re going to spend some time in Australia with Storm’s family.”

Keating met his second wife Storm - real name Sharon - while they were both working on The X Factor Australia in 2010.

They share two children together – a son named Cooper Archer Keating, seven, and a daughter named Coco Knox Keating, four.

The Life Is A Rollercoaster hit-maker also has three grown-up children – Missy, Jack and Ali – who he shares with ex-wife Yvonne Connolly.