February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
The rakishly handsome Dubliner — we spotted him in Bruxelles Bar in Dublin last summer and, no joke, he is one fine thing — seems like a pretty levelheaded dude. Now that he’s an actor (on Britain’s “Coronation Street”), the former pop star is calling things as he sees them.
Last week, Duffy has some blunt words for former bandmate Ronan Keating and for the band’s former manager, Louis Walsh. He’s especially disappointed in Keating, who walked away from Boyzone for a solo career and who stunned his former mates by refusing to return for a reunion tour.
“He let us down and he didn’t even bother to call,” he said. “That really hurt.”
Keith has little time for his former pal these days.
“Ronan’s not the man he was,” he told the Sunday World. “He let fame change him and that doesn’t sit [well] with me.”
When it comes to Walsh, who just finished a stint as a judge on “Popstars: The Rivals,” Keith’s tone becomes more strident.
“What right does Louis Walsh have to sit in judgment of these kids,” he fumed. “So many of these kids are great singers. They get judged for the sake of entertainment, which is downright cruel.”
Duffy, who was never any great shakes in the vocal department, says that he was lucky to have made it into Boyzone.
“If . . . I had to go through these auditions, [I wouldn’t] have made it,” he said.