During his boy-band years Ronan Keating had a lot of fun, but the Irish singer insists that, unlike the Backstreet Boys and Take That, there'll be no Boyzone reunion.

"It's sad and it looks stupid," he says of efforts to resurrect the past.

He's laughing, but the 29-year-old Dubliner is genuinely grateful to Boyzone for getting him where he is today. Still, a comeback is not on the cards.

"I'd hate to ruin everyone's memories of Boyzone, like trying to think we can dance. There are so many other bands - Coldplay, Snow Patrol - it's their time. We had our time."

Keating was in Bangkok last week promoting his new album, "Bring You Home", and attended the grand opening of radio station MET 107.

Once Tata Young had warmed the crowd up, Keating crooned the hits "If Tomorrow Never Comes", "When You Say Nothing at All" and "Iris".

He'd arrived from dates in Rome, Hong Kong, Sydney and Melbourne but still looked fresh in boot-cut Diesel jeans and a light purple shirt.

But Keating tries to stay at home as much as possible and spend quality time with his wife Yvonne, a model, and their children Jack and Marie. The album's title suggests as much, but mainly it's a message to his kids.

"I want them to understand that it's okay to make mistakes and to trip over. It's okay to fall in love to get your heart broken - just keep moving forward."

Of the 13 songs on the album, two are covers, one being "Iris", a 1998 Goo Goo Dolls tune for the soundtrack of the film "City of Angels".

The ballads, he said - Garth Brooks' "Tomorrow" and Lee Ann Womack's "I Hope You Dance" are among them - have been his strength, the former one of his biggest sellers.

Plus, he said, "country music is a big part of me. I spend a lot of time in Nashville. I love that part of the world. I might make a country album down the road, who knows? I love country music."

Keating also does charity work, and established the Marie Keating Foundation following his mother's death from breast cancer in 1998.

He became a UN goodwill ambassador last year and visited poverty-stricken areas of Paraguay, and went to Ghana with the agency Christian Aid to urge international trade justice.

He was in Phuket last year too, visiting tsunami victims.

"I feel the need to give back to society. I think those in my position should do the same by standing up and making people listen."

Kreangsak Suwanpantakul

The Nation