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TORONTO -- A little over a year ago, Irish heartthrob Ronan Keating -- then the overseas equivalent of *Nsync's Justin Timberlake -- decided to take a step back from the boy band Boyzone and try to make it on his own.

"The change into a solo artist was the most nerve-wracking situation to be in," says Ronan, sitting in the cigar bar at the Windsor Arms hotel in Toronto. "You've sold 12 million albums, why change that? It's a big risk to take, and you could land on your arse pretty quickly."

But Ronan risked bruising his tail bone for a taste of musical freedom. After all, he'd been singing and dancing with Boyzone members Shane, Keith, Stephen, and Mikey since he was 16. He felt it was time to work with different people and try some new sounds.

"I really enjoyed being in the band, it was great fun and I loved it, but I really needed freedom and control on my own, because other people speaking for ya, and their taste in music ... when you're as involved in music as I am, it's a very difficult thing to let someone else do it, especially when they're into something totally different than what you're into."

So Ronan and his fellow Boyzoners decided they'd all take some time off from the group to pursue their own interests. Everyone intended to regroup and tour once their side projects were complete.

Ronan teamed up with Bryan Adams and former New Radicals star Gregg Alexander for his solo album, simply titled "Ronan". It was a hit overseas, especially the ballad "When You Say Nothing At All", which can be heard (constantly) throughout the Julia Roberts' movie "Notting Hill".

"It's an edgy pop album," says Ronan of his solo effort which will be released in North America on Tuesday, more than a year after it was released in the U.K.

He says "Ronan" is the "perfect first album for me", but will take his "edgy" sound a step further with his second solo album, which is almost complete.

Meanwhile, trouble has been brewing with the other four members of Boyzone. Their solo efforts and extracurricular projects have been less than stellar, while Ronan's success has continued to climb.

Shane started a one-sided verbal war through the U.K. tabloids saying that Ronan is ruining Boyzone by pulling out of the planned tour. Ronan hasn't responded.

"Shane has a problem with me. He's gone a bit bitter and sour. It's sad," says Ronan. "I had every intention of doing it [the Boyzone tour], but I had a solo album. I had to commit to that album."

Ronan said the bad blood erupted before he could even talk to the other group members.

"It's sad, what can I do?" he sighs. "Success can be a very dangerous thing to people that don't have it."

But Ronan refuses to defend himself by insulting Shane.

"I'm not going to knock them, they're my friends. We've been through too much together, and I wish them the best and I hope they do well."

And Ronan has been through a lot of Boyzone. Thrown into the music business -- which he refers to as "f****** mad" -- while still a teenager, he has been dealing with squealing fans and intrusive tabloids for more than six years now.

"The workload was unbelievable, promoting, touring, never at home," he says of his time with Boyzone. "For six years I didn't spend any time in Ireland whatsoever. Everybody thought it was fancy hotels and limos ... not a chance."

Now that Ronan is focusing on a solo career, he spends more time at home in Dublin with his wife Yvonne and their two young children.

He's also learned to take control of the tabloids that can creep into his personal life and the Irish media which has been less than kind to their own pop star.

"There's quite a large amount of 'begrudgery' that goes on in Ireland -- they build you up to knock you down," he says about the way he's been treated in his homeland. "I don't do any press or anything in Ireland anymore. They turn around then and they start wanting more of you so they start writing nicer things again. It's just the way people are ... the way it is."

But don't think that Ronan is a George Clooney figure who sniffs at photographers and journalists. He knows he needs them to survive.

"When I'm doing what I do, thank God they want to take photos. It's a good thing. It would be worse if they didn't."

The interest in Ronan still exists overseas and he hopes it will catch on in North America, but he has no plans to begin fretting about singles sales and chart battles.

"I'm an album-selling artist, that's what I care about", he says, "and touring the world, people appreciating the music. It's not about being number one."

Boyzone's Ronan Keating finds solo success