THEY are one of the world’s biggest boybands - and they are performing at Hampshire’s Ageas Bowl this summer.

Boyzone, known for hits including Love Me For A Reason, Words, No Matter What and When The Going Gets Tough, have notched up more than 20 years in the music business and have experienced the greatest highs – but also the worst personal lows.

With five Brit Awards, 18 UK top 10 hits, including six number ones, and five number one albums, and more than 25 million record sales, it is an impressive track record.

Now they have released their sixth studio album From Dublin to Detroit featuring their favourite songs from the Motown era, and are heading for the Hampshire cricket ground on August 1 to perform at the Ageas Family Festival.

Band member Shane Lynch spoke to the Daily Echo about the gig and his life in the band.

“This is our first time playing a cricket ground: we do racecourses and forest gigs, so this will be awesome,” he joked.

Asked about the band’s longevity he said: “It’s very enjoyable. Twenty-two years is a long time - a lifetime to some.

“I think a lot of bands come and go regardless of how they are pigeon holed. I think we’ve survived because it’s enjoyable music and we are lucky we set down a solid fan base that stayed with us.

“We took a fair break for six or seven years but when we got back together people were happy to see us back. It’s a fickle world, especially in the world of music, but we were blessed in the fans we have and the places we went.”

While many bands fall out or fall apart, he says time has only made them stronger.

“Our relationship is more personal,” he says. “We like to spend time together outside of Boyzone. Last year and the year before we toured the UK and Ireland and had many happy days. I think we get on better now than we ever did. We like to hang out now. At the start, when we were aged 17- 22 it was a fair age gap, but as we’ve got older with some of us below 40 and some above 40 we are now all adults. Back in the nineties there was a big age gap.”

Shane originally worked as a car mechanic for his dad in Dublin after being expelled from school. Everything changed in 1993 when a friend suggested he form a boy band. Luckily all three of Shane’s sisters were in successful girl bands, so he took X Factor judge Louis Walsh’s number from their contacts book and the rest is history.

“Louis, who was managing Johnny Logan at the time, loved the idea, so we held auditions in Dublin and in walked Ronan Keating, Stephen Gately, Keith Duffy and Mikey Graham,” says Shane.

At the peak of their success Boyzone performed with the likes of Pavarotti, Michael Jackson and Mariah Carey.

Being catapulted to fame at 18 wasn’t easy. Shane recalls fans nearly knocking in their car windows and jumping under the wheels of the tour bus to stop it moving. ?He admits he felt uncomfortable with “the derogatory comments that being in a boy band attracted” and the pressures of fame.

Despite a £1million house, a Mercedes and Porsche he felt unhappy.

“Even standing on stage I felt acutely lonely. It was the weirdest feeling. I loved the four guys in the band, but I lost respect for myself,”he recalls.

When Ronan Keating left for a solo career in 2000 the band ended for a while. Shane’s first marriage ended too. His life turned around, however, after he started attending Bible classes and became a Christian. He also went on to meet his second wife, Sheena, with whom he has two daughters.

When the band reformed in 2007 their joy was short-lived as two years later Stephen Gately died in Majorca. They were devastated but decided to continue and returned to the studio to record the album Brother, featuring vocals already laid down by Stephen.

“We still miss him: the four of us will always be a five. We will always miss him,” Shane says.

Asked about his views on fellow boyband Take That first losing Robbie Williams and now shrinking to just three members, he said: “It’s hard but fair play to them. They are going on the road and gigging and if they are brave enough to do that then good luck to them. Seeing them inspired us to keep going. It costs about £3million to put on a show with the staging, the lighting and costumes and it’s a lot of time and effort and it’s important to get it right.”

Outside of Boyzone Shane has done panto but says that’s as far as he plans to take his acting.

“I don’t want to be a serious actor as there’s a lot of pressure in that. I’m really a business guy - an entrepreneur. As a kid I always thought about making money. At 13 I ran a lawn mower/gardening service. I also traded in music, importing hip- hop albums. And then I got into making music.

“There are definite similarities in what I did then and now. It’s the same buzz - the buzz is making good of a situation. Going on tour and spending £3million on a show is as much as a gamble as any business I’ve known.”

Tickets for the Ageas Family Festival in August are available at ageasbowl.com.