POPSTAR Kevin Simm today shrugged off his band's failure to get to Number One and said: "We've done better than I had dared even hope."

Kevin, 20, from Abbey Village, is one of the members of Liberty, the so-called 'flopstars' group made up of contestants from the Popstars TV programme who did not make it into Hear'Say, the chart-topping group which has enjoyed spectacular success on the back of the series.

More than six months after ITV hit programme, Liberty finally released their first single last week, called Thinking It Over.

Despite little airplay on local commercial radio stations, the song was tipped for the top and eyebrows were raised within the industry when it only reached number five.

Kylie Minogue shot to number one with Can't Get You Out of My Head in one of the biggest record sales of the year. Steps went to number two with Chain Reaction.

But Kevin, whose parents used to run the Royal Hotel in Abbey Village, said today: "I said I would be delighted with a Top Ten position and we are.

"We never spoke about Number Ones. Other people were making those predictions for us. I think we have done really well."

Kevin, who revealed last month that had it not been for his mother's help he would probably have ditched his career in favour of a life in the Army, added that he still believed the route Liberty took was preferable to that of Hear'Say. Their R'n'B style surprised many pundits, who had predicted a Hear'Say copycat group.

He said: "At the end of the day, we are still doing our own stuff and writing our own songs, which is what we have always insisted on.

"Waiting six months before getting a label and then the single was a gamble, but it has paid off. We don't see the need to be compared with the other group. We are totally different."

"I had hoped we could sit in the quiet corner of a pub and get drunk while we listened to the chart but that didn't happen.

Exposure on national television and in magazines has been lapped up by friends and family back home, particularly in Leyland, where Kevin attended St Mary's High School.

He added: "I really would like to come home and see everyone but we don't have much time at the moment.

"Put it this way, every time I get spare time, I am on the train!"

Kevin's involvement with Liberty marks a third week of chart success for East Lancashire. First, Blackburn-based dance group N Trance entered at number four. The following week, Starsailor, fronted by Chorley 21-year-old James Walsh, entered the charts at number 10.