KEVIN Simm was understandably devastated when he was told he had not made into the final five on the hit TV show Popstars.

Along with his four fellow losers, who were dubbed the Flopstars, 20-year-old Kevin, of Abbey Village, near Blackburn, picked himself up, dusted himself down and retreated.

An appearance on GMTV brought them all back together and it was then they hatched a plan. Take on the Popstars.

Whereas Hear'Say armed themselves with manufactured pop tunes and had a huge publicity blitz, Liberty have remained true to their influences. Peddling their own R&B Liberty refused to do it the easy way.

Kevin said: "Record companies wanted us to be puppets and sing the music they provided. We didn't want that so we didn't get far with many of them."

Richard Branson of all people came to their rescue when he signed them to his V2 label.

And while rumours abound that Hear'Say are faltering, Liberty have a vital ally. Credibility.

A white-label release of their debut single was picked up by top DJs like the Dreem Team, who raved over it without knowing who it was by.

And former Culture Club frontman turned top DJ Boy George has remixed a version of the song.

It's a massive contrast to the saccharine-songs belted out by Hear'Say. And there's not much chance of them appearing on their own kid's TV show panned by the critics.

Kevin has the last word. He said: "We are totally different to Hear'Say.

That's why we released copies of the single to DJs without them knowing who it was.

"It was rated for what it was, which is what we want."

Vote NOW...click here.