[Edition 55] DUBLIN, Monday: The sole male member of the popular Irish group The Corrs yesterday conceded for the first time that he may not be the reason for the band’s enormous appeal.

[Edition 55] DUBLIN, Monday: The sole male member of the popular Irish group The Corrs yesterday conceded for the first time that he may not be the reason for the band’s enormous appeal.

Jim Corr said he’d previously always attributed the group’s success to his signature guitar sound and good looks. He said for years he felt weighed down by the burden of having to carry the group singlehandedly.

“We were filling large stadiums, and I put it all down to me,” he said. “I got the feeling the other three were really just riding on my name. So, yeah, there was a lot of pressure on me each night to please the fans – most of whom, for some reason, were young screaming men. I just assumed we had a big gay following.”

Jim said his first real doubts about the centrality of his role occurred on a recent tour, when the road manager stopped lighting his corner of the stage. Instead he was asked to stand at the rear of the stage behind the backing musicians. He noticed also that his face had been cropped out of the band’s promotional tour poster.

“Small things, sure, but they all added up,” said Jim. “And then when we turned up to a press conference in New York and the record company had only provided three chairs for the band, I started to get the hint.”

Jim’s belated acceptance that he may not be the chief drawcard of The Corrs has forced him to momentarily put on hold his plans for a solo career.