It was a year of ups and downs. More downs than ups for most of the lads :(

Ronan being the only one who carried on with the success of the Boyzone days. His solo career hit a flying start with a no. 1 album and his second no. 1 single, "Life is a Rollercoaster". The blond bomber ended the year in style, celebrating his "Best Male Singer" award at the Smash Hits Ceremony in December. Having worked with the likes of Bryan Adams and the Bee Gees, and the amazing talent our man has, it wasn't really a surprise was it ?

Stephen, too, like Ronan, started the year on a high note. After having "come out" in 1999 and recieving massive publec support, he was happy (and still is ) with his se...exy boyfriend, Eloy. Unfortunately, the last whole year did not treat him all that well. What with his debut album not faring as well as he would've liked and with poor Steo having kidney problems throughout the year.

We all remember the Party in the Park '99, when soon after his "outing" Stephen was wildly cheered by fans. On an opposite note, he couldn't even perform there last year due to kidney problems. Hopefully, this year will be better.

Shane and Keith turned out to be the most loud-mouthed of the boyz ( we all knew that, didn't we ), releasing their controversial cover version of Milli Vannili's "Girl You Know It's True", slagging off everyone from Westlife to N'Sync to Puff Daddy ( they won't fave too many friends left this way ). Unfortunately, the single was banned from most UK radio stations and well..... flopped. But K&S, as the duo called themselves, did say they didn't expect anything out of the song (thank God for that ), it was just a bit of fun.

Shane had been embroiled in more controversies earlier in the year, having broken up with wife Easther and was rumoured to have slept with a dancer in a London night club, which obviously did not get much approval from the public.

Ah.......Mikey, the serious one. The one who was sidelined by Ronan and the other boys. Never getting the attention he wanted or the appreciation he deserved.Y2K for him meeant a solo career, making the kinda music he wanted. And straight from the heart it was. But sadly, like Stephen, he was further proof of the fact that being in a top pop group does not gaurantee solo success.

How can we end an article on Boyzone without talking about their manager, Louis Walsh -- the man behing BZ and now, many other pop sensations. His remarks like "I only manage Ronan now, and not Boyzone" and "Boyzone was Ronan, the others were just passengers" were not much appreciated by the loyal fans. And added further fuel to the fire of all the "Boyzone to split" stories doing the rounds throughout the year.

Ronan, in his autobiography did say that over the years, Louis kept floating rumours to keep the guyz in the public eye. Maybe, that's all what the "ByeZone to Boyzone" stories are, or maybe not. Only 2001 will tell........