Label executives had opened the purse strings - industry gossip pegged it around $1 million at the time - to recruit big-name producers to work on the disc, then launched it with a series of high-priced videos and a cross-country promotional blitz.

After signing with U.S. record business mogul Clive Davis' Arista Records, Sky landed the opening slot on teen queen Britney Spears' tour and spins on key U.S. radio stations with another single, ``Love Song.''

Plus, they were No. 1 in Thailand.

International success seemed, if not in its grasp, an outside possibility. ``Sky will go far,'' Davis predicted. ``This is our big (international) shot,'' said Deane Cameron, EMI president.

The success earned the twentysomething pair, James Renald and Antoine Sicotte, a Juno nomination this year for best new group, even if few people knew them by name.

Then the sky fell, long before the pair got anywhere near the podium at this weekend's ceremonies, and long before the duo could cash in in any substantial way.

``It's kind of bizarre,'' admits Jon Leshay, Sky's L.A.-based manager.

Renald, who handled main vocals, has called it quits, apparently because he hated the attention success brought. He's now living in L.A., ``struggling'' to establish a career as a songwriter, and avoiding pesky media inquirers. His aversion to the spotlight was no secret. Even the group's record-company biographies referred to reliable molds: Renald, the reluctant, shy pop star; Sicotte, the outgoing, sociable extrovert. And he's the son of well-known Quebec actor Gilbert Sicotte. In a dispatch posted on the group's Web site last year, Renald wrote after appearing on the Dini Petty Show that he found the experience ``nerve wracking'' and ``intimidating'' because of ``the lights and close proximity to the audience.''

``Every time we'd do a TV show, he'd really hate that, definitely, more than anything . . . having people look at him,'' Sicotte confirmed yesterday on the phone from Montreal.

But what did Renald and the label expect, since by all accounts everyone knew of Renald's discomfort, including Sicotte, who had worked with his ex-partner since 1992?

``James was always the type to go through things one day at a time, not really looking too far ahead . . . I think he hoped maybe he was going to be able to get through that,'' explains Sicotte, who will attend the Junos alone. Gob, Len, Prozzak and Serial Joe are also in the running for best new group.

Leshay, who now represents Renald, says his client simply ``didn't know how big a part of the job . . . it (publicity) was.''

Sicotte, Renald and label staff members say it wasn't one particular incident that prompted Renald to pull the plug and everyone, understandably, is trying to put the best spin on things.

``On the surface,'' says Michael McCarty, president of EMI Music Publishing Canada, ``this looks like a disaster, but I don't think it is.'' McCarty signed the pair to a songwriting deal. ``It's certainly disconcerting to the business people, but from a human and artistic point of view I respect his decision.''

And while the pair often clashed musically, it wasn't animosity that drove them apart, Sicotte insists. ``It was always more stimulating actually to have these musical conflicts.''

Maybe. But Sicotte is happy to report he's now collaborating with someone he finds more compatible: a Montreal singer/songwriter called Anastasia. Their project is called Nice. ``I took a lot more time choosing the person I was going to associate myself with this time around so I wouldn't have to face these problems in the future,'' he says, noting EMI is still interested in the output of both former Sky members.

Others are left wondering if the duo's lack of success in the United States sealed their fate.

``The single (`Love Song') stiffed in the States,'' says Larry LeBlanc, Canadian editor at Billboard. ``It exploded for two weeks, then it hit a wall.''

After that, Arista pulled the album and ordered Renald and Sicotte to add another potential hit. That's when the split happened, LeBlanc says, ``through the process of trying to write and create the hit.''

In the meantime, Arista shifted its resources to some other ``priority.'' A parallel is Esthero, a promising Toronto-based pop duo signed to the Work Group label south of the border, LeBlanc says.

``The record stiffed and she (Esthero) and Doc broke up on the road. You work 18 months to two years to put out an album, it comes out and tanks in two weeks. ''

Yet Sicotte denies disappointment made a difference. But he does blame Arista for targeting the big American radio stations ``playing mega-stars like Madonna and Ricky Martin'' rather than taking a ``bottom-up approach'' by starting at college radio.

And that is the lesson here, LeBlanc says. ``When you hit the wall in the States, it's over very quickly. In Canada you get a bit of a run through it.''

McCarty agrees, adding he wishes ``Love Song'' had longer to ``react'' stateside.

Still, he also doesn't think it contributed to the sun setting on Sky. ``It's just the way the business works,'' he explains. ``We all took a shot. We got a long way up the ladder, not all the way, and we're big boys and we're disappointed, but we pick ourselves up and continue.''