SMASH HITS/SEPTEMBER 20 2000

Kian bares all about girlfriends, guitar bands and golf. "I'll probably never do this again," he tells Hannah Verdier...

The day before Kian's photoshoot for his first solo Smash Hits cover, the phone rings. "Hello. It's Kian," says a friendly voice. "Sorry to bother you, but I just wanted to check about tomorrow..."
That's the thing about Kian. He may have had five No1 hits and become a superstar at the age of 20, but he still finds time to phone his mates. If he's not calling to say thanks 'cos he's seen himself in Smash Hits, he'll be phoning just to tell us what he's been up to.
The next day at the shoot, Kian slips past the crowd of girls outside the photo studio, stopping for a quick chat and to sign a couple of autographs on the way. He arrives alone, hiding his new, shorter hairdo under a baseball cap. There's not a security guard in sight.
"We only use minders if we really need them, like when we're in Asia and South America," he explains. "Thousands of fans turn up and if they want a piece of hair, they'll get it. I got a ring pulled off when I put my hand into an audience. It's funny when the minders have to pick us up and carry us out!"

Kian talks very quickly. One minute, he's chatting about the fancy car he's been test-driving. "It's a black Porsche. You can't get better than that." The next, he's revealing Westlife's new hobby, golf. "We pretend it's not a competition, but we take it so seriously," he says. And he even hints that Westlife have succumbed to the pleasures of checked golf trousers.
"There are rules in golf," he laughs. "At most golf courses, you have to wear collars and slacks. And no trainers. I think it's silly - Once I wore a baseball cap and they asked me to take it off. I was like 'I can't. My hair's in a mess! Come on!"
Ah, the famous Kian hair! "Nooooo!" he winces. "Smash Hits started that flicky hair stuff and the boys went along with it. I look at early photos of me and think, 'What was I like?'"
Kian used to do body-building 'cos he was a skinny teenager, and he's obviously conscious of whipping his top off on the cover of Smash Hits, although he admits it's "flattering" to get the opportunity. Nicky laughed at him for doing a kit-off shot, but when Kian showed him the pictures, he took it all back!
"I'm not usually into that type of stuff," says Kian. "But I saw a photo like that by the famous photographer (celeb snapper Herb Ritts) and I thought it was really good. It's not the sort of thing I do all the time and I'll probably never do it again."

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© 2001 Pami

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