Ronan Keating has revealed he's still angry about his mother's death from cancer 14 years ago.
In an exclusive blog for The Huffington Post UK, the Boyzone singer says his mother came from a generation who were brought up "not to make a fuss, not to visit the doctor unless it was really serious and not to discuss 'women's troubles'".
He remembers: "When she finally made an appointment to see a specialist about the lump in her breast, it was too late."
Keating writes: "The anger we all felt ate at me in particular. I threw myself into work with Boyzone and used the madness of our lives to mask the hurt that I was feeling. I found it impossible to comprehend that my Mother had been taken from us."
He explains "the realisation that cancer can be treated if it is diagnosed early enough" drove him and his family to set up the Marie Keating Foundation (MKF).
Formed in 1998 in Ireland, with the aim of raising funds to pay for a mobile cancer awareness unit, and since partnering with Cancer Research UK, it has raised over £3.75 million.
Since his mother's death, Keating has had to cope with two more personal losses, the sudden death of his bandmate and friend Stephen Gately in 2009, and divorce from his wife of 14 years, Yvonne.
The couple are said to have "tried everything" to make the relationship work following rumours of the Boyzone star's affair with a dancer back in 2010.
Keating is now once again throwing himself into his music, with his first studio album in six years and the announcement of a brand new tour.
Having previously sold 25 million albums, Keating says, "The album is back to proper pop again."
Keating's writing team on the album includes Greg Alexander and Rick Nowells, who penned some of the star's biggest hits, Life is a Rollercoaster and Lovin' Each Day.
