LEE Ryan didn’t have many reasons to feel Blue when we met at Hyde Park.

The sun was shining on the hottest day of the year, his one-time collaborator Lionel Richie was about to perform, and his band mates Blue are preparing for the release of their latest single.

Indeed, he looked content, relaxed and the obvious beneficiary of a strident keep-fit regime.

When I left the house that morning, I hadn’t intended to meet Lee and I doubt he planned to meet me.

But after another (scheduled) interview I received a text from a PR asking if I wanted to meet him.

“Yes please, now?” I texted.

“Yes...two mins,” came the answer.

So with precious little research, I bundled in.

The first thing to say about Lee is that he doesn’t deserve the flack he sometimes gets - right from the off it was easy to see he’s a genuine, kind guy.

When I told him I was from News Shopper, he said excitedly: “Oh cool, that’s where I’m from. I grew up in Plumstead.”

This is going to be easy, I thought.

“Do you get back there often,” I asked.

“Errr, I try not to,” he joked.

I later found out he lived in Bickley too, so he’s clearly a dedicated south Londoner.

Lee studied mainly at drama schools, but did spend some time at Welling School and said his upbringing “planted the seed for where I am. It keeps you rooted and keeps you grounded”.

He doesn’t have too many mates locally in Plumstead, he said.

“I was quite young, I was only 16 when I got in the band so by the time I got in the group and moved on and stuff – I know a few of the lads around there I speak to but not from my old school years,” he said.

The reason I was chatting to Lee was because he and the boys from Blue – three number one albums and eight top 10 singles in the early 2000s - have a new single coming out.

Break My Heart is the fourth single from the album Roulette.

After splitting up in 2005 - Lee’s self-titled solo album later that year charted at number 6 – the band got back together for good in 2011, when they finished 11th at Eurovision.

They then went on to take part in the ITV show The Big Reunion.

Lee said: “We’ve got a tour coming up, the single is coming out the first week of August and we have shot a video for it. We’ve just got the rushes back for that so we’ll have a look and edit it together.

“We're just getting ready to promote the single and doing loads of TV shows.”

He is pragmatic about his hopes for the single.

He said: “Singles these days are just a bit of a marketing tool really.

“It is more about the album, we’ve always been an album selling band.

“The singles are almost like a leaflet because a lot of people download them or rip them off

Youtube so it is not something we’re really concentrating on.

“Our last single went in outside the top 100 but the album went into the top 10 so it makes no difference to us.”

Lee said he is enjoying being back with the band, who he called “really good mates” and is looking forward to the live shows, which see the band heading to Italy shortly before a UK tour with dates including big gigs at Hammersmith Apollo.

He said: “We are constantly on the road, constantly doing stuff and we’re constantly in different countries. We’re an international band, we always have been.”

I wondered where his favourite place is to perform, and he touchingly responded: “I don’t mind really, as long as there are fans. Otherwise I’ll be playing to a mirror.”