BOYZLIFE have spoken to The Mail about why they are no longer playing as the headline act at an upcoming pop festival in Barrow.

This week, Ultimate Pop Festival organisers Denis and Beth Horan revealed that headliners Boyzlife - made up of Boyzone's Keith Duffy and Westlife's Brian McFadden, would not be playing at the event taking place at Craven Park on Sunday August 27.

Chart stars Atomic Kitten have replaced them on the bill as headliners and Liz McLarnon will be joining bandmates Kerry Katona and Natasha Hamilton to complete the band's original line-up.

Organisers also announced former glamour model and reality TV star Katie Price will be performing her solo single I Got U while other bands on the bill include S Club, A1, Kevin Simm from Liberty X and Kavana.

Many fans who had already purchased tickets voiced their frustration at the headline act's cancellation while some welcomed the new acts.

And for the first time, Boyzlife have now spoken out to tell The Mail about what they called "the actual version of events".

In a statement from their management team, Boyzlife said: "Unfortunately we had a schedule clash, which came in a couple of weeks ago and we were not able to continue with the Barrow-in-Furness gig."

Adding that the band offered their "sincere apologies", manager Dan Parker said: "This was certainly not last minute, and we expect that any fans of Boyzlife wishing to get a refund should be able to do so from the promoter in full, as soon as possible."

Despite Boyzlife's suggestion that fans should "be able to get a refund in full", on the event's Facebook page a statement points out that "As per our festival rules and regulations (stated on our website) all acts are subject to change without notice and refunds cannot be given as it is a variety festival and not an individual acts concert."

The statement added: "Disappointingly Boyzlife are no longer able to appear; we tried every possibility and hours of phone calls to still make it work but to no avail unfortunately."

The Ultimate Pop Festival is being staged by the team behind the Ultimate 90s programme, which brought 90s stars 5ive to the town earlier this spring.

Should the Ultimate Pop Festival be successful, it could become an annual summer bank holiday weekend fixture in Barrow.