Blue's Duncan: I'll Quit Music

Blue hunk Duncan James is so determined to make it as an actor, he's turned down a $1.6 million (GBP1 million) solo album deal.

Record bosses at the group's label INNOCENT were so keen to hang onto the chart-topping heart-throb - should the boyband ever split - they made him an amazing offer.

But Duncan shocked them by turning it down in favour of the company he's started with British socialite Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, which he hopes will help make him an acting star.

An insider says, "We have offered Duncan the chance to stay with us as a solo star and make him a worldwide hit. It was a two-album deal worth almost a million, but amazingly he has turned it down.

"Some think that Duncan's friendship with rehab queen Tara Palmer-Tomkinson is ruining his good guy image, but he's determined to stick with her and develop their production company, because he hopes to become a success as an actor when Blue is all over."