Cover Story: I'm afraid marriage will ruin our love.

Byline: By BILLY SLOAN

Fran Healy has made a few quid selling millions of records with rock supergroup Travis.

But if the singer had pounds 10 for every time somebody came up to him in the street asking: 'How was the wedding?' he'd really be worth a fortune.

'I almost feel like replying, 'Oh the wedding. It was brilliant',' said Fran, laughing.

'I'm not getting married. Well, not yet anyway. 'My girlfriend Nora and I have been together for seven years. We're engaged. We live together. It's great. Magic. I'm scared that if we got married it might ruin things.'

Fran, 30, remains the only Travis member who hasn't yet taken the plunge. His music cohorts guitarist Andy Dunlop, bassist Dougie Payne and drummer Neil Primrose are all happily married, Dougie to Trainspotting star Kelly MacDonald.

Fran proposed to his German partner Nora Kryst at the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River in 2000.

What was the point if four years later he's still shy of walking down the aisle?

'Billy, you're starting to sound like my mother,' said Fran, with mock scorn.

'I do intend to get married. But in my own time. Our engagement is brilliant. So just want to make it last as long as I can.'

When caught up with Fran he was on a real high. Travis have just returned from a US tour which included their first ever gig in Mexico City. The sight of 10,000 Mexicans singing word perfect on hit songs like Why Does It Always Rain On Me? and The Beautiful Occupation made a lasting impression.

The singer was in a reflective mood. So, inevitably perhaps, talk of marriage led to Fran's thoughts on becoming a parent.

He told me: 'I'd definitely like to become a dad one day. Why? I've no idea. I think it's just nature telling me I'm not going to be around for long so maybe should have some children of my own.

'Would be any good? Absolutely. Being a father is not a job to be sniffed at. If you think being an international pop star is tough, having children is in another universe of complexity.

'It's a challenge I'm looking forward to. I don't have many nieces or nephews to hang out with. But I've been around our drummer Neil's kids and they're brilliant. I can look after them if called on.'

On March 10, Travis play a gig for 200 fans at The Barfly in Glasgow. The show part of a charity project called Passport Back To The Bars will raise funds for Warchild and Shelter.

The shock TV news pictures of children being maimed during the war in Iraq struck a chord with Fran. Two tracks on Travis' latest album 12 Memories The Beautiful Occupation and Peace The F*** Out were inspired by events leading to the conflict. Last year, the group bought a white double decker bus and painted the latter song title on the side.

They asked fans at gigs around the UK to sign it so they could send a massive mobile petition to Prime Minister Tony Blair in Downing Street.

So Fran had no hesitation volunteering his services for charity. He told me: 'As a group, Travis can make a big noise. On Peace The F*** Out we wanted to send politicians a message. That song was us going, 'Oh God, no - what's going on?' 'I get frustrated because there's not really anything you or can do about it apart from helping Warchild get their message across. Millions of people smelled a rat about the war with Iraq and many took to the streets in protest around the world. It didn't make a blind bit of difference. The Americans and the British were going in there anyway.

'But you've got to keep doing your bit to let them know you don't agree with them. It put a lot of heat on the British government and deservedly so but politicians are real slippery fish.'

Fran also despairs that in Britain there are still people who don't have a roof over their heads.

In his adopted home city of London, the homeless problem stares him in the face. It's another source of frustration for the singer.

He told me: 'I never need reminded that there are people forced to sleep on our streets.

'You see guys hanging around every bank auto-teller or guys sitting outside a 24-hour grocery store asking for money.

'You wonder to yourself, 'How did they end up out on the street? Was it through choice or did they just slip through the cracks of society?' 'Too many people turn a blind eye to it. They pretend it's not there.

'I don't know if I'd be able to cope with a life like that. It would be so hard. As you go through life, everybody has their own way of trying to survive.

'But people who live on the streets also have the big problem of drug or alcohol abuse often simply to block out the hardship they're in. don't think I'd survive very long.'

Travis have another three important dates in Scotland. They'll play the SECC in Glasgow on March 11 and 12, followed by Aberdeen Exhibition Centre on March 15 to a total of 25,000 fans.

They're also releasing the new single Love Will Come Through, a track from 12 Memories, on March 15. The gigs are their most eagerly awaited dates on their hectic tour itinerary.

Fran said: 'You can go all round the world, playing gigs in Australia, Germany and America but you can't beat playing at home.

'Just about every performer talks about playing Glasgow in a really respectful way. As a native of Glasgow it's always the most special date on our itinerary. I know it sounds daft but every time we put tickets on sale for a Travis gig we wonder, 'Is anybody gonna come to see us?' 'The thrill of walking on stage at a venue such as Barrowland or the SECC is impossible to describe.'

Their packed tour shows Travis have come a long way since they began 10 years ago. Dougie Payne had not yet joined and the original line-up included brothers Geoff and Chris Martyn.

But the band are now making major inroads on the US market. Their recent Stateside tour included sell-out shows in San Francisco, Las Vegas and Los Angeles. But crowd reaction at their first ever gig in Mexico City was the highlight of the tour.

'We played the 10,000-capacity Pavilion Sports Palace and it was amazing,' said Fran.

'The Mexican fans really appreciate bands who give everything. The mad thing was they knew the words to every single song.

'That's more than can be said for some places we play in Britain, where fans know a bit of verse here and a chorus there. My theory is that because Mexico is such an old civilisation like the Celts they're more passionate.'

Fran is also pleased with the reaction to 12 Memories. Initially, the album was treated with suspicion because the songs showed the band in a more serious, contemplative mood.

'We see 12 Memories as an album of its time,' said Fran. 'We didn't want to make a la-la-la, happy record that's not how we feel right now.

'The mood in the world is kind of strange at the moment. So the songs reflect that.'

It is a good time for Travis. Drummer Neil's accident in 2002 when he fractured a vertebrae diving into a swimming pool in France cemented relations within the group.

'After Neil's accident we closed the doors on Travis and went back in on ourselves,' Fran recalled. 'You can get too 'crazy big' and it becomes difficult to manage. Suddenly there were millions of people in loads of countries pulling on us for something. We didn't have a life. So the accident gave us six months grace.

'By the time we got back into the studio it was solely on our terms with no pressure or deadlines. We kept a low profile. It saved our sanity.'

But how does it feel being Fran Healy star? 'I'm a star... wow, really?' asked an incredulous Fran. 'Fame is just a symptom of this disease I've caught making music. One of the side effects is people treat me as some kind of celebrity.

'It doesn't bother me because I don't court it. Never have.

'I regard fame as something that happens to other people. Fans have always been really cool to Travis. What they like about us is we don't go to every film premiere or club opening.

'At the end of the day, we're normal people who do a kind of abnormal job.'

CAPTION(S):

April 2001: Fran hugs German fiancAe Nora; 1992: A pre-Travis teenage Fran fronting another band; 1996: Early line-up with Geoff, second left and Chris; April 2000: Fran and bassist Dougie get up close; July 2000: Travis headline the T in the Park festival; Fran Healy, centre, with bandmates Dougie Payne, Andy Dunlop and Neil Primrose, is the only member of Travis who hasn't tied the knot; April 2001: Fran covered in cake in the video for Sing; August 2003: Dougie marries actress

Kelly MacDonald; September 2003: Travis play MTV Awards in Edinburgh; October 2003 : Andy, Dougie, Neil and Fran with peace bus