Chad Kroeger: Bieber will be ashamed

Chad Kroeger really wanted Justin Bieber to turn into "a kind of Justin Timberlake".

Justin, 20, has been embroiled in many scandals over the last year, including being fined $80,000 for egging his neighbour's home as well as driving without a license.

Fellow Canadian Chad originally had high hopes for Justin - who was signed when he was 13 - but thinks his behaviour has damaged his image.

"I think that he's going to look back at this time in his life and he's going be ashamed of the things that he's done... it's really too bad because he is talented and it's just a bit of a letdown," Chad told radio station NXFM.

"You've got to be careful when you're handing someone that young the keys to the kingdom. And when you give someone that young that much money... to do whatever you want to do, things are going to run amok and we're all going to get to stand back and watch the wheels fall off the train.

"I really wanted him to turn into kind of a Justin Timberlake; very funny, very caring, a really good person."

Chad has been the frontman of Nickelback since the group formed in 1995, producing hits such as How You Remind Me and Someday.

Like Justin, the musician is familiar with people making nasty remarks about him online. But he's come to accept that internet trolls will target people no matter their profession and that they're just people who are unhappy with their own lives.

"You could cure cancer and the first thing they would say online is 'What took you so long?'" he said as an example.

"I make music for myself and for the people that want to hear the kind of music that I make."

Chad's personal life came under scrutiny last year following rumours he and his wife Avril Lavigne had hit a rough patch.

During the radio interview he was quick to deny this though, insisting all is well with his "loving wife".