Westlife is an Irish pop music group that formed in July 1998. They were signed by Simon Cowell and are currently managed by Louis Walsh. The group is popular in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and much of Europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa. In recent years, Westlife's sound has evolved from boy band "teen pop" into a more adult contemporary music (ACM) sound.
Westlife has had fourteen number one singles in the United Kingdom between the years 1999 and 2006, the third-highest such total in UK history, behind Elvis Presley and The Beatles, and tied with Cliff Richard. They are also the only artist/group to win 'Record of the Year' in the UK four times. The group had sold more than 40 million records by end of 2006, yet to this day it's still unclear to how many records exactly the band have sold because some of their main markets are countries in Asia that do not publish sales figures. They are worth an estimated €28 million (about $38 million)
Westlife were awarded the Best Irish Pop Act, a public voting category, at the annual Ireland Meteor Awards for the seventh consecutive year on 2 February 2007.
Westlife was formed in July 1998, with the members Kian Egan, Mark Feehily, Shane Filan, Nicky Byrne, and Brian McFadden.
The group's roots are in Sligo in the north west of Ireland, where Egan, Feehily, and Filan were in a six-member vocal group named IOYOU (sometimes IOU), with fellow Sligonians Derrick Lacey, Graham Keighron and Michael "Miggles" Garrett. IOYOU were groomed and managed by choreographer Mary McDonagh and two other informal managers.. IOYOU released a single called "Together Girl Forever".
The band was then 'discovered' by Louis Walsh, the manager of 1990s boy band Boyzone - he was actually contacted by Filan's mother. However IOYOU did not meet Simon Cowell's approval for a record deal with BMG, so changes were needed. Two members of IOYOU were given the sack, and auditions were held in Dublin. The band recruited Byrne and McFadden. A third original member, Michael Garrett, was dropped. The group was re-named Westside soon afterwards but as the name was already taken by another band, it was changed to Westlife. Boyzone singer Ronan Keating was brought in to co-manage the band with Walsh.
Shane Filan, Mark Feehily and Bryan McFadden shared most of the lead vocals. Some of the boys can play instruments (Kian and Bryan play the guitar and the piano) and all five of them are songwriters, although most of their hits have been composed by outside songwriters. The group's musical influences include boy bands such as Boyzone, Take That, Backstreet Boys and Boyz II Men.
On 9 March 2004, just three weeks before Westlife were due to embark on their fourth UK and Europe tour, Bryan McFadden left the band to devote more of his time to solo projects as well as his family life with British TV personality and former Atomic Kitten member Kerry Katona and their two children, Molly (born in 2001) and Lilly Sue (born in 2003). They subsequently broke up and Bryan started a solo career, changing the spelling of his first name back to its original 'Brian'. Brian McFadden entered the chart at number one with his first solo single, "Real To Me". He went on to release more singles, but to only moderate success. The five members were now down to four.
