Westlife is an Irish pop band that was formed on July 3, 1998. They were signed on by Simon Cowell and are currently managed by Louis Walsh. Over the years, Westlife's music has evolved from teen pop to an adult contemporary sound, with an emphasis on ballads.
The group's original lineup comprised of Nicky Byrne, Kian Egan, Mark Feehily, Shane Filan, and Bryan McFadden. Filan is the band's lead vocalist; however, Feehily shares the part of the lead vocals on certain songs as did McFadden before his departure. Some of the members can play musical instruments: Egan (drums, guitar, piano), McFadden (guitar, piano) and Feehily (tin whistle, piano). All of the band members are songwriters, although most of their hits have been composed by external writers. On March 9, 2004, McFadden departed from the band to spend more time with his family and to work on his solo projects. The remaining members remained in the band and decided to stick together as a quartet.
Westlife has sold more than 40 million records worldwide. They garnered 14 number one singles in the United Kingdom, the third-highest in UK history, tying with Cliff Richard and tailing behind Elvis Presley and The Beatles. The band has also won numerous awards such as the "Best Irish Pop Act" at the annual Ireland Meteor Awards and ITV "Record of the Year" award in the UK. The band has also broken a few top records, including "Music artist with most consecutive number 1's in the UK" and the "Biggest selling arena act in the UK".
Original lineup
Full Name: Shane Steven Filan
date of birth: 5th July 1979
Place of birth: Sligo General Hospital, North-West Ireland
Height: 5ft 9 / 1.78m
Star Sign: Cancer
Color of eyes: Hazel green
Colour Of Hair: Dark Brown
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Full Name: Nicholas "Nicky" Bernard James Adam Byrne
Date of birth: 9th October 1978
Place of birth: Holles Street Hospital, Dublin, Southern Ireland
Star Sign: Libra
Height: 5'11ft and a half / 1.80m
Color of eyes: Blue
Colour Of Hair: Blonde
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Full Name: Markus "Mark" Michael Patrick Feehily
Date of birth: 28th May 1980
Place of birth: Sligo General Hospital, North-West Ireland
Star Sign: Gemini
Height: 5ft 11 / 1.77m
Color of eyes: Blue
Colour Of Hair: light Brown
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Full Name: Kian John Francis Egan
Date of birth: 29th April 1980
Place of birth: Sligo General Hospital, North-West Ireland
Star Sign: Taurus
Height: 5'10ft / 1.77m
Color of eyes: Blue
Colour Of Hair: Now Blonde, his natural colour is brown
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Former member
Birth name Brian Nicholas McFadden
Also known as Bryan McFadden
Born April 12, 1980 (1980-04-12) (age 28)
Origin Artane, Dublin, Ireland
Genre(s) Pop, Soft rock
Occupation(s) Singer, songwriter
Instrument(s) Guitar, piano
Years active 1998-present
Label(s) Sony BMG 2004– 2005
BMF 2006 – Present
Island Records 2007 - Present
Dreams Come True - World Of Our Own (1998-2002)
Swear It Again Asian EPWestlife's first big break came in 1998 when they opened for Boyzone in Dublin. Later that year, they won the 'Best New Tour Act' award at the Smash Hits Poll Winners Party.[2] In March 1999, the band released their first single, "Swear It Again" which immediately topped the charts in Ireland and in UK for two weeks.[3] Their second single, "If I Let You Go", released in August 1999 along with the highly acclaimed "Flying Without Wings" (their first 'Record of the Year'), released in October the same year, also followed suit. "Flying Without Wings" was also included on the soundtrack of the Warner Brothers film, "Pokemon 2000". The first album, simply titled Westlife, was released in November 1999 and peaked at #2 in the UK. Ironically, the album was the biggest chart dropper in the music history of UK, falling from #3 to #37, and is also the band's only original studio album that never reached #1. In December 1999, the double a side fourth single was released,"I Have A Dream"/"Seasons In The Sun", knocked Cliff Richard's "The Millennium Prayer" off the top spot and earning them the 1999 UK Christmas number-one single.[4][5] The fifth and last single from the album, "Fool Again", also peaked at #1.[6] Then, the band went on a short UK and Asian tour in support of their debut album before releasing a second album.
"Coast to Coast" was released a year after and was another #1 UK album beating the Spice Girls' Forever album. It becomes the country's 4th biggest selling album of 2000 and is Westlife's biggest selling album to date. [7][8] The album was preceded by a duet with Mariah Carey on the Phil Collins' classic "Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)" and the original song, "My Love" (the song that bagged their second 'Record of the Year' award). Both singles reached #1 on the UK charts.[9][10]With this, Westlife broke an unexpected record of having their first seven singles debut at the top of the UK charts, tying with The Beatles. However, in December 2000, they failed to secure their eighth chart-topper in a row with their UK and Ireland only single "What Makes A Man" when kid's favourite, Bob The Builder's "Can We Fix It", was crowned as the Christmas number-one single of that year.[11] Outside the UK/Ireland territories, they have released "I Lay My Love on You" and "When You're Looking Like That" and gained chart success. In 2001, the boys launched their first world tour, "Where Dreams Come True Tour", unofficially nicknamed "The No Stools Tour" due to the band's reputation of performing while perched on stools.[12][3]
Westlife released World Of Our Own, their third album, in November 2001. "Uptown Girl", "Queen of My Heart" and "World of Our Own" were released as singles, as of which all peaked at #1 in the UK.[13][14][15] "Bop Bop Baby" was also released as a single but it peaked at #5 in the UK Singles Chart. In 2002, Westlife went on their second world tour, the World Of Our Own Tour (In The Round)[3]
Unbreakable - Departure of Bryan (2002-2004)
Greatest Hits Vol. 1, UK VersionThe band released their eleventh UK #1 single, "Unbreakable", in 2002.[16] Amidst rumors of a split, Westlife released their first greatest hits album in November that same year. Unbreakable - The Greatest Hits Vol. 1 zoomed all the way to #1 in the UK. The release was followed by the double a side single, "Tonight/Miss You Nights", which debuted at #3 in the UK.[17] In 2003, Westlife went on to their third world tour, The Greatest Hits Tour, shrugging off rumors of a split.[18]
In September 2003, Westlife released "Hey Whatever", which peaked at #4 on the UK Charts.[19] Their fourth studio album, Turnaround, was then released in November, earning the band another UK #1 album. "Mandy", a cover of the Barry Manilow hit, was released in November 2003. Their version won them their third Record of the Year award in under five years.[20] Their version of Mandy is also considered as the highest single leaper to the top (from #200 to #1) in the UK music history.[21] "Obvious" was released as the final single from the album, charting at #3.[22]
On 9 March 2004, just three weeks prior to embarking on their fourth world tour, Bryan McFadden left the band to spend more time with his family and work on solo projects. On that day, a press conference was held where all the band's members were present and had an emotional individual speeches. The four remaining lads thought that it would be the end of Westlife's running. Brian's final public performance as part of Westlife was at Newcastle Upon Tyne's Powerhouse nightclub on 27 February 2004.[23][24] He subsequently began a solo career, deciding to revert the spelling of his first name back to its original 'Brian' and just prior to engagement to lifetime love-interest John Joseph Coughlan he released his first solo single, "Real To Me" which entered the UK chart at #1 and soon after, he released his first solo album, "Irish Son" under Sony Music.[25] He went on to release more singles but those releases made moderate success only.
