Mark feebly talking about bullying

and his involvement with ISPCC

and Blue Shield Campaign

Tuesday September 18 2012

LOUIS Walsh has revealed he hopes to see Westlife back on the stage - despite revelations by Nicky Byrne that the foursome fought like cats and dogs.

The 33-year-old singer, who is competing in Strictly Come Dancing, said after 14 years it was right for the band to go their separate ways.

"We battered each other, obviously not physically, but we argued like hell. Probably more so in the latter years," he said.

But Louis has revealed how he hopes fans haven't seen the last of Nicky, Shane Filan (33), Mark Feehily (32) and Kian Egan (32).

The X Factor judge said he reckons they will take to the stage again -- but in ten years time.

"I'm not looking for any band to replace Westlife because that's just not going to happen," he told the Herald.

"Hopefully in 10 years time they will be back touring."

Westlife with Coventry great, great grandmother Alice Byrne Coventry’s coolest great, great grandmother Alice Byrne - Boy George tweets about her on Twitter and Westlife mention her name on stage.

She is a 94-year-old rock ‘n’ roller who can be spotted backstage at top rock venues chatting away with celebrities.

The Coundon pensioner even told Westlife off when she met them backstage at their NEC LG concert last month.

She greatly amused the Irish pop stars by telling them she had missed her bingo to come to see them in concert and hoped it would be worth it.

Singer Mark Feehily later urged the NEC crowd to give Alice a loud cheer because she had sacrificed her weekly bingo session specially to see them.

The band also posed for photos with Alice backstage and her family reckons she was one of the oldest concert-goers at the arena.

But the music-loving pensioner is no stranger to meeting the rich and famous and loves her showbusiness jaunts.

The mother-of-three has nine grandchildren, 12 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild called Chloe.

Born in Dublin in 1918, she moved to Coventry with her family in the 1950s.

Her eldest great grandchild is Daniel Lismore arranges Alice’s A-list invites. 







He was described by Vogue as “London’s most outrageous dresser” and now holds some of London’s top party nights and is creative director of new fashion label Sorapol.

Patricia, one of Alice’s daughters, said: “Daniel loves his Nan and often invites her to join him for special nights.

In a recent interview, R-Patz was asked which boy band he’d rather be a member of — One Direction or Westlife!

Robert responded with:

“Westlife, definitely. Westlife are one of my favorite bands. I actually don’t know any songs that One Direction have done. I’ve just seen pictures of them.”


Westlife, definitely," answered Pattinson, adding, "Westlife are one of my favorite bands

Louis Walsh has accepted €500,000 (£404,000) in libel damages from the Sun after it published a false story claiming he had sexually assaulted a man in a Dublin night-spot.


Walsh, the X Factor judge and Westlife manager, sued Sun publisher News Group Newspapers (NGN) – part of News International – in the Irish high court, seeking aggravated and exemplary damages for the story published on 23 June 2011 with the headline "Louis probed over 'sex attack' on man in loo'". NGN will also pay Walsh's legal costs of €180,000.


The story originated from the Dublin-based Irish edition of the Sun, but was also published in the paper's main UK edition.


Unemployed dance teacher Leonard Watters was jailed for six months in July for wrongly accusing Walsh of groping him in the celebrity nightclub Krystle after a Westlife concert in April 2011.


Eoin McCullough, senior counsel for NGN, read a statement to the high court in Dublin on Wednesday morning apologising to Walsh.


"The Sun published an article in its editions of 23 June 2011, in which we reported that Louis Walsh was being investigated in relation to a sexual assault on Leonard Watters," he said.


"In fact, it transpired that Leonard Watters had made a false statement to [Irish police force] An Garda Siochána, and he has since been convicted in relation to this matter.


"The Sun fully accepts that the alleged assault did not occur in the first place and Louis Walsh is entirely innocent of any such assault.


"The Sun unreservedly apologises to Louis Walsh for any distress caused to him as a result of our article."


Walsh's lawyer, Paul Tweed, said: "This is a prime example of what we would look to see come out of Leveson. We are not trying to gag the press or stop investigations, but if there was a strong body that we could have rung before to get them to stop the story for 24 hours, we could have provided proof that Louis wasn't even in the place at the time and all this would have been avoided. They gave us just a few hours, they were determined to run it."


Speaking outside the high court in Dublin, Walsh said he was "relieved" it was all over, but added that he would never get over the traumatic experience.


"Nobody should write lies," he said. "No amount of pleading could stop them [from publishing]."


Walsh said he had told Gordon Smart, editor of the Sun's Bizarre showbiz column, the night before publication that the allegations he groped Watters were false.


"Gordon Smart called me and said 'you could be nicked for this'. I told him it was not true; it was totally totally not true, but they still ran the story," Walsh said. "It has been a very traumatic experience for me. I will never get over it."


In a statement read on the steps of Dublin's Four Courts, Walsh added: "I am very satisfied with this total vindication for me, but I remain very angry at the treatment at the hands of the Sun.


"I was absolutely gutted and traumatised that these allegations against me should have been published, particularly as I had made it clear at the time there was not one iota of truth in them, and was totally bewildered who would have made up this type of story."


He said although the perpetrator of the false allegation had been jailed, "this didn't stop the story going around world" because the Sun had published its story.


The story threatened to end Walsh's career as a manager of bands including Westlife and Boyzone, as well as his TV career as a judge on The X Factor.


"No amount of money will compensate for what I have gone through," he said. "This has had a terrible effect on me guys. It was all lies.

Westlife's Shane and Mark land solo record deals .Westlife's Shane and Mark land solo record deals


.The post-Westlife phase of their careers has well and truly begun for Shane Filan and Mark Feehily. It was only yesterday that we reported that Filan is considering making an assault on the Eurovision as a way to launch his solo career and hopes to release his first material early in the New Year. Meanwhile, his cohort Mark Feehily has signed a deal with Paul McCartney's manager, according to reports in today's The Sun.

Since Westlife's split after 14 years together, its members have been enjoying various forms of success - mostly in television. Nicky Byrne has appeared as a contestant on UK TV show Strictly Come Dancing, while Kian Egan was a guest on the Irish version of The Voice.

dec 2012
Westlife's Shane Filan has reportedly signed a record deal to kick-off his solo career.

The Sun said that the singer has been snapped up by London Records and is already working on a debut album, to be released next year.

His former bandmate Mark Feehily is also set to get his own deal, The Sun reported, after taking on Sir Paul McCartney's manager.

The Irish boyband split up this summer after 14 years together in which they notched up 14 number one singles and a string of hit albums.

Since then, Nicky Byrne waltzed onto Strictly Come Dancing but got booted off earlier this month and recently confessed he'd love to get into acting.

Kian Egan has done stints as a TV presenter on This Morning and The Xtra Factor and a coach on The Voice of Ireland.

THE wife of Strictly Come Dancing hunk Nicky Byrne has been keeping very close tabs on her husband. But not because Georgina, daughter of former Irish Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, is worried the Westlife star is getting too close to dance partner Karen Hauer.

Nicky, 34, laughed and said: “My wife is loving it and taking the mickey out of me.

“She says she constantly has to watch that my fake tan isn’t as dark as hers. When your wife is saying that you know you’ve got to be careful.”

Of course, Nicky is best known for massive-selling boyband Westlife, who called time after 14 years together in June.

During their time at the top, as well as 14 No 1 singles they also performed 27 sell-out shows at Wembley Arena in 10 years, shifting 250,000 tickets and making them the venue’s most successful pop band.

They sang one song at the venue for last year’s X Factor final and tonight Nicky is back – but this time he’s dancing.

And there’s no stools.

Laughing again, Nicky said: “Never say never. There’s been talk of using a Westlife song and incorporating one of them into a routine. I don’t think it’s a bad idea. I’m up for it.”

Kerry Katona thinks Sharon Osbourne should come back
WE like her style.

Kerry Katona says: Westlife star Kian Egan has said he’d love to be a judge on The X Factor, but only if Louis Walsh stays.


I can’t help thinking his former bandmate Mark Feehily would be better.


Vocally, Mark is more passionate. I love Louis, but he seems to say the same things: ‘You’re a great recording artist, you’ll get a record deal!’ I reckon Sharon Osbourne should come back, her and Louis are great together.

 

 

Carr: Westlife tricked me into getting drunk
Monday, November 19, 2012



Alan Carr once got so drunk with Westlife on 'Chatty Man' he had trouble reading the autocue.

The 36-year-old presenter usually enjoys a drink with his star-studded line-up of guests on the chat show but he felt as though he'd been on a heavy night out when he had the 'Flying Without Wings' band on the show once, as he tried to match their alcohol consumption but didn't realise they were only pretending to drink.

Carr - who is on the ninth series of the Channel 4 programme - said: "I didn't realise they were flinging their glasses behind the sofa. So I kept drinking, thinking: 'God, I know the Irish can drink, but my head's rotating'.

"When I got up, I saw it was knee-deep in shot glasses behind the settee.

"I find all alcohol moreish, so I was on my third glass and I couldn't read the autocue properly. By the time the third guest came on, I was up for a fight and a kebab!"