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When Westlife’s Mark Feehily came out in the press, he cited his new boyfriend Kevin McDaid as one of his main motivations. Now, two years later, they’ve decided to talk openly about their relationship for the first time






On the other hand, the sweet tale of Mark Feehily and Kevin McDaid is just the story of two young men in love. On quite the other it is both an apocryphal story for the state of British pop music and a right hook to the celebrity age of relationship sales. Despite the requests, they haven’t laundered their three-year love through the gossip weeklies for cold, hard cash. They have invited nobody but their friends into their ‘lovely new home’. They sometimes go to launches and premieres together, but they don’t make a song and dance out of it

Mark Feehily you will know of. Mark is a quarter of the most successful British pop act of their age, Westlife. Critically they have few garlands to spare but for Westlife, a boyband that has always dealt in simple emotion, simple suits, rousing choruses and that inevitable middle 8 key change when they used to rise from their bar-stools, the path to righteousness is above criticism. They connect at a direct level with great swathes of the British public and phenomenal amounts of success is the sweet revenge against any snippiness directed at their winning, slightly bygone age formula of singing lovely songs harmoniously well and putting on the kind of entertainment that was once called ‘family’

Entirely democratic and rammed to the rafters with cheery Irish bonhomie, there’s a stag night element to Westlife as a foursome. They have never indulged in the traditional homo-eroticism of the well-trodden boyband model. They don’t do topless calendars. There is a rugby anthem element to their best songs. They are the boys that mothers would like their daughters to bring home as prospective sons-in-law. They are the least pretentious people in the entire world. All of which served to make Mark Feehily a deep curiosity when he eventually came out two years ago, to little fanfare, in The Sun newspaper.
“People forget that I was in Westlife at 18 years old,’ he says now, of his own awakenings, ‘and had to go through the process of coming to terms with my sexuality over time in the public eye. Being stubborn I was very adamant that I would do it in my own time and at my own pace. I think that’s very important. If anybody tried to push any buttons or suggest anything to me then I’d just fucking retreat.”





Mark is ‘the sensible one’ in the Kevin and Mark show. That’s sensible as in level-headed, as opposed to boring.

“People should be neither pushed into (coming out) or held back. You need to be able to do these things for yourself. People always ask me what advice I’d give to X up and coming pop star who’s gay. There’s no advice I can give to anybody apart from to do it their own way and how it feels right for them. I could tell them 50 things I’d been through but their experience will be there own and it’s all totally unique. We all come from somewhere different and we’re all going somewhere different. The only thing I will say, and I think Kevin will back me up on this, is that it changed my life so much for the better in every conceivable way coming out to everyone around me.”


Kevin McDaid you may be less aware of. Kevin was one fifth of the ill-fated boyband V. His pop tale is almost the exact antithesis of Mark’s. After the two years hard graft and off-the-scale finances it costs to launch a new pop act, V were unceremoniously dropped by their record label when their debut album failed to ignite anywhere beyond its number ‘80something’ debut. When Kevin met Mark in January 2005, V were coming to the end of their short road. All those personal investments, promises of stardom and breakfast television opportunities were about to disappear in a puff of pop smoke.
It’s testament to the strength of their own relationship that Mark and Kevin seem operational at a high level because of and not in spite of their wildly oppositional experiences at the sometimes merciless hands of showbusiness. Kevin is absolutely delighted for Mark at the successful level Westlife operate at and Mark is quick to defend the talents of his boyfriend’s old band and implicitly seems to understand that success for a British pop act can turn on a sixpence. There is not so much a note of ‘there but for the grace of god’ about Mark when he talks of Kevin’s finger-burning experiences with the pop market, but there is a distinct level of gratitude for the incredible opportunities he’s been afforded due to his own group’s commercial appeal.


In many way’s Kevin is the starrier of the twosome. He looks more traditionally popstar and has a voluble energy level that lends itself to centre stage. He is ‘the impulsive one’

in the Mark and Kevin show. As a duo they are astonishingly un-cynical, totally infectious company and wear their love very well. Mark and Kevin met at a party for Childline in Dublin. They have recently given up smoking together.




Which one of you decided to give up smoking?
Mark: We’d been putting getting healthy on the backburner for a long time. Not that we were going nuts or anything.
How old are you both?
Kevin: I’m 23 and Mark’s 27. We basically got very lazy in the summer, in Ireland, no-one around, just us…
Mark: Watching the TV and playing Playstation.
Kevin: Late Nights, Late mornings....
Mark: Friends we hadn't seen for ages
Kevin: It was just bad. We both smoked in that way that as soon as one of us had put one out the other would light one up. We’d literally get to the stage where we’d have one in the car, get out to go to the shop, have one when you came out of the shop and then light up again in the car.
Mark: It got to the point of stupidity. But I’ve smoked a long time. We were smoking before we met each other and it literally got to the point where we were just disgusted with it. There was always an excuse and Kevin just hammered on to me about it, are you a man or are you a mouse? So I thought ‘let’s just do it.’ I just thought I can do it without these sticks of crap.


How long have you been together for?
Mark: At the end of January it’ll be three years.

Well Done
Mark: It’s been very natural. You ask how long and I have to think about it because it definitely doesn’t feel that long. We’re quite laidback in that sense. We’re not the counting the days types.
Do you know the exact date?
Mark: Yep, 28th of January, 2005.
Kevin: I was in my band at the time, V,and we were both doing a charity concert for Childline that happens every year in Dublin.
Mark: It’s a good old Irish party.
Kevin: And we both got boozed up and basically just met. We had a nice conversation and it just went from there really.


Who else was playing there?
Mark: It’s one of those gigs where all the pop people go to so it was Girls Aloud, McFly, the usual.
Kevin: That was when pop was alive. It was a great party.


What’s the camaraderie like between all the bands?
Kevin: We were speaking about this afterwards and people do tend to keep themselves to themselves. It’s not because people are being rude, they do want to have conversations with other people who have that thing in common but…
Mark: It can be a bit silly. Two people will be walking towards each other in the corridor and you get that thing where you don’t know whether to say hello or they might think they’re too cool or whatever. There can be a weird – neither act wants it but there can be tension. I always used to look at the music industry and think that everyone got on backstage and it must be so much fun and then you’re walking down a corridor and people have their heads down.
Kevin: We were with the same management company as Busted and McFly and we lived in the same complex as Girls Aloud so we all kind of knew each other.


My god, you had Sarah Harding in your complex? That sounds quite full on.
Kevin: It was quite a few years ago. We were all a lot younger
Did you swap numbers the first night?
Both: yeah we did Kevin: I can’t remember who asked, can you?
Mark: I think we just said ‘we should swap numbers, shouldn’t we?’ I actually can’t remember either because both of us were extremely drunk.
Kevin: You texted me first.
Mark: Did I?
Kevin: Yeah. Then I started texting. I was texting him taking the piss. Westlife were rehearsing for a tour and one of the costumes was like workmen.
Mark: The Kwik Fit Fitters.
Kevin: So I was asking him if he was wearing his jumpsuit.
Mark: He was taking the piss out of me for my dodgy outfit but he’d dressed up as an ice cream man for one of his performances. I quite like the Kwik Fit Fitter outfit, actually.
Kevin: What secured it was our love for our divas. Mark has his diva, Mariah Carey and I have mine, Christina Aguilera. (laughing) He was the first person that understood how I felt.


Are you obsessed with Mariah Mark?
M: I wouldn’t say obsessed. As a young person I wanted her to be my big sister. I didn’t have a sister and she was the epitome of beauty for me. She always looked so sad when she was singing and then you learn the story of how she’s like the princess locked away in the mansion and… the voice? She seemed to totally understand gospel music, which I love so much. I saw her performing when I was about ten. She was performing live on some American TV show and my dad called me down ‘come here, Mark, look at this one, you’ll like her’ and I literally just stood and froze for a while at her performance of Without You. She is amazing.

Tell me about your love for Christina, Kevin.
K: I loved Genie In A Bottle and Come On Over just as songs. But with Dirrty it just went somewhere else. By Beautiful I just knew she was doing something really special. I bought the album on mini-disc and listened to it non-stop. I love someone who sings about their trials in life. I could relate.

What did it feel like to work with Mariah, Mark?
K: I would wet myself.
M: I imagined her to have this huge, imaginary, fabulous, lavish lifestyle. There was a time when I was in Thailand with Westlife. I’d always ask the porters when we were away who’d stayed at the hotel and I asked this guy and he said Mariah Carey and it seemed impossible to me. I had this silly illusion that she was so far removed from reality she couldn’t possibly have stayed in that hotel. Luckily by the time I got to meet her I’d come to terms a bit more with what celebrity was and what being a fan of somebody was because we had our own fans. The really annoying thing was that the first time I met her Westlife had just been nominated for an MTV award and we had a press conference day. I didn’t even know she was going to be there until I got there.
K: Tell him about the phone call. That must’ve been the maddest point…
M: … I’ll get to that in a minute. They put me in front of an entire press conference to meet her. And I’d waited ten years for this. For fuck’s sake, they couldn’t have made me look like more of a twat and she was in full bloom on a chaise longue.
K: With a fan, blowing her.
M: I just said ‘Hi Mariah, it’s really nice to meet you’ and she said ‘I heard you’re a big fan of mine.’ I’d got over meeting her when we worked with her.

Did you actually work in the studio together?
M: Absolutely. It wasn’t phoned in. We worked out the BV’s together. She did the main vocal in New York but we did BV’s and additional stuff together. It was in her house in Capri.

You did the famous video where Bryan McFadden’s starring at her breasts for the entire song at the same time?
M: Yeah. The maddest thing was when I was sitting in my living room in my house in Galway – the same living room my dad had called me down to see her in all those years earlier – and the phone rung and my mum said ‘Mark! It’s Mariah Carey on the phone.’ Fuck me. It was before we performed Hero with her in Manchester and she was calling to go through what we were going to do with the BV’s. I was just thinking all the way through the conversation ‘fucking hell, I wish I was taking this phone call on my computer so I could record it.’ Mariah singing down the phone to me in my mum’s living room. I put the phone down and didn’t remember one fucking thing that she said. For me, things like that are the things that make this job the best one in the world.
K: Those things don’t happen very often and no-one can take them away because they’re special to you.
M: And I’ll say this as well, we’ve worked with a lot of people who are not nearly as big as her who’ve been very difficult to get stuff out of.
K: She always asks after Mark.

Have you ever met Christina?
K: No. And I don’t think I’d cope nearly as well as he did if I did.

Is this both of your first long-term relationship?
M: Kevin’s my first boyfriend.
K: I’d not had anything serious. Nothing like this.
M: Not that anything could come close to this, eh? [laughing]
K: Of course not.

When you first met did you know that each other was gay?
M: You couldn’t have known, could you?
K: I never knew. But I was suspected.
M: Oh, I’m sure you were all gossiping about me. It wasn’t public then. It wasn’t even known for a fact in the industry. I trusted him from the moment I met him though. Some people you just make a connection with. I didn’t know for a fact that Kevin was gay but when I seen him dancing with Girls Aloud on the dancefloor at that party I thought ‘hmmm, he might be.’
K: [laughing] Fuck off! Sarah wasn’t there at the party so I said to Cheryl ‘I’ll be Sarah tonight’. We did the whole lot of Wake Me Up.

Are you still friendly with them?
K: We see each other around but we’re not really in the same circles.
M: I was quite matey with Nadine. We had the Irish connection. We’re still really good friends when we see one another. But we don’t really cross paths.
K: We saw them all at Nicola’s birthday party.
M: Nicola is a really, really nice girl. She looks fabulous, as well.

Where did you first go on holiday together?
M: We went in dribs and drabs to America a bit and had the most amazing experiences. That was the first time we had proper time together and after that summer stories started appearing in the papers. Then the whole coming out thing happened.

Where you worried about it?
M: No I wasn’t. I’ve always said this but meeting Kevin was the thing that made me go ‘do you know what? I don’t give a fuck anymore.’ Meeting him was the final thing for me to think the whole fucking world can know my business if it wants to. I’m not creeping around because I’m not that sort of a person.

When did you tell the rest of the band that you’d met Kevin?
M: Oh, straight away. The night I met him I said ‘I’ve met this really cool guy.’

Were all the other boys in relationships?
M: Yep. Shane and Nicky were married, Kian was with Jodi.

What about you Kevin, who did you tell first?
K: Aaron, who I was in the band with. We have a really strange relationship. We used to hate each other in the early days of the band. I was openly gay and had no issues with it whatsoever. And Aaron was really struggling with his sexuality. Because I was so open about it it freaked him out a bit, which it would, you know? I remember when I was at college and there was one guy called Danny who was a total queen and I was shit scared of him because I thought that he’d out me. Me and Aaron ended up as best friends, though.
M: Aaron’s a really nice guy.

Did you have a flat in London at the time, Mark?
M: No, I was in hotel land. I was on the verge of buying and I had intended to look for a place. I had a place in Ireland but now I’ve got one in both.

Did you pick the London place together?
K: Yeah, we rented for a little bit and then started looking. We chose it together and decorated it together.
M: We’re still fucking decorating it together.

Any decorating arguments you’d care to share with the more domesticated aspect of the relationship?
K: God, we’re both really stubborn. He’s more stubborn than me.
M: Whatever.
K: You are! It took us two years t decide on a sofa. We’ll see something that we both love and then a year later we’ll get round to buying it. I’m like ‘why has it taken us ten times to see something that we know we want?’

But you got it eventually?
M: Yeah, it was so expensive. In fact, it’s so expensive that I’m afraid to sit on it.

Oh my god, you’re like one of those suburban mums that keeps plastic on?
M: Get away with you. No, the dog’s been at it already. When the dog starts scratching it I’m like ‘oh there goes another grand’.
K: But it’s fabulous.
M: Yeah, but we didn’t spend that much money on a fucking sofa for the dog to wreck it. We should’ve gone to Ikea.

When did you get the dog?
K: Last Christmas. I went to Harrods to buy a Christmas tree. I’d been talking about getting a dog for ever with Mark and he’d always say oh it’s not possible because of how much we travel. But then Kian and Jodi got a dog and I saw how able they were to cope with it. Me and Jodi had been to Harrods the week before because he’d heard that they had some pugs in the pet shop there. Mark thinks that it was a plan but it wasn’t.

Who picked the name?
K: She’s called Saffron Cleopatra.
M: Saffy. After Saffy in Ab Fab. We nearly called her Sacha but I thought it was too butch.
K: She slept on our bed last night, which doesn’t happen very often.
M: Cleopatra was her name in Harrods.

She’s not named after the band, then?
K: No. But she’s totally comin’ atcha. Honestly, I could talk about her for the next hour. She goes everywhere with us.
M: I know we’re bound to say this but I really genuinely believe she’s the best pug in the world.
K: Here let me show you a picture [entire mobile phone slide show ensues and, yes, Saffy is absolutely adorable].
M: It’s good to have a female presence around the house as well. And as small as she is, she makes her presence felt.

Given the sofa and the Saffy situations it’s not difficult to deduce that Mark’s the sensible one in your relationship?
K: Absolutely. Mark thinks of the negative things which is good. I’m just all positive, totally ‘let’s just do it’.
M: To be honest, if it wasn’t for Kevin I’d be the one thinking up the positive stuff, but because Kevin only thinks of the positive stuff we need to think the other way sometimes.
K: I am very impulsive.

How did it feel when V finished, Kevin?
K: It was really, really hard.
M: I felt it too, because it wasn’t long after we’d met.
K: What was hard was that V were a fucking great boyband and I think we could have been credible enough to do something. I’m not stupid. I know what pop is and I’m happy to be part of that but I could slowly start seeing these wrong decisions being made. We didn’t end it. The label didn’t want to pursue us and that would have tarnished us trying to stay together. It took me a couple of years to get over it. I really find it hard to talk about.
M: The thing is this job is the furthest thing imaginable away from a bar job or something like that. You can’t switch off and put it behind you at the end of your shift.
K: It’s not a job basically.
M: It’s a lifestyle.
K: There were a lot of people telling us at the start that we were going to be huge and it’s hard, even though the management have told you not to, to not buy into the hype. I got a bit bitter and jaded by the music industry. For pop music it was like an ending. I started seeing all the magazines closing down and the TV shows being axed and there was nowhere for pop music to live anymore.
M: I think when CD:UK went that was the last nail in the coffin. The thing about V is, and I can say this from not being directly involved with them, that people outside of the band messed things up. I’ve heard the other 100 or so songs that didn’t make the album and they’re fucking amazing.

I like Hip To Hip.
K: Hmmm. Now, I see a boyband on X Factor and instantly think ‘nah!’ I think it’s going to be a while before one breaks again. I think it’s a couple of years off but when it happens it’ll be fantastic.
M: I think everyone should start a campaign to get V back together.
K: There’s a couple of people hanging around the internet doing it.

Did your album ever come out?
K: It did. It made it to the dizzy heights of 80-odd I think.

Were you put together from auditions?
K: yeah, all our paths had crossed at some point before the band were put together.

Did you have nerves about living in Ireland as well as London, Kevin?
K: Yeah. We spend the summer there, but all Mark’s friends and family have been sooo lovely to me. I was nervous about meeting them all but within 30 seconds we’d bonded. It’s so different from London.
M: It’s the same for me. But we’re similar like this. We both come from very strong family backgrounds.
K: Being in my family can be like being in an episode of Shameless sometimes. In a really nice way.

Where you nervous about telling your mum about meeting Kevin?
M: No, not at all.
K: I was so nervous about meeting her.
M: Likewise, I was really nervous about meeting yours. We both held those meetings in very high esteem. It was a big deal for both of us.
K: His mum makes the best, best, best vegetable soup.
M: And yours makes an amazing lasagna.

Do they know one another?
M: Yep, everyone’s met in Ireland. My parents have yet to go to Newcastle but that’ll happen.

It’s quite unusual for the parents to get involved with gay couples.
M: I think it’s a different day and age now. The differences between a gay couple and straight couple, though not in everyone’s case obviously, isn’t so much now.
K: We’re just a couple. We’re not ‘a gay couple’.

Brilliant.
M: It feels right to hear that. We’re just two normal lads in a relationship and we happen to be two guys rather than a guy and a girl. There’s no difference between me and Kevin that there is between…

Kian and Jodi?
M: Exactly. Within Westlife, at home, within our families, everywhere we don’t get special treatment because of it. Times are very different now.

Give yourself and your family some credit here, I think this is down to how individual couples wear their relationships and if they wear them without any shame they won’t be treated shamefully.
M: Where I grew up is a far cry from New York City or London but I have to give the place full credit. I swear to god, I haven’t had one look or comment made to me in Sligo. It’s not like London is more tolerant or advanced. In my personal experience I haven’t experienced negativity in either.

How long ago did you come out to your parents?
M: I’m trying to think when it came out in The Sun. Two years ago since August. I told my parents about three, four years before that.

Did coming out take complications out of your life?
M: I’m quite an honest, straightforward person. I’m not sneaky and I think anyone’s sexuality is a big part of them. To not be able to be free and open about it felt very unnatural.

Do you have brothers and sisters?
M: I’ve two younger brothers. No sisters.

Apart from Mariah Carey?
M: She’s my soul sista.

What about you Kevin?
K: I’ve an older brother and a younger sister.

How do you get on with them?
K: Great. My sister’s just been down to stay with us for the weekend and my brother lives in Thailand.

Do they like Mark?
K: Yeah they do. Paul’s only met Mark once but he really liked him. There’s more to come here. We’re both getting way more comfortable being around each other’s families.

Do you see this as being forever?
Both: Absolutely.
M: I don’t want to grow old, particularly, but I want to do it with Kevin.

What do you think you’ll be like as old men?
K: Grumpy.
M: We’ll be sitting there bickering all day long. I won’t be able to get up out of my chair and I’m going to have to rely on people wheeling me around.
K: You know those old couples walking down the street together or in a restaurant, pulling out a chair for his partner? I want to be like that.





Have you talked about civil partnership?
M: I get asked this at every interview. Is it true you’re going to get married, when are you getting married? I was going to say this was a gay thing but I’m wrong in that because Kian gets it in every interview, too. At the start I used to think it was a topical issue because of civil partnership, which I think by the way sounds like a fucking operation or something. It sounds like a lung transplant. ‘I’m going in tomorrow to have a civil partnership.’ It’s a marriage, you know?
K: I think we’ll look into it in the future. At some point in our relationship we’re going to want to basically celebrate being together. And it is a good excuse for a good old shindig isn’t it?
M: First of all, I am the type of person that would be telling everyone if it was happening.

Have either of you ever been to one?
M: Kevin has.
K: I went to a friend of mine’s in Newcastle in the summer. It was unusual.
M: It’s a new thing whatever way you look at it. But it’s fantastic, you know? It couldn’t have come any sooner.

What music do you listen to in the flat?
K: I like musicals. A bit of Rent or Wicked.
M: I love my soul music. I’ve always loved pop and Kevin does have a massive collection of it but because Westlife satisfies that for me I look to fulfil the other bits of my love for music. I love women with amazing voices, Jill Scott. Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill, Angie Stone. Louis [Walsh] tells me that we might be getting to do a duet with her at some point, which would be major.

Didn’t Blue get her for something?
M: I’ll tell you a funny story about that. Stevie Wonder actually asked me and Bryan [McFadden] to sing with him when we met him in a nightclub in LA once. He gave me his telephone number. Stevie fucking Wonder. Me and Bryan were pissed out of our minds on these shots we’d just been taking out of test-tubes so I took the wrong fucking number down. We were talking about it the next day, like did that really fucking happen? I said ‘oh he was probably just being nice’ and the next thing fucking two months later along comes Blue with Stevie Wonder. He told me that night that he’d been looking for a male group to do a duet with. I don’t think I remember any single night of that entire trip to LA. I was pissed for the entire time. But it was great to meet him anyway. That’s the stuff that I progressed to after finding Mariah Carey when I was ten. Vocally she has a side to her that people don’t credit her with. She can really sing. I love big voices.
K: I’ve got Robyn on in the car at the minute. That’s a great album.

Do you like the same TV?
K: No. I like total trash. I loved Janice Dickinson on I’m A Celebrity… Just brilliant.
M: There’s certain elements of trashy TV that I’ve come to like through Kevin. I love America’s Next Top Model.
K: And you like the E! True Hollywood Stories.
M: I love the ludicrousness of it all.

Are you both watching X Factor?
M: Look, I couldn’t have more connection with X Factor if I tried. Both my bosses are on it. Louis and Simon.

Tell me something I don’t know about Simon Cowell and please make it ‘he’s gay’.
M: [laughing] I’ll tell you something. He’s got the littlest fit in the universe. I don’t know what size they are but they look like they’re about size 5. Of course I have major, major amounts of respect for Simon and he’s been an amazing guide of our career. Actually, I haven’t looked at his feet for a while.

Do you like Westlife, Kevin?
K: Yes I do. When they first came out I loved them, but as time went on and I grew up my taste changed. But recently I like them a lot again. I like this album loads.

What’s your favourite Westlife song?
K: Probably one from the first album. Swear It Again or Flying Without Wings. I used to sing it at auditions, which is quite funny when you think about it now.

What’s your favourite V song, Mark?
M: That the public would know? Probably You Stood Up. It’s just a classic pop song. Breakaway was a great song on the album.

Do you sing for pleasure?
M: Oh yeah, I’ll be singing for the rest of my life even if it’s not my career. I didn’t get into Westlife because I dreamt of being a pop star or being famous. I never aspired to being the thing I ended up as. I enjoy it and I embrace it but I never aspired to be it. I aspired to being a singer. I’d be happy as a backing singer. I just took an opportunity that came my way. It has gone phenomenally well but if none of that had happened then it would’ve been fine.

Did you always dream of having a big relationship?
M: I think I’m a prime example of how doing your best to deal with your sexuality, if you’re struggling at all with the unknowns of it, then there’s nothing to really be afraid of out there. Your life is out there.

How soon did you fall in love with one another? And how do you know what love is?
K: Obviously it was quite fast. I can’t think of the exact date or time and I can’t say that I do know 100% what love is but it just feels right and I know I’d do anything for Mark.
M: There’s so many things attached to the idea of being in love. But I think you know when you love someone when it feels right, inside, to tell them it. We always tell each other we love each other but we’re quite laid back and natural about it. I don’t analyse it, I just live it. All I know is that I’m happy when I go to sleep at night with Kevin and I’m happy when I wake up in the morning.
K: And likewise, of course.




Another Westlife wedding?

Thursday June 26 2008


Westlife star Mark Feehily (28) has signalled he will eventually tie the knot with his long-term boyfriend Kevin McDaid.

And given that after this week, he'll be enjoying a 12-month-long holiday from the music industry, the singer plans to devote more of his time to Kevin.

"I get asked about this all the time and I'm sure I will eventually get married," he told the Herald. "The fact is, I'm as happy as Larry with Kevin. Thing's are going fantastically well between us. We're together now more than three years and the relationship is brilliant.




"I have been talking about the issue a lot in our new Westlife book and I said a bit out about the whole 'coming out' issue and I meant it when I said it was the best thing I ever did."

He added how it's not something he thinks about "right now" but could see it happening in the future.

However, Mark may have to wait a few years yet before getting married in Ireland.

Justice Minister Dermot Ahern ruled out a referendum on gay marriage in the lifetime of the current government.

Speaking on Newstalk today, Mr Ahern said he "couldn't go any further" in providing equal rights for gay people in Ireland.




"The government has gone as far as is legally and constitutionally possible. If we were to go any further we would have to put a referendum to the people, but I couldn't see it happening in the lifetime of this government," Mr Ahern said.

honest

Mark first met fellow performer Kevin, a former member of boyband V, at the Childline concert in Dublin in January 2005 and just a few months later, came out of the closet.

Since then, he said he has received nothing but messages of support from fans around the world, who have commended him for his honesty.

One of the strongest couples on the showbiz scene, the pair have been inseparable since meeting more than three years ago and friends say they are definitely in it for the long haul.

And given that Mark and the rest of the band are taking a year-long break from music, he has ample time to devote to his personal life.

"Technically, it's a year off but it's more that we're not releasing an album this year. We have done nine albums in nine years and it does take its toll. We wanted to get away from it all. We want to be able to go home, scratch our ar**s and do nothing," he explained.

"I want to be around for my dad's birthday and my friend's wedding and all the thing's that I've missed throughout the years, the things that you bite your lip for and say you don't mind missing."

plans

He continued: "You do have to make sacrifices if you want to be a success but we feel it's a good time to take a year off. Me and Kian are going to travel while Shane and Nicky have kids so they want to be home to wake up in the morning and be there for them."

The Irish band will finish their sell-out tour of UK and Ireland by performing at the Liverpool Pops event this Sunday -- which will mark their last performance for a year.

But Mark admitted that it was "unfortunate" that the weather affected their performance in Galway last Saturday, after scores of fans were forced to leave Pearse Stadium early due to the torrential rainfall.

"I heard someone say that three weeks worth of rain fell in about two hours on the evening but what can you do? You just have to get on with it. Before the show, I thought the whole thing might be cancelled but in the end, they went along with it and the decision was taken out of our hands," he explained. "By the end of the night, 70 or 75pc of the crowd were still there and that was good to see."




COLLECTING THEIR FRENCH BULLDOG PUPPY (AUGUST 2009)






.


Hi guys,ITS TRUE!!! Myself & Kevin are engaged!! We are so happy!




FASHION KICKS IN MANCHESTER 2010

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westlife+donny osmond

WESTLIFE & DONNA SUMMER

Back at one - Westlife & Lulu LIVE

Westlife Feat Delta Goodrem - All Out Of Love

Duets Westlife have performed duets with some of the biggest names of the music industry, including Mariah Carey, Donny Osmond, Lulu, Donna Summer, Diana Ross, Lionel Richie, Christian Castro, Ronan Keating and more recently Delta Goodrem. Claudia Schiffer and Vinnie Jones have also starred in their music videos. Westlife also collaborated with Asian-music sensation BoA with the song 'Flying Without Wings', which would appear on her mini-album, "Shine We Are!". remix

westlife- duet,s impossible

Easy like Sunday morning -

Lionel Richie ft. Westlife

Do & westlife

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Almost 80,000 fans will descend on Croke Park this Friday - and the same again on Saturday - for Westlife?s farewell tour.

The Westlife boys will say an emotional goodbye to fans around the world tonight when they play their final concert at Dublin's Croke Park in front 80,000 fans.

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westlife / X-factor 2006

2008

Westlife singer Shane Filan offered his support. Earlier in the competition he helped mentor JLS as Louis Walsh's co-judge Boyband city: JLS were joined by Westlife for a take on Flying Without Wings ........ JLS,Take That and Westlife To Appear On X Factor November 2010 The X Factor will stage a kind of boyband Woodstock in two weeks time when they will have three massive performances from JLS, Westlife and Take That during the Sunday results show. All three bands are promoting new singles and will be on the show to perform their respective tracks. Take That will play 'The Flood', Westlife will do 'Safe' and former X Factor contestants JLS will be doing their Children In Need track 'Love You More'. Simon Cowell let news of the performances (which will take place on Sunday Nov. 14) on the ITV2 show 'The Xtra Factor'. ...... What battle? Boy bands JLS and Westlife celebrate their X Factor performances together at Whisky Mist nightclub in London There were whispers of backstage rivalry and diva behaviour as three of the country's biggest ever boy bands took to the X Factor stage. But two of the acts put the much-hyped 'battle' behind them hours later as they celebrated their performances with a night on the tiles. Members of JLS and Westlife arrived at London nightclub Whisky Mist after leaving the Fountain Studios where they thrilled the audience with performance of their new singles. Aston, Marvin, Ortise and JB are regulars at the Mayfair haunt, and appeared to be showing their Irish guests the favourite celebrity hot spot. Nicky, Shane and Kian were surrounded by fans as they arrived from their X Factor performance with their respective wives . Westlife members Nicky Byrne and Shane Filan joined their younger counterparts for drinks at Whisky Mist nightclub in London Boy band mania: Westlife posed with One Direction outside the studios Take That did not join the other bands for drinks after their performance 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEuqoZ0V1TY 

2011 Speaking exclusively to Yahoo! omg! Shane told us: "Janet reminds me of Dolores O'Riordan from The Cranberries. "She's unique and different and of everybody she has the voice to sell records." Speaking to us on the last ever day of UK press for the band - who recently announced they are retiring from the music scene - Shane added that he wasn't that impressed with this year's talent. He said: "The contestants aren't as good as last year. There's no 1 Direction, no Matt Cardle. There needs to be one of two massive stars but this year people are watching more for the judges' banter." Speaking about what makes an X Factor star successful after the show Shane told us he reckoned it was all about the song choices. "With Janet it will all come down to the songs. Leona Lewis had a proper worldwide single." 

X Factor 2011: Westlife’s Shane Filan didn’t enjoy Marcus Collins’ second performance December 4th, 2011 by Lisa McGarry. Shane Filan has admitted that while he is a big Marcus Collins fan, he didn’t particularly enjoy his final performance on last night’s X Factor semi final. The former hairdresser got great feedback from the judges after his first performance of the classic track ‘My Girl but after his rendition of ‘Can You Feel It’ they weren’t quite so positive and said that ‘something was missing.’ Wesylife star Shane agrees and on last night’s Xtra Factor explained: I enjoyed his first performance and I thought the second one, the vocals were a bit low for him. I think he’s very good but the second song could have been better. When he was singing high in My Girl, some of the falsetto stuff he was doing was incredible. I think he started off so low on the second one that he looked uncomfortable. However Daybreak presenter Adrian Chiles was more positive and thinks Marcus has what it takes to become a big star. He said: When he first appeared I thought this lad is like Little Richard and a young Prince rolled into one. He added: He’s lived a bit, he’s been a hairdresser, he knows what it’s like to work and he seems to be made of the right stuff to really make a go of it, if he does win the whole thing. 

X Factor 2011: Westlife’s Shane Filan thinks Amelia Lily is a ‘great talent’ December 4th, 2011 by Lisa McGarry. Shane Filan has admitted that he is a big fan of Amelia Lily’s on The X Factor. The Westlife star was in London’s Fountain Studios last night, watching all the final four perform on the semi-final show and speaking afterwards on The X Factor, he admitted that the 17 year old blew him away. Amelia started her performances with an upbeat rendition of Ain’t No Mountain High Enough and finished with an emotional version of I’m With You and afterwards, Shane commented: She’s a great talent and both of her songs tonight were amazing. Both of her vocals were very powerful, she looks like she loves being on the stage, she really enjoys it….you can see it. ........ X Factor’s Louis Walsh is ‘devastated’ that Westlife are splitting! December 1st, 2011 by Lisa McGarry. Louis Walsh was said to be ‘devastated’ when he found out that Westlife were breaking up. The Irish star put the band together more than a decade ago and has managed them ever since, but as they plan their final goodbye tour, Shane Filan from the group admitted that their mentor was less than happy when they broke the news. He told The Sun’s TV Buzz: “For Louis, Westlife are the success story of his life; his pride and joy. He’s very protective of us.” “He’s devastated that Westlife are ending, but he knows we’re right to leave while we’re still at the top.” X Factor boss Simon Cowell has also had a huge impact on the success of Westlife and the singer added: “We wouldn’t be sat here today without Simon. If Westlife ever get back together, the first person we should do it with is Simon Cowell. He picked every hit we had for 14 years.” The boys also admitted that they considered asking Brian McFadden to return to the group for their farewell tour, but decided against it in the end. Kian Egan explained why they couldn’t have their big Take That moment, saying: “We might bring Brian back if he was a big as Robbie Williams…but he’s not.” ” A part of me does think it would be a great moment for him to walk back on stage. I just don’t think that’s now – maybe in the reunion in 20 years time. We’ve had to make such a big decision to bring the biggest thing in our lives to an end, and it’s the four of us who have kept it together.” Being a member of one the most famous boy bands in the UK, Kian explained the boys did get up a bit of mischief in their years. He laughed: “We made a real error with a drinking session in Dublin. It was a Friday and we were supposed to fly to the UK the next morning. We cancelled the show and got battered by Louis.” On the subject of The X Factor, Kian admitted that he doesn’t see a star in any of this year’s bunch and thinks boyband The Wanted have a better chance of success. “The Wanted have a better chance than any of them contestants, because they’ve come up the ranks slowly and gone into music the normal way. I’m not sure I’d want to be part of a boy band via The X Factor,” he mused. So what does the future hold for the Westlife boys? Kian will be a dad in 2012 and Shane admitted: “I’d love to keep singing after Westlife. I have absolutely zero plans, as you’ve got to get a record deal first, but it’ll be sorted out over the next nine months. Deep down, we all know that we still have to work. None of us wants to retire at 32 years old.” Mark is going to be busy planning his wedding and went on: “My wedding will be next year at some point when we can do it properly. We’ve got nothing to prove to anyone, so we’ll get married in our own time, but we do want it to be as soon as possible.” The Westlife lads will be sure to celebrate their last night together as Shane explained: “No partners, no managers, no anybody. Just us four.” Sounds like they could get up to mischief again.

(UKPA) – 5 days ago Westlife's Nicky Byrne has hinted he'd love a job on The X Factor. The Flying Without Wings stars have announced they are splitting next year and 33-year-old singer Nicky told the Daily Star he has been thinking about what it would be like to host or be a judge on the show. He said: "It's funny with The X Factor because in the past we'd be looking at the bands and how they perform, but this year I'm looking more at Louis and Dermot to see what they do. "I'm keen to do more TV presenting and I can see myself getting into a Dermot O'Leary kind of role. Presenting a show like that is something I would like to do." Westlife were once signed to Simon Cowell's record label, so Nicky thinks he has a good chance. He said: "I've a good relationship with Simon, despite everything. I texted him when we left the label and it's all amicable now. "Maybe down the road, me doing X Factor would be a very interesting conversation to have with him." Nicky's former bandmate Brian McFadden is now a judge on Australia's Got Talent and Boyzone's Ronan Keating, who briefly managed Westlife, is a judge on the Australian X Factor.

Westlife added to star studded X Factor final line up By Anthony Lund on 08/12/2011 The Irish band will make their last X Factor appearance on Sunday's results show. Westlife Irish boyband Westlife will be making their final appearance on the X Factor as part of Sunday night’s results show, ruling out the possibility they will be duetting with one of the finalists. The foursome have previously sang in the live final but for the last time before they split up, the group will be performing on the results show instead. The group tweeted, “We are excited to announce that Westlife will be performing at the X Factor Final on Sunday 11th December. Westlife are the sixth act to be announced for the shows this weekend, with Leona Lewis and Michael Buble confirmed to be performing with Amelia Lily and Marcus Collings respectively , while One Direction, .... The mighty Westlife took to the X Factor stage at Wembley Arena during tonight’s live final to perform for the last time on the show. The boys, who announced earlier this year that they were splitting up, sang their new single What About Now, showing just why they have become one of the biggest boy bands on the planet. Dressed in smart black outfits, Kian Egan, Shane Filan, Nicky Byrne and Mark Feehily belted out the soulful track amid screams from the girls in the crowd. The boys, who have been together for 14 years, are the only act in British and Irish history to have their first seven singles peak at number one in the charts. Westlife have sold over 44 million records worldwide and have accumulated 14 number one singles in the UK, the third highest in UK history. They have also broken numerous records and have been credited as the second biggest-selling artist and biggest-selling band of the decade by The Official Charts Company. The band performed their classic hit Flying Without Wings on The X Factor in 2008 alongside JLS and returned in 2010 to perform new single Safe in 2010. Kian was also a guest judge on the show when he joined Louis Walsh at the Judges Houses stage of the competition in 2007. The group have recently released a Greatest Hits album and will disband in 2012. ...... Westlife wowed the crowds at the X Factor final on Sunday night, when the band delivered their last ever live TV performance on the show. Earlier this year, the Irish singers announced they will be splitting after their 2012 tour, making the X final performance particularly poignant. Westlife have enjoyed a close relationship with the show, performing Flying Without Wings on the X stage back in 2008, with JLS, and single Safe in 2010. Kian Egan was a guest judge on X Factor when he joined Louis Walsh at the Judges Houses stage of the competition in 2007. Backstage on Sunday night, Kian said: “I think every performance this year has been quite emotional and it’s mad because it makes you realise what you’ve got. “For us it’s bittersweet cause we feel really lucky to be here at the X Factor final as our last TV performance and we’re grateful that we’ve had 14 years.” Speaking of Westlife’s former manager, judge Louis, Nicky Byrne said: “Louis actually had tears in his eyes at the end of the performance. We went over to him and he filled up and he said “I’m really, really, really going to miss you.” “He said that he’s never enjoyed working with anybody as much as us and I think that it goes both ways; we’ve had a great relationship with Louis, he’s been brilliant down the years. Its going to be sad but things have to happen.” After 14 years together, the boys also had words of wisdom for winner’s Little Mix, insisting friendship and hard work is key to any group’s success.

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Past their bedtime Westlife's youngest fans caught napping


December 28 2007

THEY have sold millions of albums and sold out concert venues worldwide, but the boys from Westlife had difficulty keeping two of their youngest fans entertained during the filming of their 'Late Late' special tribute show.

Nicky Byrne's children, Rocco and Jay, (pictured right) seemed oblivious to the commotion in RTE studio four and fell asleep in the arms of their grandmother, Miriam, instead of listening to their dad and his band mates talk about the group's success over the last 10 years.

The show, which was recorded last Friday but airs tonight, will see the pop supergroup perform a selection of their hits.

They follow in the footsteps of other Irish music giants like Christy Moore and the Dubliners, who also got 'The Late Late Show' tribute treatment in previous years.

Duet

Among the songs the boys from Dublin and Sligo will be performing is a duet with Irish singer Mary Black on the Christmas favourite, 'Walking in the Air'.

And Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, whose daughter Georgina is married to Nicky Byrne, also makes an appearance on the programme, which was recorded hours after his attendance at the Mahon Tribunal last Friday. He is pictured far right with Nicky Byrne.

Mr Ahern's interview with Pat Kenny also deals with the band's career.

"It is a tribute to the band to coincide with the tenth anniversary of their first appearance on the Late Late," an RTE spokesman said yesterday.

"It is one of the special seasonal Late Lates we have each Christmas, and we've had many."


Joining band members Shane Filan, Kian Egan, Mark Feehily and Nicky Byrne in studio will be guests who helped them through their career, including Louis Walsh and Ronan Keating.

Other friends, including Sharon Osbourne, the Sugababes, Shane Ward, the Backstreet Boys, Paul O'Grady, Michael Flatley and Simon Cowell, will send their best wishes to the boys in recorded video messages.

The show has been planned for months by the 'Late Late' team and boasts a live studio choir.



Holiday Habits 2007-12-28 von

Westlife


The chart-topping Irish lads cast their minds back to reveal some of their travelling tales




MARK: The first time I went abroad was on a ferry to the Isle of Man. I was five and kicked up an absolute stink because I seen a stopwatch, you know the ones you wear round your neck? I cried, kicked and screamed until I got it.




SHANE: My first flight was to Manchester, on Ryanair from Knock airport. I would have been 10 or 11. The flight was an absolute novelty but I wanted a pair of Reebok pumps which were about £70. Back then, that was like buying a car for your child. I had to have them, I got them and I was cool for a week!






NICKY: I remember going to Spain on holiday. I dived into our hotel pool and my armbands fell off. I was only about six. Out of nowhere these arms lifted me up and it was my dad. He been keeping an eye on us.






KIAN: My first foreign holiday was to Mauritius after I joined the band. Now I turned into a bit of a surfer so I go to places like Hawaii all the time.



NICKY: Back in the early days of the band we didn,t have time for holidays

SHANE: Yeah it was probably a couple of years before we could have more than a Christmas holiday.

MARK: Still we travelled with the band

NICKY: When we tried to break America the first time around we do a few cities in a day.






MARK: We start off in one city, do our promotional stuff and a gig, then go straight to the airport, fly to another city, do the same and then get going on to another city.

SHANE: We recorded some of this latest album, Back Home, in Stockholm, which I think is the nicest city in the world, after Sydney.

NICKY: I think I prefer Sweden its so fresh, the air, the water

SHANE: Its like it has come out of an Evian bottle.

MARK: Vodka is very expensive.


SHANE: Yeah you wouldn go over there for a weekend with the lads, but if you want to find some good looking women there are handfuls of them on every street corner.

NICKY: Even the average looking women are absolutely amazing

SHANE: Even the men are I,m not gay but Mark is obviously, but

MARK: Obviously? (laughs)

SHANE:...But all the men are models. You know Freddie Ljungberg is from there. Honestly its embarrassing, those cheek bones

MARK: Freddie Lungberg,s cheek bones are so sharp they could be used as a weapon. You can,t take him on the plane.

SHANE: Hmm that,s kinda funny.





Westlife promise to return after a taking a year out



WESTLIFE singer Kian Egan has promised the band legion of fans that they are not splitting up and they will be back after taking a year out.

Westlife announced last Friday that they are going to take a break for a year after they finish their upcoming world tour with new album Back Home.

But Kian Egan promised fans that this did not mean the end for the chart-topping group.

He said: The minute people hear we taking a break, they are going to say we are splitting up for good - which is not true.

Myself and Jodi are going to go and do some travelling and I'm sure the other guys have plans as well.

It will be the first time in years that there hasn,t been a Westlife album vying for the Christmas number one, which will be a bit weird, but I think we have earned the time off.

Kian said he and Jodi plan to hire a camper van and tour Australia, while Nicky and Shane will use the break to spend more time with their families.

Fellow Sligo man Shane Filan has a one-year-old daughter, Nicole, with wife Gillian and lives in Carraroe. While Nicky Bryne,s wife Georgina Ahern gave birth to twin boys earlier this year.

The band has had 14 number one singles and have been at the top of the charts for nine years now.

Westlife formed in 1998 and have sold more than 36 million albums worldwide, as well as winning numerous awards including Record of the Year four times, added Kian.

The band will release their new single Home, a cover of the Michael Buble hit, on Friday, October 26.


Mark Feehily: Coming out felt fantastic
Friday, November 9 2007,






Westlife's Mark Feehily has claimed that coming out about his sexuality "felt fantastic".

The popstar revealed that he has had no negative comments since he announced he was gay during an interview in 2005.

Talking about his experience, he told The Sun: "Life is a million times better since I came out.

"Since the last time I spoke to you my life has changed so much. I,m still the same person, I still do the same job, yet it feels like a lot has changed. It was just a relief to finally say what I said.

um a very honest person so for people to not know about one of the biggest parts of me, my sexuality, felt strange. Once I come out, people knew the real me and it felt fantastic."

On the response of his fans, Feehily added: "They were amazing. Fans, family, friends - no one made a negative comment. I think there still a long way to go until society accepts people,s sexuality but it has come a long way already."





MARK FEEHILY

What the worst thing you done while drunk?
I came back to my apartment in London recently after a party having forgotten my keys. I woke up at about 11am lying outside the front door wondering how many people had taken pictures!

What was your last random act of kindness?
I met an old lady on the train to Newcastle and she said her grandchildren were Westlife's biggest fans. She called them to come and meet us at the station where we had pictures taken.

Have you ever broken anyone's heart?
Not directly, although fans have said in letters that I have

When did you last say I love you?
Earlier today to Kevin on the phone

Have you ever cheated on anyone?
Never, no way. You're either in a relationship or you're not.

What do you dislike about yourself?
I hate seeing photos of myself. I think I really stand out compared to the rest of the band

What's the most extravagant thing you ever bought?
I like property and have a few houses

When was the last time you cried?
A long time ago-my tear ducts have sealed up! Being in this business toughens you up very quickly.

What's the worst lie you ever told?
When I was 15 I took my parents car and hit a pillar, wrecking the front. I said it wasn,t me, even insinuating it might have been one of my cousins!

Which celeb do you secretly fancy?
I wouldn't say I fancy them, but I love Joanna Lumley and Russell Brand because they make me laugh. I'm very lucky because Kevin is beautiful, makes me laugh and has an amazing personality too

What's the biggest thing you ever blagged?
We all get free phone bills as were sponsored by O2 in Ireland.

Who are the most famous celebrities on your mobile?
The lads - obviously - and Louis Walsh and Simon Cowell.

When did you last take public transport?
Kevin and I take the tube in London sometimes as I despise traffic






WESTLIFE INTERVIEW - 2007


"We would rather have knocked the whole fucking thing on the head than record that album." Proof that there is a bit more to Westlife than stools and suits...

Westlife eh? A load of old men singing boring ballads, right? Well, sort of, but at the same time perhaps not. We interviewed Mark and Nicky very recently and they were both very funny and very aware of exactly what people think of them. Here is what they had to tell us about their new album, the dreadful 'Westlife Go To The Movies' record Simon Cowell was pushing them to record and the terror of a chart face-off with the Spice Girls...


Hello Westlife. What do you think people think about you?
Mark: People think stools, suits and cover versions.
Nicky: From the outside in - actually from the inside out as well I can see why people think some of the things they do about Westlife. The black suits and everything, it's as exciting as watching paint dry, but when you get into Westlife, when you know us personally, when you come to see our live shows it's the complete opposite.

What is left for Westlife to achieve?
Mark: There are definitely things that we want to achieve personally and as a band - the main thing is to win over the Popjustice viewers but I don't think we're ever going to achieve that.
Nicky: We felt recently that we haven,t been at our best. Songs like 'Flying Without Wings' and 'World Of Our Own' really enabled us to become a long serving pop band and this year we put our foot down with the label and said that we wanted to get back to where we were, making great pop songs and that's what we did this album.

Why were you releasing music that wasn't your best?
Nicky: We've got a formula with Westlife and we've got Simon Cowell behind us. He knows what the public wants to a certain extent, but what we've learned to do with Simon is to force a compromise and we've done that on this album. Simon didn't want us to make an original pop album, Simon and Sony/BMG wanted us to make a 'Westlife Go To The Movies' album which would have been cover songs like 'Take My Breath Away' from Top Gun but that really wasn't up our street. We would rather have knocked the whole fucking thing on the head than record that album. I hope we get three or four singles off this album too, I hope we don't just stick with one or two before Christmas. This is a good album.

Is the album going to win over non-Westlife fans?
Mark: It's made for Westlife fans. It's not made for people who already hate Westlife and we're not making albums to try and convince fans of trendy pop music that we're cool. We make pop music for our fans.
Nicky: It's safe to say there are people we are never going to win over.
Mark: It's not electro pop, it's not trendy pop, it is commercial Westlife pop music.

So this is not Westlife's 'Rudebox'?
Mark: We definitely went down a certain road for a while but this album and we're not saying the new album is going to be credible or critically acclaimed, we never ever will be, but it's definitely going back to pop music.
Nicky: We've got a good thing going here. We're four lads in our twenties, we sing well together so let's make pop music. Mark is right, we've made one too many cover versions, last year's 'Love' album probably sold more off the title than it did from the quality of the songs, even though we'll stand up for our vocals 100%. People will always expect us to do a love album and that's why this year we had to change things a little bit, because otherwise there'd be no point in us continuing. It was time for us to make a really fucking great pop album.

Would the only way for you to become more famous be for you to split and then announce a comeback tour six months later?
Nicky: There's nothing like a bit of nostalgia and a reunion, Take That were in a win-win situation, they had no idea how big or small it was going to be but hats off to those boys, they have come back and they have brought back something that has been missing for years.
Mark: When we made our swing album a few years ago we took two years between pop albums but the feeling coming back to pop music and the reaction from the fans was so obvious that it was good for us not to do a pop album that year. That's another thing that works against us is that we release an album every single year if we didn't release so close together then maybe people wouldn't see it is the same old thing over and over. The whole comeback thing has become a bit of a trend... When Take That did it it was a new thing and now it's just cliché to come back.

What's going on with this ridiculous Westlife and Spice Girls chart battle?
Mark: We were fans of the Spice Girls at the start but this thing could get really out of hand and I hope it doesn't. Things like this can be fun, a bit tongue in cheek and a bit of a laugh but for some reason I don't think those five girls one of them in particular are going to see the fun side to it. I hope that we can contain ourselves and not lash out because I heard something recently that really wound me up and I've been biting my tongue since then.
Nicky: It would be great to have a normal chart battle with the girls, we were fans of them back in the day when we were young and they were massive.
Mark: They need to come back with a 'Patience' and if they do then it will be huge.
Nicky: I don't know any girl that has patience...

It would take a brave four men to go up against those five.
Nicky: Ah, but we'll have our stools for back up...



Thank you very much Nicky and Mark Westlife.







WESTLIFE singer MARK FEEHILY missed their album launch at Harrods yesterday when fog delayed his flight to London from Dublin.
The result was an empty seat in this horse-drawn carriage bringing the band,s other members to the store.

NICKY BYRNE, SHANE FILAN and KIAN EGAN, performed without Mark for thousands of fans who had queued for TWO DAYS to get into the gig.

The tracks included You Raise Me Up and World Of Our Own, as well as two songs from new album Back Home, which was released yesterday.

Nicky, Shane and Kian then signed copies of their record and Mark turned up in time for fans got a full set of autographs.

Westlife Album Signing Dublin HMV 2nd November 2007 Nick Kian Mark Shane

WOMAN MAGAZINE SCAN 2007 Talk about "old" boybands that refuse to give up. Westlife returns with their latest studio album, Back Home, and a dignified Nicky Byrne tells us that the Irish fab four are survivors. How special is your new album as compared to your last one? This is going to be a comeback album for Westlife, the real follow-up to our best record, World Of Our Own. It has the kind of music that we've always wanted to do -- a good combination of slow and fast numbers. But as usual, you're doing covers.. Not as many as we used to, We put our feet down this time around. We've told our record company that we only want to cover songs that we really like and that are meaningful to us. With all the new pop acts, how do you plan to survive the stiff competition? There will always be people who like simple pop music, people who don't like complicated music. They just want to turn on the radio and hear something catchy, with nice melodies and good harmonies. Westlife is designed to cater to those people and we're happy with it. Honestly, how long do you guys think you can go on? Who knows? We love what we do and we'll stop when we don't enjoy it anymore. Besides, how many good new pop acts do we have today? I mean I grew up listening to good pop acts like Take That, Mariah Carey and Wet, Wet, Wet who have lasted till today. How many of our new talents can be like them? Today's pop music is just about who's the biggest pop star in the world at the moment. What do you say to critics who consider you over the hill? There are cynical people out there who don't want Wetslife to continue. Well, I agree that when we did the swing album (Allow Us To Be Frank), we took a dip and we seemed to be on our way out. But we bounced back with You Raise Me Up (The single from their following album Face To Face) and became the biggest selling pop act in the UK. So as far as the four of us in Westlife are concerned, and our millions of fans out there who have been supporting us all these years, we don't give a s*** about what these people think. ..... ....... MARK FEEHILY has slammed the British media WESTLIFE star MARK FEEHILY has slammed the British media for constantly criticising singer AMY WINEHOUSE and deliberately focusing on her personal life. The Irish singer accuses the media of not recognising the Rehab hitmaker's talent and only reporting on her recent troubles. He says, "I've been a big Amy Winehouse fan for years - way before anyone had really heard of her. It's sad because I've met her and she's a lovely, intelligent, nice person, but the person you read about is the bleeding, drunk, drugged-up Amy Winehouse. There's a lot more to her." Winehouse recently hit the headlines after husband Blake Fielder-Civil was arrested on suspicion of grievous bodily harm and perverting the course of justice. 14/11/2007 ......... Westlife and Myleene Klass Variety Club Showbiz Awards, London Hilton Hotel.. London, England - 18.11.07 ......... Westlife visit the Waterfront restaurant Westlife visit the Waterfront restaurant, and insist that fans were not allowed in. The band enjoyed an Italian meal and ordered several bottles of champagne and vodka spending over 4 hours in the upmarket eatery. Leeds, England - 08.12.07 ........ Westlife's Mark Feehily: 'We're Not Splitting Up.' 29-10-2007 Westlife's Mark Feehily is determined that the band will not split after their next tour as predicted by recent reports.We know we're not splitting up," he told Female First last week after fans began to panic over news the guys are taking a year long break after their upcoming tour."The fans are all not sure because that's what Boyzone said and whatever but we're just going to take a lot longer to make this 10th album," he confirmed. Comment on this Article "This is a big tour coming up and then we're actually taking a year off after that. It's a big one for us and a big one for the fans. So it's not like we're taking a year off- we're taking a year away from releasing an album in November because we've done the 9 albums in 9 years.Westlife are also planning some big celebration for their 10 year anniversary: " We're in talks about doing some mega mega gigs in Ireland and possibly in the UK too just to sort of seal off the 10 years with a bang. But we're not sure about them yet. Some are more likely than others," said Mark.Mark also confirmed that ex-member Brian will definitely not be joining them on stage next year: Brian is well and truly gone from Westlife, he said."There's no plans what so ever to have Brain playing any gigs with us because he's not in our band any more.Brian decided to leave and therefore we don't feel bad saying that. We had to get over the fact that he left and get used to it and now we are used to it. We're a 4 piece now and that's that," he added. Brian's decision to leave the band just 2 weeks before Westlife embarked on a world tour in 2004 was perhaps one of the lowest points for Mark and the rest of the band: There was a lot of different emotions. There was fear- fear of the unknown because we didn't know what would happen next, he explains. There was sadness. We all asked him 'don't go, please don't go' and tried to see if there was some other way around this but he was adamant he wanted to leave. When you go through a mental kind of ride that we went through for the 4 or 5 years we went through when he was in the band and then all of a sudden one is just gone it's definitely a weird kind of situation to be in. But there was a very very small element of release. We knew that things weren't happy for the band at that time and that maybe this is what the unhappy thing was and that now that it's gone we could move on and get our act together again. We had a world tour to put out in two weeks and we had to prove more than ever on the first night that we were just as good without Brian so we had to get down to business and get on with it. But despite the initial shock the band managed to battle on through and came out stronger than ever: I'm not cocky or arrogant or anything but I think we totally proved it and I actually think that Brian leaving kicked us into being tighter than ever and more professional than ever.

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LOOKING GOOD: The Voice is shaping up to be compulsive viewing, with coaches Brian Kennedy, Kian Egan, Sharon Corr and Bressie IS Westlife's Kian Egan looking to emulate Simon Cowell and become TV's new Mr Nasty? RTE's The Voice could be set to rival the X Factor for spats among the judges, the Herald can reveal. Gary Barlow has tried to pick up where Cowell left off on X Factor with a string of cutting comments. Now sources say that Kian Egan could be the one to shout loudest and be extra harsh on contestants. Tensions have already arisen between the boyband star and former Blizzards frontman Niall Breslin, aka Bressie, on the set of The Voice. "Bressie and Kian are very different kind of coaches. Bressie is still young in the industry and he knows what it feels like to be knocked back but Kian wants the contestants to know the harsh realities of the music business," a source revealed. "Bressie does get quite defensive about Kian's attitude and says that in his eyes the glass is always half full, and he doesn't think the contestants deserve to be put down," an insider explained. With comments like "that just didn't do it for me" and "there is no point in saying that it's great when it really wasn't", Kian (31) comes out on top as the show's baddy. A source close to the popular show has admitted that although not everyone will like it, Kian is just bringing some honesty to the show. "Some of his comments do come across quite harsh, and Kian definitely is ruthless but he knows that's the reality of the music industry. "He has had massive success with Westlife but at the same had to deal with his band Wonderland being dropped by their music label so although he is quite cut-throat and really blunt, Kian is just being realistic," the insider said. And it's not just Bressie, Kian, Sharon Corr and Brian Kennedy that the contestants will have to perform to during the early stages of the show. All the contestants will have to sing in front of industry experts who will act as advisors to the four coaches. Mullingar musician Bressie will be joined by Irish singer-songwriter Ruth Ann Cunningham, who has penned such US hits as Jo Jo's Too Little Too Late. Meanwhile Sharon is paired up with Don Mescal, Kian will judge the acts in the early stages alongside singer Eddi Reader and Brian will look to choreographer Priscilla to help him choose his final six for the lives stages. After beating thousands of wannabes and battling against 23 other talented hopefuls on the live shows, the winner of The Voice Of Ireland will bag a recording contract with Universal Music. 

708,000 watch The Voice of Ireland Sunday's show saw the four coaches - Bressie, Sharon Corr, Kian Egan and Brian Kennedy - pick the first singers they will mentor on their teams. The coaches were not allowed see the singers, only to hear them, while they sang. 

708,000 watch The Voice of Ireland Sunday's show saw the four coaches - Bressie, Sharon Corr, Kian Egan and Brian Kennedy - pick the first singers they will mentor on their teams. The coaches were not allowed see the singers, only to hear them, while they sang. 

X Factor 2012 UK: Simon Cowell plans to steal Westlife's Kian Egan from The Voice of Ireland! February 3, 2012 07:17 by Josh Darvill Fresh from his “bloodbath” axing over in the US, X Factor boss Simon Cowell is turning his attention to the UK show, and wants Kian Egan to join. According to the Daily Mail, Simon wants to pinch Westlife’s Kian to join this year’s UK series of The X Factor. It’ll mean tempting the Irish singer and manager away from new talent show The Voice of Ireland, which is currently airing in the country. But sources say that, in a cruel twist of fate, Kian would likely be replacing his own manager, Louis Walsh on the panel! “Kian is highly rated and would be a perfect judge, although whether he is considered will depend on what happens with Louis Walsh,” an insider told the newspaper. The source added: “In reality, Kian can only be considered if Louis doesn’t come back.” Meanwhile its understood that Simon and ITV have been arguing over thde futures of Dermot O’Leary and Gary Barlow, with the channel wanting the stars to stay but Simon wanting fresh blood on the show. 

Kian Egan is getting set for another busy weekend on The Voice of Ireland as he battles it out against the other coaches on the show – Brian Kennedy, Sharon Corr and Bressie. And he’ll be battling it out in more ways than one – the Coaches will perform THEMSELVES on the show. Kian told 98FM he jetted in from China on Sunday morning with the Westlife boys before doing the live shows for The Voice of Ireland last Sunday night so he didn’t have much sleep at all. Luckily for Kian, his new baby Koa is a great sleeper so he’s had a bit of time this week to catch up on a few naps. Kian told 98FM how himself and his wife Jodi Albert are getting on with their new bundle of joy. Kian told 98FM “Koa is amazing. He is at ths stage now where he is smiling and gooing and chatting away. He’s such a happy little baby. We’ve had it really easy in comparison to hearing other people’s stories. He sleeps well, he doesn’t really cry a lot and really is a calm little dude. We’re really blessed”. Jodi will be visiting the set of The Voice of Ireland but Kian thinks Koa is too young to be around such a noisy environment! So there you have it – the coaches WILL perform themselves on this weekend’s show. Let’s hope their acts don’t vote them off!

WESTLIFE'S Kian Egan will prove Brian Kennedy wrong with a "storming performance" on the Voice of Ireland. And ShinAwil producer Larry Bass has revealed how he never had any doubts about the mentor's vocal ability. "All the mentors are singing this weekend and the rehearsal went extremely well," he said. "What people forget is that we follow a format on The Voice and we can only have people who are singers themselves as coaches. I've known Kian for many, many years and before he was ever in Westlife, he was in a band called Six Become One. "They were a vocal act under Louis Walsh's management and at the 1988 Miss Ireland contest, which we filmed, they did an a capella performance and all of them were well able to sing, including Kian. He has nothing to worry about." Sligo star Kian, whose vocal ability had been questioned by rival Kennedy, will take to the stage for the first time as his team goes up against those contestants mentored by rival Sharon Corr. And he is expected to be cheered on by wife Jodi Albert, who gave birth to their first baby Kai just before Christmas. It will be her first time at the Helix Theatre in Dublin as she travels down from their Sligo home to show her support for her other half.

The Voice of Ireland star Kian Egan hits out at UK coaches April 4, 2012 23:00 by Josh Darvill The Voice of Ireland star Kian Egan has hit out at the coaches on the UK show, complaining that they are too bitchy! The Westlife singer is one of four coaches on the Irish version of the show, which started earlier this year. Speaking to the Herald, Kain whinged that his British counterparts were very “different”, moaning that Sir Tom Jones, Danny O’Donoghue, Jessie J and will.i.am were “at each other” all the time. “I watched it last week and it’s quite different,” he told the publication this week. “It’s a bit more like X Factor, I thought, with the big storylines and stuff like that. “I also thought the coaches are a bit bitchier towards each other which obviously makes for good TV. They’re a bit more at each other.” And the singer – perhaps unsurprisingly – backed former manager Simon Cowell and his rival series Britain’s Got Talent. He added: “They’re at the exciting stage that we were at when this first started and now everybody’s used to it in Ireland. Although I thought it was good, I prefer Britain’s Got Talent myself.” 

He told the Irish Sun: “There was a point when I was talking to management about co-managing the act that won, but I don’t think that’s the right thing to do now. “Even if somebody else’s act won, I wouldn’t have the same connection with that person as my own act and timewise I don’t think I would be able to commit.” Father-of-one Kian had a number of in-depth conversations with the record company about taking on the eventual winner. But with a number of TV shows in the pipeline and little baby Koa at home in Sligo, he said: “Down the line I probably do see myself managing some bands yes. “You know this industry is what I know and I have been through the ups and downs and know all about it but the timing just isn’t right.” Tomorrow night’s final at The Helix will see Vanessa Whelan, Richie Hayes, Pat Byrne and Jim Devine battle it out to be crowned winner. Jetting in to sing ... pop babe Alexandra It promises to be an action-packed night — with a performance by X Factor success story Alexandra Burke of new single Let It Go sure to get the crowd stomping their feet. Kind-hearted Kian said: “I have said to all the people who have come to the live shows that my number is in their phone. “They can ring me whenever they want to discuss whatever they want in this business. “I will gladly help them out — it’s down to them. “I am a coach on The Voice of Ireland, I’m not a coach past that as far as this moment in time is concerned.” Egan admitted yesterday he is now more relaxed about the fact that voters in Northern Ireland can’t download his finalist Jim Devine’s single. Earlier this week, The Irish Sun revealed that Kian was fuming with bosses after they failed to notice the glitch in voting — one week before the finals. He said: “I think we made enough noise about it at the time and Jim feels better about it now. “I look at Jim and I go ‘wow’ — Jim has come from nothing to be a contender, he has a chance. “The older woman seems to really connect to him and he now gets that picking the right song and relating to it is so important. “I think he has managed to do really well from that perspective no matter what the outcome on Sunday.”

Kian Egan Mr Westlifer reckons being a coach has come quite naturally! High point: Working with contestants and seeing them really pull a song off. Low point: The negativity between Brian and me at the start, but that soon changed. Have you enjoyed the coaching experience? I have really enjoyed it - it's been very different to anything I've ever done before. But I have to say I have just been myself with the contestants and been as honest as I possibly could. How did you find working with the other coaches? Brian and I didn't really know each other at the beginning and I think he had a preconceived notion that I was just some random dude in a boyband but once he saw there was more to me than that he warmed to me, and I love working with him now. Sharon and Bressie are both lovely people and I have really enjoyed getting to know them. Which performance stands out for you the most? I have to say Connor (who is on Bressie's team) when he came out and sang MGMT's Kids; that was absolutely insane. Then back in the battle shows, two of my girls did Don't Let the Sun Go Down, and that was an amazing moment. Did anyone go home who you thought should be in the final? Well, I always thought that Liam Geddes was going to win the whole thing. He is an outstanding vocalist, but it didn't happen for him and it was quite a bit of a shock for me. Are you happy with how the public have voted? I think there was only one week when the public got it wrong - that was when Liam and Graham where in the bottom two. But apart from that we [the coaches] have pretty much picked the bottom two every week. What's next for you? The Westlife tour starts in May, we are rehearsing at the moment. After that, I am looking at some other TV gigs - not music-related, and I'm looking forward to spending time with my son and Jodi. It's been tough leaving them and I find it's much harder to get out the door and I am late a lot more!

VOICE of Ireland coach Kian Eganhas shot down suggestions he hopes to follow in bandmate Shane Filan's footsteps with a solo career of his own. The Sligo man, who has proved he's well able to hold his own on the singing front during the RTE show, has said he has no plans to go it alone once he splits from his chart-topping band Westlife later this year. "I never thought I'd enjoy the idea of doing it all on my own. I love the idea of just doing something naturally, like my garage band. I don't want to force anything and be like, 'I'm the guy from Westlife and I'm recording a song'. I just don't believe in that," said Kian (31). "I believe that if it's meant to happen, it's meant to happen. If I end up in a band with a few of my mates and we're really good naturally, then that's great. If we're not, we're not. So in that respect, I like the idea of it but I don't see it as a reality -- it's a pipe dream." The dad-of-one went on to say that he's forging ahead with plans to set up his own band once Westlife put away their stools for good -- but it must be something that happens organically. "To me, the forced things are the ones that never work and I've learnt that over the years," said Kian. The RTE mentor is now keeping his fingers crossed that his act, Jim Devine, emerges victorious from this Sunday's grand finale of the talent contest. However, he admitted that he was shocked to see Bressie's act, Conor Quinn, leaving the show. "I had him tipped as the winner and I still think the guy has one of the best chances of having a proper record deal and having major success around the world," he said.

Kian Egan “fuming” over Voice scandal Kian Egan has phoned 98FM to tell us of his rage upon discovering his act won’t be able to gather the support of his family at the final hurdle of “The Voice of Ireland”. The competition offers a contract with Universal for the winning contestant but Kian says he now believes Jim Devine is at an “unfair disadvantage”. Kian told 98FM: “Nobody in Northern Ireland where Jim is from can actually download his single so therefore he is at a huge disadvantage. Every single download counts as a vote so he hasn’t had any of his own family or friends or support network in Northern Ireland being able to download it. I’m very ticked off about it. In fairness to Jim, he’s trying to not let it affect him. It’s a really unfair situation though”. The Westlife singer went on to say “it’s not all based on the download but every download counts as a vote so I suppose fans of Jim could vote for a second time on Sunday night if they had intended on downloading the song. It puts him in an unfair situation. Basically iTunes Ireland doesn’t exist in Northern Ireland – you have to have an Irish credit card or an Irish band account in order to access iTunes Ireland. The guy can’t even download his own single”. Kian told 98FM “I’ve been through it with the show. I’ve been through it with the record label. I’ve had huge rows all week about it and I’ve just been told that at this stage, there is nothing I can do about it – just to leave it alone and that’s that”. He insisted it isn’t about winning the show as his coach – Kian says he just wants Jim to have a fair shot at it and he is losing out around 1,000 votes by not having his support network in Northern Ireland being able to download the song.

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The farewell concert of Irish boy band Westlife
is to be screened live to cinemas in the UK, Ireland and Europe on June 23.

The four remaining members who announced their split last October - after 14 years and more than 44 million record sales - are playing their last gig at Dublin's Croke Park on June 23.

The event will be screened at more than 200 cinemas in nine countries including Belgium, Denmark, Estonia and Norway.

There are also plans to screen the gig in Australia and South Africa.

Organisers said tickets for the June 23 concert sold out in minutes and the band scheduled another date at the Dublin venue on June 22.


"It is bound to be a hugely emotional night and we expect to have tears in our eyes for nearly every song," the group said in a statement.

"The fact that the show will be beamed to our fans in cinemas around the world only adds to our excitement."




Westlife’s
final performance hits the big screen
200 cinemas across the country to take partPosted 29 May 2012 3:58 pm
AURAL ASSASSINS Westlife have announced that their last ever live performance will be broadcast to cinemas across Europe next month. Jubilation that they will never perform again has been tempered somewhat by news of the satellite link-up, which will make the farewell gig harder to avoid, as well as by the fact that “never” is a euphemism for “until the money is right for a comeback”.
The terminally bland Irish lads appealed to girls of a certain age during the late 1990s and early 2000s, but have been selling steadily fewer records as their demographic has grown up and realised with dismay how utterly shit they are. Other fans simply ended their lives or were committed.

The chillingly titled Greatest Hits tour
will grind to a halt in Croke Park, Dublin, on 23 June – the date to put in your diary for not being anywhere near Ireland or in any of 200 cinemas in nine European countries that will be screening the gig. Australia and South Africa may also be in the firing line.

The simul-cast will allow fans the chance to see their idols stand up from their stools for the “very last” time (see above). Non-fans might want to attend just to check they’re really gone and won’t spring up again like some atonal Hollywood zombie with a grudge against music.

“It is bound to be a hugely emotional night and we expect to have tears in our eyes for nearly every song,” the band said in a statement, neatly summing up what the rest of us will be feeling too.

“The show will be beamed to our fans will only add to the excitement… It’s going to be an amazing night, an unmissable show, so make sure you join us!”

In a career spanning 14 years and 14 number ones, their biggest hit – Flying Without Wings – has become a popular choice for deluded talent-show wannabes (hey, if Westlife can do it…). It also a feat that most music-lovers would be delighted to see the band accomplish, perhaps with a leap from a plane at 30,000ft. Now that would be a finale.



Westlife
 will perform for the last time next month
Westlife's farewell concert is to be screened live to cinemas in the UK and Ireland, allowing fans to view their final moments.

The four-piece will bow out with a concert from Dublin's Croke Park next month after a career in which they amassed 14 UK number one singles.

Tickets for the cinema screenings, which will also seen in other European countries, go on sale at 9am.

The June 23 concert itself sold out in five minutes, leaving thousands of fans disappointed.

BBC Worldwide, the BBC's commercial arm, and content provider By Experience have agreed a deal with music giant Sony and Westlife to co-produce a live film of the event to be screened in more than 200 cinemas.

The group said: "It is bound to be a hugely emotional night and we expect to have tears in our eyes for nearly every song. The fact that the show will be beamed to our fans in cinemas around the world only adds to our excitement."

Details will be at westlifecinema.com.

.


Boy band Westlife
is ending its farewell tour by screening its last ever concert live to cinemas across the UK and Ireland and selected European countries.

Westlife will end the tour at Croke Park in Dublin, Ireland on June 23rd 2012. Tickets for the final concert originally sold out in five minutes. But fans in the UK, Ireland, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Malta, the Netherlands and Norway will all be able to watch the show live in one of over two hundred cinemas after BBC Worldwide, concluded a deal with Sony Music and Westlife to co-produce a live film of the event.

BBC Worldwide also recruited alternative content provider BY Experience to deliver the event to cinema.

The concert will be available in cinemas in Australia, Estonia, Hong Kong and South Africa later in June and July.

Westlife said, “On June 23rd 2012 we will wrap our musical career as a band with one amazing final show in Croke Park Dublin, Ireland. We're working hard to make it everything we had ever dreamed of from our final concert - a farewell and a homecoming in front of 85,000 fans.

“It is bound to be a hugely emotional night and we expect to have tears in our eyes for nearly every song. The fact that the show will be beamed to our fans in cinemas around the world only adds to our excitement. We're delighted to be working with BBC Worldwide to make this a reality.”

Salim Mukaddam, director of Music at BBC Worldwide, said, “Only 85,000 fans can be present in the stadium, but we’re delighted to be able to extend the event to their millions of fans across the UK, Ireland and further afield who can now be part of this incredible event at their local cinema. We worked hard with Westlife and Sony Music to strike an innovative deal and we hope this is the first of a number of these kinds of events that you’ll see from BBC Worldwide.”

The Westlife Farewell event follows BBC Worldwide’s international theatrical release of Robbie Williams at the Electric Proms and the BBC’s Last Night of the Proms to cinema audiences. BBC Worldwide will be partnering again with BY Experience to bring this event to audiences worldwide.

Robbie Williams previously kicked off his comeback with a live performance at the Electric Proms in 2009. BBC Worldwide licensed the live show to over 250 screens in 23 countries. The show was also shown latterly in cinemas in South Africa and Australia. Last Night of the Proms has also been screened in cinemas in Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand every year since 2009.

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Members of Westlife, Shane Filan, Mark Feehily, Kian Egan and Nicky Byrne during the funeral of broadcaster Gerry Ryan.
















Westlife's Nicky back on RTÉ 2fm
Thursday 15 July 2010


Westlife singer Nicky Byrne is returning to RTÉ 2fm later this month to co-host Michael Cahill's Sunday evening show.

Byrne presented 'Celebrity Sunday' shows on RTÉ 2fm earlier this year and returns to the airwaves on Sunday, 25 July at 5pm.

He will also co-host with Michael Cahill on 1, 8 and 15 August, with each show looking at the hits and news stories of a different decade.

Commenting, Byrne said: "It's great to be back on RTÉ 2FM co-hosting with Michael Cahill. He did ask in return if he could be in Westlife for a few weeks, but I had to say I'd get back to him on that one! Don't think he can dance... Maybe if he's got a black suit he might fit the bill.

"We've got lots of surprises in store on air, though, so make sure to join us Sundays at 5pm on RTÉ 2FM."






Tenth time lucky: Westlife picked up the award for Best Pop Group yet again















Westlife's Shane Filan and model Angela Duggan help to launch Rally Ireland 2009



















Monday January 12 2009

YOUNG Ryan Egan realised the dream of a lifetime when he met rally driver Shaun Gallagher and hometown idol Shane Filan at the same time.

For much of his short life, Ryan (5) has been battling cancer. He has also, in between hospital visits and treatment for his leukaemia, developed a huge interest in rally-driving.

The youngster was an avid spectator as Gallagher, 2007 World Rally Championship Rookie of the Year, put his Citroen car through its paces in Sligo in preparation for this year's contest.

So, too, was fellow local Shane Filan, who popped along to help promote this year's opening event in the world championship in Ireland's north west.

"Come here, buddy", said the singer, as he invited Ryan and mum Suzanne to join him for a photograph.

Ryan, from Maugheraboy, Sligo, was just a week from his third birthday when he was diagnosed with leukaemia. He completes a three-year treatment course at the end of this year.

His proud dad Declan said: "He is doing really well. We're very hopeful that he will make a full recovery. He's been through a lot but he has done it with amazing courage."

He said that Ryan started showing an interest in cars almost as soon as he could talk.

"He has collected small cars from the age of two and always had a keen interest in knowing how they worked. When other children his age were into Power Rangers and what have you, Ryan was taking the wheels off his dinky cars and looking under the bonnet."

Ryan will get a chance to see some real action during Rally Ireland 2009, between January 29 and February 1, when there will be 18 stages through counties Sligo, Donegal, Roscommon, Cavan, Leitrim, Fermanagh and Tyrone.

Other youngsters have been getting involved in preparations for the rally. Local schoolchildren have been preparing St Brigid's Crosses to hand to the drivers. Children from Boyle Parochial National School, Roscommon, weaved the traditional crosses by hand.

The event will mark the start of the 2009 World Rally Championship, with 12 rounds across the world. It is the first time in almost 30 years that the beginning of the series has been held outside of Monte Carlo.

Failte Ireland, one of the sponsors, said that in 2007 the event attracted 250,000 spectators, generated in economic benefit to the region and was viewed in over 180 countries by in excess of 62 million people. It was acclaimed by the WRC as the second-best round of the World Rally Championship that year.







rish pop stars WESTLIFE have been honoured by bosses at London's Wembley Arena as the best-selling band of all time. The FLYING WITHOUT WINGS hitmakers were presented with a special a plaque featuring their handprints to mark their achievement this weekend (28-30Mar08).





Westlife in Brisbane

Westlife were in Brisbane, Australia (11/21/06). They are currently on a promotional tour of Australia this week, including stops in Sydney.
Here's a pic from their performance on B105 of Brisbane.

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