Westlife's Nicky Byrne is this year's grand marshall of the parade.



Nicky Byrne may have sold millions of albums and swept us off our feet on Strictly Come Dancing, but now he is in for the biggest honour yet as he marshals the St Patrick's Day parade.

The Westlife singer has been granted the honour of Grand Marshal for the parade in Dublin on 17 March 2013 and will be following in the footsteps of the likes of John Giles, Ronnie Drew and Katie Taylor.

Speaking at the announcement of his key role in the parade, Dublin-born Nicky said he was feeling very proud to have been offered the part, but admitted he was full of nerves and excitement about having to do something so completely different to his day job.

The organisers of the event decided Nicky was perfect for the honour, thanks to his contribution to the entertainment industry through his time in Westlife and his shimmying in Strictly.

The 34 year old said, "I've always tried my best to fly our flag around the world in all the amazing places I've been to with Westlife, so to be asked to play such a poignant role on our national holiday is special."

He added, "I have my memories of sitting on my dad’s shoulders on St Patrick’s Day in years gone by on O’Connell Street trying to catch a glimpse of all the floats passing by in the Dublin Parade. So as a very, very proud Dubliner this will definitely be one to tell the grandchildren about."

Once the main part of the day is over, Nicky will still have plenty of work to do as he has also been tasked with hosting the highlights show, which will be broadcast the following day.

This year, the event has been given the title of the People's Parade and is hosted as part of The Gathering festival, a massive celebration of Irish culture and life. Over 8,000 people from all over the world have been invited to take part in the procession, not to mention all the people who will come down to watch. That's an awful lot of people for Nicky to marshal over!

 

 

FORMER Westlife star Nicky Byrne admits that he rarely watches his ex-bandmate Kian Egan on the The Voice.

But while he has no interest in mentoring music acts, he said he would like to try his hand at more presenting.

"I haven't seen much of it (The Voice), but as far as I know he (Kian) is doing well," Nicky told the Herald.

"Presenting has always been something that I have loved, but in terms of mentoring acts, I'm not sure that's for me.

"I have heard FM104's skit in the morning with him and Bressie, so I always have a little giggle at that," he added.

As well as lighting up our screens on Strictly Come Dancing, the 34-year-old Dubliner also enjoyed a presenting gig on Football's Next Star.

And just this week,

he hosted a one-off episode on

RTE depicting Dublin's St Patrick's Day festivities,

during which he took on the role of Grand Marshall.

While he can't see himself

handing down advice to nervous hopefuls anytime soon,

Nicky said the nature of

show business means that you can

never rule anything out long-term.



"You say that and then something different

is around the corner that you're not expecting.

But I think TV, radio, maybe musicals. Who knows?

"For me now it's just about meeting everyone and having fun."

The father-of-two thinks

Kian is "doing really well" and "being himself",

even though

he has landed himself in rows with

the other judges, Bressie, Sharon Corr and Jamelia.

 


Morning y'all..
Its time to share our exciting news..

Georgina is expecting !
Yep, Third "Baby Byrne" is on the way !!

 

 

WESTLIFE decided that they

hadn't enough fight in them to compete with

One Direction before splitting up.

"There's a time when every band looks

in the mirror and realises

it's time to pack it in.

That time for Westlife came when we saw

One Direction come on the scene,"

Nicky Byrne told the Herald.

However the Malahide man said that up

until then Westlife had been unbeatable.

"Like a boxer, we had 10 big fights in our career

against other pop bands.

Whether it was Steps, JLS, Blue or B*witched

and we saw them all off.

"In fact, at the end Westlife

were black and blue from our scraps

with other bands.

But like a boxer, you eventually

end up in a fight you can't win.

And if we had taken on One Direction,

we would have ended up in the grave," he said.

The Dubliner cites One Direction's

use of social media like Twitter and Facebook

for helping them fill stadiums around the world,

and sell out two nights at Croke Park,

only a few shorts years after they formed on the X Factor.

"We didn't have Twitter when we formed back in 1998,

but we had loyal fans who didn't like any other bands.

One Direction have them too,

just millions more than we had.

They have taken it to the next level,"

said the singer turned presenter.

But Nicky said he had little advice

for his young rivals other than to

"stay grounded" and not have a frontman.

"Shane and Mark sang

the lead vocals but people regarded

Westlife as a group, not a person.

That was good for the internal politics of the band.

The only advice I would give to

One Direction is to not

let anyone from the outside get in and

break up the unity of the band.

"That's what kept Westlife together for so long," he said.




HE might have become pop royalty,

but singer Nicky Byrne’s family

come from an altogether more humble background.

The former Westlife star

has traced his roots back to labourers,

porters and dock workers.

He was guided through

his family history by genealogist Nicola Morris,

who has worked on

the hit TV series ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ and ‘The Genealogy Roadshow’, and historian Turtle Bunbury.

Nicky’s father-in-law, Bertie Ahern,

was at the History Festival of Ireland

in Duckett’s Grove, Co Carlow, to hear the details.

“Nicky’s great-great-grandfather,

Charles Callahan, died in 1908 at the age of the 30,” said Ms Morris. “He was a labourer on the docks

and was killed when he was hit by a plank.

“The family lived in tenements in Dublin.

We were talking about the struggle that his wife,

Teresa Swords, would have gone through.

Both her parents were deceased

and she eventually remarried.”

On the Byrne side of the family,

Ms Morris said

there were more than 10,000 people in Dublin with

the family name in the 1911 Census.

However, she managed to trace

his history back to a family in Co Laois.

“I think he was delighted – we helped them

to fill in some of

the blanks in the story,” she said.

Former Westlife star Nicky Byrne

and TV presenter Aidan Power

will present a brand new six-part TV series,

The Hit on RTÉ.

The new talent show will air in

July and unlike

other shows where the focus is on the singers,

in The Hit songwriters will take centre stage

when the show goes live in Dublin’s O2.

Speaking about the show,

Byrne said: “My Friday nights

will have a whole new twist!

“I’m really looking forward to seeing what

Irish songwriters have to offer.

And I’m also eager

to get back on the 02 stage – where I’ve enjoyed so many great shows in the past.

But this one will be a whole new ball game!”

Power added: “I’m very excited to be involved in

The Hit and I can’t wait

for the live shows in the 02 and to work with Nicky.

“This series brings together

Irelands best songwriters and artists

to work together and

I know it will make gripping viewing.”

Audience tickets for The Hit will be available to buy shortly.

The show, which originated in RTÉ’s Format Farm project,

will see songwriters pitch

their songs to two established

music stars over five weeks,

in the hope that they will pick their song.

In the final week, the five songs will be performed before

the winning show, The Hit, is chosen.

The show will feature five-time Grammy-award winning producer Steve Lillywhite who will be tasked with picking the songs before they are pitched to the performers.

Ultimately though the audience will decide as the final two songs each week are available for download and the one with the most downloads secures a place in the final.

Credit/Source: rte.ie