Westlife: 10 things you should know about Ireland's most successful boyband
Shane Filan and Kian Egan of Westlife on stage at Wembley recently. Picture: Aaron Chown/PA Wire
Westlife are living their best life, having recently headlined Wembley for the first time and with two gigs at Cork’s Páirc Uí Chaoimh to look forward to this weekend.
The ageing process can be tricky for boybands and their audience doesn’t always hang around for them (just ask East 17, Blue or 5ive – now a trio). But it’s been a triumphant comeback by Westlife since they reformed in 2018 after six years away. Their 2019 album Spectrum went to number one in both Ireland and the UK while last year’s, Wild Dreams, hit number two in both markets.
For fans, the Cork shows will be an opportunity to reconnect with one of the most successful pop acts of the past 25 years. But there is more to Westlife than roof-raising ballads and syrupy harmonies. Read on to discover more.
Kian Egan, Mark Feehily and Shane Filan were all in school together at Summerhill College in Sligo. They performed in a production of Grease, alongside classmates Derrick Lacey, Graham Keighron and Michael Garret (Egan had previously played in the punk outfit, Skrod). They went on form boyband, Six as One, later renamed IOU, and were managed by choreographer Mary McDonagh.
The late 1990s were a boom time for boybands. And thanks to the efforts of Filan’s mother, Mae, IOU came to the attention of Boyzone manager Louis Walsh. He in turn contacted Simon Cowell, who worked in A&R at BMG Records and had masterminded the rise of singing actors Robson and Jerome (as well as the UK chart success of Big Breakfast-era Zig and Zag).
The future X Factor bigwig recognised the group’s potential but insisted on major changes. “They have great voices, but they are the ugliest band I have ever seen in my life, “ he told Walsh. On Cowell’s instruction, only Egan, Feehily and Filan were kept and auditions were held in Dublin at which Nicky Byrne and Brian McFadden were recruited. McFadden would later change his name to “Bryan” because the “y” made it easier to sign as an autograph.
Before Westlife, Byrne was a promising soccer player. He played under-age for Home Farm and St Kevin’s Boys in Dublin and then signed as a goalkeeper for Leeds United in 1995. He was with them for two years, before moving to Shelbourne and then Cobh Ramblers, for whom he played 15 games in 1997. A year later, he joined Westlife and his pop career kicked off.
From U2 to Boyzone, every Irish band of note has cut their teeth on the Late Late. It was no different for Westlife, who, in November 1998, performed their future number one Flying Without Wings.
Songwriter Wayne Hector was in Los Angeles working with Danish rapper Ezi Cut when a melody popped into his head. “I came up with a couple of lines for the first verse and then phoned my mama's house, left it on the answering machine, and said, “Don't get rid of this!” On returning to the UK, he bunkered down with producer Steve Mac and brainstormed the rest of the tune. “It’s about our wives,” he said. “This is about the things that make our lives complete.”
Louis Walsh was presented with Flying Without Wings and thought it would be a perfect solo single for Gately. However, when Simon Cowell heard it he heard a mega-hit – and prised it away from Gately in order to give it to Westlife.
“I’ll be quite honest, I missed it, but as soon as Simon heard it he just went bananas,” commented Walsh. “It was really difficult because Westlife were on tour with Boyzone, as the support act."
With Cowell as their mentor, Westlife clocked up hit after hit – seven of their first eight singles reached number one in the UK (the odd one out was What Makes A Man, which flamed out at number two). But their fortunes took a wobble as Cowell switched his focus to the X Factor. The nadir was when they recorded the Gary Barlow track, Lighthouse after it had been rejected by a number of other artists – in 2011, it duly flopped at 33 in the charts.
“That was the A&R man’s fault,” Louis Walsh told the Guardian. “When Cowell left, nobody gave a s**t. And that song – well, Gary wrote that song for Elton John a few years ago. And he gave it to the producer, and the producer gave it to the guys because they didn't have anything else."
Sheeran covered Flying Without Wings during the warm-up shows he played in Dublin ahead of his world tour in April. He also wrote their 2019 comeback single, Hello My Love, which reached 13 in the UK charts (and number two in Ireland).
The support of one of pop’s biggest names helped hugely with the group’s confidence, Shane Filan said. They had worried if anyone still cared – but Ed Sheeran certainly did. “Having Ed Sheeran involved on the first album back… it made us realise well if he’s a fan and he likes our music, then there’s no reason why we can’t be encouraged and sit in the charts beside him and he was the most successful current artist in the world at the time, so even that gave us a boost.”
To publicise the band, Louis Walsh and Simon Cowell came up with the idea of having Ronan Keating of Boyzone ‘manage” them. In their first Smash Hits spread, Westlife even dressed as schoolboys, with Keating as their stern teacher. It was all a ruse to convince Boyzone fans that it was okay to be into Westlife, too.
“Ronan was not involved in the band,” explained Louis Walsh. “We were using his name, he was using us, that was all. Because at that time, he meant something.”
“Everyone knows the style,” Mark Feehily told The Guardian. “A piano intro, Shane starts the song, the drum beat kicks in for the second verse. I sing the second verse and maybe the middle eight, then there's a key change, a gospel choir and some ad-libs, the end.”
