| The Westlife story really began way
back in December 1996 when the three original members of Westlife were
performing in a local production of the musical Grease. Shane Filan, Klan Egan
and Mark Feehilly were all born and bred in Sligo, a small town a few hours west
of the Republic of Ireland’s capital city, Dublin. During breaks the three would
get together and sing covers of some of their favorite songs including Boyz Ⅱ
Men’s I Make Love To You. The reaction to their singing was so positive that
they decided to form a band as soon as they had finished their exams at school.
This they duly did and on July 3 1997 they formed I.O.U. The boys organized concerts in the area and even produced their own CDs to sell locally. This local success led to an appearance on TV that was to prove extremely important. Among the viewers who saw the trio perform in a children’s hospital was Boyzone’s manager, Louis Walsh. Soon after Shane’s mother contacted him about I.O.U. and found he had been desperately trying to get in contact with them. Louis Walsh decided to hold auditions to recruit two new members in Jude of 1998. This is when Nicky Byme and Bryan McFadden, two Dublin boys and friends entered the picture. A quick name change and Westside was born. Yes, WESTSIDE. This was to be the quintet’s name until they discovered another band already using the name and a final change to Westlife was called for, The final link in the chain was Ronan Keating, Boyzone’s lead singer, who at Louis Walsh’s request joined him to help and nurtured this raw talent. His experience proved an invaluable help. The next step was to secure a record deal. The band organized a showcase in Dublin and soon reprentatives of every, major record label were offering the bewildered boys contracts. In October 1998 Westlife signed to RCA, a label that had a proven track record with the successful marketing of both Take That and Five, Barely had the ink on the contract dried when they headed out on tour as part of the Smash Hits Show, which led to them winning the Best New Tour Act in December 1998 (this was an award Boyzone themselves had won in 1994 which seemed like a pretty good omen). Styled by Kenny Ho, who was responsible for The Spice Girls image, Westlffe’s first single Swear It Again was released in March 1999. In their native Ireland it went straight to number one and became the biggest selling debut single in the history of the Irish charts. A month later Swear It Again repeated the feat in the UK, staying at number one for two weeks and following on from Boyzone’s dominance of the UK top spot. This success was soon matched all around Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. They look set to repeat their success now in the USA. A tour throughout the States has meant Swear It Again is rapidly climbing the Billboard charts. This is the good news the boys needed as Bryan McFadden recently suffered nervous exhaustion and had to miss some shows while recuperating back in Ireland with his family, blot only that but Ronan Keating’s solo plans have forced him to give up his co-managing duties due to lack of time. More good news, though, is they have recently recorded with Mariah Carey and are due to begin work on their second album. |