Music with Eddie Rowley
HE WAS known as ‘the voice’ in Westlife and Mark Feehily is not about to retire it anytime soon.
He’s currently working on a new album of original songs, the follow-up to his well received 2015 solo debut Fire.
“That was an album I wrote about real things that I was going through,” Mark says of Fire, which was inspired by personal issues that included coming to terms with life after Westlife and the break-up of a long-term relationship.
“It’s an album I wanted to get out of my system for years. I loved the process of writing and recording it, and I can’t wait to make another album like that.
“I’m writing it at the moment, but in the meantime, I’ve had the opportunity to do a Christmas album.”
Simply titled Christmas, it includes a moving cover of Joni Mitchell’s ‘River’ and an uplifting version of Otis Redding’s ‘Merry Christmas Baby’.
He also puts his own stamp on ‘Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas’ and Mariah Carey’s ‘Miss You Most (at Christmas Time)’.
“I consciously made a decision to do something that represents a whole other side to myself with the Christmas album,” he adds. “My first album was quite dark and serious, but I’m really a fun-loving guy and I’m very happy in life at the moment. Christmas has always been my favourite time of the year, so naturally it’s been a dream of mine to make this album.
“I look back on childhood Christmases with really fond memories. We went to midnight mass on Christmas Eve and then all the family — aunts, uncles, cousins — would walk over to my Granny’s farmhouse for tea, sandwiches and cakes before we headed to bed in our own houses and waited for Santy to arrive.”