OK! ICONS WESTLIFE
AS THEY PREPARE TO RELEASE THEIR FIRST ALBUM IN NEARLY A DECADE, OK! CELEBRATES THE IRISH FOURSOME
After selling more than 55 million albums worldwide, Westlife have one major hope for their long-awaited musical comeback – to top the success of rivals Take That.
The album Spectrum is the first new release in nine years from bandmates Shane Filan, 40, Nicky Byrne, 41, Mark Feehily, 39, and Kian Egan, 39, and features five tracks written by hitmaker Ed Sheeran. Speaking ahead of the eagerly anticipated release on November 15, Shane says: ‘If there’s anyone we had to compare with, it would be Take That’s comeback. It has to be on that level or better.’
Ironically, the group were billed as the Irish Take That when they started out in 1998 but memorably Simon Cowell rejected the original line-up, saying they were ‘the ugliest band I have ever seen’. However, after long-term manager Louis Walsh axed three band members and brought in Nicky and Brian Mcfadden, Simon signed them up instantly. A string of 11 top five albums and 14 number one singles followed, including fan favourites like You Raise Me Up and Flying Without Wings.
The band’s fame soared, and at their peak they were mobbed wherever they went. Recalling a trip to Asia in their heyday, Shane said: ‘The fans were pretty aggressive… they’d be pulling bits of hair out of your head.’ Life on the road had its ups and downs though, and Nicky admitted: ‘We are brothers in every sense of the world. We fall out, we make up, we kiss, we cuddle, we fight, we argue but we love each other and that’s the way it is.’
Although Brian quit the band in 2004, the remaining four continued until they split in 2012. Each pursued solo projects – while Shane was declared bankrupt following a series of disastrous property investments. But despite insisting they would never reform, their reunion announcement last
October sparked a frenzy
– especially with news of their 54-date Twenty Tour of the UK and Asia.
Inevitably, their personal lives have always attracted huge interest, and Mark made the decision to come out in 2005. ‘In your mind it gets very dark and very scary. You feel alone,’ he said. But after finding happiness with fiancé Cailean O’neil in 2013, the pair welcomed their first baby, daughter Layla, last month. Meanwhile, his bandmates are all
married dads of three;
Nicky to teenage sweetheart Georgina Ahern, Shane to wife Gillian Walsh and Kian to actress wife Jodi Albert.
But while the four relish family life, the band have every intention of sticking around, with Nicky saying: ‘I think we can keep Westlife in our lives forever this time.’