Westlife
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| Westlife | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Sligo & Dublin, Ireland |
| Genre(s) | Pop Adult Contemporary |
| Years active | 1998–present |
| Label(s) | Sony BMG, RCA |
| Website | Westlife.com |
| Members | |
| Shane Filan Mark Feehily Kian Egan Nicky Byrne | |
| Former members | |
| Brian McFadden | |
Westlife is an Irish pop music group that formed in July 1998. They were signed by Simon CowellLouis Walsh. The group is popular in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and much of Europe Asia, Latin America and Africa.[1][2][3][4] In recent years, Westlife's sound has evolved from boy band "teen pop" into a more adult contemporary music (ACM) sound. and are currently managed by
Westlife has had fourteen number one singles in the United Kingdom between the years 1999 and 2007, the third-highest such total in UK history, behind Elvis Presley and The Beatles, and tied with Cliff Richard. They are also the only artist/group to win 'Record of the Year' in the UK four times. Westlife received twenty-eight platinum discs each for their eight albums. The group had sold more than 35 million records by end of 2006 in over 20 countries worldwide, yet to this day it's still unclear to how many records exactly the band have sold since they formed because some of their main markets are countries in Asia that mostly don't publish sales figures.[5] They are worth an estimated €28 million (about $38 million)[6]
Westlife were awarded the Best Irish Pop Act, a public voting category, at the annual Ireland Meteor Awards for the seventh consecutive year on 2 February 2007.
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[edit] Westlife
[edit] Pre-formation
Westlife was formed in July 1998, with the members Kian Egan, Mark Feehily, Shane Filan, Nicky Byrne, and Brian McFadden.
The group's roots can be found in Sligo in the north west of Ireland, where Egan, Feehily, and Filan were in a six-member vocal group named IOYOU (sometimes IOU), with fellow Sligonians Derrick Lacey, Graham Keighron and Michael "Miggles" Garrett. IOYOU were groomed and managed by choreographer Mary McDonagh and two other informal managers.[7]. IOYOU released a single called "Together Girl Forever". The band was then 'discovered' by Louis Walsh, the manager of 1990s boy band Boyzone - he was actually contacted by Filan's mother. However IOYOU did not meet Simon Cowell's approval for a record deal with BMG, so changes were needed. Two members of IOYOU were given the sack, and auditions were held in Dublin. The band recruited Byrne and McFadden. A third original member, Michael Garrett, was dropped. The group was re-named Westside soon afterwards but as the name was already taken by another band, it was changed to Westlife. Boyzone singer Ronan Keating was brought in to co-manage the band with Walsh.
Shane Filan, Mark Feehily and Bryan McFadden shared most of the lead vocals. Some of the boys can play instruments (Kian and Bryan play the guitar and the piano) and all five of them are songwriters, although most of their hits have been composed by outside songwriters. The group's musical influences include boy bands such as Boyzone, Take That, Backstreet Boys and Boyz II Men.
[edit] Westlife: big break
Westlife's first big break came in 1998 when they opened for the Backstreet Boys in Dublin. Later that year, they won Best New Tour Act at the Smash Hits Poll Winners Party. In March 1999, their first single, "Swear It Again", was released, and went straight to the top of the charts in Ireland and the UK. The band's success was to be confirmed when their second single, "If I Let You Go", entered the charts at number 1 in August 1999, followed by "Flying Without Wings" in October, which repeated the feat. This version was included in the soundtrack for the Warner Brothers film, Pokemon 2000. They became the first number one artist of the new millennium when their double-A-side single, "I Have a Dream" / "Seasons in the Sun" knocked Cliff Richard's "The Millennium Prayer" off the top spot. Westlife had the honour of the Christmas number one. Their first album, simply titled Westlife, was released in November 1999 and was also a big hit, peaking at #2. The album included those four #1 singles, and the follow-up "Fool Again" which also reached the top spot in April 2000.
[edit] Coast to coast
Westlife's next album was quickly recorded, and released in November 2000. Coast to Coast was an enormous hit in the UK, becoming the 4th biggest selling album of the year, in that country and Westlifes biggest selling album to date. Westlife took on a signing tour around the UK called "Coast To Coast" and stay awake for most of the tour to break a record. The album was preceded by a duet with Mariah Carey on the Phil Collins classic "Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)" and the ballad "My Love". Both singles reached #1 in the UK charts. With this, Westlife broke an unexpected record, having their seven debut singles in the top of the UK charts. In December 2000, however, that run was broken when they failed to secure their eighth chart-topper in a row when kid's favourite Bob The Builder's "Can We Fix It" was crowned Christmas number one.
In 2001, the boys launched their first world tour, unofficially nicknamed "The No Stools Tour", because of the band's reputation of performing perched on stools.
[edit] World of our own
Westlife released their third album in November 2001, World of Our Own, which featured several songs that eventually became #1 hits: "Uptown Girl", "Queen of My Heart" and "World of Our Own".
This album also featured the original version of "Evergreen", which was then covered by Gareth Gates and Will Young for Pop Idol.
Westlife took this album and went on their second tour but this time in the round. The tour was taken all over Europe and the UK.
[edit] Greatest Hits: is it the end?
November 2002 saw Westlife release their Greatest Hits album, Unbreakable - The Greatest Hits Vol. 1, amidst rumours of a split. They released their first single from this album in October 2002, "Unbreakable"—now Westlife's favorite saying[citation needed]—which was then followed on by "Tonight" and "Miss You Nights".
Westlife then, in 2003, toured the UK and Europe with the greatest hits, and still shrugged off rumours of a split.
[edit] Turnaround
In September 2003, Westlife released Hey Whatever (founded by member Mark Feehily), which made it to Number 4 in the UK Charts. In November 2003 came Westlife's 'Make or Break' and fourth studio album Turnaround, and made Number 1.
Turnaround, included the hit singles "Hey Whatever", "Obvious", and their twelfth #1 single, a cover of Barry Manilow's "Mandy". In 2003, Westlife also won Record of the Year for the third time in five years.
Just three weeks before Westlife were due to embark on their fourth UK & Europe tour, things for Westlife took a change. Again people started to question if they would split.
[edit] McFadden leaves: is it the end?
On 9 March 2004, just 3 weeks before Westlife were due to embark on their fourth UK & Europe tour, Bryan McFadden left the band to devote more of his time to solo projects as well as his family life with British TV personality and former Atomic Kitten member Kerry Katona and their two children, Molly (born in 2001) and Lilly Sue (born in 2003). They subsequently broke up and Bryan started a solo career, changing the spelling of his first name back to its original 'Brian'. Brian McFadden entered the chart at number one with his first solo single, "Real To Me"
[edit] The New Westlife
[edit] The come-back album
Less than a month after McFadden's departure, the boys kicked off their fourth arena turnaround tour. They released Allow Us to Be Frank later in the year, a Rat Pack-inspired album. Westlife didn't release a single from this album even though they shot many music videos.
Before the album release, Westlife jetted up and down the UK to find "the perfect fan" to help promote their album and, after X-factor style auditions, they found Joanne Hindley (who later appeared on X-factor). They recorded "The Way You Look Tonight". To celebrate their first ever fan to appear on a Westlife song they televised it, showing auditions and live performances from Westlife with Joanne and on their own. They also had performances from their fathers and from glamour model Katie Price.
[edit] Face to Face
In 2005, after a four-month break, they came back with "You Raise Me Up", a cover of a Josh Groban song, which was the first single off their seventh album Face to Face. On 6 November2005, both the album and the single ("You Raise Me Up") were at number one in the UK charts; it was the first time the band had held both top album and single position in the same week.[8]
In December 2005, Westlife released the second track off their album, which was a duet with Diana Ross, and released When You Tell Me That You Love Me. Westlife then released their third track "Amazing" from this album and their last non-cover single to date.
[edit] The Love Album
Late 2006, Westlife signed a brand new five album deal with Sony/BMG. Their eighth studio album, The Love Album, consists of all covers of love songs.
The first single from The Love Album was a cover version of Bette Midler's classic "The Rose", which became their 14th UK number one single. This made Westlife the third act (along with Cliff Richard) in the UK chart history to have most number one singles, only behind Elvis Presley (21, 18 of them different songs) and The Beatles (17). In February, the band announced that they would no longer be releasing Bonnie Tyler's song "Total Eclipse of the Heart", produced by Jim Steinman, nor any other singles from the album
Westlife kicked off their latest The Love Tour on 21 February 2007 in Perth, Australia. The tour took in other cities in Australia, before moving on to South Africa, the UK and Ireland, ending in Dublin on 3 May. The band played its last major concert of 2007 at Carlisle[9]on Sunday 12 August at Bitts Park in Carlisle, England.
[edit] "Back Home" New Album 2007
Westlife's 9th studio album Back Home will contain new and original songs, plus at least one cover, as the band has spent recent weeks in the studio working with a whole host of top producers including Steve Mac, Quiz Larossi, Jorgen Elofsson and Maratone. The new album is due for release on the 12th November 2007.
Westlife's new single, a cover of "Home" by Michael Bublé is due for release on 29 October 2007. The new video for this was shot in Los Angeles. Although the song comes out in late October, it is currently available on their main website to listen to.
[edit] Duets and problems with the US market
Westlife have performed duets with some of the biggest names of the music industry, including Mariah Carey, Donny Osmond, Lulu, Donna Summer, Diana Ross, Lionel Richie, Christian Castro, Ronan Keating and more recently Delta Goodrem. Claudia Schiffer and Vinnie Jones have also starred in their music videos. Westlife also collaborated with Asian-music sensation BoA with the song "Flying Without Wings", which would appear on her mini-album, Shine We Are!.
Westlife have not managed to truly break the United States market. Their debut single and music video "Swear It Again" was released in the US in 2000 and was a moderate hit on mainstream radio and MTV, reaching #20 on the Billboard Hot 100 and being shown briefly on MTV's Total Request Live. Their debut American album was also released in 2000, but they have not yet released another album in the USA. In 2002, an attempt to promote and release an American version of Westlife's "World Of Our Own" album was cut short due to the sharp decline in the popularity of boy-bands and pop music that year in the US. The Westlife hit song "Flying Without Wings" peaked at #10 in the US when American Idol winner Ruben Studdard released it after winning season 2 of the show. They have stated in interviews that they were disappointed when they heard he released the song in the US because that song was such a huge hit in the UK and they were planning on eventually bringing that song to American audiences. In 2003 they went to Nashville to film a TV documentary and recorded a song originally performed by country music legend Kenny Rogers, "Daytime Friends", which won them much praise.
[edit] Personal lives
The members of Westlife appear to have successfully juggled their careers and their private lives:
- Nicky Byrne married his childhood sweetheart on August 11th 2003: Georgina Ahern, daughter of the Irish Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern. Georgina gave birth to fraternal twin sons Rocco and Jay on 20 April 2007.
- Kian Egan is currently dating ex-member of Girl Thing and former Hollyoaks actress Jodi Albert. They have opened their own juice bar, in Sligo, known as the Monkey Tree.
- Shane Filan married Gillian Walsh, Kian Egan's cousin, on 28th December 2003, and he became a father in 2005, when Gillian gave birth to Nicole Rose on 23 July.
- Mark Feehily publicly announced he is gay in the UK tabloid The Sun, on 19 August 2005. He also noted his long-term relationship with Kevin McDaid (of now defunct boy band "V"). Feehily later told Gay.com UK, "I am gay, and I'm very proud of who I am."
[edit] Westlife on tour
- Where Dreams Come True Tour 2001
- World Of Our Own Tour 2002
- The Greatest Hits Tour 2003
- Turnaround Tour 2004
- No1's Tour 2005
- Face to Face Tour 2006
- The Love Tour 2007
- The 2008 Tour (TBA)
[edit] See also
- UK Singles Chart records
- List of best-selling music artists
- List of artists who reached number one in Ireland
[edit] Discography
For a further discography of Westlife, see Westlife discography.
[edit] Albums
| Year | Album | U.K. | UK certificate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Westlife | 2 | 4xPlatinum |
| 2000 | Coast to Coast | 1 | 5xPlatinum |
| 2001 | World Of Our Own | 1 | 4xPlatinum |
| 2002 | Unbreakable - The Greatest Hits Vol. 1 | 1 | 4xPlatinum |
| 2003 | Turnaround | 1 | 2xPlatinum |
| 2004 | Allow Us to Be Frank | 3 | 2xPlatinum |
| 2005 | Face to Face | 1 | 4xPlatinum |
| 2006 | The Love Album | 1 | 3xPlatinum |
| 2007 | Back Home | TBC | TBA |
[edit] UK #1 singles
| Number of #1 | Release date | Title | From the album | Weeks at #1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | April 12, 1999 | "Swear It Again" | Westlife | 2 |
| 2 | August 9, 1999 | "If I Let You Go" | Westlife | 1 |
| 3 | October 18, 1999 | "Flying Without Wings" | Westlife | 1 |
| 4 | December 6, 1999 | "I Have a Dream / Seasons in the Sun" | Westlife | 4 |
| 5 | March 17, 2000 | "Fool Again" | Westlife | 1 |
| 6 | September 18, 2000 | "Against All Odds" (with Mariah Carey) | Coast to Coast | 2 |
| 7 | October 31, 2000 | "My Love" | Coast to Coast | 1 |
| 8 | February 26, 2001 | "Uptown Girl" | Coast to Coast | 1 |
| 9 | November 5, 2001 | "Queen of My Heart" | World of Our Own | 1 |
| 10 | February 18, 2002 | "World of Our Own" | World of Our Own | 1 |
| 11 | October 28, 2002 | "Unbreakable" | Unbreakable: The Greatest Hits Vol I | 1 |
| 12 | November 10, 2003 | "Mandy" | Turnaround | 1 |
| 13 | October 24, 2005 | "You Raise Me Up" | Face to Face | 2 |
| 14 | November 6, 2006 | "The Rose" | The Love Album | 1 |
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