Westlife

Westlife
Left to right: Shane Filan, Nicky Byrne, Mark Feehily and Kian Egan (2007)
General information
origin	Ireland
Genre (s)	pop
founding	1998, 2018
resolution	2012
Website	http://www.westlife.com
Current occupation
singing	Nicky Byrne
singing	Shane Filan
singing	Kian Egan
singing	Mark Feehily
former members
singing	Brian McFadden

Westlife is an Irish boy band . It was formed in the summer of 1998 with the help of the music producer Louis Walsh . With ballad-like pop songs , Westlife rose to become an extremely successful band, especially in their home country and in Great Britain. To date, the band has sold over 43 million records worldwide. In 1999, Ronan Keating gave the band a start-up as an established Irish artist as co-manager . In October 2011, an upcoming separation was announced. The last concert together took place in June 2012 in the Croke Park Stadium in Dublin after a farewell tour. On October 3rd, 2018, the Irish band announced their reunion on social media after a 6 year hiatus.

Members

• Nicky Byrne (Nicholas Bernard James Adam * October 9, 1978 in Dublin) wanted to become a professional footballer at the English club Leeds United before starting his career as a singer. In fact, he played a total of 11 times for Irish second division club Cobh Ramblers in 1997. Byrne married his childhood sweetheart Georgina Ahern in 2003, the daughter of former Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern . The two have twin sons and a daughter.

• Shane Filan (Shane Steven born July 5, 1979 in Sligo ) was enthusiastic about music and dance at an early age. The first band he played in was IOYOU ; from which Westlife later emerged. Shane Filan, along with Mark Feehily, is one of the band's lead singers. He is listed as a co-author of some titles. He has been married to Gillian Walsh since 2003, they have a daughter and two sons.

• Kian Egan (Kian John Francis * April 29, 1980 in Sligo) was also a member of IOYOU . He contributes to the band's sound with his distinctive, rocking voice. He also played the piano and guitar during recordings. He wrote the songs Don't Let Me Go and When You Come Around . Since 2011 he has been a regular juror at "The Voice of Ireland". Egan has been married to actress Jodi Albert since May 2009. The two have three sons. In December 2013, Egan won "I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here!" Shortly thereafter, he signed a music deal with Rhino Records with Warner Music. His debut album Home was released on March 14, 2014.

• Mark Feehily (Markus Michael Patrick * May 28, 1980 in Sligo) was formerly part of IOYOU . Mark came out gay in 2005. He's been in a relationship with Kevin McDaid, a member of the former Band V , since early 2005. In early 2010, the two announced their engagement. However, at the end of 2011, the two separated. Mark co-wrote several songs, including a. Reach out .

Former member

• Brian McFadden (Brian Nícholas * April 12, 1980 in Dublin) left the band on March 9, 2004 in order to spend more time with his wife ( Kerry Katona , from whom he is now divorced) and their two children. He is now successful as a solo artist.

Band history

The greatest successes ( Uptown Girl , Flying Without Wings , You Raise Me Up ) were Westlife in England, where they reached number 1 14 times between 1999 and 2006. A record only surpassed by Elvis Presley , the Beatles and Cliff Richard .

Since they shot to the top of the UK charts in the first week with their debut single Swear It Again and the six following singles, they received an entry in the Guinness Book of Records . Westlife only had a few chart successes in Germany, their version of Uptown Girl is the only top 10 success in the German single charts.

In late November 2004 they released their sixth album, Allow Us to Be Frank . This album is in the style of a rat pack album and contains covered world famous songs from the 50s such as B. Fly Me to the Moon , When I Fall in Love or Mack the Knife . The seventh album Face to Face consists mainly of pop ballads, including the piece When You Tell Me That You Love Me , a duet with Diana Ross , and You Raise Me Up , which also served as the theme song for the German flood disaster film Die Sturmflut . In 2006, their eighth album, The Love Album , was released , also with covered songs.

After The Love Tour ended in spring 2007, the band produced another studio album. Her ninth album Back Home , which was released in Germany and Austria in November 2007, was recorded in Dublin, London and Stockholm. This includes the covered version of the single Home , which Michael Bublé released in 2005. In Great Britain the single rose to number 3 on the charts. The album debuted at number 1 on the UK album charts. The single version of Home was the theme song for the German Pro7 show Stars auf Eis . Other singles on the album are Us Against the World and Something Right .

By 2008 Westlife had released nine albums and sold 40 million records. On June 1st, 2008 they celebrated their tenth anniversary and filled the Croke Park Stadium in Dublin with 82,000 fans; according to the band members, this concert was the biggest event of their career. Westlife then took a year off.

In November 2009 her album Where We Are was released . It contains only new compositions, apart from the extracted single What About Now (originally by Daughtry ).

Westlife during their Gravity Tour in Hanoi, Vietnam in October 2011.

In November 2010 their current album Gravity was released , with which they went on tour in 2011.

In October 2011, Westlife announced that they would say goodbye to their fans with their next album, The Greatest Hits, and a final tour in 2012. After this tour Westlife separated and the members then devoted themselves to other projects.

On October 3rd, 2018 Westlife announced their comeback. The comeback tour will follow in spring and summer 2019, initially in Ireland and the UK.

Special

• The band performed at the Vatican Christmas Concert in 2001.
• Westlife performed at the wedding of English soccer player Wayne Rooney and his wife Coleen McLoughlin.
• On June 16, 2008, on the occasion of their tenth anniversary, the band released an autobiography entitled “Westlife. Our Story ”was published by HarperCollins (ISBN Hardback 978-0-00-728812-0, ISBN Paperback 978-0-00-728813-7). A German translation was published by Trolsen in the same year ( ISBN 978-3-9812649-0-6 ).
• In 2010 Shane Filan and Mark Feehily participated in the charity project Helping Haiti .
• On May 19, 2011, the band performed during the Queen's visit to Dublin.
• On May 23, 2011, the band performed at the welcome ceremony for US President Barack Obama in Dublin.

Discography

→ Main article : Westlife / discography

Studio albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)						Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US	IE
1999	Westlife	DE55 (2 weeks) DE	-	CH25 (3 weeks) CH	UK2 × 5 Quintuple platinum (74 weeks)UK	US129 (17 weeks) US	IE1 (62 weeks) IE	First published: November 1, 1999 Sales: + 2,040,000
2000	Coast to Coast	DE19th gold (50 weeks)DE	AT59 (2 weeks) AT	CH38 gold (35 weeks)CH	UK1 × 6 Six-fold platinum (29 weeks)UK	-	IE1 (45 weeks) IE	First published: November 6, 2000 Sales: + 2,040,000
2001	World of Our Own	DE8th gold (40 weeks)DE	AT9 gold (30 weeks)AT	CH19th gold (23 weeks)CH	UK1 × 4 Quadruple platinum (35 weeks)UK	-	IE1 (46 weeks) IE	First published: November 12, 2001 Sales: +2,000,000
2003	Turnaround	DE20 (16 weeks) DE	AT42 (10 weeks) AT	CH24 (11 weeks) CH	UK1 × 2 Double platinum (21 weeks)UK	-	IE1 (18 weeks) IE	First published: November 24, 2003 Sales: + 1,000,000
2004	Allow Us to Be Frank	DE30 (3 weeks) DE	-	CH75 (2 weeks) CH	UK3 × 2 Double platinum (12 weeks)UK	-	IE2 (17 weeks) IE	First published: November 8, 2004 Sales: + 600,000
2005	Face to face	DE18 (13 weeks) DE	-	CH14 (16 weeks) CH	UK1 × 4 Quadruple platinum (23 weeks)UK	-	IE1 × 8 Eight times platinum (30 weeks)IE	First published: October 31, 2005 Sales: + 1,320,000
2006	The Love Album	DE34 (4 weeks) DE	AT49 (3 weeks) AT	CH27 (9 weeks) CH	UK1 × 3 Triple platinum (12 weeks)UK	-	IE1 × 10 Tenfold platinum (22 weeks)IE	First published: November 24, 2006 Sales: + 1,050,000
2007	Back Home	DE45 (1 week) DE	AT65 (1 week) AT	CH19 (4 weeks) CH	UK1 × 3 Triple platinum (21 weeks)UK	-	IE1 × 5 Quintuple platinum (42 weeks)IE	First published: November 9, 2007 Sales: + 375,000
2009	Where We Are	DE42 (3 weeks) DE	AT53 (1 week) AT	CH25 (5 weeks) CH	UK2 × 2 Double platinum (18 weeks)UK	-	IE2 × 3 Triple platinum (22 weeks)IE	First published: November 30th, 2009 Sales: + 645,000
2010	Gravity	-	-	CH50 (2 weeks) CH	UK3 platinum (7 weeks)UK	-	IE1 (37 weeks) IE	First published: November 22nd, 2010 Sales: + 300,000
2019	Spectrum	DE69 (1 week) DE	-	CH23 (1 week) CH	UK1 gold (12 weeks)UK	-	IE1 (14 weeks) IE	First published: November 15, 2019 Sales: + 100,000

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

Tours

• 2001: Where Dreams Come True - Live in Dublin (DVD)
• 2002: World of Our Own
• 2003: Unbreakable - The Greatest Hits-Tour - Live in Manchester (DVD)
• 2004: Turn Around - Live in Stockholm (DVD)
• 2005: The Number Ones - Live in Sheffield (DVD)
• 2006: Face to Face - Live at Wembley in London (DVD)
• 2007: The Love Tour - No DVD available
• 2008: Back Home Tour
• 2008: Croke Park - Live at Croke Park Stadium in Dublin (DVD)
• 2010: Where We Are - Tour - Live at the O2 in London (DVD)
• 2011: Gravity Tour - No DVD available
• 2012: Farewell / Greatest Hits Tour - Live at Croke Park in Dublin (DVD)

swell

1. ↑ Westlife split after 13 years (accessed November 27, 2011)
2. ↑ cf. [1] , BBC article, December 13, 2001, accessed June 14, 2008
3. ↑ cf. Archived copy ( memento of the original dated November 22, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Daily Mirror article, June 14, 2008, accessed June 15, 2008 
4. ^ Mark Simpson: Mary Byrne to sing for Queen in Dublin. In: BBC News . Retrieved June 11, 2011 . 
5. ^ President Obama visit to Ireland - Day One. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on August 21, 2011 ; Retrieved June 11, 2011 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  

Web links

• Official website (German)
• Official website (English)
• Westlife at www.startalk.ch The detailed interview with picture galleries.