WESTLIFE: Debut & First Three Albums

Westlife's first big break came in 1998 when they opened for the Boyzone and Backstreet Boys' concerts in Dublin. Later Act award at the Smash Hits Poll Winners Party. In April 1999, the group released their first single, "Swear It Again" which immediately topped the charts in Ireland and in the UK for two weeks. Their second single, "If I Let You Go" was released in August 1999, along with the highly acclaimed "Flying Without Wings" produced by Steve Mac and written by Wayne Hector (their first 'Record of the Year'), released in October the same year, also followed suit.

TRIVIA: "Flying Without Wings" was also included on the soundtrack of the Warner Brothers film, Pokémon: The Movie 2000. They also did two different collaborations of this song with Korean singer BoA and Mexican singer Christian Castro.

"Flying Without Wings ft BoA"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-T1W8fWzfMk

"Flying Without Wings ft Christian Castro"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZOW8ZuLG2o





FIRST ALBUM: Westlife

Their first album, simply titled Westlife, was released in November 1999 and went to No. 2 in the UK. The album was the biggest chart dropper on the top 40 in UK music history when, in its 58th week on the charts it leapt from No. 79 to No. 3 before falling to No. 37 the following week. In December 1999, a fourth, double-side, single was released, "I Have A Dream"/"Seasons in the Sun". It knocked Cliff Richard's "The Millennium Prayer" off the top spot and earned them the 1999 UK Christmas number-one single. The fifth and last single from the album, "Fool Again", also peaked at #1. Then the group went on a short UK, US and Asian tour in support of their debut album before releasing a second album.

Westlife is the self-titled debut album released by Irish boyband Westlife. The album was released on 1 November 1999, spawning five number one hit singles "Swear It Again", "If I Let You Go", "Flying Without Wings", the double A-side "I Have A Dream" and "Seasons in the Sun" and "Fool Again".

Due to all five singles from the album peaking at #1 on the UK Singles Chart in less than a year, the band created a chart history record that remains unbroken to date. And despite all five singles peaking at #1, the album entered and peaked at #2, being beaten only by an extra 1,000 copies of Steptacular by Steps. The album became the eighth best selling album of 1999 in the United Kingdom, and ended up being certified 4× Platinum. The album went on to spend seventy-four weeks in the UK Top 100. In 2000, the album was released in the United States, peaking at #129 on the US Billboard 200. The album also peaked at #15 in Australia. Westlife also remains the best-selling international album ever in Indonesia and Philippines, receiving twenty platinum certifications for over one million copies sold in Indonesia and twenty-five platinum certifications for over a half a million units sold in the Philippines. In 2005, the album was released in a compilation box collection with their fourth studio album, Turnaround. Overall, the album has sold more than five million copies worldwide. A video album related to the release, entitled "The Westlife Story", was released in October 2000, peaking at #15 on the UK Visual Chart. The release was available on both VHS and DVD. The DVD was later made available in a five disc set entitled "Westlife: The Complete Story".

Track List:
1. Swear It Again
2. If I Let You Go
3. Flying Without Wings
4. Fool Again
5. No No
6. I Don't Wanna Fight
7. Change The World
8. Moments
9. Seasons In The Sun
10. I Need You
11. Miss You
12. More Than Words
13. Open Your Heart
14. Try Again
15. What I Want Is What I've Got
16. We Are One
17. Can't Lose What You Never Had





SECOND ALBUM: Coast to Coast

Coast to Coast was released a year later and was another No. 1 UK album, beating the Spice Girls' Forever album. It became the country's 4th biggest selling album of 2000. The album was preceded by a duet with Mariah Carey singing the Phil Collins' classic "Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)" and the original song "My Love" (their second Record of the Year award). Both singles reached No. 1 on the UK charts.

Coast to Coast is the second studio album by the Irish boy band Westlife, released on 6 November 2000 by RCA Records. Six hit singles were released from the album: "Against All Odds", "My Love", "What Makes a Man", "I Lay My Love on You", "When You're Looking Like That" and "Uptown Girl". The album was a commercial success in both Ireland and the United Kingdom, selling 1.8 million copies in Britain alone. The album was the third-best selling of 2000 in Britain. In January 2005, the album was re-issued in a two-in-one box set compilation with the group's third album, World of our Own. A video album, entitled Coast to Coast - Up Close and Personal, was released on 27 November 2000. It peaked at #1 on the UK Visual Chart.

Coast to Coast received mostly negative reviews from music critics. Andrew Lynch from Entertainment.ie gave the album one out of five stars, calling the album "commercial suicide" and "soppy pop". However, the album was reviewed more positively at Allmusic and Rovi, who both gave the album two and half stars, comparing Westlife to other bands such as Take That and Boyzone. Coast to Coast entered the UK Albums Chart at number one, with 234,767 copies sold in its first week, making it Westlife's fastest selling album to date. The album remained at number one for only one week, being replaced by The Beatles' compilation album 1. In April 2011, the album was certified six times platinum by the British Phonographic Industry for shipments of nearly two million copies in the United Kingdom. Up to November 2011, the album had sold 1,685,971 copies in the United Kingdom, becoming Westlife's biggest-selling studio album there. A gold sales award disc was issued to the band to commemorate sales in excess of 115,000 copies sold in Mexico. The album was also certified Gold in Brazil by ABPD, for sales of over 100,000 copies.

Track List:
1. My Love
2. What Makes A Man
3. I Lay My Love On You
4. I Have A Dream
5. Against All Odds
6. When You're Looking Like That
7. Close
8. Somebody Needs You
9. Angel's Wings
10. Soledad
11. Puzzle Of My Heart
12. Dreams Come True
13. No Place That Far
14. Close Your Eyes
15. You Make Me Feel
16. Loneliness Knows Me By Name
17. Fragile Heart
18. Every Little Thing You Do





THIRD ALBUM: World Of Our Own

World of Our Own is the third studio album by the Irish boyband Westlife, released on 12 November 2001. It reached number one in the United Kingdom and includes the singles "Queen of My Heart" (which was a double A-side with "When You're Looking Like That"), "World of Our Own" (which was a double A-side with "Angel"), "Bop Bop Baby", and the final single from the group's last album, Uptown Girl". "Evergreen" was later covered by Will Young as his winner's single for the 2002 Pop Idol competition. The album went 4x Platinum in the UK.[1] In January 2005, the album was re-released in a 2-in-1 box set with the group's previous album, Coast To Coast.

Track List:
1. Queen Of My Heart
2. Bop Bop Baby
3. I Cry
4. Uptown Girl
5. Why Do I Love You
6. I Wanna Grow Old With You
7. When You're Looking Like That
8. Evergreen
9. World Of Our Own
10. To Be Loved
11. Drive
12. If Your Heart's Not In It
13. When You Come Around
14. Don't Say It's Too Late
15. Don't Let Me Go
16. Walk Away
17. Love Crime
18. Imaginary Diva
19. Angel
20. Bad Girls

WESTLIFE: The Irish Lads

Name: SHANE STEVEN FILAN
Nickname: SHANE
Born: 05 July 1979
Origin: Sligo, Ireland
Star Sign: Cancer
Height: 5 ft. 9 in.
Eye Color: Hazel Green

Filan was born on 5 July 1979 to Peter and Mae Filan, and grew up in Sligo, a busy commercial town in the northwest of Ireland. The youngest of seven children, he has three brothers and three sisters: Finbarr, Peter Jr, Yvonne, Liam, Denise and Mairead. His parents owned a diner in Sligo named Carlton Café located on Castle Street and Shane used to work there as a waiter from a very early age.

Filan attended Summerhill College, a Catholic school, with Kian Egan and Mark Feehily. All three of them participated in a school production of Grease when they were about 12. The Hawkswell Theatre became a significant part of their careers. Filan was a fan of Michael Jackson as a child, and claimed the singer inspired him to pursue a career in music.





Name: BRIAN NICHOLAS MCFADDEN
Nickname: BRIAN
Born: 12 April 1980
Origin: Dublin, Ireland
Star Sign: Aries
Height: 6 ft.
Eye Color: Blue

McFadden was born in Dublin, Ireland and was raised Catholic. Throughout his younger years, he always had an interest in singing, dancing and football. Along with his sister Susan, McFadden attended the Billie Barry Stage School in Dublin which led him to doing stage and TV roles, including a role in the Irish TV show Finbar's Class, a comedy revolving around a group of student-swingers. In early 1998, he formed a pop-R&B group with his friends, Tim and Darragh called Cartel, and performed live gigs in Dublin pubs.





Name: NICHOLAS BERNARD JAMES ADAM BYRNE
Nickname: NICKY
Born: 09 October 1978
Origin: Dublin, Ireland
Star Sign: Libra
Height: 5 ft. 10 in.
Eye Color: Blue

Nicky was born to parents Yvonne and Nicholas. He has an older sister, Gillian, and a younger brother, Adam. Byrne was a footballer and played for Home Farm and St. Kevins Boys in North Dublin. He became a professional player, and joined Leeds United as a goalkeeper in 1995, and was a squad member of the FA Youth Cup winning team of 1997. He played for Leeds for two years, leaving when his contract expired in June 1997.

In June 1998, Byrne attended an audition for new Irish boyband, where Boyzone manager Louis Walsh approached him to join his new venture, Westlife. Byrne joined Westlife along with Kian Egan, Mark Feehily, Shane Filan and Brian McFadden. Byrne revealed in Westlife: Our Story that he had wanted to change the name of the band to West High; but the others preferred Westlife.





Name: KIAN JOHN FRANCIS EGAN
Nickname: KIAN
Born: 29 April 1980
Origin: Sligo, Ireland
Star Sign: Taurus
Height: 5 ft. 10 in.
Eye Color: Blue

Egan was born to Patricia and Kevin (d. 2009). He has three brothers; Tom, Gavin and Colm, and three sisters; Marielle, Vivienne and Fenella. He is the fifth of 7 children. He attended Summerhill College secondary school in Sligo, where he met fellow band members Mark Feehily and Shane Filan.

He was also in a pop group called IOYOU with fellow Westlife members Mark Feehily and Shane Filan, as well as Graham Keighron, Michael "Miggles" Garrett and Derrick Lacey.
Egan plays many instruments inside and outside the group, including the piano and guitar and was a former member of Sligo punk rock group Skrod.

Aside from being a member of Irish boy band Westlife, Kian, (during a year long hiatus from the group on 2008) launched a new venture along with Louis Walsh to put together and co-manage girlband, Wonderland, their debut album reached number 6 in Ireland and number 8 in the UK; just 4 months later, however, they were dropped by Mercury Records.





Name: MARK MICHAEL PATRICK FEEHILY
Nickname: MARK
Born: 28 May 1981
Origin: Sligo, Ireland
Star Sign: Gemini
Height: 5 ft. 10 1/2 in.
Eye Color: Blue

Mark Feehily was born in Sligo, Ireland, to Verdon and Oliver Feehily. He has two brothers, Barry (born 1985) and Colin (born 1989).

He rose to fame as one of the two lead singers of the boyband Westlife. He shared lead vocals with Shane Filan. Before Westlife, Timothy Keith, Shane Filan and Kian Egan came from the band IOYOU, which released the single "Together Girl Forever".[1] Louis Walsh, the manager of the 1990s boy-band Boyzone, was contacted by Filan's mother and came to know about the group.

WESTLIFE: How It All Began

WESTLIFE were an Irish boy band, formed in July 1998, originally signed by Simon Cowell and managed by Louis Walsh. Kian Egan, Mark Feehily and Shane Filan were originally part of a six-member pop vocal group called Six as One, changed in 1997 to IOYOU.

Louis Walsh, the manager of fellow Irish boy band Boyzone, came to know the group after he was contacted by Filan's mother, but the group failed to secure a BMG record deal with Cowell. Cowell told Walsh: "You are going to have to fire at least three of them. They have great voices, but they are the ugliest band I have ever seen in my life." Three members of the band were told they would not be part of the new group, and auditions were held in Dublin where Nicky Byrne and Brian McFadden were recruited out of the hundreds who auditioned.

The new group, formed on 3 July 1998, was renamed Westside but that name was already in use by another band, so it was changed to Westlife.