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.