Westlife are being forced to swallow their pride and return home having failed to win over the tough music buying public in America. The lads had been very vocal about their determination to achieve success across the pond and record company execs were certain their efforts would prove fruitful after their first two albums topped the charts in the UK and Ireland and won them a legion of fans across Europe and Asia.
However their manager Louis Walsh confirmed the decision to abandon their American dream. 'We're not sure whether it will happen for us there,' he told UK tabloid The Sun before explaining that they will instead concentrate on maintaining their existing fan base. 'Our stronghold is in Britain and Europe. We are doing really well here and don't want to be associated with failure. We are one of the biggest bands in Europe and we want to consolidate that position. As far as we are concerned the US is off.'
Kian Egan, Bryan McFadden, Shane Filan, Mark Fehilly and Nicky Byrne had spent several months devoting their time to a heavy round of promotional work in America and even recorded a cover with Mariah Carey, Against All Odds with an eye on scoring a hit in the US charts. However despite their hard work, which caused Bryan to collapse with exhaustion at one point, the American fans refused to jump on the Westlife bandwagon.
The group have spoken extensively to worldpop about their bid to conquer the lucrative market. Back in March Shane said, 'We're going to America in the summertime and we're going to spend about four or five months out there. 'We're going to try and conquer it.'
Bandmate Bryan told of their initial disappointment on discovering they were total unknowns when they arrived. ''We went to all these radio stations and they were like, 'What are you guys called? West what? I'm gonna have to write that one down.' He continued. 'It's really irritating but after a while people are like, 'Oh yeah, Westlife!''
Mark hinted that he didn't enjoy his time out there and revealed he would never live out there permanently: 'I have to go home every now and then to get back to normality for a while,' he confessed adding, 'I'd probably end up a total psycho if I lived there all the time. There's too much bulls**t going on there.'
The decision to return home does have a couple of plus points. Firstly the fans who helped propel the band to stardom will get to see their idols a little more often and secondly Bryan will have more opportunity to spend time with fiancée Kerry Katona and their, as yet unborn, baby girl, Molly.
But their American label bosses at Arista Records in New York are worried. The American media expects boy bands to be squeaky clean. Being scandal free and being openly Christian have been passports to success for the likes of 98 Degrees, ‘N Sync and The Backstreet Boys.
Bryan, Kian and Mark are aged 20, but the legal drinking age in North America is 21. As a result they’ve been warned to stay sober in the build up to the launch of Westlife’s debut American album in September. As they’re flying out in late July, the three group members won’t see the inside of a bar for two months.
When Nicky can take a long enough break from Westlife’s schedule, they’ll be settling down together for a life of wedded bliss in the mansion that Nicky’s having built near Dublin. We say, "Keep buying Westlife’s records forvever and he’ll never find the time. Hahahaha".
Actually we’d like to take this opportunity to wish Nicky and Gerorgina all the best, particularly as he told us, "No matter what the future holds for me, I just pray I’m with Georgina." Aaah bless.
"I can't wait to be a dad and Kerry is really looking forward to being a mum," said Bryan. "It's the best thing that has ever happened to me.”
The couple, who announced that they have been engaged for over a year last week, have already chosen names – the first Westlife baby will be called Molly if it’s a girl and Dylan James (DJ) if it’s a boy.
Bryan says that the rest of Westlife are "delighted" at the announcement – "The lads are really pleased for me and I think we'll be celebrating tonight with a few jars," he laughed.
Kerry, who just flashed her (currently) flat stomach in a naked magazine shoot, says she’s over the moon too. "Bryan adores kids and so do I. Before I entered pop I wanted to be a nanny."
Both popsters plan to continue with their careers in the run-up to the baby’s birth this autumn.