This Irish boy band, originally known as Westside, emerged in the late 90s as the highly successful prot‚g‚s of Ronan Keating of Boyzone.The three founding members, Kian Egan, Shane Filan and Mark Feehily, came together in a local Sligo production of Grease. They formed IOU with three fellow actors after friends encouraged them to continue singing, and began performing cover versions in local clubs. A demo tape of a track written by Filan and Feehily, "Together Girl Forever", found its way to Boyzone manager Louis Walsh. Suitably impressed, Walsh hired them to support US boy band Backstreet Boys when they visited Dublin. A change of line-up ensued, with three of the original members making way for ex-soccer player Nicky Byrne and Bryan McFadden. Keating became involved with the band as co-manager in April 1998. After a showcase appearance at London's Caf‚ de Paris in February 1999, the band changed their name to Westlife after learning of the existence of several American acts performing as Westside.

Groomed as natural successors to Boyzone, the quintet's debut single "Swear It Again", was a highly predictable Irish and UK chart-topper in May. The follow-up, "If I Let You Go", repeated the feat when it entered the UK singles chart at number 1 in August. "Flying Without Wings" made it three number 1s in a row in October. Their status as the most popular boy band of the moment was underlined when their lame double a-side, featuring cover versions of Abba's "I Have A Dream" and Terry Jacks' "Seasons In The Sun", topped the charts for four weeks over Christmas and the new year. They created UK chart history in April 2000 when "Fool Again" became their fifth number 1 single in a row.

Later in the year, the group's duet with Mariah Carey on a cover version of Phil Collins' "Against All Odds", and "My Love", became their sixth andseventh number ones respectively. Both singles featured on Coast To Coast, a virtual rewrite of their debut album. Their Christmas single "What Makes A Man"/"My Girl" was pipped to the coveted number 1 slot by children television's character Bob The Builder. The group bounced back to the top in March 2001 with their cover version of Billy Joel's "Uptown Girl", released for the Comic Relief charity. In November, the anodyne "Queen Of My Heart" earned the group their ninth chart-topper. The quintet notched up their tenth number 1 in February 2002 with "World Of Our Own".

The last single they have released was ‘Bob Bob Baby’, the highest chart position was in the UK on top 5. Now Westlife want to have there break-through in the United States, with the new version of ‘World Of Our Own'...