WestLife - The boy's
own Story
Taken from 'News of theWorld',
24th of October 1999
**********
We owe it all to mum (...and
our big mate Ronan)
Pop sensation Westlife will
today storm straight to No.1 with their
new single Flying Without
Wings, but they'd still be in the
wilderness if it wasn't
for band member Shane Filan's tough-talkingmum.
Mae Filan knew that her
son and his pals needed the best boy-
band manager in the buisness.
He was Louis Walsh, the man
behind Boyzone's phenomenal
success - but he was impossible to
get hold of.
Then suddenly Mae knew she
had an edge. "My family
used to live in the same
road as Louis and his family and I
remember him as a little
boy running round the house", she said
last night. "So I picked
up the phone...and hoped."
WL's three No.1s from their
first three singles is a record
unequalled by any other
boy band. Not even BZ managed it
- and their star Ronan
Keating is now WL's co-manager.
Writer Rob McGibbon has
chronicled their rise to fame in the lads'
official biography, 'Westlife,
our story'. And with his help, over four
fact-filled pages we reveal
the astonishing truth - including the day
Leeds United's manager
kicked one band member off his team and
another cried himself to
sleep for six months after a lover broke his
heart
Kian
Kian is clearly the most
experienced ladies' man in the band. He
first got 'married' when
he was seven!
"The 'wedding' was at the
back of an old house in the street where I
lived," he smiled. "All
us boys used to do it as a way of getting to
kiss a girl. My first 'wife'
dressed up in a white communion dress
and I put on my bow tie.
It was a serious thing for us in the street -
I even had a best man."
Kian has a habbit of doing
things early. He first performed in public
at the age of four. "I
went in for a talent competition", he explained.
"I recited a poem called
Whispers at a hotel in Sligo. I won and I
still have the trophy.
From then on I wanted to be on stage the rest of my life.
"I started doing musicals
at school and eventually did shows like
The Pajama Game, West Side
Story, Annie Get your Gun and
Oliver.
The big turning point came
for me when I saw what Take
That were doing. I loved
songs like Everything Changes and Pray. I
thought, 'A boy band? Yeah
that's for me.' "
So what about true romance?
"I fell seriously in love when I was 15
and met a girl called Sonya,"
he sighed. "I went out with her for a
year and a half and we
spent pretty much every day together. After
about four months I told
her I loved her. Then one day, she asked
me to come around to her
house and said, 'I want to break up with
you'. She broke my heart
to pieces. I cried in bed every night for
six months." "I saw her
on a disco in Sligo a while back and I told
her I still loved her.
She said, 'Shut up Kian, you're drunk.' She was right."
Mark
Mark shudders with dread
each time he hears the BZ hit Words
- because it reminds
him of mopping out toilets!
"I worked in a restaurant
where they always played that song", he
said. It always brings
back memories of cleaning the loos. Mind
you I've also worked in
Burger King which was my worst job. It was
a new place and it took
us ages to learn how to clean everything at
the end of each day, so
we were kept working until 5am on a
Saturday morning. I couldn't
cope with the lack of sleep so I
chucked that job in."
Mark's mum Marie is a civil
servant and works in Ireland's
department of agriculture.
His dad Oliver was brought up on a farm
just outside Sligo. "That's
where I still live",
Mark continued -
though he might have become
a tennis hero rather than a pop star.
"I was dead serious about
my tennis and would play every single
day and enter competitions",
he explained. "For a while I wanted to
be a professional player,
but we don't have that coaching in my
area to take you to a higher
level.
"Besides, for as long as
I can remember I loved singing, I used to
jump up and down pretending
it was a microphone and singing
Uptown Girl by Billy Joel.
"Every Sundayevening all my family
would go to my grandparents'
house and everyone would do a party
piece. That's when I realised
I liked performing." "I feel really
comfortable when I'm on
stage. I'm not the same person as I am off
stage. A lot of my inhibitions
go.
Bryan
Bryan might be coining
it now he's struck stardom - but first royalty
was paid in chocolate.
The eight-year-old budding
star was at Billie Barry stage school in
Ireland along with an array
of future Irish stars when his big day
arrived. "That's when westarted
doing the shows and really getting
involved in the dancing,"
recalls Bryan. "The first thing I won at Bille
Barry's was a singing competition
- the prize was a Cadbury's
Easter egg." And competition
for the eggs was certaimly hot in
those days, with the cream
of Irish talent pouring into the school.
"Sinead from B*Witched
was also in that show," said Bryan. "And
that's where Shane and
Mikey from BZ went but they were fouryears ahead of me."
Stardom was always in young
Bryan's destiny chart. "When I was
a kid I used to sing in
the shower or pose in font of the mirror
pretending I was Michael
Jackson or Jason Donovan," he added.
The whole family is no
stranger to success, either. Sister Susan
was a household name in
Ireland from an early age. "She was
probably counted as one
of the biggest child stars in Ireland a few
years ago and was the lead
in shows like Annie and Beauty And
The Beast with Lionel Blair",
smiled Bryan. "People would say to
me in the street: 'Are
you Susan McFadden's brother?' It was
cool." Now the tables are
turned and Susan is the one who gets
asked if she's Bryan's
sister. But the modest star insists his
sibling would be a worthy
record rival. "Susan's a really good singer-
better than me - I'm sure
she'll have a good career as a singer ifshe wants it."
Nicky
The night Nicky played
at Wembly with Westlife all his dreams
came true - for he grew
up hoping to play there as goalie with Leeds United.
"When I was 15 I went for
trials at Derby, Everton and Leeds", he
said. "I chose Leeds. I
was very excited - and very homesick. The
first time I rang my mum
I cried." "Then at the start of my first
season I was selected for
the first team squad because of injuries
to other players. I was
only 16 and I was on the bench for the third
Premiereship game of the
season, against Southampton. I didn't
get to play but I thought
it was the start of big things...
"But near the end of my
contract the new manager George Graham
told me they weren't keeping
me on because I was only 5ft 10in.
He only wanted big keeoers.
I was devastated and went home toIreland."
"As many fans know the great
love of Nicky's life is Georgina,
daughter of Irish premier
Bertie Aherne. "I met her at school and
we've been together five
years," said Nicky. "I'd do laps of the
school corridors between
classes so I could pass her again. I
came home that day and
said to my mum, 'I've found the girl for me'."
Georgina stuck by me through
all my problems at Leeds and I owe her a lot.
"I still have a very strong
faith and pray every night for God to look
after my family and everyone
I care about. My Nana is also very
holy and she gave a special
prayer a while ago. I know it off by
heart and say it every
night before I go to sleep.
Shane
As if it was yesterday,
Shane remembers the moment his world changed:
"I was nine," he said,
"and Michael Jackson brought out his Bad album."
"He took over my life,"
Shane smiled. "I'd push back chairs in the
room and learn his moves
- I even had the gloves and hat. "
The first
time I was in a proper
stage show was in Grease at the Hawkswell
Theatre in Sligo when I
was 12. There wasn't really a role for
someone as young as me,
but the producer created a special part
for me and a girl called
Olwyn Morgan to sing a duet called We Go
Torether. "I couldn't believe
the reaction we got. For a few seconds
I thought I was Jacko."
"When I was 14 I went to
an all-boys school. We sometimes did
musicals. I was in Annie
Get Your Gun, but had to play a girl. I
was dressed up in a skirt
and bonnet, but there were other lads
dressed as girls, so we
could see the funny side."
Horses were also a major
part of Shane's childhood. "I startes
riding properly when I
was nine and every weekend the whole family
would go to shows all over
Ireland and sometimes to England. It
was a massive day out."
"The only other sport I'm
passionate about is rugby. I played at fly
half and when I was 18
I had trials for the Irish team, during trials,
me and the guys were preparing
a show and I realised I might get
injured and not be able
to sing. That scared the hell out of me."
"I realised that all I
wanted wasto hear my songs on the radio."
Formula for Success
It was a long shot, but
worth a try. Shane's mum Mae Filan knew
she held the success formula
for her son and his mates in
Westlife. But she needed
to perform a miracle first.
The man virtually guaranteed
to turn them into stars was Louis
Walsh - a legend in Ireland
and already boss of Boyzone. But
getting his secretaries
and aides was just about impossible - well it
was to everyone except
Mae. "I knew they had the talant and
deserved the best chance,"
she said, "so I decided to get in touch
with Louis. "I mentioned
this to Shane but he didn't believe I could
do it because everyone
wants to get in touch with Louis."
Mae, who comes from a small
town called Kilitimagh in County
Mayo, added: "First I called
Louis' brother Paul who still lives in
Kilitimagh and he gave
me Louis' office number. My family used to
live in the same road as
Louis and his family and I remeber him as
a boy running round the
house." "I dialed the number a couple of
times but I only got an
answer machine. I didn't leave a message
because I wanted to speak
direct. The next time I called I got
through to Louis and he
was wonderful. We chatted for about 20
minutes, which is a long
time to speak to someone as busy as he
is. We didn't talk about
Kilitimagh, but just about the group. I told
him all about Shane and
the boys. Louis had heard about the group
and was interested in meeting
them. Shane was staying with his
sister Mairead in Dublin
for a party, so I rang and said Louis
wanted to speak to him.
But Shane wouldn't believe me. He said:
'Come on, mum you're having
me on.' When she gave him Louis'
mobile phome number, he
fianlly believed her.
In three years they'd come
a long way. Shane, Mark and Kian -
along with three pals called
Derek, Graham and Michael - first
played live in 1996. They
were on stage in Grease in their
hometown of Sligo. Soon
they switched names to IOU - but bigger
changes were to come.
After gigging for a while
they had an offer of a locally based
management contract - and
that's when Mae persuaded Louis tostep in instead.
Shane recalls the moment
they met him: "We turned up at the Red
Box nightclub to see him
and told the guy on the door who we
were there to see. He was
like, 'Yeah guys, sure you are' and tried
to turn us away. Then the
man himself stepped up and said, 'Hi, I'm
Louis'. We walked in right
past doorman - it was so cool." "I was
so nervous at meeting him
I didn't know whether to shake his hand
or bow. The first thimg
he told us was not to sign any other
contract. He said he was
too busy with BZ to manage us, but
would get us on TV, let
us support BZ on their Autumn tour AND
help us find a manager!
After the meeting we were running down
the streets screaming our
heads off!"
A few days later Louis invited
them to RononKeating' 21st birthday
party. Shane added: "I
got to the Red Box and the first thing I
heard was a massive roar
- it was Ronan and his wifr Yvonne
arriving on his massive
Harley Davidson! Later Ronan walked by
and Michael and I introduced
ourselves. I felt so honoured to meet
him. There was one moment
when I was standing in the toilet in a
line - and the other guys
were Alan Shearer and snooker star Ken
Doherty! I thought, am
I dreaming?"
A week later, Louis sprinkled
more stardust over them, when he
calmly rang to tell them:
"I've got you the support slot at the BSB
concert." The US superstars
were playing two gigs in Dublin's RDS
Arena. The six Sligo boys
were such big BSB fans they had
tickets for one of the
shows - now they were going to be on stage!
Kian said: "We were shaking,
we had tears rolling down our faces.
The two shows were amazing.
the reaction we got from the girls
was fantastic. They didn't
know who we were, but they knew we
were Irish, so they loved
us."
Watching from the wings
was Louis, imressed by their talent and
obvious hunger for success.
"I could see something
special, especially with Shane's and Mark's
voices," he said. "That's
when I decided to manage the group. I
wasn't sure I could even
get them a record deal, but I wanted to
have a go." Louis told
them so, but added there was one
insurmountable hurdle:
one of them would have to go. Every boy
band was a five-piece.
Six was top-heavy, difficult to choreograph,
and looked clumsy on stage.
Derek was far more mature
looking
than the others which everyone
felt upset the 'cosmetic balance'. It
fell to Shane, as unofficial
leader, to brak the news to his best pal.
Derek was devestated but
IOU had no choice if they wanted to
pursue their dreams with
heavyweight backing. Louis paid for the
five to visit London so
they could record a two-song demo tape to
send to labels. then Ronan,
who got on well with the guys, came
on board as co-manager.
They secured an audition
with RCA, but boss Simon Cowell was
unimpressed. The solution
was painful: IOU had to be broken apart.
Graham was the next casualty
- at 22 he was four years older than
the others. "When I looked
at the whole picture, I knew my age
was a problem," he admitted.
"I was upset but I took it on the chin."
To get the perfect replacement,
Louis advertised nationwide.
Dubliners Nicky Byrne and
Bryan McFadden
stood out and were quickly
signed up. Now the band was back to
six. So the final casualty
was Michael.
Kian recalled: "Telling
him
he was out was awful. the
worst day ever." This time last year they
auditined again for RCA's
Simon Cowell - and with the pefect line-
up it was virtually a formality.
The deal was signed. Then
came the change of name, initially to
Westside but later - because
of a US outfit with a similar name - to
Westlife. Next stop...superstardom!
**********
Thank you Helle for typing
this interview!
You're a great friend!
/ Keely
**********