GET AWAY FROM IT ALL WITH KIAN WESTLIFE / TOTPs Magazine, Novemeber 99.

The music-mad, guitar-wielding Kian opened his front door for TOTP Magazine just to allow you an exclusive peak at his favourite place in the world - his very own bed!
"When you're in a band like Westlife, touring around the world playing to millions of people, its important to get back down to reality. To come home and relax is very important for keeping your feet on the ground. I love getting back to Sligo and doing all the things I used to do before Westlife happened - being the way I always have been.
I was given my first guitar when I was 11. I used to share my bedroom with my brother Tom and I'd always be picking up his guitar and messing around on it. I guess you could say I was self-taught but, when he saw how into it I was, Tom did start to teach me properly. I really hated the classical guitar. Rock guitar was my favourite and all I wanted to do was play the electric guitar but (in a whisper) don't let mum show you the photos of me with my rocker's mullet!
My guitar amp is really powerful so my parents were always screaming at me to keep the music down. I'd play every day after school and of course there'd be my little brother in the house trying to sleep and when I was younger my niece and nephew lived here, so I was a bit naughty really. It's still an ongoing joke. I can also play the recorder, clarinet and piano. My older brother teaches music at college and he started teaching me to play the piano when I was 8. I played for years and got up to Grade Eight. It was mostly classical stuff then but now I love playing Bryan Adams' (Everything I Do) I Do It For You. I've written a few songs with Bryan (McFadden, not Adams!) on my piano, which is in the back room just down the hall here. There's one called Fragile Heart which is probably our best song. We might use it for Westlife later on.
I've never serenaded a girl but I did write a song for my ex-girlfriend about a year ago called Crazy For You. Talking of girls, if there was one woman in the world I could do a duet with it would be Madonna. I'd just like to find out what she was really like.
Although music has always been my main love I've got quite a few trophies for poetry recitals. My mum keeps them lined up on the piano. I won my first competition at the age of four when I recited a poem called Vespers by A.A. Milne. My favourite piece though was called Tom's Bomb: 'There was a boy, his name was Tom, He made a high-explosive bomb…' Anyway, thanks for stopping by my bedroom - I hope you enjoyed your visit!"
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