Westlife

Westlife is an Irish boy band, that was active from 1997 to 2012. They did not succeed in America, like they did in other countries.

Origin, Debut album, Coast to Coast, World of Our Own (1997–2002)
[edit] Kian Egan, Markus Feehily and Shane Filan, along with fellow Sligo men Derrick Lacey, Graham Keighron, and Michael Garrett, were part of a six-member pop vocal group called Six as One, changed in 1997 to IOYOU. The group, managed by choreographer Mary McDonagh and two other informal managers, released a single titled "Together Girl Forever".

Original member and lead vocalist of the band, Shane Steven Filan Louis Walsh, the manager of fellow Irish boy band Boyzone, came to know the group after he was contacted by Filan's mother, but the group failed to secure a BMG record deal with Simon Cowell. Westlife was managed by Louis Walsh. Westlife was originally signed by Simon Cowell. Cowell told Walsh: "You are going to have to fire at least three of them. They have great voices, but they are the ugliest band I have ever seen in my life."[5] Three members of the band (Lacey, Keighron and Garrett) were told they would not be part of the new group, and auditions were held in Dublin where Nicky Byrne and Brian McFadden were recruited. The new group, formed on 3 July 1998, was renamed Westside but that name was already in use by another band, so it was changed to Westlife. In Westlife – Our Story, Byrne revealed that, unlike the others in the group, he was keen to change the name to West High. McFadden also changed the spelling of his name to Bryan to make it easier to sign autographs. Boyzone singer Ronan Keating was brought in to co-manage the group with Walsh. The band then released an EP titled Swear It Again. Westlife's first big break came in 1998 when they opened for Boyzone and Backstreet Boys' concerts in Dublin. Later, they won a special Smash Hits Roadshow award at that year's Smash Hits Poll Winners Party. In April 1999, the group released their first single, "Swear It Again" which immediately topped the charts in Ireland and in the UK for two weeks.[6] Their second single, "If I Let You Go" was released in August 1999, along with the highly acclaimed "Flying Without Wings" produced by Steve Mac and written by Mac and Wayne Hector (their first 'Record of the Year'), released in October the same year, also followed suit. "Flying Without Wings" was also included on the soundtrack of the Warner Brothers film, Pokémon: The Movie 2000. Their first album, simply titled Westlife, was released in November 1999 and went to No. 2 in the UK. The album was the biggest chart dropper on the top 40 in UK music history when, in its 58th week on the charts it leapt from No. 79 to No. 3 before falling to No. 37 the following week.[7] In December 1999, a fourth, double-side, single was released, "I Have A Dream"/"Seasons in the Sun". It knocked Cliff Richard's "The Millennium Prayer" off the top spot and earned them the 1999 UK Christmas number-one single.[8][9] The fifth and last single from the album, "Fool Again", also peaked at number 1.[10] Then the group went on a short UK, US[11] and Asian tour in support of their debut album before releasing a second album.

Coast to Coast was released a year later and was another No. 1 UK album, beating the Spice Girls' Forever album. It became the country's 4th biggest selling album of 2000.[12][13] The album was preceded by a duet with Mariah Carey singing the Phil Collins' classic "Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)" and the original song "My Love" (their second Record of the Year award). Both singles reached No. 1 on the UK charts.[14][15] With this, Westlife broke an unexpected record of the most consecutive number-one singles in the UK, having their first seven singles debut at the top. However, in December 2000, their eighth single, the UK and Ireland exclusive "What Makes a Man", only debuted at number two.[16] Outside the UK and Ireland, they gained chart success with "I Lay My Love on You" and "When You're Looking Like That". In 2001, they launched their first world tour, "Where Dreams Come True Tour".[6] The single 'My Love' was reportedly used as part of a CIA torture program in Afghanistan. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, "the music pounded constantly as part of a scheme to assault prisoners’ senses".[17]

Westlife released World of Our Own, their third album, in November 2001. "Uptown Girl", "Queen of My Heart" and "World of Our Own" were released as singles, all of which peaked at No. 1 in the UK.[18][19][20] "Bop Bop Baby" was also released as a single, but it peaked at No. 5 in the UK Singles Chart. In 2002, Westlife went on their second world tour, the World of Our Own Tour (In The Round).[6]

Unbreakable, Turnaround, and Brian McFadden's departure (2002–2004)
[edit] The group released their eleventh UK No. 1 single, "Unbreakable" in 2002.[21] Amidst rumours of a split, Westlife released their first greatest hits album in November that same year titled Unbreakable - The Greatest Hits Vol. 1, which zoomed all the way to No. 1 in the UK. The release was followed by the double A-side single "Tonight/Miss You Nights", which debuted at No. 3 in the UK.[22] At this time, Because Films Inspire made a TV documentary titled "Wild Westlife", directed by Iain MacDonald and starred the group, featuring their daily life as musicians and their tour experiences.[23] In 2003, Westlife went on their third world tour, The Greatest Hits Tour, shrugging off rumours of a split.[24]

In September 2003, Westlife released "Hey Whatever", which peaked at No. 4 on the UK Charts.[25] Their fourth studio album, Turnaround, was then released in November, earning the group another UK No. 1 album. "Mandy", a cover of the Barry Manilow hit, was released in November 2003. Their version won them their third Record of the Year award, in under five years.[26] Their version of "Mandy" is also considered the single with the longest leap to the top (from No. 200 to No. 1) in UK music history.[27] "Obvious" was released as the final single from the album, charting at #3. On 9 March 2004, just three weeks prior to embarking on their fourth world tour, McFadden left the group to spend more time with his family and work on solo projects.[28] On that day, a press conference was held where all the group's members were present, each giving emotional individual speeches. McFadden's final public performance as part of Westlife was at Newcastle upon Tyne's Powerhouse nightclub on 27 February 2004.[29][30] He subsequently began a solo career, and reverted the spelling of his first name back to its original 'Brian'. He released his first solo single, "Real To Me", which entered the UK chart at No. 1 and soon after, he released his first solo album Irish Son under Sony Music.[31] McFadden later released more singles, but only with moderate success.

Irish boy band Westlife achieved the first number one on the UK Singles Downloads Chart with "Flying Without Wings" in September 2004. Less than a month after McFadden's departure, the group kicked off their "Turnaround Tour".[32] A live version of "Flying Without Wings" was released as an official UK download, earning them the first official UK Downloads number 1

Allow Us to Be Frank, Face to Face, The Love Album, and Back Home (2004–2008)
[edit] n September 2004, they performed on the World Music Awards, where they were recognised as the Best Irish Act of that year. They then released a Rat Pack-inspired album and fifth album ...Allow Us to Be Frank, which peaked at No. 3. No singles from this album were released in the UK. "Ain't That a Kick in the Head", accompanied with a music video, was released as a physical single in other European countries. "Smile" and "Fly Me to the Moon", both with music videos as well, were released as digital downloads only. Prior to the release of the ...Allow Us to Be Frank album, Westlife scouted for "the perfect fan" to help promote their album.[34] After X Factor-style auditions, they found Joanne Hindley, who recorded "The Way You Look Tonight" with the group.[6] To mark this special collaboration, a special programme was televised showing auditions and live performances and it's called She's The One, presented by Kate Thornton, a one-season special show.[35] Westlife continued to tour Europe as part of their "The Number Ones Tour". In early 2005, they started their "Number Ones Tour" which ranked number 84 worldwide with top concert tour ticket sales with 191,361.[36] In October 2005, Westlife returned with their comeback single, "You Raise Me Up", which was taken from their sixth album Face to Face. On 5 November 2005, both the album and the single were at No. 1 in the UK, at the same time, during the second week of the single. It was the first time that Westlife had held both the top album and the top single position in the same week.[37][38] "You Raise Me Up" was awarded as their fourth Record of the Year in the UK, for 2005. In December of that year, the group released "When You Tell Me That You Love Me", a duet with Diana Ross, as the second single, and it debuted at its peak position of number 2.[39] Westlife then released a third single, "Amazing", which debuted at No. 4.[40] After that, Westlife embarked on the "Face to Face Tour", travelling extensively to the UK, Ireland, Australia and Asia. This tour marked the first time that Westlife travelled to mainland China for a concert.[41][42] The tour ranked the band sixth for the year with number of performances with 32 shows and recorded 238,718 paid-for attendances.[32]

In late 2006, Westlife signed a brand new five-album deal with Sony BMG. Their seventh album, The Love Album was a "love" concept album which consisted of popular love-song covers. The album outsold other compilation albums by Oasis, The Beatles, and U2 in its first week of release and went straight to No. 1. The first single from The Love Album was a cover version of Bette Midler's classic, "The Rose", which became their 14th UK No. 1 single.[43] This made Westlife the third act (along with Cliff Richard) in the UK to have the most No. 1 singles, tailing behind Elvis Presley (21) and The Beatles (17). They also returned to the Miss World stage where billions saw the exclusive live performance of The Rose. Westlife then kicked off their eighth world tour, "The Love Tour", in Perth, Australia.[44] The group then went on to other Australian cities before moving on to South Africa, the UK and Ireland.

On 5 November 2007, Westlife released their eighth album, Back Home, which contained nine new original songs along with three cover songs. The album debuted at No. 1 on the UK Music Charts and it was also 2007's fifth biggest selling album in the UK.[45] The first single released from the album was a cover of Michael Bublé's "Home", which peaked at No. 3 in the UK.[46][47] "I'm Already There", not released as a single, managed to chart in the UK based on downloads alone, following a performance on an episode of The X Factor.

On 15 December 2007, they had a two-hour show called The Westlife Show where they performed 10 of their songs, some of which were voted online by fans and some from Back Home. It was hosted by Holly Willoughby.[48] Months later, "Us Against the World" was announced and released as their second single in UK and Ireland. Before the release of the second single, they embarked on the Back Home Tour on 25 February 2008. This tour marked the first time that the group had travelled and performed in New Zealand, performing four sold-out shows in Auckland, Wellington, New Plymouth and Christchurch. Meanwhile, "Something Right" was released as the second single and "Us Against the World" became the third single in Europe and the Asia Pacific region. Both songs performed well on several music charts.

10th anniversary and hiatus (2008–2009)
[edit] From 2005 to 2008, Music Week revealed on their website that Westlife was the official third top touring act within the years while they were the seventh top touring act of 2008.[49] Then to mark their tenth year in music, Westlife staged a special 10 Years of Westlife, a sold-out concert at the world's thirty-third biggest and Europe's fourth biggest stadium,[50] Croke Park, on 1 June 2008.[51] which Egan described to be a "pop extravaganza".[52] Filan confirmed that a corresponding live concert DVD would be released. The group announced that they would be on hiatus for a year after their Back Home Tour[53] and that there would not be an album release in 2008 as they would be spending more time on the production of their tenth album.[54] As promised, the group's official website confirmed on 27 September 2008 the release of a DVD on 24 November 2008 entitled 10 Years of Westlife – Live at Croke Park Stadium which went straight to No. 1 on UK, Ireland, South African, Hong Kong and New Zealand Music DVD charts. As the group ended another successful tour, Louis Walsh announced in the show Xpose that 1 July 2008 would be the official start of the longest hiatus of the group. He said that it will be a one-year break, from that day up to 1 July 2009. On 13 December 2008, while on a break, Westlife made an unexpected appearance during that year's X Factor final where they performed "Flying Without Wings" with runners-up JLS. After the performance, Filan and Byrne were interviewed on The Xtra Factor with Ronan Keating and Stephen Gately of Boyzone. As JLS also performed, "I'm Already There", Westlife's version of the song re-entered the UK Singles Chart at No. 63 while a new entry on Ireland Singles Chart at No. 47 due to extensive downloads only. In the last week of January 2009, a DVD entitled The Karaoke Collection was released. It contained some of their music video hits. In the 27 February 2009 issue of Herald Ireland, Louis Walsh revealed that Simon Cowell had already picked three new songs which he believed would be instant hits. On 18 March 2009, Westlife won the Best Irish Pop Act on the 2009 Meteor Awards for the ninth consecutive time.

Last two studio albums: Where We Are and Gravity (2009–2010)
[edit] Their tenth album, Where We Are, was released on 30 November 2009 in the UK and peaked at No. 2 on both Irish and UK Albums Charts. The new single, "What About Now", was released a few weeks earlier on 23 October 2009, with digital downloads being available the day before. The said single peaked at number 2 on both Irish and UK Singles Chart and ranked number 85 in the year-end official sales chart.[55] Daughtry's original version of the song gained exposure on the audition rounds of The X Factor prior to Westlife's release. They were also part of the Haiti charity single in early 2010 with, "Everybody Hurts", an R.E.M. cover which was organised by Cowell.[56] The tour in support of this album was called, "The Where We Are Tour". The tour entered at number 50 of top concert tour for the third quarter of the year with 241,865 ticket sales.[57] The eleventh album was recorded and processed with songwriter and producer John Shanks in London and Los Angeles and was entirely produced by Shanks.[58] As the 2000s decade ends with 275 singles reached the number-one position on the chart in the UK. Over this period, Westlife were the most successful group at reaching the top spot, with 11 number-one singles and second to most total number of weeks at number one with 14 weeks. Westlife is also the second biggest selling music act in the UK of the decade, 21st century. While in 2005 half of the decade, they were the fifth.[59]

On 14 November 2010, the single "Safe" was released. It debuted on the UK Singles Chart on 21 November at No. 10, giving the group their 25th Top 10 single in the United Kingdom. It was also their lowest charting lead single to date in the country.

The new album titled Gravity was released on 22 November 2010.[60] It went to No. 1 in Ireland and No. 3 in the UK. In March 2011, they started their eleventh major concert tour, the Gravity Tour. This tour marked the first time the group travelled to Oman, Namibia, Guangzhou and Vietnam for concerts.

Westlife was named the fourth most hard-working music artist in the UK by PRS in 2010.[61] In August 2011, it was reported in the Irish Examiner that the profits of the band's firm grew five-fold in 2010.[62] In 2011 as well, Cowell described the band as hard working and enthusiastic. He said: "I don't think I've met anyone who worked as hard as these guys. They were like little puppies in those days. It was all about the fans. In those days the band was so happy and so enthusiastic and just wanted to sing."[63]

Greatest Hits and split (2011–present)
[edit] On 14 March 2011, Westlife confirmed that they had left Cowell after 13 years and his record label Syco Music after nine years. The group cited Syco's decision not to release a second single from Gravity as the reason Byrne felt it as another reason of being unloved,

We signed to Simon back in 1998 and he was brilliant, but then came the development of The X Factor and American Idol. Simon became famous himself and his interests went that way rather than on Westlife. We almost felt a little bit unloved with Simon Cowell, if I was to be honest. We had it (full time support) with Simon but he got so busy and would do it at the very last minute and we needed someone who was on it all the time.[64]

After going back to RCA Records full-time for a one-year album contract, they announced their Greatest Hits album to be released on 21 November 2011. It debuted at number 1 in Ireland and number 4 in the UK. The first and lead single, "Lighthouse" was released in November 2011. And a follow-up promotional single Beautiful World released later.

In October 2011, Egan ruled out speculation that McFadden would reunite with them for the new compilation album and its promotion for a television show. Egan said: "All the rumours about Brian re-joining Westlife are untrue. We have been a 4 piece for too long now. We love Brian but it's not going to be. That includes any TV performances."[65] With a new compilation album coming out, it was speculated Westlife would be doing a new greatest hits tour. They were scheduled to headline the ChildLine Concert in Dublin on 12 November 2011 and to have another exclusive concert on O2 Blueroom, also in Dublin on 24 November.[66][67]

A UK Tour was first officially announced on 18 October 2011, with dates confirmed for May 2012 and it was titled, The Greatest Hits Tour or The Farewell Tour. Stereoboard.com reported that the tour was sold-out in minutes.[68] As part of it, ITV commissioned a one-off music event that would mark Westlife's final TV appearance as they took to the stage to sing some of their greatest hits, it was entitled "Westlife: For the Last Time".[69] Another show entitled, "The Westlife Show: Live", was broadcast from Studio One of London Studios on the same channel on 1 November 2011.[70] Then they had a live guesting on The Late Late Show.[71] On 19 October 2011, Westlife officially announced they were splitting after a Greatest Hits album and a farewell tour.[72] After 14 years, 26 top ten hits including 14 number one singles, 11 top 5 albums, 7 of which hit the top spot and have collectively sold over 44 million copies around the world, 10 sell out tours and countless memories that we will forever cherish, we today announce our plan to go our separate ways after a greatest hits collection this Christmas and a farewell tour next year. The decision is entirely amicable and after spending all of our adult life together so far, we want to have a well-earned break and look at new ventures. We see the greatest hits collection and the farewell tour as the perfect way to celebrate our incredible career along with our fans. We are really looking forward to getting out on the tour and seeing our fans one last time. Over the years Westlife has become so much more to us than just a band. Westlife are a family. We would like to thank our fans who have been with us on this amazing journey and are part of our family too. We never imagined when we started out in 1997 that 15 years later we would still be recording, touring and having hits together. It has been a dream come true for all of us. Kian, Mark, Nicky and Shane[73]

A second statement was issued through their official site, saying the fans were continuing to be the best support system.[74][75] Some fans on social networks described themselves as feeling "devastated" following news of the split.[76][77] The band had their final concert on 23 June 2012 at Croke Park Stadium in Dublin, Ireland. The 82,300 capacity show was sold out in 5 minutes. Due to this popular demand, an extra date was added at Croke Park on 22 June 2012 which was also a sold-out. Both night have a total of 170,000 spectators.[78] Their last concert was also screened live in more than 200 cinemas worldwide.[79] They released a DVD which went to number 1 in both UK and Irish chart. It stayed for 30+ weeks in the charts so far. In that year too they were declared as 34th top grossing tour act of the year with earnings of $35.2 million (€27 million). The farewell tour consisted of eight dates in China and 33 in the UK and Ireland culminating in two nights at Croke Park in June. In total the band sold 489,694 tickets at an average price of $71.85 (€55) each. They are also the top music artist in the list that didn't have a major break in the America.[80]

Cowell and some media predicted a possible reunion in the future,[81] but Westlife put an end to that speculation by vowing they would never reunite.[82] Later reports from the Daily Record said there was an "irreparable rift" in the band,[83] but was later denied by a source close to the band saying: "There's no bad blood in the band, they're still great pals. But all good things come to an end and they are all keen to do their own thing."[84] Later, the band also denied it and called the split a "united decision".[85] However he confessed three months after the split, Byrne said that members of the group fought with one another more and more often in the latter years leading up to the split and he felt that it was the right time to end their time together. A more comprehensive story behind the split was discussed by the Daily Mail.[86]

Since the split the four lads have released albums and singles individually. Filan being the most successful with three studio albums and tours released and a Top 5 hit album in UK. Feehily signed with an independent record label and released albums and singles. He also made it as a supporting act to Mariah Carey's UK concert tour in 2017. Egan was voted King of the Jungle in ITV's I'm a Celebrity 2013 series and was a coach judge in The Voice of Ireland. Byrne joined Strictly Come Dancing UK and hosted several major Irish television and radio shows.[87] They were also seen in public events by twos, Filan and Feehily, Byrne and Egan, Egan and Filan, Byrne and Filan, Feehily and Byrne, Egan and Feehily.[88][89]

In 2014, Syco Music said to The Sun: “All the guys are up for it in principle. It's now just a matter of sorting out all the details, Syco would love Brian to be part of the band again. It’d create the same sort of buzz as when Robbie Williams returned to Take That. But the other lads will need to be convinced because they were always very clear that when Brian left it was for good.” [90] but Egan later twitted "Guys I'm sorry to say but I don't know where these rumours are coming from about a Westlife reunion but it's untrue. Sorry #westlifeforever." [91][92] In 2015[93] 2016[94] 2017,[95] Louis Walsh expressed that the four-piece band will reunite. He had been in contact with Ed Sheeran and James Arthur to create songs for the band. He wants to adopt an edgier side for their comeback.[96]

However, in 2016-2017, four years following the split, Filan told Lorriane and other media outlets that while there are currently no plans for a Westlife reunion, he would not rule it out for the future.[97] Byrne expressed in 2017 "Shame this Westlife news is not true. They were always my guilty pleasures." He also talked about touring with the group: "Who wouldn't want to do that again? The laugh with the boys and travelling around and seeing all the fans again. It's nearly six years next summer since we've done it so who knows? Maybe in ten years. I've spoken to all the lads individually but we've never brought up a Westlife reunion, the thing about it is the four of us haven’t been in a room together since Jodi’s [Kian’s wife] mum’s funeral,’ That was the last time we spoke properly as a band, if you want to call it that., I'm sure it will happen but I don't know when and I know know if even we know when the right time will be."[98][99]

Feehily added, “People have offered us blank cheques to get back together but it’s not about money. There are no plans to reform. The time isn’t now. We all have a lot more that we want to achieve first. It feels way too soon to be honest, a 20th anniversary tour could still happen one day as 2019 is 20 years since we released our first single, while 2021 is 20 years since our first world tour. So you never know,”.[100]