Westlife

Westlife is an Irish boy band created in 1998 (signed by Simon Cowell), managed by music mogul Louis Walsh. The group have proven extremely successful in Ireland and the United Kingdom, and rest of the Europe, and are also relatively popular in Africa, Australia and Asia. more...

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The group have had fourteen UK #1 singles between the years 1999 and 2006, the third-highest such total in UK history, behind Elvis Presley and The Beatles, and tied with Cliff Richard. Westlife are also the only band in UK chart history to have entered straight at number one with their first seven singles. They are also the only artist/group to win 'Record Of The Year' in the UK four times (often attributed to their loyal fanbase). The group has so far sold 40 million albums over 40+ countries worldwide. They also have so far had 14 UK No.1s and 12 Irish No.1s.

1998-2003

Westlife were formed in July 1998, with the members Kian Egan, Mark Feehily, Shane Filan, Nicky Byrne, and Bryan McFadden.

The group's roots can be found in Sligo in the north west of Ireland, where Egan, Feehily, and Filan were in a six-member vocal group named IOU, with fellow Sligonians Derek Lacey, Graham Keighron and Michael "Miggles" Garrett, and they released a single called "Together Girl Forever". They were then discovered by Louis Walsh, (who was contacted by Filan's mother), the manager of 1990s boy band Boyzone, but did not meet Simon Cowell's approval for a record deal with BMG, so changes were needed. Three members of IOU were given the sack, and auditions were held in Dublin. The band recruited Byrne and McFadden. The new group was named Westside. As the name was already taken by another band, it was changed to Westlife. Boyzone singer Ronan Keating was brought in to co-manage the band with Walsh.

Shane Filan, Mark Feehily and Bryan McFadden shared most of the lead vocals. Some of the boys can play instruments (Kian and Bryan play the guitar and the piano) and all five of them are songwriters, although most of their hits have been composed by outside songwriters. The group's musical influences include boy bands such as Boyzone, Take That, and Backstreet Boys, but also vocal bands like Boyz II Men.

Westlife's first big break came in 1998 when they opened for the Backstreet Boys in Dublin. Later that year, they won Best New Tour Act at the Smash Hits Poll Winners Party. In March 1999, their first single, "Swear It Again", was released, and went straight to the top of the charts in Ireland and the UK. The band's success was to be confirmed when their second single, "If I Let You Go", entered the charts at number 1 in August 1999, followed by "Flying Without Wings" in November. They became the first number one of the new millennium when their double a-side single, "I Have a Dream/Seasons in the Sun", knocked Cliff Richard's Millennium Prayer off the top spot. In December 2000, however, they failed to secure their eighth chart-topper in a row when kid's favourite Bob The Builder's "Can We Fix It" was crowned Christmas number one.

Read more at Wikipedia.org