Post by sparkles on Oct 28, 2007 14:00:47 GMT 8
Wl.gr
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Westlife, the irish boyband turned "Adult contemporary baladeers”, could be excused for being the smuggest young multimillionaires ever to bring a flush to the pop charts.
Shane Filan, Mark Feehily, Nicky Byrne and Kian Egan have more number one singles-14-to their credit than anyone, except Elvis and The Beatles. They are clinking with platinum discs and garlanded with awards.
They even survived the potentially ruinous departure of popular band member Brian McFadden three years ago, in their echo of the Take That/Robbie Williams split, They are, surely, justifiable content with their lot?
The answer is yes and not entirely- of which more later. In personal terms, they swear that they have never been happier or more settled. "You Grow UP, it’s that simple," says Shane, 28,the shorted dark one with the sardonic eyebrows, who shares lead vocals with Mark. "There are only so many times you can go to nightclubs and get free bottles of vodka and still think it’s fantastic. Your priorities turn to home and family. We know what’s important to us." Held up against the gawky posturing of performers like Babyshamble’s Pete Doherty, this degree of domesticity can make Westlife seem unnaturally sensible. They like to allude to wild nights in the pub, but they remain that shockingly rare thing in the music industry: adults who behave like adults instead of dysfunctional adolescents.
They make concerned tut-tutting noises about Britney Spears and Amy Winehouse ("terrible, she needs help”) and are grudgingly sympathetic to Doherty himself, but there’s definite impatience with the self indulgences of pops perpetual teenagers.
Though they all have bases in UK, Ireland is "HOME" and where they retreat from the not very intrusive lenses of the press. "If the papers think we’re boring, bring it on…!" crown Nicky. "It’s great for us. We can get on with our lives. It’s not the newspapers that buy our records."
Shane is married to Kian's cousin Gillian and they have a 2 year old daughter, Nicole Rose. Nicky's wife Georgina, his girlfriend since they met at school when they were 16, is the daughter of Irish Taoiseach Bertie Ahern. They have twin boys, Rocco and Jay, who were born prematurely in April but are now thriving. In an announcement that caused barely a ripple, Mark admitted he was gay 2 years ago, and now lives with his partner, singer Kevin McDaid, Kian is also in a long term relationship with former Hollyoaks Actress Jodi Albert.
Where are the drugs?? The groupies?? The Tabloid kiss and tells?? Instead they offer sidelines of golf, property development and a juice bar for Sligo surfer dudes. Shane works out in his home gym and rides horses. Kian surfs, Mark’s building a portfolio as a photographer. Nicky is absorbed by babies, but has taken acting classes. Where is the appalling misbehavior we have come to expect from our icons?? Drinking with your mates doesn’t count.
One look at their trim physiques and clear eyes tells you it is hopeless. They are dressed in a stylist’s selection of dark shirts and tapered trousers that makes their legs look as if they’ve been sharpened, and they are irredeemably wholesome. Photographs at a London barbers shop are all over and they can relax in a private room across the road.
They talk loudly and across each other, with digressions about the heights of their brothers (giants all) and raucous laughter. And when they speak at the same time, it almost becomes impossible to separate Kian's booming bass from Nicky's machine gun delivery, or Mark’s more measured style and Shane’s pithy, if rarer contributions. Kian "We’re Irish; divorce is barely legal over there! We don’t come from rich families but we’re lucky to have strong stable backgrounds. We respect our parents.
Nicky: "My dad always used to say. ‘Do whatever you want, just make sure you don’t bring the police to our door’"
Mark: "We’re real people with genuine problems. We’re not perfect by any means, but we’re not running about being tortures artists."
Shane: "I’m the youngest of seven, three brothers and three sisters, so personally when I went into the Westlife world I didn’t want to let them down. My brothers would have killed me. So I never did, and all of a sudden we’re been here for 9 years and I’m glad.”
Which brings us to the most remarkable thing about Westlife, their longevity. The interval between the birth and death of a boyband averages rather equally than a tin of beans: packaged, marketed, screwed up and discarded. Take That stayed together for barely 6 years the first time round. Boyzone made it to 7 and Five lasted four. By those standards Westlife who formed in 1998 and are managed by The XFactor’s Louis Walsh, are time worn veterans.
Shane, Kian and Mark were part of a band called IOU at the same Sligo school when Shane’s mum Mae, called in Louis Walsh, already the manager of Boyzone, to look them over. He jettisoned a couple of members and added Nicky and Brian.
"Right from the start Louis was very strict" recalls Nicky. "He wouldn’t let us get in with the wrong people in the industry. He always kept an eye on us. He’d read the stories in the newspapers and be on the phone straight away saying, "What are you doing? Stay away from him" And you realise it’s good advice.”
Kian: “We imagined we were going to walk into some nightclub in London and be offered cocaine and ecstasy and Page Three Girls"
Mark: “We had seen the horror stories. We were so scared of getting carried away, even before the band was signed that our feet were on the ground from the start. The first time you got to somewhere like London’s Met Bar, it’s a different planet. I mean, I grew up on a farm. It’s enjoyable for a while, being in the VIP area with the All Saints, or whoever, but after a while you realise that it’s not healthy or enjoyable experience to be surrounded by strangers who only want to be seen with you because you’re famous. It’s all fake."
If they make themselves sound like a gang of wide eyed scary cats, it’s worth remembering that all except Nicky, who is the oldest at 29, were in their teens when their careers started. They are adamantly opposed to the new, lower age of 14 for contestants on X Factor.
"It would have killed my confidence to be rejected on national TV at the age of 14, I think you’re too young to handle pressure at that age - it’s using kids for entertainment. If they have talent at 14, they’ll have it at 17. Wait for them to grow up a bit," says Shane.
They admit that, when they started out, they did whatever they were told to by the experts in charge of the band. Their compliance brought huge success, but possibly at the cost of the elusive "cred". As Kian puts it, "I don’t think our music is too complicated and, for that reason, there are lots of people who would never admit to liking Westlife, even if they did, because it wouldn’t be a cool thing to say. It’s just everyday, honest people who like our music - and they don’t feel like they need to be cool."
Bob Geldof may sing as if he’s gargling through a cracked drain, but his dismissive comment in 2004, that Westlife were nothing to music (and his failure to ask them to perform at Live 8) was an indication of their frustratingly low standing with the intellectual heavyweights of the music industry.
They hint that they are tired of the jibes about their over dependence on luch, impeccably produced cover versions. Their best selling Love album of 2006, illustrated with a photograph of then in sub James Bond unbuttoned tuxedos and winsome expressions, had no original songs. Their latest single Home, from the new album, was previously a hit for its co writer Michael Buble. After nine years as dutiful grafters, they sound as if they have the confidence to get off the album once a year treadmill. At one point Shane is trying to explain the iron divide between family and the musical hoopla of promoting records, he says, “Westlife is just a job to us. A passion and a job.”
Kian the unofficial liaison officer between the band and management, and a sharp strategic thinker, says "It’s not a job you could get bored with, but it runs in a very similar way every year, in that we record at a certain time and are then ready to move on to the next stage. You can get tired of the same routine. We’ve decided were not going to bring out another album this time next year.”
”It’s important to us to remember why we got into this business in the first place,” adds Nicky. "To keep anything fresh, you need new influences, and it’s imperative, if we want to keep moving forward, that we produce better songs every time. Then we’re more excited about performing them. We’re going to give it more time to naturally evolve, like we did at the beginning, and not have this structure in place.”
They are very frank about relying on other songwriters for most of their material, but they know what they want: variety. Presumably they can afford in every sense to be more demanding as they get older, having sold 36 million records, and won 2 brit awards and four record of the years awards. Their fan base is devoted solid and surprisingly broad composed, they say of teenage girls, their mothers, a few fathers and a sizeable gay following.
Mark didn’t tell his bandmates he was gay until 5 years after they formed. They and his family were supportive, but he was concerned, when he came out in the press two years later, that it would damage Westlife’s popularity as pin-ups.
"I honestly don’t think it’s affected the band’s success in any way at all,” he insists, "Each time someone like me speaks up, it becomes more acceptable. I’ve heard of one person in a boyband who was kicked out before they made their first record when it was discovered that he was gay. It’s a sad fact that the industry can be fearful of such revelations damaging a group’s image. There’s still a prejudice there from the marketing point of view that I think is disgusting. But even if everyone isn’t ready to accept openly gay stars yet, the situation is much better than it was ten years ago.
”And think back. When we first singed our record deal, I was 17 or 18, I don’t think at that stage in my life, many gay men are sorted about their sexuality. I kept pushing the issues away because I’m really bad at decisions and thought I’ll live vicariously. I won’t face myself. But in the end, I had no choice except to be honest. Your sexuality is such a big part of you that, unless you express it, you’re in danger of becoming some sad, crashed person with something buried inside you. I gave myself the ability to be happy.”
It is Mark and Shane who are the best singers and the prime candidates for solo careers, but Shane has reportedly rejected offers to do it. They are adamant that they will stay together.
"You can’t explain what we’ve got.” says Shane. Then Kian adds, "We know each other like brothers, better probably, because we spent ten years growing up together, develop yes, Stop no... We’re in it for the long haul.”
And there is no reason to disbelieve him. What are the odds that by Christmas, Home will have earned the boys their 15th number one single and brought them an improbable step close to topping Elvis.
Credit/Source: Daily Mail / Thanx Joanne
-----------------------------
Westlife, the irish boyband turned "Adult contemporary baladeers”, could be excused for being the smuggest young multimillionaires ever to bring a flush to the pop charts.
Shane Filan, Mark Feehily, Nicky Byrne and Kian Egan have more number one singles-14-to their credit than anyone, except Elvis and The Beatles. They are clinking with platinum discs and garlanded with awards.
They even survived the potentially ruinous departure of popular band member Brian McFadden three years ago, in their echo of the Take That/Robbie Williams split, They are, surely, justifiable content with their lot?
The answer is yes and not entirely- of which more later. In personal terms, they swear that they have never been happier or more settled. "You Grow UP, it’s that simple," says Shane, 28,the shorted dark one with the sardonic eyebrows, who shares lead vocals with Mark. "There are only so many times you can go to nightclubs and get free bottles of vodka and still think it’s fantastic. Your priorities turn to home and family. We know what’s important to us." Held up against the gawky posturing of performers like Babyshamble’s Pete Doherty, this degree of domesticity can make Westlife seem unnaturally sensible. They like to allude to wild nights in the pub, but they remain that shockingly rare thing in the music industry: adults who behave like adults instead of dysfunctional adolescents.
They make concerned tut-tutting noises about Britney Spears and Amy Winehouse ("terrible, she needs help”) and are grudgingly sympathetic to Doherty himself, but there’s definite impatience with the self indulgences of pops perpetual teenagers.
Though they all have bases in UK, Ireland is "HOME" and where they retreat from the not very intrusive lenses of the press. "If the papers think we’re boring, bring it on…!" crown Nicky. "It’s great for us. We can get on with our lives. It’s not the newspapers that buy our records."
Shane is married to Kian's cousin Gillian and they have a 2 year old daughter, Nicole Rose. Nicky's wife Georgina, his girlfriend since they met at school when they were 16, is the daughter of Irish Taoiseach Bertie Ahern. They have twin boys, Rocco and Jay, who were born prematurely in April but are now thriving. In an announcement that caused barely a ripple, Mark admitted he was gay 2 years ago, and now lives with his partner, singer Kevin McDaid, Kian is also in a long term relationship with former Hollyoaks Actress Jodi Albert.
Where are the drugs?? The groupies?? The Tabloid kiss and tells?? Instead they offer sidelines of golf, property development and a juice bar for Sligo surfer dudes. Shane works out in his home gym and rides horses. Kian surfs, Mark’s building a portfolio as a photographer. Nicky is absorbed by babies, but has taken acting classes. Where is the appalling misbehavior we have come to expect from our icons?? Drinking with your mates doesn’t count.
One look at their trim physiques and clear eyes tells you it is hopeless. They are dressed in a stylist’s selection of dark shirts and tapered trousers that makes their legs look as if they’ve been sharpened, and they are irredeemably wholesome. Photographs at a London barbers shop are all over and they can relax in a private room across the road.
They talk loudly and across each other, with digressions about the heights of their brothers (giants all) and raucous laughter. And when they speak at the same time, it almost becomes impossible to separate Kian's booming bass from Nicky's machine gun delivery, or Mark’s more measured style and Shane’s pithy, if rarer contributions. Kian "We’re Irish; divorce is barely legal over there! We don’t come from rich families but we’re lucky to have strong stable backgrounds. We respect our parents.
Nicky: "My dad always used to say. ‘Do whatever you want, just make sure you don’t bring the police to our door’"
Mark: "We’re real people with genuine problems. We’re not perfect by any means, but we’re not running about being tortures artists."
Shane: "I’m the youngest of seven, three brothers and three sisters, so personally when I went into the Westlife world I didn’t want to let them down. My brothers would have killed me. So I never did, and all of a sudden we’re been here for 9 years and I’m glad.”
Which brings us to the most remarkable thing about Westlife, their longevity. The interval between the birth and death of a boyband averages rather equally than a tin of beans: packaged, marketed, screwed up and discarded. Take That stayed together for barely 6 years the first time round. Boyzone made it to 7 and Five lasted four. By those standards Westlife who formed in 1998 and are managed by The XFactor’s Louis Walsh, are time worn veterans.
Shane, Kian and Mark were part of a band called IOU at the same Sligo school when Shane’s mum Mae, called in Louis Walsh, already the manager of Boyzone, to look them over. He jettisoned a couple of members and added Nicky and Brian.
"Right from the start Louis was very strict" recalls Nicky. "He wouldn’t let us get in with the wrong people in the industry. He always kept an eye on us. He’d read the stories in the newspapers and be on the phone straight away saying, "What are you doing? Stay away from him" And you realise it’s good advice.”
Kian: “We imagined we were going to walk into some nightclub in London and be offered cocaine and ecstasy and Page Three Girls"
Mark: “We had seen the horror stories. We were so scared of getting carried away, even before the band was signed that our feet were on the ground from the start. The first time you got to somewhere like London’s Met Bar, it’s a different planet. I mean, I grew up on a farm. It’s enjoyable for a while, being in the VIP area with the All Saints, or whoever, but after a while you realise that it’s not healthy or enjoyable experience to be surrounded by strangers who only want to be seen with you because you’re famous. It’s all fake."
If they make themselves sound like a gang of wide eyed scary cats, it’s worth remembering that all except Nicky, who is the oldest at 29, were in their teens when their careers started. They are adamantly opposed to the new, lower age of 14 for contestants on X Factor.
"It would have killed my confidence to be rejected on national TV at the age of 14, I think you’re too young to handle pressure at that age - it’s using kids for entertainment. If they have talent at 14, they’ll have it at 17. Wait for them to grow up a bit," says Shane.
They admit that, when they started out, they did whatever they were told to by the experts in charge of the band. Their compliance brought huge success, but possibly at the cost of the elusive "cred". As Kian puts it, "I don’t think our music is too complicated and, for that reason, there are lots of people who would never admit to liking Westlife, even if they did, because it wouldn’t be a cool thing to say. It’s just everyday, honest people who like our music - and they don’t feel like they need to be cool."
Bob Geldof may sing as if he’s gargling through a cracked drain, but his dismissive comment in 2004, that Westlife were nothing to music (and his failure to ask them to perform at Live 8) was an indication of their frustratingly low standing with the intellectual heavyweights of the music industry.
They hint that they are tired of the jibes about their over dependence on luch, impeccably produced cover versions. Their best selling Love album of 2006, illustrated with a photograph of then in sub James Bond unbuttoned tuxedos and winsome expressions, had no original songs. Their latest single Home, from the new album, was previously a hit for its co writer Michael Buble. After nine years as dutiful grafters, they sound as if they have the confidence to get off the album once a year treadmill. At one point Shane is trying to explain the iron divide between family and the musical hoopla of promoting records, he says, “Westlife is just a job to us. A passion and a job.”
Kian the unofficial liaison officer between the band and management, and a sharp strategic thinker, says "It’s not a job you could get bored with, but it runs in a very similar way every year, in that we record at a certain time and are then ready to move on to the next stage. You can get tired of the same routine. We’ve decided were not going to bring out another album this time next year.”
”It’s important to us to remember why we got into this business in the first place,” adds Nicky. "To keep anything fresh, you need new influences, and it’s imperative, if we want to keep moving forward, that we produce better songs every time. Then we’re more excited about performing them. We’re going to give it more time to naturally evolve, like we did at the beginning, and not have this structure in place.”
They are very frank about relying on other songwriters for most of their material, but they know what they want: variety. Presumably they can afford in every sense to be more demanding as they get older, having sold 36 million records, and won 2 brit awards and four record of the years awards. Their fan base is devoted solid and surprisingly broad composed, they say of teenage girls, their mothers, a few fathers and a sizeable gay following.
Mark didn’t tell his bandmates he was gay until 5 years after they formed. They and his family were supportive, but he was concerned, when he came out in the press two years later, that it would damage Westlife’s popularity as pin-ups.
"I honestly don’t think it’s affected the band’s success in any way at all,” he insists, "Each time someone like me speaks up, it becomes more acceptable. I’ve heard of one person in a boyband who was kicked out before they made their first record when it was discovered that he was gay. It’s a sad fact that the industry can be fearful of such revelations damaging a group’s image. There’s still a prejudice there from the marketing point of view that I think is disgusting. But even if everyone isn’t ready to accept openly gay stars yet, the situation is much better than it was ten years ago.
”And think back. When we first singed our record deal, I was 17 or 18, I don’t think at that stage in my life, many gay men are sorted about their sexuality. I kept pushing the issues away because I’m really bad at decisions and thought I’ll live vicariously. I won’t face myself. But in the end, I had no choice except to be honest. Your sexuality is such a big part of you that, unless you express it, you’re in danger of becoming some sad, crashed person with something buried inside you. I gave myself the ability to be happy.”
It is Mark and Shane who are the best singers and the prime candidates for solo careers, but Shane has reportedly rejected offers to do it. They are adamant that they will stay together.
"You can’t explain what we’ve got.” says Shane. Then Kian adds, "We know each other like brothers, better probably, because we spent ten years growing up together, develop yes, Stop no... We’re in it for the long haul.”
And there is no reason to disbelieve him. What are the odds that by Christmas, Home will have earned the boys their 15th number one single and brought them an improbable step close to topping Elvis.
Credit/Source: Daily Mail / Thanx Joanne