Westlife: Biography

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• Boyzone
• Britney Spears
• Steps
• *NSYNC
• Backstreet Boys
• Christina Aguilera
• 98 Degrees

• The Jackson 5
• Lionel Richie
• New Kids on the Block
• Take That
• The Osmonds
• Backstreet Boys
• Boyzone

• Delta Goodrem

Genres:

Rock Music, Club Dance Music, Dance Pop Music

Decades Active:

1990's|2000's

Popularity

Low

Ratings Guide

In the tradition of British boy bands like Take That and Boyzone comes Dublin's Westlife, a quintet consisting of Shane Filan, Nicky Byrne, Bryan McFadden, Mark Feehily, and Kian Egan. Filan, Egan, and Feehily were among the group's six founding members, but the other half of the group was dispatched when Louis Walsh, Boyzone's manager, took interest in them. This made room in the band for Byrne and McFadden; Walsh also introduced Westlife to Boyzone vocalist and solo artist Ronan Keating, who became the group's co-manager shortly after they cemented their recording contract. The group's first single, 1999's "Flying Without Wings," entered the U.K. charts at number one, a feat they replicated with "Seasons in the Sun" and "Swear It Again" in 2000. Their self-titled debut album met with similar chart-topping success and quickly went platinum in their homeland. Westlife was released in the U.S. by Arista Records in early 2000.

- Heather Phares, All Music Guide