PHIL STAR:
“We know we can sing. That’s the easy part.”
That’s what Shane Filan said about Westlife, the boyband that helped pave the way for bands of the same genre, and that’s what they’ve been happily doing all these 14 years during which they sold over 44 million records worldwide, 14 of them No. 1 singles in the United Kingdom, making them the only artist with the most consecutive No. 1’s in the UK.
Minus Bryan McFadden who has gone solo, the remaining four Westlife guys — that is, Shane, 32; Kian Egan, 31; Mark Feehily, 31; and Nicky Byrne, at 33 the oldest of the group — are coming for a concert at the Araneta Coliseum next Thursday, Sept. 29, as part-promo for their latest album called Gravity, released locally by Sony Music.
“It’s a really good album,” said Nicky in an exclusive phone Conversation (again, the band agreed to talk only to one Philippine paper, The STAR). “It’s one producer. It’s one sound. Maybe it’s taken us 14 years to get there. But it doesn’t matter. We’re here now.”
And here they will stay, well-entrenched on top and unchallenged by the emergence of other bands.
Before he became a Westlifer, Nicky played professional football and represented Ireland at several underage competitions. He’s married to Georgina Ahern, his childhood sweetheart and they have fraternal twin sons named Jay and Rocco, four years old. Except for Mark, the two other members are married, too, and have kids of their own.
Nicky (rightmost) with (from left) Kian, Shane and Mark.
You and the other Westlife guys are coming to the Philippines for a concert on Sept. 29. Welcome back!
“We’re looking forward to it. You know, the Philippines has always been very welcoming to Westlife. Ever since we first went there in 1999, the people there have been so friendly to Westlife and I know that Westlife songs mean a lot to some people there.”
When you were here in 1999, you were new as a group.
“That’s right. We’ve been to the Philippines I think maybe four or five times for promo visits and we’ve done some concert visits. It’s a place that we do like to visit again and again. It’s been too long since we’ve been back, so we’re really looking forward to go back over there and to, you know, sing all our songs for the fans again. It should be very special.”
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Information Courtesy of Phil Star / Ricky Lo
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