So how on earth does a former five-piece, now four-piece from Sligo and Dublin, who sing sentimental originals and covers, stay relevant in a music industry that spits 'em out faster than you can say chart-topping single? Anyone who has seen their music videos or album covers - particularly World of Our Own in which they're clad in black leather pants - will know their good looks are as groomed as they come.

Their first big hit in 1999 was the sappy Flying Without Wings. Yet their pulling power is undeniable. They've sold more than 36 million albums worldwide. Their ninth and most recent, Back Home, featuring their cover of Michael Buble's Home, debuted at number one in Britain, has reached gold sales status in New Zealand, and sold 1.3 million copies worldwide. The NZ Tour Edition of their greatest hits went gold after three weeks. They've had 14 number one singles and, despite their dubious creative talents, have won Record of the Year award in Britain four times.

The 4000 tickets for the band's Wellington concert sold out in three hours. The secret to their success, says Filan, is that they are "100 per cent businessmen. One decision can be so important. The wrong decision can be detrimental to your career so you've got to be kind of careful and clever with every decision you make. We do it as a business but we don't treat it like a business. We get up every day, we go to work, and at the beginning of every year, when you're thinking about what kind of album you want to do, it all starts off from there. Then you've just got to make sure it's done right and promote it right. Obviously we have our ideas, the record company have their ideas; we've always got to meet in the middle and make everybody happy. For us it's not all about profits. We've also got to try and enjoy what we do, love what we do and be proud of the songs."

He defends their decision to sing cover songs by pointing out that it's not easy to find decent original songs. It hasn't always been Westlife making the decisions. They started out as a six-piece boy band called IOU, and at their first gig, attracted the attention of pop svengali Louis Walsh, who took the group under his wing. After a line-up shuffle that saw Brian McFadden and Byrne join and three original members cast aside, the newly formed Westlife signed to Simon Cowell's RCA Records.

Boyzone's Ronan Keating came on board to co-manage the group with Walsh. But most of the big decisions are left to Cowell. "He's been right a lot of the time and obviously one of the reasons we're still here is good decisions over the years."

Touring, however, is Westlife's business. Free from the commercial pressures of selling records, it's up to the boys to decide how they present themselves on stage, what they sing and how they might make tours special. It's not just market forces keeping the band together. Perhaps 10 years of singing love songs has kept them, well, in love with each other?

"A lot of people love a love song," says Shane, who's the first to admit there's nothing complicated about their lyrics. "I think it's about us understanding each other and having respect for each other. There's no hidden agendas."

It hasn't always been that way. Filan recalls their darkest days when, five years ago, McFadden announced he was leaving. "That was a big shock to us because we literally did not expect it. It just happened, overnight really. We knew he was unhappy for a couple of months. We thought it must be his personal life or something else. We talked but he never mentioned he wanted to leave. Brian was always funny. You never knew what he was thinking half the time. Then one day he said, 'I want to go.' We thought he was punking us, like MTV Punk'd. We were looking around the room for the cameras. It was so weird. We were like, 'Why would you want to leave Westlife?"'

They later discovered McFadden was having marriage problems (he separated from his wife Kerry Katona soon afterwards). The band were reeling with just 19 days until their next big tour "so we had no time to sit back and cry and worry about it", says Filan. They decided against replacing him. Any suggestion that Filan might one day fly the coop is dismissed with horror. "We all say we don't ever want to split up, there's no reason why we should. It's never been a dream of mine to go going solo. I've always dreamed of being in a band. I'd rather do it with people I get along with and have that camaraderie on stage. It's not just about money for me. If it ended tomorrow I probably wouldn't do anything to be honest. It's pretty hard to beat Westlife's success."

And they've had enough of that not to worry what their critics think. Filan doesn't live in a bubble, though, and says he knows "a lot of bands out there don't like Westlife" and doesn't care. "The fans are the only people we really care about. We're making albums for people who buy our music and like our voices."

After Dublin, where they'll play at the 80,000 capacity Croke Park stadium, there are plans to give those voices a rest for a while. They'll take a year out without releasing an album but will press on with a book and start looking for new producers and songwriters in the US. Some of them might even come from left-field. Whether it's intended as an ironic collaboration or not, underground dance act Hot Chip are among those rumoured to want to work with them. "If they write a great song and produce it really well, why not?" says Filan. "We're not going to change the Westlife style. We'll always be into ballads. But we're not going to close any doors."

Westlife promote water safety

Westlife have given their support to Galway-based Irish Water Safety, the statutory body established to promote water safety in Ireland, by filming a new TV campaign aimed at delivering water safety messages to youngsters. Drowning is often a result of people's unfamiliarity with the dangers presented by being in, on or around water. By targeting a specific at-risk age group, the TV campaign will help raise awareness of water safety best practices and help reduce the tragic average of 160 drownings every year in Ireland. The campaign was produced in Galway with background scenes included from the Salthill promenade. It was shot and directed by Mal Meehan who runs the MEE3D studio from Galway city. Another company, An Spidéal based TeleGael, provided facilities to output the final product in a format for use on SKY TV.

So is Westlife actually going to be at Pearse?

In completely confliciting press reports, the ultimate answer is who knows. A meeting will take place today to finalise and confirm that Irish boy-band Westlife will be the headline act for the biennial summer concert in Pearse Stadium. The chart topping ballad machine will play Pearse Stadium, Salthill, on Saturday June 21 where the special guest will be the 2005 X Factor winner and successful singer Shayne Ward.

For weeks speculation centred around Neil Young, Eric Clapton, and a return gig by Bob Dylan, prompting crossed fingers and fervent hopes from music fans aged in their 20s to those in their 60s. However it is the pre-teens who will be smiling with this news.

The concert is being organised by a local businessman whose connections were able to secure the appearance of Westlife and Shane Ward in Galway ahead of their Croke Park concert on June 23. When contacted by the Galway Advertiser Fine Gael Cllr Brian Walsh confirmed that he has been approached by the promoters and is negotiating with officials of the planning deptartment to get the city council to facilitate the licence application. “I am not privy to the nature of the agreement between the artists and promoters, I was simply asked some weeks ago to investigate whether or not the council was prepared to apply for the license as otherwise the concert could not go ahead due to time constraints,” he said.

In order to stage the event, planning permission will have to be applied for but the planning process takes 12 weeks and this is too short a time for the Pearse Stadium show. However it is understood the Galway City Council will apply for permission for the show and this process will only take in the region of five weeks. Cllr Walsh said the response from City Hall has been positive. A final decision for approval would come before city councillors in May but there is unlikely to be any opposition. “It would be a great boost for the city, particularly Salthill which has lost its airshow this year,” he said. “It’s great the younger audience is being catered for as traditionally big name acts coming to the city have been geared at the more mature audience.”

4.05.08

Westlife and Girls Aloud in Louth for private party

Chart-topping bands Girls Aloud and Westlife performed at an exclusive party in Louth last night. The star-studded bash for an un-named 18-year-old Louth-area woman was held in a massive marquee adjoining Kenwick Park Hotel. Having entered the Top 10 with their latest single Can't Speak French, the five-piece girl band was in a party mood for an exclusive date in Lincolnshire.

They entertained around 150 guests who had taken over the 34-bedroomed hotel for the day and night to celebrate the teenager's birthday. They bopped the night away after a four-course meal in the Georgian-style hotel. After a 45-minute set, they were followed by Irish band Westlife, who led the Happy Birthday chorus to the teenager.

Band members sang Barry Manilow classic'Mandy', followed by 'It's All about You' and had their audience singing along to 'Flying Without Wings' and 'You Raise Me Up'. Their hour-long set finished at 12.30am. It was slightly later than scheduled as one of the band was delayed flying into Humberside Airport shortly before the party. Security at the venue was tight.

A management spokesman said security staff had to warn unwelcome photographers to leave the 320-acre estate. Owner Stuart Flynn said: "It has gone very well and was professionally done. There were about 150 guests at the birthday party and they have taken all of the hotel over."

He said preparations for the party on the site had begun on Monday, with a pledge of total confidentiality for the family hosting the bash, as the hotel management has done for other exclusive events. Mr Flynn said: "We get them because we keep them confidential. As a venue we are doing more and more of them and have catered for 400-guest weddings. The big deals are coming through. The chap who booked it is very pleased. It has been a glamorous occasion. "It was running a bit late as one of the four from Westlife had to fly into Humberside Airport last minute. They and Girls Aloud have been a delight to have here at Kenwick."

The hotel and marquee were decorated with flowers and balloons all supplied in Lincolnshire. Mr Flynn said: "We stick to the same people and everyone locally has benefited." He said the mystery "party girl" had seemed happy with her celebrations. She is believed to be the same birthday girl who celebrated a 16th party two years ago in whose honour Will Young sang.

Girls Aloud and Westlife sign book deals

Transworld has paid a substantial six-figure sum for the first book from girl band and tabloid favourites Girls Aloud. The news comes as HarperCollins snapped up the autobiography of Irish boy band Westlife. The Westlife title, due in June, was acquired by Harper Non-fiction editorial director Natalie Jerome from agent Marianne Gunn O'Connor in a "substantial deal" that was "hotly contested". All four members—Nicky Byrne, Kian Egan, Mark Feehily and Shane Filan—will contribute to the autobiography, which will chart how they became a band that has had more number ones that any other group except the Beatles.

Westlife meets a special fan

A young woman living with a hereditary degenerative disease has had one of her dream wishes come true. Paula Fisher, 24, from Boston Spa, has Juvenile Huntington's disease, a hereditary degenerative disease, characterised by involuntary movements and dementia. Last week she finally got to meet her all-time favourite boyband, Westlife, at the Sheffield Arena thanks to the show's organizers responding to a family member's request.

Her mom's partner, David Chatterton, said meeting Westlife had been second on Paula's wish list after her ultimate ambition to swim with dolphins in Florida was realized in 2006 thanks to local generous donations. Mr Chatterton said: "After swimming with dolphins, Paula's second wish was to meet Westlife so contact was made with ITV who made all the arrangements for Paula to meet them which, of course, we kept a secret. Although Paula was not able to see the show due to her condition and the use of strobe lighting she got to meet the band and now she sports a Westlife T-shirt which was presented to her."

Now Paula, whose condition is deteriorating, has just one final wish to fulfill. She wants to meet award-winning band, Take That, and her family are appealing to anyone who may be able to help. Mr Chatterton said: "She really wants to meet Take That so we're tasked with making this wish come true! If anyone can help us we'd be keen to hear from them."

During 2006, residents living in both Boston Spa and Wetherby rallied around to raise thousands of pounds to send Paula to Florida to swim with dolphins. Touched by her degenerative condition, a group of girls from the Black Bull pub in Wetherby spent a day washing cars to earn cash and a Mr Wetherby event saw a group of local men endure painful chest waxings to raise funds.

The charity, Paula's Wish, was set up to collect the money for both Paula's dream trip and others living with her disease. Paula flew out to Florida on November, 3, 2006 where she swam with dolphins – something she had always dreamed of doing.

More on Westlife's 'Home Park' concert

Two of the biggest music acts in the world will headline a music festival weekend at Plymouth Argyle's Home Park this summer. Live and Kicking at Home Park will feature multi-million-selling superstars Westlife and Meat Loaf in back-to-back concerts. The double-header is sure to be one of the highlights of the Plymouth Summer Festival, and follows last year's performances by Elton John and George Michael at the city stadium.

Tickets go on sale at 9am on Monday from the Home Park box office. Meat Loaf, famous for his iconic Bat Out of Hell series of albums, will kick off the weekend with a high-octane gig on Friday, June 27. Just 24 hours later, Irish boy band Westlife will take to the stage for what promises to be a second successive night to remember at Home Park.

Argyle chief executive Michael Dunford said: "We are delighted to have made these two huge summer signings. "In terms of live shows, they do not come much bigger or better than Westlife and Meat Loaf. After last summer, we have a lot to live up to, and it is fantastic that we have been able to attract acts of this magnitude to Argyle. We know, from those experiences last year, there is a huge demand for quality open air music from the people of Plymouth and we know Live and Kicking at Home Park will more than satisfy that demand. Plymouth is developing a growing reputation, not only as a concert venue, but as one of the country's most go-ahead cities, and we are pleased to play our part in that."

Bill Martin, editor of The Herald, which is backing the Plymouth Summer Festival, said: "This year's festival promises to be the envy of the country boasting top-class maritime, music, arts and street events. To have two of the biggest stars of the pop world coming to Home Park is the icing on the cake."

As well as being available from 9am on Monday from the Home Park box office, tickets can also be booked later in the day over the phone on 0845 338 7232, or from Ticket Master on 0844 844 0444. A booking fee of 10% of the ticket value will apply. Tickets may also be purchased on-line at www.ticketmaster.co.uk . Tickets will be limited to six per person. Home Park will be divided into three areas for both concerts: a 'Golden Circle' of around 1,000 seats in front of the stage on the Mayflower Grandstand side of the ground; standing room on the remainder of the pitch; and seating in the Devonport, Lyndhurst and Barn Park stands. Tickets for each show cost £65 for the Golden Circle, £45 for seating and £35 to stand.

Westlife continues to do well in New Zealand

I guess Westlife did choose a multi city tour in New Zealand for the right reasons. There special edition release, "Unbreakable: 2008 NZ Tour Edition" continues to do very well. It remains at the #3 position for another week, and has been on the charts for a total of 16 weeks.

4.04.08

Westlife to end concert tour in Liverpool (UK)

Westlife are heading back to the ECHO Arena for the second time this year. The UK’s most successful boy band have signed up to the 2008 Summer Pops. It will be the fourth time the band have played the Pops and the second time in four months they have appeared at the 10,600-seater waterfront venue. Tickets for the Sunday, June 29 gig go on sale at 9am on Monday, April 7.

Shane said: “It’s great to be coming back. It’s become almost a tradition for us now - this will be our fourth Pops show. The Liverpool fans are always really up for it and we get a great reaction. We look forward to putting on a very special show for them.” Nicky said: “We love Liverpool. It’s the closest city to Dublin."

Westlife chose to finish their current UK tour at this year’s Liverpool Summer Pops by adding an extra date. No modern band can compare to Westlife’s extraordinary success. Since they were formed in 1998, Westlife have sold more than 40m records globally. They have been awarded 28 platinum discs, including 14 number one hits, beaten only by Elvis and The Beatles.

Nicky on his father-in-law (and Irish Prime Minister) Bertie Ahern

Yesterday afternoon, Westlife singer Nicky Byrne was waiting for a text from his father-in-law as to where they were going to meet up for a few drinks last night. The singer and his wife Georgina had been inundated with texts of support from their friends ever since Bertie Ahern had announced to the country that he was stepping down as Taoiseach.

“While it is a very sad day for the country, Georgina, myself and the family are happy for him,” said Mr Byrne. “He had taken enough of it and there was a point where he wanted to move on from it.” The singer said the Taoiseach had revealed his intentions to his daughters “a couple of days ago”. They are really proud of him. Watching the one o’clock news when it started to go back over the time when he first came into the Dáil, then Georgina and Cecelia as kids and watching him move on and become Taoiseach winning three elections, his legacy will live on and I think he has done an amazing job. He has gone out on top,” the Westlife star told RTÉ’s Liveline programme.

“Personally I think he had another good year left in him. I think he is a great man. Apart from my own father, I have never met anyone who really takes the bull by the horns and has such an amazing work rate. I have spoken to him about my job and asked him what I should do about things. His advice to me was always to just keep battling on. Up until recently I think those words were the words he would always use. However, I think recently though everyone realised the thing had got to him and he could do no more.”

He has no doubt what led to Bertie Ahern’s departure. “It is obvious to anyone living in this country. Being in the public eye myself I know your name or your face is going to be on the front page of a paper. Your heart skips a beat. Bertie has had to endure that for God knows how long. It has been hard for him and it has just got harder and harder and harder. It has been a very emotional few weeks. I saw it coming because there is only so much you can take. I would text him [to offer support] and he would text me back.”

He described his father-in-law as a man who loves the simple things in life. “He loves his football, his country, his Gaelic, his garden. He is not into the finer things in life. He does not live a very elaborate or flash lifestyle.”

As to the future, he thinks the Taoiseach should consider writing a book or maybe becoming more involved in the sports scene. However, he will also be able to spend more time with his grandchildren, Rocco and Jay. Mr Byrne said the Taoiseach had already proved himself a dab hand as a babysitter and was always ready to change a nappy or two. “We will go up for a few drinks tonight. We just have to wait for the text to come through.”

Hope talks about supporting Westlife

Charlie Mole is another step closer to being a fully-fledged pop star after supporting Irish boy band Westlife. The 23-year-old X Factor contestant's dream came true when the hunky stars asked her band Hope to support them at Wembley arena – less than a year after she had been in the audience watching them at Newcastle.

"It was absolutely amazing. I was welling up," the Hill View mum said. "We'd just finished doing the X Factor tour and we got a call asking if we would support them. I just dropped everything and got straight on a train to London."

Former St Anthony's schoolgirl Charlie shot to fame after appearing in Simon Cowell's popular ITV talent show. She first auditioned as a solo artist – beating off thousands to get into boot camp, only to be told she wasn't going through to the live shows. But, in a surprising twist, she was given a second chance, and joined up with four other contestants to form the girl band Hope. The group became one of the final 12 acts in the show, and battled their way through to the final five.

Since then Hope have enjoyed a string of interviews, club appearances and the X Factor arena tour, and now they have even more to look forward to. Charlie said: "We're going into a recording studio to record a few tracks. They're brand new tracks – they're excellent."

If all goes well, the band hope to have a single out soon. "I'm very excited," Charlie said. "Hope are here to stay – there's no going back now. We've been working really hard, and I'm absolutely exhausted, but hopefully it's going to pay off." Charlie and the other girls – Racquelle Gracie, Phoebe Brown, Emily Biggs and Leah Launder – also have a number of club gigs lined up, and are set to appear on a TV programme called The Cafe in Ireland.

An interview with Kian

It's not easy being in a boyband, especially, it seems, when that band is Westlife. Despite having 14 UK #1 singles and more than 36 million records sold, finding someone who admits to being a Westlife fan can be tougher than catching Osama bin Laden. But someone must be going to those shows and someone must be buying those records.

Look at the person next to you - despite their howls of derision or protests, it's probably them. In 2006, The Rose became Westlife's 14th UK No 1 single, giving them the third-most in history (with Cliff Richard), behind only Elvis Presley, 21, and The Beatles, 17. Westlife are rich, successful and have secured their musical legacy. As you can imagine then, Westlife aren't too phased by what the critics might say; they're doing alright thank you very much. In May, the boys will perform for the first time in New Zealand.

After 10 years the members still enjoy performing, Kian says from England. "We love it and it's a passion of ours. That's the real reason behind why we do it. Every time we make an album we try make the best album we can make."

For all their success, Westlife have yet to crack the American market, a fate similar to many successful British acts, but Kian remains philosophical about it. "We've never had a proper shot at America and I think that's mainly because of how the American market is and the band we are." There was a bump in the road also when member Bryan McFadden left the group for a solo career in 2004, several weeks before a European tour. Despite speculation the band would call it quits, and probably a bit of wishful thinking by the critics, Westlife continued on.

It is the only time when the band thought it was the end, Egan says. "When Bryan left the band it was obviously something we didn't want to happen and we were very upset about it. But once we got over that, we felt if we can get over that we can get through anything."

Egan, Feehily and Filan grew up together on the West Coast of Ireland and while they were intent on a musical career they never thought they would achieve this level of success. "Being a boyband isn't the easiest thing in the world to be, especially the way the music industry is these days. We never really expected it but the fact of the matter is, it happened and we're very grateful for that."

It may not have been expected but it was planned, when they were signed in July 1998 by producer Simon Cowell and managed by Louis Walsh. Kian says Cowell, of American Idol fame, is one of the cleverest people he has ever met. "He's not nasty at all, he's a gentleman. He's just honest."

Westlife started with Egan, Feehily, and Filan and eventually recruited Byrne and McFadden. The group finally settled on the name Westlife and their first big break came in 1998 when they opened for Boyzone in Dublin. Cowell, Egan says knows how to pick a song for the type of people Westlife sell records to. "We probably have too much of a say in the sense that we're all trying to look for that one that is a wee bit cooler and a wee bit R&B or whatever it may be. He goes 'no, no, lets not forget what Westlife are. Westlife sing great power ballads that everybody can relate to' and he's right. Most of the songs on the albums we'll pick ourselves and then he'll say yes or no and he'll bring in a few other ideas. It's very much a group effort when we're making albums."

At the end of this tour the members are looking forward to taking a year off but there are no plans to retire. "For what we are I don't think there is a shelf life. When we first started off it was the kids dragging the mothers along. I think what happened over the years was the mother became the bigger fan than the kid."

Kian says as long as Westlife continues to give the audience great songs and keeps standards up "they're going to keep coming back". "There's nothing else out there doing what we do. There's not even a solo artist doing what we go -- which is just great pop songs which the everyday person can listen to on the radio."

Kian says the band don't care what the critics say or what they call their music. "We're a pop band. You can put whatever tag on that you want. It doesn't really bother us whether you call us a boy band, girl band, a man band. The people who tag us are generally the people who aren't really into us for our music, they're just into us to have a pop and slag us off. We're not bothered by what we're known as, just as long as our fans are enjoying what we do."

The band knows what they are, he says. "We are four guys standing on a stage, singing songs which we haven't written ourselves, which someone else has written." Egan is also determined to stay grounded despite the success. "I'm a man in a band. I'm not successful and famous on my own as an individual. When I'm in that band and when I'm on that stage I accept that and I go 'wow this is amazing'. When I step off the stage I'm no different from anyway else."

Fame brings a lot of power and Kian says he is not someone who likes to use that power. "I'm a human being at the end of the day and just because I do what I do doesn't make me any better. It doesn't make me any worse either, so I just try to live a normal life."

New Zealand fans can expect an up-tempo show, more than people would imagine from Westlife, he says. "It's a pop show, it's not just four guys standing on a stage singing a load of ballads."

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