Shane with new son - Patrick Michael born 9/15/08

Shane and Gillian celebrated a new addition to their family yesterday morning with the arrival of their first son, Patrick. The couple already have a three-year-old daughter named Nicole. The Irish Daily Star reports that mother and son are doing well and are believed to be in Sligo General Hospital.

Shane drove Gillian home the next day. Patrick weighed in at just 6lb 8oz on Monday at Sligo General Hospital, where their daughter Nicole came into the world three years ago. Delighted dad Shane said fatherhood, the second time round, was just as exciting as when Nicole was born. He added: "I am absolutely delighted to have a son."

After Gillian was "rushed to the hospital," she was in labor for three and a half hours when Patrick Michael made his big debut at 3:40 a.m. weighing in at 6 lbs, 8 oz. Opting for a vaginal delivery, Gillian "didn't even have much pain relief" according to Shane, who added that he was simply "in awe of her." While the couple chose not to find out the sex of the baby, the 29-year-old -- who admits his wife knew all along that it was a boy -- was pleasantly surprised to welcome his first son after being "sure it was going to be a girl."

As the proud papa is "walking on air," he reveals that he is "very tired, but completely overjoyed" and couldn't wait to introduce baby Patrick to his big sister Nicole, 3. Says Shane, "It's going to be a great moment to see her meeting her little bro for the first time. She knew there was a baby coming, but I think the reality will really hit her now." Shane and Gillian were married in December 2003. They had announced the pregnancy back in March.

Kian and Jodi decide on their wedding venue

Kian and his bride-to-be, former Hollyoaks star Jodi Albert have revealed that the location of their upcoming wedding has now been confirmed. Remaining tight lipped as to the name of the venue, the young couple told the Herald that they have found the perfect place to stage their €1 million nuptials. Speaking to the Irish newspaper, Kian, 28, gushed: "I can't wait to be Jodi's husband, for her to be my wife and to have children and an amazing family life together. Jodi is incredible, there will never be anyone else." Kian proposed to the 25-year-old actress on Christmas Eve, after over four years together. The pair are set to tie the knot next year, in what is expected to be a lavish celebrity event, attended by many of the couple's famous friends. Commenting on their plans for the big day, Jodi previously said: "The wedding reflects exactly who me and Kian are as a couple. It's our vibe. It's brilliant and I can't wait for it. It's come around so fast."

A lot of tattoos

An 'obsessed' Westlife fan has celebrated her 40th birthday by having a tattoo of the band across her shoulders. Vicky Jones from Abercwmboi in the Cynon Valley underwent 16 hours under the needle having their four faces etched on. Vicky, a mother of four, has seen 300 Westlife concerts and counts herself as their greatest fan. She said: "My children reckon I'm crazy but the tattoos are fabulous. "All my money goes on Westlife - about £4,000 a year. I must be their biggest fan." Singers Shane Filan, Nicky Byrne, Mark Feehily and Kian Egan added their autographs two months ago. She then had them inked over onto her back, underneath their portraits. Her daughter Stacey, 18, said: "I'm not that keen on Westlife at all. Mum's too obsessed if you ask me." Vicky's husband Colin, 42, was also not a big fan. She admitted: "He can't abide Westlife but he doesn't say a lot."

Shane as a X factor judge mentor

US pop star Britney Spears will perform on The X Factor, a spokeswoman for the ITV show has confirmed. "She will be appearing on the show as a special guest, but we're not confirming the date yet," she said. The 26-year-old singer is planning another comeback as she prepares to release her new album in December. Spice Girl Emma Bunton, Kimberley Walsh from Girls Aloud, former pop star Sinitta and Westlife's Shane Filan will appear as X Factor judge mentors.

Brian about Westlife

Brian McFadden has taken a pop at his former Westlife bandmates, claiming that they "work too hard". The Dublin singer, who was reunited this weekend with his former bandmate Nicky Byrne at the Soccer Aid event at Wembley, said that it was great to catch up with him. "We don't get to see each other much because we're travelling around, so it was really nice to catch up. I miss the boys themselves, but I don't miss everything that they do. They work too hard, them boys," he said. Even though the boyband have now taken the rest of the year off, Brian continued: "They work every single day. They get one week off a year. I'm too old and too lazy to do that now."

A fight - almost

The managers of Ian Poulter and Colin Montgomerie last night vigorously denied that the golfers, Ryder Cup team-mates in 2004, had to be separated after a stand-up row in a West London restaurant. “It is all made up,” Paul Dunkley, Poulter's manager, said. “It is a typical publicity-machine sort of story and there is no truth in it whatsoever.” A Sunday newspaper alleged that a “swaying” Poulter and Montgomerie had had a “furious bust-up” in the early hours of Saturday morning. Describing it as “a war of words”, the newspaper said it was to do with Poulter's selection by Nick Faldo for a place in the Europe team to face the United States in Kentucky next week. The newspaper quoted an unnamed onlooker at Zuma, the fashionable Japanese restaurant, as saying: “Poulter had just finished a meal with his pals Brian McFadden and Nicky Byrne of Westlife when he spotted Monty across the room. He had had a few ales inside him and went over to have a word. “The next thing we knew the two of them were arguing about the Ryder Cup. They were standing up and shouting at each other, turning the air blue. Luckily, the Westlife lads ran over and tore Poulter away. Otherwise, who knows what would have happened. Monty thought Poulter should have earned his place in the team rather than chasing a big pay day [in the US] and he told him so. Poulter wasn't having it and told Monty to keep his nose out.”

8/01/08

Nicky update

It has only been a month since Westlife got a thunderous applause as they played the first night of the Summer Pops. But Insider hears they can’t keep away from the city after their warm welcome. Nicky was in Liverpool for the weekend with his wife Georgina and was spied enjoying a meal in Newz Bar. The couple were also clocked relaxing in one of the bar’s VIP booths while sipping Laurent Perrier rose champagne.

Review - Westlife's Our Story

For the past couple of weeks, the No 1 position in the Non-Fiction Bestsellers chart in Britain has been occupied by the Westlife autobiography. It knocked Jordan's Pushed to the Limit off the top spot, no mean feat. So it's a huge seller, both in Britain and here, whatever any critic might say. But the question remains, is it any good? Well, given that this is billed as Westlife in their own words, the clean-cut quartet are actually quite forthcoming in their revelations. We learn of excess cursing, excess boozing and even one member throwing up in a strategically-placed bucket just before going on stage, so bad was his hangover.

So far, so promising, but the disadvantage of this being an official biography means that Westlife can leave out and leave in exactly what they want to. Hence there are no revelations on groupies or any other very bad behaviour. The old motto of "what happens on the road, stays on the road" obviously prevails here. There is hardly any mention of sex (except when Mark steps gaily out of the closet, new boyfriend Kevin in hand), hardly any drugs (Mark was once offered coke in London's Met Bar but turned it down) and as for rock 'n' roll? Forget it. Written in a chatty, easy style, it moves along swiftly with passages from Nicky, Kian, Mark and Shane.

So just when you're getting bored with one, another comes along with a fresh story about their struggle to get to the toppermost of the poppermost and how to stay there. It kicks off with Kian, Mark and Shane growing up in Sligo and how they were forced to ditch two close childhood pals from the original line-up. But the wailing and gnashing of teeth soon passes. At the same time, Nicky Byrne was back in Dublin cooling his heels after being rejected by Leeds United as a goalkeeper because he failed to gain the required extra few inches in his late teens.

Girlfriend Georgina Ahern heard how Louis Walsh was looking for two new members for a boy band he was putting together. She encouraged him to apply and he got the job, as did fellow Dubliner, Brian McFadden. It's all here in minute detail, just about everything every Westlife fan could want to know, from the birth of Shane and Nicky's babies, to Nicky crying when Mark revealed he was gay to Kian getting slightly carried away when Louis appointed him the contact person in the band and something akin to being their spokesman.

But while Louis guided the boy band to unbelievable fame and fortune, it wasn't without some big bumps and huge hiccups along the way. Kian revealed: "He's quit as our manager on more than one occasion. I remember one of the first times was when we all turned up late for a meeting in Sweden. He told us: 'You were like a bunch of spoilt kids on the plane on the way over. You all arrived down here in dribs and drabs. You don't realise what you have. Your attitude stinks.' We managed to apologise to him, but it was quite a scare."

There was more trouble when Ronan Keating -- then co-managing the band -- told Louis how Westlife had snubbed fans at an airport, refusing to sign autographs. Cue another lecture and threats of resignation by big boss, Louis. But it too was smoothed over and, not surprisingly, Ronan the Snitch was soon no longer involved in co-managing them! Each band member shares a selection of personal photographs from their youth right up to the present day.

After 10 years at the top Westlife have no intentions of calling it a day and are expected to get back together again early in 2009 to begin picking songs for a new album. All four members emerge well from the book, coming across as likeable enough young guys who got extremely lucky -- and know it. Some egos became seriously over-sized as the band's initial success kicked in, but they were soon cut down to size. But, whatever else, they have been well-groomed by Walsh to appreciate what they have and to be nice to the people they've met on the way up. While the book certainly won't win any major prizes for literature, it has been enthusiastically received by fans, knocking Jordan's latest off the top of the best-sellers chart in Britain.

But, for some reason, it hasn't topped the Irish book charts. While it also won't win over any new converts to their rather bland, ballad-based and anodyne music, Westlife -- Our Story is just what the fans ordered to see them through those long, lonely months while the band take a well-deserved break from their always hectic schedule. This one will sell and sell.

Nicky to play at Soccer Aid 2008

Former Blackburn Rovers boss Kenny Dalglish will take charge of the Rest of the World side that faces an England select for Soccer Aid 2008 at Wembley on September 7. His side includes Burnley fan Alastair Campbell, Patrick Kielty, Westlife’s Nicky Byrne, Brian Lara, Jesse Metcalfe and Peter Schmeichel. England include Jamie Redknapp and Rovers legend Alan Shearer as well as East Lancashire rugby player Kyran Bracken and Ben Shephard.

Jodi auditioning for Kian

Former soap star Jodi Albert will have to audition for a place in her fiance's new girl group alongside thousands of other young hopefuls, Westlife's Kian Egan said. The pop star denied his wife-to-be had already secured a spot in the act, which he will co-manage with pop impresario Louis Walsh. But Egan was preparing himself for a sticky situation when the ex-Hollyoaks actress takes to the stage for the open auditions in Dublin.

Kian as co-manager of new girl band

The search for the female Westlife is on, and people with too much time on their hands were trying to come up with a name for Louis Walsh's new girl band. "Breastlife?" one showbiz hack suggested helpfully, but Walsh wasn't bowled over by the idea. The music mogul opened two days of auditions for the five-member girl band at The Pod on Harcourt Street yesterday, the venue which previously hosted auditions for his bands Westlife and Boyzone. "We're looking for talent," Walsh declared. "Undiscovered talent, young, with a good attitude. We're looking for everything. We don't want good, we want great."

The band will be co-managed by Westlife's Kian Egan, who believes that Ireland is ready for a girl band. "Obviously it's had two very successful boy bands and now I think it's time for the girls to step up," he said. But, hello, didn't Walsh already fail to hit the high notes when he ventured down the Irish girl band route before? Remember B*witched? Briefly successful, then imploded. Bellefire? Big in Japan, before quietly expiring.

But Walsh does not dwell on the past. "We are going for great songs, great voices. This is for the world, this is not just for Ireland," he said. He is looking for a band to match the Pussycat Dolls, the Spice Girls or the Sugababes. "It's not the Nolan Sisters we're looking for," he said. "Who?" chorused the hundreds of bemused teenagers who were not even born when ladies boogied around their handbags to I'm In the Mood for Dancing . Harcourt Street was a sea of false tan, short skirts and stilettos from 6.30am yesterday as more than 700 girls began taking their places in the queue.

AR executive Sheila Burgel completed the trio of judges with Walsh and Egan. "Louis tells me Irish girls are amazing," she said. "I'm very excited about that." Kian Egan has found himself in a sticky situation, with fiancée Jodi Albert up for audition. But the former Hollyoaks actress is not getting special treatment. "There's absolutely nobody picked for this band," Walsh said. "Everybody has to audition because that's the way it is." If Albert gets through the first round, she will be competing with Rosanna Egan from Killaloe, Co Clare.

The 19-year-old was the first hopeful to audition. She left nothing to chance by checking into a hotel on Harcourt Street on Thursday night. "We came down at 4 [am] just to make sure there were no overnighters," she said. Rosanna impressed the judges enough with her version of Rihanna's Umbrella to merit a call-back tomorrow. "I'm absolutely delighted. Can't stop shaking. First one up, absolutely nerve-racking altogether." And Walsh's early-morning optimism does not seem to have been misplaced. Taking a break from auditions, he said there had been "three or four great, great people. The good ones have been really good. We could get 10 bands out of this," he predicted before returning to hear his 49th Mariah Carey song of the day.

7.13.08

Westlife celebrate end of tour

Westlife celebrated the end of their successful UK tour with a big night out in Liverpool, but the lads proved they’re not all about the caviar lifestyle. When the munchies struck, Insider hears the Irish lads had a special request for one of the bar staff at Kingdom – for a Chinese takeaway! Tony Mahoney duly obliged, nipping out to Victoria Street and returning laden down with cartons and carrier bags full of Chinese food for the hungry band, who rewarded him with a hefty tip. The banquet rounded off a great night for Westlife who, together with their other halves, headed to the VIP area of Kingdom after their Summer Pops gig.

The boy band, who recently performed at the Rooney wedding, attracted large crowds as word got out the lads were out on the lash. But it wasn’t just the fans who were pleased to see the boys in Liverpool – the four-piece and their partners couldn’t have been happier to be back. Former Hollyoaks’ actress and ex-girl band singer Jodi Albert, who is engaged to Westlife star Kian Egan, told Insider: “We love coming back to Liverpool. The fans here are fantastic and the band always gets the biggest reception. All the boys were really excited to be back. Kian and I spend a lot of time in the city and whenever we come back it makes me miss it. This was the last show of the current tour before they take a year out, so we all planned to celebrate with a big night out.”

Mat Cunningham from Kingdom says security was increased for the group’s visit. “We got a call from the band's manager to say Kingdom had been recommended and Westlife wanted to come here to celebrate 10 years together and announce they are having a break. While most of the group sipped on our most expensive champagne, the ladies specifically asked for Cosmopolitans. At around 1am the ladies asked us to bring out the cake that they had made for Mark, Shane, Kian and Nicky, which was a chocolate sponge with a number 10 on the top. We put some sparklers on it and they presented to them as a surprise. It was a fantastic moment."

A wedding for Mark

Westlife star Mark has signalled he will eventually tie the knot with his long-term boyfriend Kevin McDaid. And given that after this week, he'll be enjoying a 12-month-long holiday from the music industry, the singer plans to devote more of his time to Kevin. "I get asked about this all the time and I'm sure I will eventually get married," he told the Herald. "The fact is, I'm as happy as Larry with Kevin. Thing's are going fantastically well between us. We're together now more than three years and the relationship is brilliant. I have been talking about the issue a lot in our new Westlife book and I said a bit out about the whole 'coming out' issue and I meant it when I said it was the best thing I ever did."

He added how it's not something he thinks about "right now" but could see it happening in the future. However, Mark may have to wait a few years yet before getting married in Ireland. Justice Minister Dermot Ahern ruled out a referendum on gay marriage in the lifetime of the current government. Speaking on Newstalk today, Mr Ahern said he "couldn't go any further" in providing equal rights for gay people in Ireland. "The government has gone as far as is legally and constitutionally possible. If we were to go any further we would have to put a referendum to the people, but I couldn't see it happening in the lifetime of this government," Mr Ahern said.

Mark first met fellow performer Kevin, a former member of boyband V, at the Childline concert in Dublin in January 2005 and just a few months later, came out of the closet. Since then, he said he has received nothing but messages of support from fans around the world, who have commended him for his honesty. One of the strongest couples on the showbiz scene, the pair have been inseparable since meeting more than three years ago and friends say they are definitely in it for the long haul. And given that Mark and the rest of the band are taking a year-long break from music, he has ample time to devote to his personal life.

"Technically, it's a year off but it's more that we're not releasing an album this year. We have done nine albums in nine years and it does take its toll. We wanted to get away from it all. We want to be able to go home, scratch our ar**s and do nothing," he explained. "I want to be around for my dad's birthday and my friend's wedding and all the thing's that I've missed throughout the years, the things that you bite your lip for and say you don't mind missing."

He continued: "You do have to make sacrifices if you want to be a success but we feel it's a good time to take a year off. Me and Kian are going to travel while Shane and Nicky have kids so they want to be home to wake up in the morning and be there for them." The Irish band will finish their sell-out tour of UK and Ireland by performing at the Liverpool Pops event this Sunday -- which will mark their last performance for a year. But Mark admitted that it was "unfortunate" that the weather affected their performance in Galway last Saturday, after scores of fans were forced to leave Pearse Stadium early due to the torrential rainfall.

"I heard someone say that three weeks worth of rain fell in about two hours on the evening but what can you do? You just have to get on with it. Before the show, I thought the whole thing might be cancelled but in the end, they went along with it and the decision was taken out of our hands," he explained. "By the end of the night, 70 or 75pc of the crowd were still there and that was good to see."

7.02.08

From 'Westlife: Our Story' - Mark Feehily

On Westlife's early days: If you even suggested not doing something, you felt that you were unprofessional. There was always this big desire to impress the record company, so we didn't get time off for 180 days.
On drugs: I was so naïve when we first started I thought people would throw cocaine at us on stage at Top Of The Pops.
On his management: I felt pressure about my weight for a long time. Once somebody from the Westlife camp went into my hotel room and took the sweets out of the minibar.
On singing for the Pope: Meeting the Pope was a huge thing for me. I'm not ultra-religious but that whole experience was just so spiritual.
On Kate Nash: I bought her album and thought it was great. Then I read her saying how she and Amy Winehouse were doing it for the girls and then saying words to the effect of 'instead of all that s**te like Westlife'. I was really hurt. I had to throw her CD in the bin, I couldn't listen to it anymore.
On meeting Mariah Carey: I asked to meet Mariah. The word got back saying Mariah would love to meet me. I walked into a room packed with media, a full-blown press conference with Mariah perched on an extravagant chaise longue. I was worried that she would be mean to me in front of the press but she was lovely.

Westlife Q&A

How did you manage to write a book between the four of you?
Nicky: Well, it was obviously difficult in more ways than one for the writer Martin Roach. He interviewed us separately and collectively. He also had to cater for four different personalities and four different people talking and telling the same story in different versions, but he did it effectively. I read the book and even though I know all the stories and I was in stitches laughing, it’s a milestone in our career 10 years on. Even if you’re not a Westlife fan, the book is a success story in the pop industry.
Kian: We’ve all opened up – Mark in particular opened up and said things he might not have said to members of his band. It’s sometimes easier to talk to someone outside the band about your story.

How did you feel when Brian McFadden announced he was leaving?
Nicky: My initial thought when he told us was that he was punking us. That was Brian’s personality. He was sitting beside me so I looked at him, smiled, laughed, and started checking him for wires because that would be a typical Brian thing to do. I respect him for doing it even though it was heart-breaking. I thought he was crazy. I offered him counselling, we were almost in relationships with each other in terms of how much time we were spending together so I thought maybe counselling might have helped us. But there were different things going on that we didn’t know about. Obviously there were things going on with his marriage that we didn’t have a clue about. But I think he made the right choice for him.
Shane: Brian leaving was a very big turning point within Westlife. I wonder whether we would be still be together if Brian hadn’t left, I don’t know. At the time it made us realise how lucky we were. It made us stronger as a group.

Three of you have known each other since school and Shane is married to Kian’s cousin. Is Westlife a family affair?
Shane: We’ve known each other since we were 12, for more than 15 years, so it has been kind of like they’re family to a certain degree. We picked each other as mates so that is the backbone to a strong relationship, and when the others came they gelled with us straight away.

Were you worried about how people would react to news that Mark was gay?
Mark: I really didn’t give a damn what anyone thought – that’s one of the key things that anyone that’s gay needs to realise before they come out. It’s getting to the point of not giving a s**t what anyone thinks that actually pushes you into it. Too many people care about what people will react like.

What will you do during your year off?
Shane: My wife is pregnant so I’m looking forward to having some time off. But I’m worried I’ll be bored after four or five months, not working. Even if you have a new baby it’s going to be a shock to the system after having a schedule for so long.

What do you think Westlife stands for today?
Kian: We’re not a political band, we’re not trying to make any big noise politically or in the music industry. We don’t try to sell ourselves as this credible, funky band that writes their own records and is making milestones in the music industry. We’re just four guys that sing great pop songs for pop fans.

3rd worst cover....

Celine Dion's version of a classic AC/DC track has been named as the world's worst cover song by music professionals. The panel of professionals described Celine's version of 'You Shook Me All Night Long', as a "musical offense". They were taking part in a poll for Total Guitar magazine. Girls Aloud and Sugababes' cover of 'Walk This Way', originally recorded by Run DMC and Aerosmith, came second on the list, while Westlife came third with their version of Extreme's 'More Than Words'. ( I didn't think it bad at all). Jimi Hendrix's interpretation of Bob Dylan's 'All Along the Watchtower', a version Dylan himself plays live, was chosen by the panel as their favourite cover version. The Beatles' came second with their cover of The Top Notes' 'Twist and Shout', and Guns N' Roses were third with Wings' 'Live and Let Die'.

The Westlife book signing

Hundreds of Westlife fans have had a dream come true when they met the boyband stars in Belfast. The famous four were in the city for the latest leg of a two-day book signing tour at a number of Eason’s stores across Ireland. Among the excited teens awaiting the chance to meet their idols were Belfast friends Lindsay Kelly and Nicole Hendry, who had camped outside the store since Sunday afternoon. “It’s been mad; the first night there was heavy rain,” said Lindsay. “It was really bad but we had a tent. We’ve been trying to keep ourselves dry — the shops have made a fortune out of us buying umbrellas.”

Meanwhile, Nicole said they and their friends had been working in shifts during their wait to meet the Westlife lads. “We all met through Westlife. We were camped out about seven years ago and started talking about them. We’ve become good friends now. We each like a member of Westlife, we’ll get them all to sign the one book.” A-Level student Emma Reynolds from Downpatrick said her 22-hour wait had been very cold.

“We just had chairs and an umbrella, we haven’t had any sleep,” she said. “It was worth it to see them though.” Eason’s deputy store manager Trevor Proctor said the response to the signing had been excellent. “It has been just fantastic, a very busy fortnight,” he said. “The planning for this has been going on for about two weeks. It’s all been organised well in advance. “Sales of the book have been fantastic, they have surpassed anything we thought.

The Westlife boys — Shane, Mark, Kian and Nicky — arrived bang on time through a rear door at the store to an ecstatic crowd who almost brought the house down with their screams. There was tight security at the signing desk, where fans were rushed through as quickly as possible to allow the hundreds waiting outside their chance to meet the group.

But the band members took the opportunity for a quick chat with some fans, even posing for pictures to be taken with a lucky few and their newly-signed books. Tearful fans Alex Burns and Carolyn McKenna said they were delighted to meet the boys after waiting since midday on Wednesday. “It was freezing, but it was well worth it,” said Carolyn. “Shane just told us to keep on smiling.” For Nicole Hendry and Lindsay Kelly the wait was also worthwhile as they were among the first to meet the band. “It was a bit rushed but we did get to meet them in the end,” said Nicole. “They called us crazy for waiting out so long. They’re really nice guys, they chat away.”

At Wayne Rooney's wedding

Wayne Rooney could have a career in music when he retires from football. He got up on stage with Westlife when they sang at his wedding Coleen McLoughlin. And now the boys say 22-year-old Wayne would be the perfect addition to their group. ‘I think he could replace Brian McFadden,’ Mark jokes. Brian quit the boyband 4 years ago to launch a solo career. Coleen, 22, says she was thrilled Westlife agreed to play at the reception. ‘Their songs are perfect for a wedding,’ she tells OK! ‘I’ve seen them in concert a few times and there’s always so much energy.’

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