Latest Westlife News

note: thanks to the following websites for providing some of the news items found on this site - Worldpop | MTVasia | Music365 | The Sun | BBC | WENN | Agnes =)

If you want to share your positive concert experiences, feel free to send it to us at westlife@previewstock.com and we will post it on this site and share it with other Westlife fans. Please include the date/concert venue that you attended. Also send any Westlife news we might have missed to that address above!

The Westlife news archives can be found at the bottom of the page

Westlife in Sao Paulo, Brazil
Westlife in Mexico!

10/31/01

More on Shane's house

Shane has completely taken over the work in building his new $1.3 million dream home...being built for his parents in Sligo, Ireland. It's a 7 bedroom house with a lot of fancy features. Shane said, "The roof is just about to go on and it's a very exciting time. It's really cool. It has a swimming pool, a snooker room and a bar, which is just amazing. It has seven bedrooms and when you walk into the house there is a huge spiral staircase. There's also a three-storey tower with windows and you can see out them from the three different floors. My favourite room is the two-storey dining room - there's actually a balcony overlooking the table. It's a class house. I designed most of it myself. One side of the house is completely open plan." Wish I had that kind of house =)

Bryan has to lose weight

Bryan admits that he has his work cut out for him as he has quite a lot of weight to lose before going on tour again early next year. But, he is comfortable with his size and appearance right now. He explains, "I don't have a special diet. I like to start the day off with a fry-up and have a McDonald's in the evening. I got glandular fever a while ago while we were touring and it hit me hard. I lost a bit of weight after that. I have quite a bit of weight to lose still, to be honest. My weight also goes up when I drink a lot. When I stop drinking for a while then I get back to my normal weight."

Westlife Dads to be security

Bryan is hiring two of his bandmates' dads to run security and make arrangements for his wedding next January. He said, "Mark's and Shane's dads are going to run things. They'll be out there telling the crowds what to do."

Capital FM Radio's Christmas Live concert

Westlife, S Club 7, The Corrs, Blue and Wyclef Jean have all been confirmed to play at Capital Radio's Christmas Live concert at London's Earl's Court on December 10. The bands will each perform a 30 minute set and the proceeds from the concert will go to the Capital Radio charity, Share a Capital Christmas which aids disadvantaged people in the London area. Westlife and S Club 7 will perform tracks from their new albums while The Corrs will perform a selection of their greatest hits. Last year the concert raised over £3m for needy people in London. Tickets priced £20-£25 go on sale on Thursday, 1 November. Call the ticket hotline on: 0870 730 0958 or log on at www.capitalfm.com/xmas.

Westlife support Blue

This morning, Westlife gave a press conference, in which they talked about the worldwide (sans the Western Hemisphere) launch of their new album, World of Our Own. Westlife said this morning that Blue member Lee Ryan should not be sacked from the boy band for his extremely outrageous comments [as this editor believes] over the tragic disaster at the World Trade Center. Lee created an uproar in the UK when he said in an interview, "Who gives a f*** about New York when elephants and whales are dying?"

The UK tabloid The Sun called for him to be sacked from the band but when a Sun journalist asked Westlife for their opinion on Lee's comments, they said they support him. Bryan told The Sun reporter, "'We actually spoke to him and he said you took the comments out of context. 'He has his opinion and whether it's right or wrong he shouldn't be sacked from a music group for talking about politics." Another editor's note: it's kind of hard to imagine how one could take that quote out of context...although, I guess it is free speech (however, inappropriate it is).

Westlife also denied that Blue are their rivals. Mark explained, "We don't want to compete against people. One of the reasons we called the album World Of Our Own is because it's just about Westlife now. We're not interested in competing with people. We just want to see as much as possible ourselves."

When Bryan was asked how he would cope with the world tour, he responded, "I don't know to be honest. It's just something I'll have to deal with as I go along."

Bryan on the world tour

Bryan said he wasn't sure how he would cope with being from Molly during the upcoming world tour. Bryan said: "I think it is something I am going to have to deal with when it comes along. It has already been difficult being away from her since she was born and obviously the tour will be tough in that respect, but I am looking forward to it all the same." Nicky said: "We all really enjoy touring because we get to go on stage and play in front of 20,000 screaming fans. The buzz doesn't get any better than that." The group already have a greatest hits album planned for next year and a fourth album is already in the offing.

10/29/01

Louis Walsh on Westlife

It seems everyone's been saying the same thing. That "World of Our Own" is much more impressive than "Coast to Coast". Even the manager, Louis Walsh, came out and said the same thing in an interview with Smash Hits magazine this week. He said, "This album is much better than the last one. It's going to sell 10 million. I didn't like the last one, but this is brilliant."

In addition, he talked about who in Westlife would have a chance at a long term solo career. " "Bryan and Shane are turning out some amazing stuff. They are the two with the long-term futures ahead of them - they have really gelled. It's going to be the album of the year." Going back in history, Robbie Williams was the only member of Take That to have a successful solo career. Ronan Keating was the only member of Boyzone to have a successful solo career.

Finally, Louis once again put to rest those split rumors saying, "It's all rubbish. The boys are very happy and if they weren't, I don't think they could have produced an album of this quality."

10/28/01

Gabriel reports that "When You're Looking Like That" is currently at #6 on MTV's Latin America Top 10 "los diez mas pedidos". Looks like Latin America is a stronghold for Westlife nowadays =) You can vote for the video at this URL.

Also, according to Michael, Westlife are at #3 on Disk MTV, the program that has the Top 10 of Brazil, with "I Lay My Love on You".

One bad day a month (per member)

So it's not a perfect group...but no one expects it to be, especially if they have to spend a lot of time together. The members of Westlife admit that they are nasty to each other about a day out of the month. Kian said, "We get at each other all the time, we just have days when it's like, 'Let's just take the p*** out of Kian, and Kian just has to take it'. Each one of us has a day about once a month." Mark added, "You have to be very careful in the band because you spend so much time together. I generally don't say anything too bad 'cause I know it'll always come back to me."

10/26-10/27/01

The pressures of fame

Bryan and Mark are feeling the pressure of life in the spotlight. They say that they are horribly embarrassed when people stare at them in public and are starting to feel like social outcasts. Bryan says, "I don't like going into a shop and having people looking at me. It's not a big-headed thing but I really don't like it. Sometimes I feel I am part of a freak show. I feel I have two heads." Mark agreed by saying, "Sometimes you feel like a weirdo. Think what it's like when everybody is looking at you. It's like having a big birthmark on your face and having people staring all the time. It's almost the same thing."

Westlife - mischievous boys

Mark, Nicky and Kian recounted tales of their childhood...and it wasn't all about playing nice. Mark once broke the law by stealing sweets from his local shop, and even planned to blame his mom if he had gotten caught. Mark revealed, "My mother always says I was well behaved - but when I was three I'd rob penny sweets from the shop! Even then I think I knew I should pay for them, but I knew I could always blame Mum if I got caught." Nicky and Kian were troublemakers themselves. Nicky broke windows and Kian threw bananas in school. Nicky admitted, "I broke about eight windows in my house when I was playing golf, football, snooker - whatever!" Kian added, "I was in the semi-troublesome gang at school. Me and Mark used to throw banana sandwiches across the room in math."

Bryan and his "one-night stands"

[this article is rated PG-13 =)]

Although Bryan loves Kerry and Molly, he admits that he misses one night stands. In fact, he's a huge fan of sex generally, enthusing, "I love sex. Sex makes the world go round. Sometimes sex can just be about being horny and having sex just for the sex. It doesn't have to be about love. You can try things out in bed when you don't know the person. I think that's the best way to do it, because even if it's really bad or really stupid she might be gone the next day." However, Bryan wouldn't swap his life today for anything else. He said, "I have a girl and I am happy. I don't ever look at a girl and think that I want to have sex with her. I can go home and I have someone to talk to at an intimate level."

10/26/01

Ok, so this is an interesting twist of a story that seems to make no sense. But, um, enjoy =) I think the version that makes more sense appears below it.

Kian is set to defy ancient laws of physics and matter. Kian, lead guitarist and chief reportage photographer with the band, has spotted a rare, if not unique, gravitational phenomenon occurring in his hometown of Sligo. "Sligo can be crazy with people falling out of the pubs," Kian says. So worried is Kian coming a cropper in the town, that he has hired a minder to help himself stand up straight. "The reason I have had to this is because I am such a great position with the band," says Kian even though he is not in a great position because he used to sit down all the time with Westlife until they started to stand up and move about, except Bryan, who stole a march on everyone by lying down and smiling happily. "At first we all thought the falling thing was because Sligo is on a great big hill," a priest said. "But then we realised it was actually not on a hill at all, which was very disconcerting.

So Kian started carrying out some experiments using theories developed by Galilieo and a few ancient Greek mathematicians - he's a bright lad you know - and the results were f***ing astounding. Kian realised that gravity in Sligo was twice as strong as everywhere else in the entire world and three times as strong as parts of Donegal. So now Kian has hired this minder to help him. The minder has a big stick and if he notices Kian starting to fall over he just pokes him a little and rights him. There's a problem with what will happen if the minder starts to fall over, but Kian's a bright lad and we are all sure that he'll think of an answer for that, please God. Did you know that Kian is also a great reportage photographer. Sligo's just brilliant, by the way."

Kian hires a minder

Kian has hired a minder (security) to protect him every time he returns to Sligo. After being attacked in Sligo earlier this year, he admits, "I don't feel safe going out in Sligo without security. It's a sad thing. I use a local guy who is a bouncer at one of the nightclubs to look after me. Sligo can be a crazy place at times, with people falling out of the pubs. I accept the reason I have to do this is because I am in such a great position with the band. But it's a shame. If the band wasn't doing so well I probably wouldn't have to do this, and then I'd be complaining. It was a wake-up call. I always felt we were free and safe to do whatever we wanted to. I was just going for something to eat after a night out. Doing what every guy would do."

Another reiteration of the Shane and Gillian story

(from news of the world) Heart-throb Shane has dated Gillian Walsh for more than a year, and taken great care to keep the romance under wraps. The pair always arrived and left separately at showbiz bashes, meeting up again later at hotel rooms around the world and she has never been photographed in connection with Shane...until now. My eagle-eyed snapper caught her leaving a hotel in Dublin this week (right). Planned A source close to the couple told me: "It was bound to come out sooner or later. "They've managed to keep their relationship a secret for ages but they weren't happy about it. "Things had to be planned all the time. They couldn't just nip down the pub for a few drinks in case they were photographed together."

It means the only single members of the band now are Mark and Kian. Nicky has been dating Georgina Ahern—the daughter of Irish Prime Minister Bertie—for five years. Bryan recently became a father with former Atomic Kitten singer Kerry Katona. They are set to marry next January. The source added: "Shane and Gillian have met each other's parents and things are very serious between them. They knew each other before they got together. They're both from Sligo and always bumped into one another. "When her cousin Kian and Shane got together in Westlife, they became close friends. One thing led to another and before you knew it, they were an item. "The couple are in constant touch with each other wherever Shane is in the world. His phone bill is massive but he doesn't care—he really loves Gillian."

Mark' stalker

I certainly hope that none of you are the stalker type...because that just isn't cool. As it happens, Mark's life has definitely not been pleasant as there is an 18 year old girl that follows him throughout Ireland...and even camps out at the airport in order to meet him. Mark is too upset to talk about his stalker, while Shane and Kian will only reveal that he is very disturbed by her actions. Kian said, "She follows him all around Ireland. It's terrible for him, it really is." Shane added, "She sleeps in Dublin Airport waiting for our flights in and out, which is a bit mad. It's gotten to the stage now where Mark can't really deal with it anymore. Her parents are doing it as well. Her mum is with her all the time."

Excerpts from an analysis/Opinion article on the new Westlife.com

(written by Owen Gibson) As everyone from consumer magazine publishers to Soho shopkeepers will tell you, sex appeal sells. And record companies are no different - especially when it comes to that peculiar kind of slushy, mushy puppy love peddled by boy bands down the decades. From the Bay City Rollers to Bros to Boyzone, no stone has been left unturned in the quest to flog young fans everything from duvet covers to dolls. So it is a little surprising that record companies have only now cottoned on to the fact that if fans will shell out for poster books, T-shirts and, let's face it, some pretty dire music then they'll probably pay for web content as well.

BMG last week announced that it was to become the first record company to charge a subscription fee for access to a band website, with fans of drippy Irish combo Westlife being asked to shell out £15 a year...Among all the dotbombs and depressed advertising models, it's gone almost unnoticed that it's teenagers that are leading the way in the bid to make the web pay....

Tweenagers, as eight to 12 year olds have been dubbed by marketing types, and older teenagers have grown up with technology. As such, they don't tend to differentiate between the web, digital television and mobile communication as a means of getting access to information and entertainment. They will happily spend hours on sites such as Habbo Hotel and MyKindaPlace, which attract huge visitor numbers with limited publicity. And it doesn't take a mathematician to work out that if just a small proportion of the 10m fans that bought the last Westlife album sign up to the site to stay ahead of their friends in the playground gossip stakes, BMG will be on to a winner.

Most of them have pre-pay mobile phones, so are used to spending their cash on technology. Wisely, BMG and content partner UBC Media are offering potential subscribers the chance to do so via pre-pay cards from high street shops as well as through their parents' credit card. As record companies finally get to grips with the internet, they are also starting to latch on to the idea of the web as a money-making opportunity....

The Westlife Platinum site goes live at the end of the month and it will be fascinating to see how it fares. As ever, its success or failure will ultimately depend on the quality of the content it can provide. However, the producers need to beware the wrath of a fan scorned, and unofficial Westlife sites have already started a campaign against the charges. The other problem is that pop is such a fickle mistress that many bands will have split up or fallen out of favour by the time it gets its subscription site up and running. What price now a year-long Hear'Say or 5ive subscription, for example? But, if BMG and UBC get it right, who'd have guessed that it would be five well chiselled pop puppets who finally made the web pay.

10/24/01

I got my answer. Thank you for answering my question =) I see no need to prolong the debate, although it would be nice if I could send Westlife or BMG or their support staff a notice about their "little" gaffe. original message I started.

10/23/01

That Kian Rumor

3 words: Don't believe it. There were also rumors that it was a leak from The Sun which would have published it on November 5. Those are also not true according to Sharon (Westlife fan/visitor) who contacted The Sun and got a reply e-mail denying the rumors were true.

Childline 2002 Concert - on sale now
(courtesy of mcd.ie)

Westlife, S Club 7 and Sophie Ellis Bextor are all confirmed performers at the 2002 Childline Concert at Dublin's Point Theatre on January 27, 2002. More additions to the line-up will be announced in the lead-up to the event. The annual Childline concert - now in its fifth year - has previously seen appearances from Samantha Mumba, Atomic Kitten, Boyzone, All Saints, and Louise. Last years event hosted by Samanthan Mumba and Keith Duffy raised £130,000. Tickets for Childline 2002 are £27.50 and went on sale Monday from HMV and Ticketmaster outlets nationwide. For telephone bookings, call the 24 hour Ticketmaster credit card line on 1890 925 100. Tickets are strictly limited to 6 per person. Doors open at 6:30pm. Children under 16 must be accompanied by person 18 or over.

10/20/01

Shane admits he has a girlfriend

Shane has a girlfriend. Shane said, "It is true, yes. I've had a girlfriend for nearly a year now, and I didn't really want to say anything about it before. She's from Sligo and the reason I haven't said anything is that I didn't want her to have any different kind of life. She wanted to be just Gillian from Sligo when she was at college - not Shane from Westlife's girlfriend. It's brilliant, and she's the best girl in the world. I've never met a girl like her - she's just amazin! She's everything you'd want in a girl - she's not like a model or anything, she's just gorgeous, she's just lovely and she's just a beautiful person and very special to me.

Bryan and Kerry to present on "This Morning"

Bryan and Kerry will be guest presenter on ITV's This Morning show on Tuesday, Wesdnesday and Thursday next week [week starting 10/21/01]. They will be interviewing fellow pop stars S Club 7, Steps and Mis-Teeq. Kerry said, "I am really proud to be presenting such a high-profile show." Audience figures for the show have dropped since Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan left in July.

Top of the Pops

The Top of the Pops recorded a one-hour special on Thursday to mark the return to its "spiritual home" of BBC Television Centre on Thursday. And the audience members who were there for the taping got to see Westlife perform. Inside the new studios, even the fans in the back of the audience "were still well within spitting distance of Westlife's Bryan McFadden." Cher, Steps, Craig David and Natalie Imbruglia were also present at the taping.

Westife's April 2002 tour

Westlife have revealed that they're already planning their next tour! It will kick off in April 2002 and the stage will be in the middle of the arena. No official dates or places just yet. My question...what about the US??!!

Next month, Westlife will release a video, Where Dreams Come True, of their spring tour.

Bryan & Kerry to marry

Westlife is to have its first wedding in January of next year. Bryan and Kerry will marry on January 5 on the grounds of Slane castle in Meath and preparations are already underway for the big day. Caterers, entertainment, magicians and heavy security have already been booked and confidentiality agreements have been signed. The couple who sold the first pictures of baby Molly to Hello Magazine (they are this month's cover) are expected to get close to £500,000 for the exclusive wedding photo's of the big day. The couple are also in the process of selling their county Wicklow home and have reportedly bought two city center penthouse apartments. In the meantime Nicky and Georgina are settling in their new house in Ashbourne.

Tour dates/TV appearances

westlife are performing at london apollo on October 21. [thanks to catherine]

Kate Winslet is favorite for Christmas #1

Britain's favourite actress, Kate Winslet, is now the favorite in getting the Christmas #1, following news that she has recorded her debut single, "What If?". The song was written for the soundtrack of of the animated movie, "Christmas Carol - The Movie". It is to be released as a single by EMI on November 26 and bookmakers William Hill now make the ballad 7/2 favourite to occupy the top spot during the Festive Season. Atomic Kitten, Westlife and Madonna are trailing at 5/1, 6/1 and 9/1 respectively. What If? was written by Steve Mac who has written and produced seven No 1 singles, working with bands such as Westlife, Boyzone and Five.

Westlife monthly news archives

October 2001 (2)
October 2001 (1)
September 2001 (2)
September 2001 (1)
August 2001
July 2001
June 2001
May 2001
April 2001
March 2001
February 2001
January 2001
August 2000