Biography
Westlife are an Irish pop group formed in Sligo in 1998. The group was originally known under the names '6as1' and 'I.O.YOU' with several other members. Westlife consists of members Nicky Byrne, Shane Filan, Kian Egan and Mark Feehily. Brian McFadden was a member of the band before leaving to pursue a solo career in March 2004, Mark Feehily is a member, but is temporarily away from the group due to health issues. The group disbanded in 2012 and later reunited in 2018.
In Ireland and United Kingdom, the group has 11 number-one albums, 16 number-one singles, and 34 Top 50 singles. They have sold over 55 million records and are holders of four Guinness World Records. Westlife has received numerous accolades including one World Music Award, two Brit Awards, four MTV Awards, and four Record of the Year Awards. As of August 2026 they were certified for 10 million singles, 12.5 million albums and 1.525 million Music DVDs. That's a total of 24,025 million certified sales in the UK only.
The group has released twelve studio albums: four as a five-piece and eight as a four-piece. They rose to fame with their debut international self-titled studio album, Westlife (1999). It was followed by Coast to Coast (2000), World of Our Own (2001), and Turnaround (2003). Following the departure of McFadden, the group released the cover albums ...Allow Us to Be Frank (2004) and The Love Album (2006), the albums Face to Face (2005), Back Home (2007), Where We Are (2009), and Gravity (2010), followed by a six-year split. After reforming in 2018, the quartet released the studio albums Spectrum (2019) and Wild Dreams (2021). The group had three major compilation album releases as well: Unbreakable - The Greatest Hits Volume 1 (2002), Greatest Hits (2011), and 25: The Ultimate Collection (2026). The band are currently operating as a trio with Filan, Byrne and Egan as Feehily is currently taking an extended break due to multiple bouts of illness since 2022.
Kian Egan, Mark Feehily, and Shane Filan, all schoolmates at Summerhill College in Sligo, Ireland, participated in a school production of Grease with fellow Sligo men Derrick Lacey, Graham Keighron, and Michael Garrett. The sextet formed a pop vocal group called Six as One in 1997, later renamed IOYOU. The group, managed by choreographer Mary McDonagh and two other informal managers, released a single titled "Together Girl Forever" and "Everlasting Love" under Sound Records. McDonagh first encountered Egan as a six-year-old student at her weekly dance classes and came to know Filan and Feehily in their early teens as they starred in shows such as Oliver! and Godspell for Sligo Fun Company.
Louis Walsh, the manager of fellow Irish boy band Boyzone, came to know the group after Filan's mother Mae contacted him, but the group failed to secure a BMG record deal with Simon Cowell. Cowell told Walsh: "You are going to have to fire at least three of them. They have great voices, but they are the ugliest band I have ever seen in my life." Lacey, Keighron, and Garrett were told they would not be part of the new group, and auditions were held in Dublin where Nicky Byrne and Brian McFadden were recruited.
The new group, formed on 3 July 1998, was originally named Westside but renamed themselves as Westlife due to an existing band with that name. They signed a four-million-pound record deal with RCA Records. Westlife's first big break came in 1998 when they opened for Boyzone and Backstreet Boys' concerts in Dublin. Boyzone singer Ronan Keating was brought in to co-manage the group with Louis Walsh. Their first live television performance as a group was on the Irish TV series The Late Late Show broadcast on 13 November 1998. They performed "Flying Without Wings".
