Westlife story
It all started in a small town called Sligo in the North West of Ireland. Shane Filan, Kian Egan and Mark Feehily appeared in a production of Grease in their local theatre, after the last show, they had a party and all the people who had played T-Birds in the show, began singing. They all had good voices and sang well together, one girl told them that they should all do something with their talent. They took her advice and got together to form a band called Six As One. This consisted of Shane, Kian, Mark, Derrick, Graham and Michael. They decided to do a one-off gig, something that would be fun, but not too serious, so they built up a thirty minute set of cover versions. Their first gig was to be held at the Southern Hotel in Sligo.
After the gig, they performed Grease again, but this time Six As One sang songs in the interval. After the school summer holidays were over and some of the group had finished their exams, they concentrated on singing. The band became very popular in Sligo and it was around this time that some of the band members wrote a song called "Together Girl Forever". They also changed their name to IOU because it seemed more catchy. Their popularity grew and grew and they became the biggest band in Sligo. This attracted two managers who were keen to tie them to a contract, but the restrictions were rather complicated. Shane didn't like the idea of signing it so it was put on hold. Whilst they were thinking about this, they released "Together Girl Forever" on CD by a small independent record company and it sold well around Sligo.
Whilst all this was going on, Shane's Mum sent letters and copies of "Together Girl Forever" CD to Louis Walsh hoping that he would get them a better contract and in late February 1998, she finally contacted him. Mae Filan had grown up in the small town of Kiltmaugh in County Mayo and knew Louis family. Luckily Louis had seen IOU on Irish Tv doing a small hospital slot and had noted their singing skills. Mae convinced him to chat with the band and see what he thought of them. The group knew nothing of this until she rang her son to tell him that Louis wanted to meet. At first Shane wouldn't believe her, but after some persuading, he believed her - was really pleased and excited.
Louis arranged a support slot for IOU with the Backstreet Boys in Dublin. They had to get three songs together and they had to prepare a 15 minute routine. The songs they chose were, "Together Girl Forever", "Everlasting Love" and a cover of The Who's "Pinball Wizard". The lads bought matching tops and trousers to wear on the night from EJ's Menswear, a Sligo shop both Kian and Shane had worked in during the summer. Their act was a hit and Louis decided he would manage them, but there was bad news, he wanted a five piece group, so someone had to go. Derrick was chosen because although he was a good singer, he looked more mature than the other guys which everyone felt upset the cosmetic balance of the group. Derek was devastated.
With the guys now down to five, they began working hard preparing to meet various record companies. They recorded two songs onto a demo. Then Louis invited Ronan to come along to meet the band, to help Louis choose the songs and help the groups development. He got on well and when Louis asked if he would like to help manage them, he agreed readily. With the management set in place, it was time to approach record companies. Unfortunately they weren't interested in signing the band, only to sign Kian and Mark. This was disappointing but the band as a whole agreed to a reshuffle. Unfortunately another member of the band had to go. This time it was Graham. He was almost 22 and was quite a lot older than the other guys. He accepted his fate stoically and put everything into his last gigs so he could go out with a bang.
The band now only had four members, so auditions were held for a fifth. They were held at the Red Box in Dublin and 300 young people auditioned for a place. Amongst these 300 young hopefuls were two lads called Nicky Byrne and Bryan McFadden. Nicky wore a black suit, Bryan, a shirt he'd borrowed from his father. Nicky sang "Father and Son" The shortlist was narrowed down to six and then just two - Nicky and Bryan. No-one could make a decision as to which lad to choose, so they were asked to sing a capella. Still no-one could decide. In the end they chose both lads and took some time to see how they fitted in best with the band.
Nicky and Bryan hit it off straight away and got on with everyone. After a short stay in Sligo, the group returned to Dublin to perform a showcase at the Red Box for a record Company. It was at this point the biggest upset was announced. The management had always wanted a five piece band so yet another band member was to be dropped. It was Michael. He was totally devastated and for a long time afterwards he didn't speak to the group. EVentually he said "Fair play to you all" and understand why they had dropped him. Now that the line-up was complete, IOU were ready to start trying for a record deal and maybe nationwide success.
The first show to unveil the new-look IOU came in July as the group headlined the annual 'Beat On The Streets' road show around Ireland, sponsored by 2FM Radio. The open air concerts were staged over eight weekends and attracted thousands of teenagers. During these concerts, IOU's popularity grew and grew and they began getting a huge fan base. During this tour that the group developed their own pre-concert ritual to focus their minds before taking to the stage. They would form a circle together and pray, then moments before going out they would each put one hand into the circle and lock them together. Then they would count to three in Irish and shout the band's name, a tradition they still maintain today.
Around this time that the band got their first tour manager. His name was Anto Byrne (no relation of Nicky's). The band now had new managers and a tour manager and with the success of the tour behind them were on the lookout for a record deal. The last A&R man they met was Simon Cowell. He had met the band about four months previous but hadn't wanted to sign them. This time they had a new line-up and a better sound. He talked to RCA and they agreed with Simon's decision and so they got their first record deal.
Their next achievement was supporting act to Boyzone on their UK tour. They had been given four songs to sing - "Swear It Again", "Flying Without Wings", "Everybody Knows" and "If I Let You Go". and a new name - Westside. Louis had come up with the name after seeing it on the side of a rubbish skip! The band were now on the road to success!
The Boyzone tour started and ended with Westside stealing part of the show. They attracted so much attention from the fans that the RCA offices were sent over 10,000 enquiries about the new band. TV shows and magazines started taking an interest, even though the band had only been together for four months, they now had their diaries booked a year in advance. Over the next few weeks, they went back on the road and performing in under 18's clubs and the BBC roadshow . A very busy time for the lads, constant hard work, by the end of the tour their tempers were boiling point. On the way to their last gig, their tour manager told them to shut up. Then Kian said that they should all sit back and look at what they had. Everything was in place and they had to stop arguing or it could all go wrong. From this moment on, they realised it was true and they couldn't afford to throw it away.
This gave them the confidence to go on to do the Smash Hits Roadshow. They worked very hard on this and they came out on top winning the award for the Best New Act. It was a real achievement and they deserved it. They gave the award to Louis, then asked Smash Hits to make five more copies, one for each member of the band.
The real big test came on Wednesday 3rd February when Westside had to sing in front of cynical music journalists, PR's and executives from rival record companies. It was held at the Cafe De Paris in London and Westside rehearsed their set for hours to make sure it was perfect. The show was a complete hit, everyone knew about them. They started recording their debut album and doing lots of promotion in magazines and for TV, unfortunately part way through, due to copyright laws and rights to merchandise as there were companies in America with the same name, they were re-labelled Westlife.
Their first single was "Swear It Again" released it in Ireland, then in the UK. Around 1,000 fans turned up to their signing at HMV store in Dublin and the single went straight in at number one. When they released it in the UK, it did the same - finally Westlife were on their way.
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