Pop sensation Westlife will today storm straight to No.1 with their new single Flying Without Wings, but they'd still be in the wilderness if it wasn't for band member Shane Filan's tough-talking mum.
Mae Filan knew that her son and his pals needed the best boy- band manager in the business. He was Louis Walsh, the man behind Boyzone's phenomenal success - but he was impossible to get hold of.
Then suddenly Mae knew she had an edge. "My family used to live in the same road as Louis and his family and I remember him as a little boy running round the house", she said last night. "So I picked up the phone...and hoped."
WL's three No.1s from their first three singles is a record unequalled by any other boy band. Not even BZ managed it - and their star Ronan Keating is now WL's co-manager.
Writer Rob McGibbon has chronicled their rise to fame in the lads' official biography, 'Westlife, our story'. And with his help, over four fact-filled pages we reveal the astonishing truth - including the day Leeds United's manager kicked one band member off his team and another cried himself to sleep for six months after a lover broke his heart.
Kian is clearly the most experienced ladies' man in the band. He first got 'married' when he was seven!
"The 'wedding' was at the back of an old house in the street where I lived," he smiled. "All us boys used to do it as a way of getting to kiss a girl. My first 'wife' dressed up in a white communion dress and I put on my bow tie. It was a serious thing for us in the street - I even had a best man."
Kian has a habit of doing things early. He first performed in public at the age of four. "I went in for a talent competition", he explained. "I recited a poem called Whispers at a hotel in Sligo. I won and I still have the trophy. From then on I wanted to be on stage the rest of my life. I started doing musicals at school and eventually did shows like The Pajama Game, West Side Story, Annie Get your Gun and Oliver.”
”The big turning point came for me when I saw what Take That were doing. I loved songs like Everything Changes and Pray. I thought, 'A boy band? Yeah that's for me.' "
So what about true romance? "I fell seriously in love when I was 15 and met a girl called Sonya," he sighed. "I went out with her for a year and a half and we spent pretty much every day together. After about four months I told her I loved her. Then one day, she asked me to come around to her house and said, 'I want to break up with you'. She broke my heart to pieces. I cried in bed every night for six months." "I saw her on a disco in Sligo a while back and I told her I still loved her. She said, 'Shut up Kian, you're drunk.' She was right."
Mark shudders with dread each time he hears the BZ hit Words - because it reminds him of mopping out toilets! "I worked in a restaurant where they always played that song", he said. It always brings back memories of cleaning the loos. Mind you I've also worked in Burger King which was my worst job. It was a new place and it took us ages to learn how to clean everything at the end of each day, so we were kept working until 5am on a Saturday morning. I couldn't cope with the lack of sleep so I chucked that job in."
Mark's mum Marie is a civil servant and works in Ireland's department of agriculture. His dad Oliver was brought up on a farm just outside Sligo. "That's where I still live", Mark continued - though he might have become a tennis hero rather than a pop star. "I was dead serious about my tennis and would play every single day and enter competitions", he explained. "For a while I wanted to be a professional player, but we don't have that coaching in my area to take you to a higher level.
"Besides, for as long as I can remember I loved singing, I used to jump up and down pretending it was a microphone and singing Uptown Girl by Billy Joel. "Every Sunday evening all my family would go to my grandparents' house and everyone would do a party piece. That's when I realised I liked performing." "I feel really comfortable when I'm on stage. I'm not the same person as I am off stage. A lot of my inhibitions go.”
Bryan might be coining it now he's struck stardom - but first royalty was paid in chocolate.
The eight-year-old budding star was at Billie Barry stage school in Ireland along with an array of future Irish stars when his big day arrived. "That's when we started doing the shows and really getting involved in the dancing," recalls Bryan. "The first thing I won at Bille Barry's was a singing competition - the prize was a Cadbury's Easter egg." And competition for the eggs was certainly hot in those days, with the cream of Irish talent pouring into the school. "Sinead from B*Witched was also in that show," said Bryan. "And that's where Shane and Mikey from BZ went but they were four years ahead of me."
Stardom was always in young Bryan's destiny chart. "When I was a kid I used to sing in the shower or pose in font of the mirror pretending I was Michael Jackson or Jason Donovan," he added. The whole family is no stranger to success, either. Sister Susan was a household name in Ireland from an early age. "She was probably counted as one of the biggest child stars in Ireland a few years ago and was the lead in shows like Annie and Beauty And The Beast with Lionel Blair", smiled Bryan. "People would say to me in the street: 'Are you Susan McFadden's brother?' It was cool." Now the tables are turned and Susan is the one who gets asked if she's Bryan's sister. But the modest star insists his sibling would be a worthy record rival. "Susan's a really good singer- better than me - I'm sure she'll have a good career as a singer if she wants it."
The night Nicky played at Wembley with Westlife all his dreams came true - for he grew up hoping to play there as goalie with Leeds United.
"When I was 15 I went for trials at Derby, Everton and Leeds", he said. "I chose Leeds. I was very excited - and very homesick. The first time I rang my mum I cried." "Then at the start of my first season I was selected for the first team squad because of injuries to other players. I was only 16 and I was on the bench for the third Premiership game of the season, against Southampton. I didn't get to play but I thought it was the start of big things...
"But near the end of my contract the new manager George Graham told me they weren't keeping me on because I was only 5ft 10in. He only wanted big keepers. I was devastated and went home to Ireland."
As many fans know the great love of Nicky's life is Georgina, daughter of Irish premier Bertie Aherne. "I met her at school and we've been together five years," said Nicky. "I'd do laps of the school corridors between classes so I could pass her again. I came home that day and said to my mum, 'I've found the girl for me'." Georgina stuck by me through all my problems at Leeds and I owe her a lot.
"I still have a very strong faith and pray every night for God to look after my family and everyone I care about. My Nana is also very holy and she gave a special prayer a while ago. I know it off by heart and say it every night before I go to sleep.
As if it was yesterday, Shane remembers the moment his world changed: "I was nine," he said, "and Michael Jackson brought out his Bad album." "He took over my life," Shane smiled. "I'd push back chairs in the room and learn his moves - I even had the gloves and hat. "
The first time I was in a proper stage show was in Grease at the Hawkswell Theatre in Sligo when I was 12. There wasn't really a role for someone as young as me, but the producer created a special part for me and a girl called Olwyn Morgan to sing a duet called We Go Together. "I couldn't believe the reaction we got. For a few seconds I thought I was Jacko."
"When I was 14 I went to an all-boys school. We sometimes did musicals. I was in Annie Get Your Gun, but had to play a girl. I was dressed up in a skirt and bonnet, but there were other lads dressed as girls, so we could see the funny side."
Horses were also a major part of Shane's childhood. "I started riding properly when I was nine and every weekend the whole family would go to shows all over Ireland and sometimes to England. It was a massive day out."
"The only other sport I'm passionate about is rugby. I played at fly half and when I was 18 I had trials for the Irish team, during trials, me and the guys were preparing a show and I realised I might get injured and not be able to sing. That scared the hell out of me." "I realised that all I wanted was to hear my songs on the radio."
It was a long shot, but worth a try. Shane's mum Mae Filan knew she held the success formula for her son and his mates in Westlife. But she needed to perform a miracle first.
The man virtually guaranteed to turn them into stars was Louis Walsh - a legend in Ireland and already boss of Boyzone. But getting his secretaries and aides was just about impossible - well it was to everyone except Mae. "I knew they had the talent and deserved the best chance," she said, "so I decided to get in touch with Louis. "I mentioned this to Shane but he didn't believe I could do it because everyone wants to get in touch with Louis."
Mae, who comes from a small town called Kilitimagh in County Mayo, added: "First I called Louis' brother Paul who still lives in Kilitimagh and he gave me Louis' office number. My family used to live in the same road as Louis and his family and I remember him as a boy running round the house." "I dialed the number a couple of times but I only got an answer machine. I didn't leave a message because I wanted to speak direct. The next time I called I got through to Louis and he was wonderful. We chatted for about 20 minutes, which is a long time to speak to someone as busy as he is. We didn't talk about Kilitimagh, but just about the group. I told him all about Shane and the boys. Louis had heard about the group and was interested in meeting them. Shane was staying with his sister Mairead in Dublin for a party, so I rang and said Louis wanted to speak to him. But Shane wouldn't believe me. He said: 'Come on, mum you're having me on.' When she gave him Louis' mobile phone number, he finally believed her.
In three years they'd come a long way. Shane, Mark and Kian - along with three pals called Derek, Graham and Michael - first played live in 1996. They were on stage in Grease in their hometown of Sligo. Soon they switched names to IOU - but bigger changes were to come.
After gigging for a while they had an offer of a locally based management contract - and that's when Mae persuaded Louis to step in instead. Shane recalls the moment they met him: "We turned up at the Red Box nightclub to see him and told the guy on the door who we were there to see. He was like, 'Yeah guys, sure you are' and tried to turn us away. Then the man himself stepped up and said, 'Hi, I'm Louis'. We walked in right past doorman - it was so cool." "I was so nervous at meeting him I didn't know whether to shake his hand or bow. The first thing he told us was not to sign any other contract. He said he was too busy with BZ to manage us, but would get us on TV, let us support BZ on their Autumn tour AND help us find a manager! After the meeting we were running down the streets screaming our heads off!"
A few days later Louis invited them to Ronan Keating' 21st birthday party. Shane added: "I got to the Red Box and the first thing I heard was a massive roar - it was Ronan and his wife Yvonne arriving on his massive Harley Davidson! Later Ronan walked by and Michael and I introduced ourselves. I felt so honoured to meet him. There was one moment when I was standing in the toilet in a line - and the other guys were Alan Shearer and snooker star Ken Doherty! I thought, am I dreaming?"
A week later, Louis sprinkled more stardust over them, when he calmly rang to tell them: "I've got you the support slot at the BSB concert." The US superstars were playing two gigs in Dublin's RDS Arena. The six Sligo boys were such big BSB fans they had tickets for one of the shows - now they were going to be on stage! Kian said: "We were shaking, we had tears rolling down our faces. The two shows were amazing. the reaction we got from the girls was fantastic. They didn't know who we were, but they knew we were Irish, so they loved us."
Watching from the wings was Louis, impressed by their talent and obvious hunger for success. "I could see something special, especially with Shane's and Mark's voices," he said. "That's when I decided to manage the group. I wasn't sure I could even get them a record deal, but I wanted to have a go." Louis told them so, but added there was one insurmountable hurdle: one of them would have to go. Every boy band was a five-piece. Six was top-heavy, difficult to choreograph, and looked clumsy on stage.
Derek was far more mature looking than the others which everyone felt upset the 'cosmetic balance'. It fell to Shane, as unofficial leader, to brake the news to his best pal. Derek was devastated but IOU had no choice if they wanted to pursue their dreams with heavyweight backing. Louis paid for the five to visit London so they could record a two-song demo tape to send to labels. then Ronan, who got on well with the guys, came on board as co-manager.
They secured an audition with RCA, but boss Simon Cowell was unimpressed. The solution was painful: IOU had to be broken apart.
Graham was the next casualty - at 22 he was four years older than the others. "When I looked at the whole picture, I knew my age was a problem," he admitted. "I was upset but I took it on the chin." To get the perfect replacement, Louis advertised nationwide. Dubliners Nicky Byrne and Bryan McFadden stood out and were quickly signed up. Now the band was back to six. So the final casualty was Michael.
Kian recalled: "Telling him he was out was awful. the worst day ever." This time last year they auditioned again for RCA's Simon Cowell - and with the perfect line- up it was virtually a formality. The deal was signed. Then came the change of name, initially to Westside but later - because of a US outfit with a similar name - to Westlife. Next stop...superstardom!
