Ahead of their two gigs in Croke Park, we’ve taken a look back at Westlife’s very first photoshoot with VIP Magazine, in August 1999.
Hot off the heels of their debut single, Swear it Again, which at the time sold 500,000 copies and soared to number one in both Britain and Ireland, the group were keen to make a name for themselves around the globe – and that, they certainly did.
We joined Mark (18), Shane (19), Kian (18), Nicky (20) and Brian (18) on the road, as they were touring in Australia.
From heartwarming fan tales to sharing a stylist with Posh and Becks, there was plenty to catch up on.
Here are eight things we learned from the very first interview.
Never take a mobile phone for granted!
Flying from one country to another for weeks on end without seeing your family is difficult enough, but when you can’t hop on FaceTime at the drop of a hat – well that’s almost unimaginable. In the midst of their promo tour, the boys were gifted a mobile to make the odd call back home. They told us, “We were given mobile phones by sponsors so we could stay in touch with loved ones. But yes, it’s very hard to stay in touch with everyone.”
A determined mammy is better than any agent!
Shane’s mum was so determined to get the boys managed by Louis Walsh, that she took it upon herself to hound the music mogul until it happened. “Yes, my mum rang Louis Walsh many times,” Shane told us. “He’s seen us on a local TV show and he was trying to get in touch with us as well.”
And quickly, Ronan Keating became one of their co-managers, too…
“Ronan is more like a friend to us than a manager,” they told us. “He gives us a lot of advice. Louis is great too, but he is more the business side. If we get something wrong, Ronan can tell us what’s wrong and thats very useful. It helps that everything we do, he’s done it. So he’s a help on every way, but more a friend than a manager.”
They’ll always have a soft spot for their fans
They’ve never taken their fans for granted, and when the group first started, were always thrilled to arrive home to fan mail. So much so, they’d personally reply to most, if not all, letters with an autograph and snap. How cute?! “We’re starting to get a lot of fan mail now,” they told us. “Every time I come home my mother has a couple of hundred letters there,” said Shane. “We’d always flick through them all, and if they included an address, we’d always send back an autograph or a picture or something like that. It means a lot when people write because they’re the people who made us who we are.”
Nicky and Brian had to fight for their spot!
It wasn’t all fun and games for Dublin lads Nicky and Brian who had to fight for their spot in the group. Nicky pulled out all the stops, belting out a Boyzone song to try impress Ronan Keating and Louis Walsh. Looks like all that grafting paid off! Nicky told us, “It was the biggest chance of my life. I wore a shirt and tie and the song I did was Father and Son, which Bozyone had done. For the second audition, I was there with a couple of hundred other people. I remember thinking I had really put my heart in it and I might be lucky.”
They were styled by Kenny Ho, Posh & Becks very own wedding stylist
The boys were known for their very 90’s personal style back in the day – and it turns out they had none other than Kenny Ho in charge of their wardrobes. Kenny was in charge of styling Posh and Beck’s Irish wedding, and takes credit for some of the boys’ most iconic looks! “He picked out our clothes in the beginning and put a look together for the five of us. We all dress alike though not the same. Basically, we wear whatever we like and don’t wear anything we don’t want. Mostly we wear jeans with tops and shirts.”
It wasn’t all glitz and glam for the boys when they first started out!
Nicky revealed that the Sligo contingent had to bunk in with Dubliners when their careers first took off. “When we first started in Dublin, Shane lived up in my house and Mark lived in his aunties house, Kian lived in Bryan’s house. We weren’t earning any money at all and myself and Brian’s parents looked after all the Sligo boys and the Sligo boys’ families were sending money up to bank accounts in Dublin. And we’re not ever going to forget that. If we ever become as successful as Boyzone, we will definitely loon after our families – that’s the first thing we want to do!”
They were Boyzone’s biggest fans
They say don’t meet your heroes, but this certainly wasn’t the case for Westlife and Boyzone. The group idolised Boyzone and were happier than ever when crossed the line from fans to friends. Nicky tells us, “I was a huge fan of Boyzone and Ronan Keating was an idol to me. And when I sang karaoke I was constantly singing Boyzone songs. Myself and Brian used to think we were Boyzone! Then all of a sudden we meet Louis Walsh, we get to know Ronan Keating and he becomes our co-manager. Now we call him all the time and we go out to his house. We don’t see him as Ronan Keating the popstar anymore; we see him as a friend. The Boyzone lads are like big brothers to us now.”