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> >11th June 2000 Ronan is still managing Westlife!! |
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Apparently the news on Dotmusic about Ronan quitting his role as Westlife's manager is completely untrue, he is still managing them =o)
> >9th June 2000 Next U.K. Single Release Date!!!! |
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Westlife's duet with Mariah Carey, entitled 'Against All Odds'
will be released on July 3rd in the UK!
> >9th June 2000 Ronan Quits as Westlife Manager |
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Boyzone's Ronan Keating is to quit managing Westlife in order to
concentrate on his solo career.
Ronan has admitted he is too busy devote his time to the band.
He said: "To be honest, I just don't have the time anymore. I still
call the lads to see how they're getting on, but I wouldn't honestly
say that I manage them now."
Ronan is now handing over all his management duties to his own boss
Louis Walsh. He was asked by Walsh to co-manage the band when they
were starting out last year
Ronan adds: "At the start of Westlife it was more important that I
was involved with the lads in more depth. I was able to advise them
about things in the business that they had never encountered.
'But they've gone on to huge things now and have learned the business
every bit as quickly as Boyzone."
[source: Dotmusic.com 9th June 2000] |
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> >7th June 2000 Bryan collapsed! But apparently he's better now... |
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Bryan was rushed to hospital in the US after collapsing
on the band's American tour.
He passed-out after a New York show recently and was ordered to return
to Ireland, after doctors diagnosed nervous exhaustion and told him to rest.
According to tabloid reports, Bryan has now rejoined the band, after taking
a week off to recover from Westlife's gruelling American tour.
He said: 'One minute I was fine, the next I collapsed. I thought I would
die. The doctor said I needed to rest. But I wanted to be with Mum and Dad,
not lying in a hotel room. So they put me on the first flight out to Dublin.'
He added: 'We haven't had a day off since Christmas and I spend most of the
time travelling. I'm not moaning because I know how lucky I am.'
[source: Yahoo News 7th June 2000] > >9th June 2000 Westlife in a spin |
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WESTLIFE had to cancel a concert after being caught up in a
terrifying tornado.
The band were trapped in their hotel by the twister which hit North
Carolina during their U.S. tour.
Kian said: "We were in a hotel room when all the
lights suddenly went out. I've never seen wind like it.
We saw cars being blown away. It was
really scary. But the worst thing about it was we had to cancel our gig, which was
a real shame."
[source: The Sun Newspaper 30th May 2000] > >30th May 2000 Westlife valued at 14 million |
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Westlife have been valued by
the Guinness POPTA Index at £14.3
million. The POPTA Index assigns values to DJs,
bands and solo performers based on their sales
statistics. With four number ones and a world
record, Westlife have topped the 1999 league
table. According to POPTA statistics, Westlife amassed 34 weeks in the charts, selling almost 1 1/2 million singles and a record breaking run of Number Ones. Close behind are Vengaboys with £13m. The other contenders are Steps on £11.3m, Britney Spears on £11.2m, Boyzone on £11.1m, Geri Halliwell £9.4m, ATB on £7.4m, Martine McCutcheon on £7.2m, S Club 7 on £7.1m, Robbie Williams on £6.9m, B*Witched on £6.7m, Whitney Houston on £6.3m, Five on £6.2m, Offspring on £6.1m, Another Level, Will Smith, Shania Twain and Ricky Martin all on £6m, and Lou Bega and Eiffel 65 both on £5.9m. [source:Yahoo News 30th May 2000] > >17th May 2000 Concert for the Sultan of Brunei |
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Westlife earned £2.5million for one half-hour gig - they were
paid £500,000 each to play just SEVEN songs
for the Sultan of Brunei's family...
Kian Egan, Bryan McFadden, Mark Feehily, Nicky Byrne and Shane Filan
say they were treated like royalty on the trip last weekend.
The lads, who racked up a record five No1 singles in a row, visited
Brunei during a promo tour of the Far East.
Kian said: "It was the best concert we've ever done. The Sultan
has an amazing palace, and we played in front of 50 of the royal
family. They seemed to enjoy it, and it gave us a buzz. It was over very
quickly, and we played an encore of Flying Without Wings and Swear It
Again."
Later, the Sultan's son showed the band around the grounds and
let them drive one of the family's huge supercar collection, a £94,750
Porsche 911 Turbo.
Other stars who have played for the Sultan include Michael Jackson,
Phil Collins, Tina Turner and Mick Hucknall.
[source: The Sun Newspaper 17th May 2000] > >25th May 2000 Free concert in Dublin! |
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Westlife have announced their intention to play a free gig in
Dublin this summer as a 'thank-you' to their home fans.
The concert will take place at Marley Park, organised in conjunction with local Dublin radio station 104FM. This will be the band's only live date in Ireland until next year, manager Louis Walsh says: "They want to do it to say thanks to the radio station for supporting them from the start - and to give their fans here a treat." Meanwhile, the band are on the Italian island of Capri, favourite hang-out of Mariah Carey, where they are recording with the diva herself. Together they are to lay down a cover of Phil Collins' hit 'Against All Odds' for release later this year. > >21st May 2000 U.S. Fans - Westlife online Chat on Monday! |
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The guys will be doing a video chat at GetMusic.com on Monday, May 22 at
8:00 p.m. (EST)!
Plus, more good news for U.S. fans - the Arista 25th Anniversary CD is now on sale at Target in the USA for $7.99, featuring Westlife singing Swear It Again live, plus tracks from many other Arista artists. > >21st May 2000 Kian number 10 in the Bliss top 50 Boy Poll! |
| May's Issue of Bliss Magazine in the UK has a Top 50 Boy Poll - voted for by readers of the magazine. All of Westlife feature in the top 50, their positions were as follows: |
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10. Kian 11. Shane 15. Nicky 18. Mark 36. Bryan |
pic of Kian from Bliss |
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> >21st May 2000 News on Westlife's duet with Mariah |
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After scoring a hit by duetting with 98 Degrees on "Thank God I Found You,"
Mariah Carey looks to be dipping back into the boy band pool.
U.S. spokespeople for the Irish outfit Westlife told MTV News that the boys will be in a recording studio in Italy next week recording their contribution to a duet with Mariah on a cover of the Phil Collins song "Against All Odds." The track should be familiar to Mariah's fans, as the singer recorded a solo cover of it and released it on her "Rainbow" album. There's no release date yet for the duet, and U.S. spokespeople for Carey were unavailable for comment at press time. [source:MTV news - http://www.mtv.com 18th May 2000] > >21st May 2000 Two Bodyguards Each(?!) |
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Pop sensations Westlife have been forced to hire two
bodyguards each to protect them during their current
tour of South East Asia. The "Fool Again" hitmakers were prepared for the frantic fans, after being mobbed when they toured there last year. Singer Bryan McFadden says, "It's not that the fans are nasty, they just get over-excited. It was a bit frightening at first, but you soon get used to it. It's just a different reaction to what we get in Europe. "It was mental whenever we stepped outside to go somewhere. It was like a swarm of bees descending on us. I got a lump of hair pulled out of my head and runners stolen out of my bag. It was mayhem." [source:MTV ASIA - http://www.mtv.com 15th May 2000] > >3rd May 2000 Westlife Song Featured in New Animated Movie! |
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Westlife's song 'We Are One' (from their debut album, 'Westlife') is
featured in the new animated movie 'A Monkey’s Tale'.
The song plays over the credits of the film, which boasts voiceovers from top
British actors including the brilliant Rik Mayall, the legendary John Hurt and Michael York
from Austin Powers. The movie apparently follows the story of two rival monkey families and has
been described as 'Romeo and Juliet with monkeys' (?!).
The film is out in cinemas in England and Wales on May 26th and in Scotland and Northern Ireland on 7 July 2000. The movie premiere is in Leicester Square, London on May 21st, and Westlife are *rumoured* to be turning up for it! In the meantime, you can learn more about the film, play the game, win prizes, view clips, hear the Westlife song and much more at: > >3rd May 2000 Disney Channel Kids Awards 2000 |
Westlife are the official spokespeople for the Disney Channel Kids Awards 2000! Vote for Westlife in the awards at the following website: http://www.disney.co.uk/DisneyChannel/kids/vote.html > >10th April 2000 MSN Internet Chat on Wednesday |
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On Wednesday April 12 join MSN Live as they present a
chat event with Westlife - who they describe as "one of the UK's hottest bands".
MSN says about Westlife -
"The band is so hot that they have just exploded across
the U.S. With their CD, Westlife, premiering on the
charts on April 4, expect to see these guys
everywhere, starting on MSN Live." The chat will take place: at http://chat.msn.com/msnlive/features/westlife41200.asp > >10th April 2000 Westlife Too Fat to Conquer America!?! |
Westlife are currently in the States for a four week tour,
in a bid to crack the difficult US market - something Take That and Boyzone failed to do.
But there is no rest for the band. According to "The Examiner" in Ireland, the lads
have been ordered to go on crash diets because their handlers believe they
are too fat to conquer America.
Apparently Arista Records boss Clive Davis even ordered a reshoot of their Swear It
Again video because he believed they looked too podgy. He has now ordered a
fast food ban, with the band put on a low calorie diet. And all five must
work out every day with a personal trainer in a bid to fight the flab.[source:The Irish Examiner - http://ted.examiner.ie] |
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> >10th April 2000 Flying Without Wings re-released in Australia |
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Flying Without Wings is being re-released in Australia on April 17th due to the lack of
success the first time around. The single will contain a different track listing from the original release,
it comprises: 1. FLYING WITHOUT WINGS 2. SEASONS IN THE SUN 3. I HAVE A DREAM 4. A WESTLIFE PHONE MESSAGE (for you to put on your answerphone!) If you don't live in Australia and want a copy of the CD single, email ozwlfans3@hotmail.com [source: BMG Australia |
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> >2nd April 2000 Westlife Make History! |
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Westlife's single 'Fool Again' reached number 1 in the U.K. charts today, selling merely 1423
copies more than Mel C's 'Never Be The Same Again' in order to reach the top spot and make history.
Westlife are now the first band to have five straight No.1's in a row with
their first five releases. There had been some doubts whether Westlife would manage number 1, but after a flurry of TV appearances and hastily arranged signings in London and Birmingham Westlife managed to knock Mel C off the top spot. After appearing on Top Of The Pops last week, Bryan McFadden appealed to the audience: "Please, please, please, everyone go out and buy our record. Buy two or three if you can - but whatever you do, don't buy Mel C's single." Newspaper reports claimed that Shane had called Mel C names, but Shane told Radio 1 it's all lies and he thinks Mel's great: "I would never say that about any artist. I met Mel C last week and said I didn't say it, and she said 'Don't worry. I never believed it in the first place.'" The lads were on a plane to New York when they heard the news: Kian said "This is really incredible, we never really dreamed about getting this far. With four number ones already we never really thought we’d go on to get another one in a row, and especially this week when the record sales were so tight. It is a brilliant thing for Irish music and for both us and B*Witched to break into such a difficult market in the first place." [source: BBC Radio 1, The Irish Examiner - http://ted.examiner.ie] After landing the guys headed straight for the Big Apple’s bars to continue celebrating. Bryan said: "When adding up how much it had cost us we had to recount at least five times because we couldn’t believe it. We spent just over £10,000 but it was worth it. It was one long crazy party. We went everywhere. We landed about 1pm and we were knackered from the flight. But we were so happy after hearing the brilliant news that we just went for it. After checking into our hotel we ordered five bottles of champagne for our gang of eight including our tour manager Anto. We were jumping on our hotel beds and just shouting and hugging each other. It’s just a dream come true. If somebody had told me this time last year that we’d have five straight No1 singles I’d say they were a loony." After knocking back the bubbly the boys moved on to a few Irish bars where they drank Black Velvets, a lethal combination of champagne and Guiness. Bryan said: "We were drinking like there was no tomorrow. We bought the whole bar a drink and they asked us to sing some of our songs. We did a couple before falling all over the place. We then worked our way around six or seven bars, buying tons of drinks, before collapsing back at the hotel where we carried on until 3am. It’s a day we’ll never forget and will remember for the rest of our lives." [source: The Sun Newspaper] |
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> >31st March 2000 Westlife Announce UK Tour dates for 2001 |
| Westlife's first UK tour dates have been announced, they will be touring in February/March 2001. Tickets go on sale Monday 3rd April at 9:00am, priced £18.50/£19.50. You can buy tickets for Newcastle, Manchester and Wembley online at Ticketmaster. |
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Friday 16th February - Glasgow SECC Tuesday 20th February - Newcastle Arena Friday 23rd February - Manchester Arena Tuesday 27th February - Nottingham Arena Friday 2nd March - Birmingham NEC Tuesday 6th March - Sheffield Arena Saturday 10th March - Wembley Arena Friday 16th March - Belfast New Odyssey Arena Tuesday 20th March - Dublin Point Depot > >26th March 2000 New Westlife album due October 2000 Westlife's second album will be released on 31 October, as their next single, Fool Again, looks likely to be the last release from their multi-platinum debut album. Songs are being gathered at present for the follow up, which will mark the group's first foray into songwriting. 'We've written loads of songs ourselves for this album. It's early days yet but we'll definitely have a few of our own tracks on there,' says Shane. Westlife will enter the record studio in June and plan a more American sound for the album, in keeping with their plans to break the US. 'We're hoping to do a couple of songs with Diane Warren,' Nicky Byrne said, adding that the songwriter had written with some of the band's all-time favourite acts, including Celine Dion and Gloria Estefan. The lads have enjoyed unparalleled success over the past year, nabbing both the Christmas Number One and ITV's Record Of The Year for 1999. Their lucky streak looks set to continue as Fool Again could be their fifth Number One next week, breaking the record held by B*Witched for consecutive chart toppers from a debut album. > >22nd March 2000 Westlife Web Chat The new Westlife single Fool Again is released next week!! And to promote the single Westlife will be chatting live on dotmusic later this week, answering *your* questions. They will be jetting in to the Dotmusic Thameside penthouse on Friday (March 24) at 16:30(GMT) to chat to fans around the world. As with all of the Dotmusic webchats you will be able to watch all the action live via the webcam which will run alongside the chat. You can send in your questions for westlife right now if you click on the icon below: 
> >16th March 2000 Watch out! Westlife on Tour! |
| Rumour has it that Westlife will tour in January 2001, so there's a while to go yet 'til we get to see them in concert (*sniff*)! As soon as any exact dates are announced, they'll be up on this site so check back here for any new info! |
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> >15th March 2000 'Westlife Story' to be shown on T.V.! |
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This Friday (March 17th), Sky 1 will be showing 'The Westlife Story' at 6pm.
The video was released last November,
and a DVD version is currently being produced, with plenty of extra features. The video takes the band members back to the places where they grew up, and also features their first 3 promo videos - 'Swear It Again', 'If I Let You Go' and 'Flying Without Wings'
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> >15th March 2000 'Fool Again' : new single's CD-Rom section! |
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'Fool Again' is released on March 27th, and the CD will feature an enhanced track, which will run on both PCs and Macs.
The CD-Rom will feature the stunning full length video to the track, plus exclusive behind the scenes footage of the band - a message from Nicky and a film of all the lads at a recent photoshoot for Smash Hits, plus a news update shot on top of the bulding in Mexico where 'Fool Again' was filmed. The CD-Rom also contains a message from Westlife detailing their plans to tour!
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> >7th March 2000 Swear It Again Released in the U.S.! |
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Westlife's debut U.S. single - Swear It Again is now on sale in the U.S. (the release date was delayed to allow Westlife more time for promotion). The track listing for the U.S. single release is as follows: SWEAR IT AGAIN - US CD SINGLE 1. Swear It Again (4:06) 2. My Private Movie (Snippet) 3. I Don't Wanna Fight (Snippet) 4. Can't lose What You Never Had (Sinppet) 5. Flying Without Wings (Snippet) |
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> >7th March 2000 New Release Date for Next Single |
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| Westlife's next single, Fool Again, will be released on March 27th in the UK! You can see a short video clip for the single on the videos page! |
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> >5th February 2000 Possible Duet With Mariah Carey |
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Irish heart throbs Westlife look set to record with soul diva Mariah Carey
following a recent meeting between the two parties. Singer Kian says, 'When we were told she wanted to record with us we thought it was a joke, but then we discovered she was serious and we're knocked out'. 
A Westlife spokesperson says, 'Mariah met the band at their showcase in Los
Angeles last month. She loves their music and there is a possibility that
they will record together'.Kian adds, 'Mark thinks he's died and gone to heaven because he's always been a huge fan of hers'. Although no further details of the imminent partnership are available at present you can help influence their choice of song by taking part in the dotmusic vote tonight. [source: Dotmusic News - http://www.dotmusic.com] |
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> >9th January 2000 Westlife Release Dates in the U.S.A. |
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| Good news for all fans in the US!! Westlife are planning to release "Swear It Again" as their first single 22nd February and their album will be out to buy in the U.S. on March 21st!! |
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> >8th January 2000 Next U.K. Single - Fool Again |
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| Currently, Westlife are intending to release 'Fool Again' as their next single, pencilled in for release on March 20th in the UK. The reason for the longish gap between this and the band's last single, Christmas and Millennium number one 'I Have A Dream/Seasons In The Sun', is partly due to Westlife being out of the UK for most of the early part of this year, in North and South America. The video for 'Fool Again' is being shot in Los Angeles this month! |
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