Westlife: Our Story. Westlife
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few days later, my phone rang. It was Louis.
‘Hey, Shane, I’ve got an invite for you and one of the lads to Ronan Keating’s 21st birthday party…’
At the time, aside from Bono, there was no bigger name in Irish music than Ronan Keating. So along with Michael, I went to Ronan’s party. This was only two weeks after my mum had finally spoken to Louis on the phone. We met Ronan – he came in on a big Harley Davidson motorbike with his soon-to-be wife Yvonne on the back. Louis was there, too, obviously, so we also spoke to him again.
After a while, I needed the toilet so I went to the gents and was amazed to see Ken Doherty, the snooker world champion, standing at the loo. I nervously stood next to him and was going about my business when I heard a voice say, ‘Hey, Ken, how you doing, man?’ I looked across and Alan Shearer was standing there taking a piss.
We had a band meeting not long after, all six of us sitting around in my parents’ café, which was our meeting spot. We were discussing what Louis Walsh might or might not do to help us. The main topic of conversation was that he didn’t see a future for a boy band with six members. We all talked about it and agreed we couldn’t turn down the chance of Louis Walsh being involved in some way, even if it was just to find us a good manager somewhere else. We just sensed Louis might be involved somehow and that it was too big an opportunity to miss. So we agreed, there and then, to just go for it. If one of us had to go, then so be it. We kind of all knew somebody would get cut – Boyzone, Backstreet Boys, N*Sync, Take That, Five, there were plenty of examples – and we were all happy with that decision.
Looking back, I think Louis genuinely didn’t want to be involved in a boy band with six members, but I also think he was fishing to see how much we wanted it and whether we would be good to work with. Remember, he hadn’t even seen us perform live at this stage.
By now we kinda knew that the contract we’d been offered by Mary McDonagh wasn’t going to happen. At the same time, being in contact with Louis Walsh made us feel that we might only have one shot at it and we wanted it to be brilliant. So we ended up not signing the first contract and obviously fell out with those people over it. We didn’t want to fall out with them, but they obviously weren’t happy about it and, looking back, I totally understand that. When we had meetings about Mary’s contract, says Mark, I sort of sat in the corner and hoped that the majority would make the decision for me and that it would be the right choice. I didn’t want to get into a fight because I’ve always hated confrontation. But when we said we didn’t want to sign, that relationship was pretty much over.
It’s a very difficult subject because I have an awful lot of love, respect and admiration for Mary. I always looked up to her and wanted her approval, but there was the situation with Louis Walsh developing and also we were not all happy with the contract.
That was a tricky time, because at such a young age it was the first real time we’d had to confront a situation like that, the first big, major, adult decision outside school or family life.
I sometimes think about and still feel bad for Mary and the other people, says Shane, because she was a good friend. I see her around town from time to time now and I go to productions of my cousin’s back home. Sadly, I haven’t talked to her in ten years, though, not a word. I have great respect for her and view her as a person who did a lot for me when I was younger – when it came to my performance, she helped me a lot.
What I will say is that, as Mark mentioned, this was the first time that the music business lunged into our cosy little Sligo life. Making the decision not to go with Mary and then working with Louis later, it was like, Jesus, this shit is cut-throat.
When we said we were sorry but we couldn’t sign the contract with her, they were very sore about it for a long time, but it was just a decision we had to make. I had to make it for my life and my family and any future family. We weren’t saying no to Mary to go instead with any old manager, it was Louis Walsh. I’d like to think they would have done the exact same thing if the tables were turned the other way around. He was probably the best pop manager in Europe at the time. We just couldn’t turn down that chance.
By the time Louis Walsh got involved, says Kian, I was ready to walk out of education, I was ready to give it up. I was ‘Let’s go, go, go!’
For Mark and Shane, it was a little trickier. They wanted it every bit as much as me, but they were good at school and they had their exams to consider. I was like, ‘Forget about exams!’ I never had any interest in class, I wasn’t into the studying and learning languages, all that. I went to school for the activities afterwards – the sports, the drama, the acting and the singing. All I wanted in life was to be on a stage, singing in a big band.
The phone rings.
‘Is that your phone, Shane?’
We were all sitting in the pub, having a pint and a laugh.
We’d all only just got mobiles, so no one knew whose ringtone it was, and we were scraping around trying to find the right phone.
It was mine.
Hardly anyone knew our numbers yet and I could see it was a Dublin number and I thought, Who the fuck is this?
‘Hello?’
‘Hello, Shane, it’s Louis Walsh. Listen, are you guys doing anything on Saturday night?’
‘Er, no, I don’t think so, Louis. Why? What’s happening?’
All the lads gathered around me when they heard me say his name.
‘Well, how would you like to support the Backstreet Boys in three days’ time?’
‘What?!’
‘For two nights.’
‘Are you serious, Louis?’ I had grabbed Shane’s phone, recalls Kian.
‘Deadly serious!’ He was chuckling, he could hear my excitement.
‘Don’t be messing with us…’
‘Kian, I am not messing, get yourself on a train!’
I can’t tell you how exciting that was. I used to say, ‘I don’t want to be in a Boyzone, I want to be in the next Backstreet Boys,’ because they were the ones I really looked up to. Them and Take That, mainly. Same for the other two lads.
Before I even try to explain the state of absolute shock, joy and bewilderment that came over us all, let me backtrack six months to a street in town, with a ticket booth about to put tickets to see the Backstreet Boys on sale. Me and Shane had queued from the middle of the night to get those tickets. The booth didn’t open until 9 a.m., but we were there from 4 a.m. just to make sure.
When Louis called about the support slot, remembers Mark, I’d just been in McDonald’s with a girl called Avril and Gillian, talking about how exciting it was that we were going to see the Backstreet Boys concert at the weekend.
When we got those bits of paper saying ‘Backstreet Boys + Support’, recalls Shane, it was like finding Willy Wonka’s golden ticket, we were so pleased. So fast-forward to the pub around that table when Louis had told us he’d got a slot for our band supporting the Backstreet Boys. I’ll never forget it – it was one of the best moments of my life. Gillian was upstairs waitressing and we all ran up there screaming the news, jumping up and down, crying, laughing, shouting! It was crazy.
After we’d calmed down, I remember thinking, How is this going to work? I’m going to meet the Backstreet Boys. I’m going to shake their hands, maybe even talk to them. It was just so surreal. And we don’t need those tickets that we queued for anymore…
I’d