More info on Westlife

In case you all are wondering, Shane Filan, Mark Feehily and Kian Egan had been friends for a very long time since their days in high school. The three had performed in the school musical Grease together, and after their success on stage, had decided to form a band with three other guys Derrick, Graham and Michael, called 6 as 1, and later changing their name to I.O.YOU. Yep, Shane and Mark had crappy hair back then.
The group released a single "Together Girl Forever" in Ireland, and after limited success, Shane's mother, Mae Filan, contacted the manager of Boyzone, Louis Walsh, to try and persuade him to take a look at the guys and to possibly sign them up. Although Louis was impressed, he felt he didn't have the time to manage yet another band. But luckily, he contacted Ronan Keating of Boyzone, who agreed to co-manage the new band with Louis. And so 'Rolo Management' was formed.
The lineup of I.O.YOU was changed - Derek, Graham and Michael being asked to leave, and auditions were then held in Dublin to find two new members for the group. Nicky Byrne and Bryan McFadden were eventually chosen...an all-new boyband were born!
The group (who were originally known as Westside - their name having been changed by Ronan who felt that I.O.YOU was too boyband-esque) first supported the Backstreet Boys in Dublin, and then toured the UK and Ireland with Boyzone in November 1998. They stunned audiences on the Smash Hits Tour around the UK, winning "Best New Tour Act" at the Smash Hits Awards in November 1998.
However, the group were obliged to change their name from Westside to Westlife early in 1999 when it was discovered that a number of existing bands shared the same name.Undeterred, Westlife went on to release their first single Swear it Again in April 1999 which went straight to the top of the British and Irish charts, becoming the biggest-selling debut single ever in Ireland.

The band's success was to be confirmed when their second single, "If I Let You Go", entered the charts at number 1 in August 1999, followed by "Flying Without Wings" in November. They became the first number one of the new millennium when their double a-side single, "I Have a Dream/Seasons in the Sun", knocked Cliff Richard's Millennium Prayer off the top spot.
In 2001, the boys launched their first world tour, unofficially nicknamed "The No Stools Tour", because of the band's reputation of performing perched on stools. They also released their third album, "World Of Our Own", with eight self-penned songs.
2002 saw Westlife release their Greatest Hits album amidst rumours of a split. However, they released their fourth album "Turnaround" in the autumn of 2003 and won Record of the Year for the third time in five years.
A new chapter began for Westlife when Bryan McFadden left the band on 9 March 2004 to devote more of his time to his family life as well as pursue a solo career (he eventually divorced from Kerry Katona and is dating Delta Goodrem; his solo album didn't fare so well in the UK charts). If the loss of a member usually means the beginning of the end for pop bands, this was not the case with Westlife. Less than a month after McFadden's departure, the boys kicked off their fourth arena tour. They released "Allow Us To Be Frank" later in the year, a Rat Pack-inspired album.
In 2005, after a well-deserved four-month break, they came back with "You Raise Me Up", a cover of a Secret Garden song, which was the first single off their seventh album "Face to Face". On 6 November 2005, both the album and the single were at number one in the UK charts and Westlife became the number one band in the world ; it was the first time ever the band had held both top album and single position in the same week. Having outlasted just about every other boy band, the members of Westlife continue to laugh off any speculation of a split-up, claiming their goal is to score at least 20 UK number one singles.
Oh man, I really cant wait to see Westlife!!! :-D