Westlife Call Boy-Band Breakup 'Strange'

With more than 45 million albums sold worldwide, 14 #1 singles in the United Kingdom and 10 studio albums, fans of Irish boy band Westlife are still in shock that, after 14 years together, the members decided last month to go their separate ways.
Yet, Westlife did not go quietly, having one of their most successful years to date. In May, they were crowned champions of MTV News' Battle of the Boy Bands. Following two weeks of intense matchups and more than 12 million votes, Westlife beat out music's most-famous boy bands to take home the coveted trophy, which is now in their possession.
"Thank you very much. We were very proud, what an amazing thing to win," Westlife member Nicky Byrne said to MTV News via Skype. "It was really really special. It's sitting proudly now in my trophy cabinet amongst a few others we were lucky enough to win."
Last month, Westlife concluded their 12th and final concert tour, the Greatest Hits Tour. Traveling through Asia and Europe, the group celebrated their remarkable career with their fans, ending the trek with a homecoming concert in front of 85,000 fans in Dublin.
"It was a long tour: We did the whole U.K. and wrapped it up in Ireland," Byrne said. "It was the best way we could have expected or wanted to finish. It was two nights in a huge stadium, 85,000 and typical Irish crowd. One night, it rained, and one night, it was sunny, but it didn't dampen any spirits. It was emotional, it was real adrenaline, it was a great night all around."
And even though it's been a few weeks since the tour has wrapped, Byrne admits that it has yet to set in that he will no longer be a part of Westlife.
"It's a bit strange still, obviously. We were together for 14 years. We did a lot of long tours and big tours," he shared. "At the moment, it feels a little bit the same — that you have just wrapped up a big, long tour and you're on time out, but I think every night going to bed or when I wake up first thing in the morning, it just hits you that you keep telling yourself that we are not going to do this again, I'm not going to be back recording with the lads. It's just strange. That's the best way to explain it."
Unfortunately for all those Westlife fans, there was no discussion on the road of getting back together, even if it might have crossed their minds.
"Definitely through the tour, different crowds, different cities, there were times mentally in your head you went and said, 'Is this the right thing?' We never really spoke, that was the funny thing: We never really talked to each other and said, 'Have we made the right decision?' I think our egos wouldn't allow that," he said. "So it was strange when we made the decision, which was probably coming for maybe two years on and off, we felt it, and then once the decision was made, that's the decision now, there's no going back."

 

Westlife’s Nicky Byrne says father-in-law

Westlife’s Nicky Byrne says father-in-law Bertie Ahern did his best for country

Westlife singer Nicky Byrne has leapt to the defence of his father-in-law, Bertie Ahern.
Nicky, who married Bertie’s daughter Georgina in 2003, says that the former Taoiseach did his best for the country.
“There’s no big house. There’s no Porsches. There’s no anything like that. It’s not there and if it was, believe you and me, it would have been found,” he told the ‘Sunday Independent’s Life magazine.
He said: “Plenty of people have opinions on Bertie for lots of different reasons but, you know, it’s one of those where he was in power for so long.
“Unfortunately, with the economic crisis that Ireland is in, the whole world is in it, but people will only look at what’s going on in their own backyard.
“I’m sure Bertie probably feels he made some mistakes, but, actually, not many more mistakes than previous people before him. Or people that will make them in the future. Or probably people that are making them presently. But it’s just that he was there at the time.”
The singer also said that he found it sad that his father-in-law was painted as being “corrupt”.
He said: “You just have to hold your head high and say ‘I know him as a person. He’s a lovely guy and he is 100,000% committed – always has been – to Ireland. ‘
“You know that’s the sad part for me. Because out of anyone, some of the stuff that would be painted of him as being like a corrupt politician or anything like that when he enjoys the simple things.
“That would be something that I would know and I think most people around him would know. The way it happened is the way it happened, it can’t be changed.”
Nicky said that Bertie has not spoken about whether the Mahon tribunal fall-out had damaged his legacy and ruined his retirement.
He said: “He’s a very private person and he wouldn’t speak about those things.
“As a son-in-law, married to his daughter, knowing him so well, he was married to that job. There’s not a politician in the country that gave more time and effort.
“I can only look at it from a personal point of view. He did his best. He was there for long, he was popular for long. He did his best. And it’s a real shame how it ended.”
Nicky revealed that his father-in-law dotes on his three young grandchildren.
He said: “He spends a lot of time with Rocco and Jay [Nicky and Georgina’s twin sons] and little Robin [Cecelia Ahern’s daughter]. Bertie’s always stayed loyal to his constituency.
“He was always the type of politician for whom grassroots was the most important thing. So he still lives in Drumcondra, still walks around. He’d have a close-knit social network.”