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Westlife are an Irish boy band formed in 1998. They are to disband in 2012 after their farewell tour. The group's line-up was Shane Filan, Mark Feehily, Kian Egan, and Nicky Byrne. Brian McFadden was part of the group until 2004. Westlife have sold over 45 million records worldwide which includes studio albums, singles, video release, and compilation albums.Despite the group's worldwide success, they only have one hit single in the United States, "Swear It Again", which peaked in 2000 on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 20. The band were originally signed by Simon Cowell and are managed by Louis Walsh. The group have accumulated 14 number-one singles in the United Kingdom, the third-highest in UK history, tying with Cliff Richard. The group had also broken a few records, including "Music artist with most consecutive number 1's in the UK", which consists of their first seven singles and only behind The Beatles and Elvis Presley. The band have 14 UK number ones and 25 top ten singles, consisting of 20.2 million records and videos in the UK across their 14-year career - 6.8 million singles, 11.9 million albums and 1.5 million videos
On 1 June 2008, Westlife marked their tenth anniversary with a concert in Croke Park, Dublin which had more than 83,000 fans attending the special occasion. Music Week revealed on their website that Westlife are the official third top touring act within the years 2005–2008, while they were seventh top touring act of 2008.Also in 2008, they were declared Ireland's ninth-richest celebrities under 30 years old and thirteenth in general with 36 million euros as a group. In 2009, they dropped as sixteenth richest Irish with estimated 8 million euros each. They were named as the fourth most hard-working music artist in UK by PRS in 2010. In August 2011, it was reported in the Irish Examiner that the profits of the band's firm grew five-fold in 2010.On 19 October 2011, Westlife announced they were to split after their Greatest Hits was released on 21 November 2011 it debuted in Ireland at number1 for 1 week and debuted and peaked at number 4 in the UK and a farewell tour in Spring 2012. The band recently won the coveted poll of MTV.com Battle of the Boybands. After five rounds and competing with 32 boybands, Westlife won over 74% at the final round
History of project
Prior to becoming successful, Egan, Feehily and Filan along with fellow Sligo men Derrick Lacey, Graham Keighron and Michael Garrett, were part of a six-member pop vocal group called Six as One and was later changed to IOYOU in the year 1997. Managed by choreographer Mary McDonagh along with two other informal managers, they released a single titled "Together Girl Forever". Walsh, the manager of the 1990s boy-band Boyzone, was contacted by Filan's mother and came to know about the group. However, the group did not meet Cowell's approval for a record deal with BMG, and thus changes were needed. Cowell told Walsh, "You are going to have to fire at least three of them. They have great voices, but they are the ugliest band I have ever seen in my life."[9] Three members of the band were told they would not be part of the new group, and auditions were held in Dublin where Byrne and McFadden were recruited. The new group, formed on 3 July 1998, was renamed Westside but as the name was already taken by another band, it was later changed to Westlife. In Westlife – Our Story, Byrne revealed he was keen to change the name to West High but the others wanted Westlife. McFadden also changed the spelling of his name to Bryan to make it easier to sign autographs. Boyzone singer Ronan Keating was brought in to co-manage the group with Walsh. The band then released an EP titled Swear It Again.