This Is The History Of The Band We Call... Westlife!

Believe it or not, the original Westlife consisted of 6 boys, and Nicky and Bryan weren't any of those!

Way back, Shane dreamed of pop super stardom. He had the voice and the looks, but each band he began dissolved into nothing.

Then, in 1996, 17 year old Shane gained the lead role in hit musical Grease. In the same production, Kian was chosen to play Kenickie, and Mark was to play several roles including Vince Fontaine and Teen Angel.

The three lads formed a band with the other T Birds- Shane's best mate Michael Garrett, Derek Lacey and Graham Keighon. Together, they named themselves Six as One, and after putting together a 30 minute set, they held their first gig at the Southern Hotel.

Mark and Shane wrote a song 'Together Girl Forever', and after a name change to IOU they released the track on a tiny independant record company in Sligo.

It was Shanes mother, Mae Filan, who helped the guys to stardom. She had seen their talent and wanted only the best manager for her sons band- Louis Walsh.

Louis was busy with his hit band Boyzone then, but Mae refused to give in. She left message after message, even sent him the Together Girl Forever CD. One morning in February 1997, it all paid off. Mae got through to Louis, and convinced him to meet up with IOU. Louis had seen them in a newspaper and was interested to hear them.

They met in a Dublin nightclub named POD. Louis told the lads he was far too busy with Boyzone to manage them, but he did have good news- he would let them support Boyzone on tour as soon as he found them a manager.

One week later, Louis had got IOU a support slot at a Backstreet Boys concert on St. Patricks Day (17th March). Having seen their talent, Louis decided he would manage them. The guys were ecstatic, but then the bombshell dropped- he would only take them as a five piece. After a lot of thinking, it was decided that Derek would have to leave. It was hard, but it had to be done if they wanted any chance of making it big.

Then, just as IOU thought things could only get better, A & R man Simon Cowell had no interest in signing the young group. There had to be more changes. There was something wrong with the group, so, after two more Sligo gigs, Graham left the band. He was a lot older than the others- he was almost 22 at the time- and it showed on stage.

The band was now down to four, so auditions were to be held at the Red Box, Dublin. Many who turned up were terrible, but eventually they were whittled down to two - 18 year old Bryan McFadden and 19 year old Nicky Byrne.

It was impossible to choose between the two. They went on the road with the rest of IOU, to see who fitted in the best. They were both perfect so it was decided both hopefuls should join.

Unfortunately they were back up to six members. Another one would have to go, and it was to be Michael who was the last to be dropped. It was hard for all of them, especially as Michael had grown up with Mark, Shane and Kian.

The final band was in place, but not without a name change. They needed something catchier. Louis saw the name 'Westside' on a rubbish skip- it was perfect for them. So, with a new identiy, Westside were ready to take on the world!

Tragedy struck again just a few months before the release of their debut single. They tried to register the name 'Westside' in America, but it was already taken. Another name change was needed, but they had already toured as Westside- they could confuse fans by changing again. They decided on Westlife. It was similar to Westside, and sounded good. It was the last change before they began to conquer the UK.