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'N Sync

'N Sync
Background information
Origin	Orlando, Florida, U.S.
Genres	Pop, dance, dance-pop, teen pop, soul, a cappella[1]
Years active	1995–2002
Labels	RCA (1998-1999) Jive (1999-2002)
Associated acts	Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, Christina Aguilera
Website	nsync.com
Past members
Justin Timberlake Chris Kirkpatrick Joey Fatone Lance Bass JC Chasez

'N Sync (sometimes stylised as *NSYNC) was an American boyband formed in Orlando, Florida in 1995 and launched in Germany by BMG Ariola Munich,^[2] 'N Sync consisted of JC Chasez, Justin Timberlake, Lance Bass, Joey Fatone and Chris Kirkpatrick and became the second highest-selling boyband of all-time (behind the Backstreet Boys). After heavily publicized legal battles with their former manager Lou Pearlman and former record label Sony BMG, the group's second album No Strings Attached sold over one million copies in one day and 2.42 million copies in one week, giving it the highest first week album sales ever.^[3][4] In addition to a host of Grammy nominations, 'N Sync has performed at the Academy Awards, the World Series, the Super Bowl and the Olympics, and sang or recorded with the likes of Elton John, Mandy Moore, Aerosmith, Mary J Blige, Britney Spears, Nelly, Michael Jackson, The Jacksons, Stevie Wonder, Celine Dion, and Gloria Estefan.
While 'N Sync announced a "temporary hiatus" in spring 2002, the band has not recorded new material since. The group's official website shut down in the summer of 2006, and in 2007, Lance Bass confirmed that the group has "definitely broken up."^[5] In March 2010, the group's website was relaunched to keep fans updated on the various members' projects.

Contents [hide] 1 History 1.1 1995-1998: Group formation and debut album 1.2 1998-1999: Breaking the American market and legal battle 1.3 2000-2001: Groundbreaking success and No Strings Attached 1.4 2001-2002: Celebrity and "Pop" 1.5 2002-Present: Hiatus and Breakup 2 Marketing 3 Members 4 Discography 5 Awards 6 See also 7 References 8 External links

[edit] History

[edit] 1995-1998: Group formation and debut album

After seeing him perform in a doo-wop group at Universal Studios, Lou Pearlman approached Chris Kirkpatrick about forming a pop group. Pearlman said that he would finance the group if Kirkpatrick would find other young male singers. This prompted Kirkpatrick to call Joey Fatone, a friend he had met while working at Universal Studios. Then, Fatone and Kirkpatrick approached Lou Pearlman for more suggestions. Pearlman looked through some tapes they had, and one of Justin Timberlake from the Mickey Mouse Club caught their eye. Timberlake soon joined the group and recommended his friend JC Chasez, who also was a cast member on the Mickey Mouse Club. Soon, they decided to even out their sound by finding a bass singer. Initially, their fifth member was to be Jason Galasso. After several weeks of rehearsals, the group set up a showcase and began planning to officially sign with Pearlman's Trans Continental Label. However, at the last minute, Galasso dropped out. He was not fond of the group's musical direction, claiming that being a teen idol was never a goal of his.^[6] In need of a bass, the group auditioned several people without success. Timberlake soon called his vocal coach, who suggested a 16-year-old from Mississippi named Lance Bass. Bass flew to Orlando to audition and was immediately accepted into the group.
The group got their name after Timberlake's mother commented on how "in sync" their voices were. The group's name was also a play on the last letter of each member's first names: JustiN, ChriS, JoeY, LansteN, and JC.^[6] The band later nicknamed Bass "Lansten" so as not to throw off the last-letter theme of their name. From there, Pearlman set the five boys up in a house in Orlando, where they rehearsed constantly, learning dance routines and vocal parts, and working on promotion for their first public performance at Pleasure Island on October 22, 1995. Pearlman hired Johnny Wright, manager of the Backstreet Boys, to manage the group. *NSYNC sent him a two-song demo-tape including "I'll Be Back for More" and "We Can Work It Out", which impressed him. The group performed for him and a group of BMG executives. Although the record company had some concerns with the band's name and Bass's dancing abilities, they agreed to sign the group to BMG Ariola Munich with Wright as their manager.^[7]
After being signed to BMG Ariola Munich, the group was sent to Sweden to begin working on their debut album with the help of producers such as Denniz Pop, Max Martin and Andreas Carlsson. The album's official lead single, "I Want You Back", was released in Germany on October 7, 1996, and entered the top 10 in Germany on November 18, 1996.^[8] With a record deal finally secured, the boys began touring first in German-speaking countries and later in other European territories. Their self-titled debut album was initially released by BMG Ariola Munich on May 26, 1997, in Germany, and peaked at number one in the second week after its release,.^[9] The group soon became an overnight success throughout much of Europe.^[10] The album also charted successfully in both Switzerland and Austria eventually selling 820,000 units in GSA (Germany, Switzerland, Austria) region and Eastern Europe.^[11][12] The group released its second and the third singles, "Tearin' Up My Heart" and "Here We Go", both of which managed to reach the top-10 in numerous countries in Europe.^[13][14] *NSYNC captured the attention of Vincent DeGiorgio, an A&R rep for RCA Records. After seeing the group perform in Budapest, he eventually signed them to RCA in 1998. The American label had the group record some new tracks to adjust their album for the U.S. market.

[edit] 1998-1999: Breaking the American market and legal battle

The group released its American first single, "I Want You Back" on January 20, 1998. It reached #13 on the Billboard Hot 100. An album called *NSYNC followed on March 24, 1998. Album sales were sluggish, debuting at #82 on the Billboard 200, but were helped when the Disney Channel aired a concert on July 18, 1998. The concert was first offered to the Backstreet Boys but they turned it down. Three weeks before the concert, the album sat at #85 on the albums chart. Three weeks after the concert, the album reached number nine. Six months after the release of its debut album, the group was in the Top 10.^{[citation needed]} The group released its second single, "Tearin' Up My Heart", in April of that same year. It was the top of radio airplay charts and was played on MTV and on Total Request Live. It peaked at #2 in October 1998. They toured regularly, including an opening spot on Janet Jackson's The Velvet Rope Tour. The album got a Diamond Certification for sales of over 10 million by the RIAA.^[15]
The group appeared on the television series Sabrina The Teenage Witch on February 5, 1999, performing "Tearin' Up My Heart" and "God Must Have Spent a Little More Time on You." *NSYNC also performed the track "Somewhere, Someday," for the soundtrack of Pokémon: The First Movie. *NSYNC's 1998 hit, 'Tearin' Up My Heart' was also featured as #30 on VH1's "100 Greatest Songs of The 90's" in 2007, nine years later. On November 10, 1998, the group released a holiday album, Home for Christmas. The album peaked at #7 and sold 2 million copies.^[15] With this, *NSYNC achieved the rare feat of having two albums in the Billboard Top 10 at the same time. The group scored its first top 10 on the Hot 100 with their third single, "God Must Have Spent A Little More Time on You", which peaked at #8 in February 1999. Country group Alabama later re-recorded the song and released it as a single that featured vocals from *NSYNC. The fourth and final single from the album, "I Drive Myself Crazy", was a modest chart hit, but a mainstay on TRL.^{[citation needed]} In September 1999, the group collaborated with Gloria Estefan on a song for the soundtrack for her movie Music of the Heart. The track "Music of My Heart" reached #2 on Billboard's Top-100 single chart and served as a stopgap between album releases.
In 1998, *NSYNC had a publicized legal battle with Lou Pearlman, due to what the group believed were illicit business practices on his part.^[16] *NSYNC sued Pearlman and his record company, Trans Continental, for defrauding the group of more than fifty percent of their earnings, rather than his promise of only receiving one-sixth of the profits.^[16] The group threatened to leave and sign with Jive Records, which prompted Pearlman and RCA to countersue *NSYNC for $150 million US and the use of the name.^[17] The injunction was thrown out of court.^[16] After reaching a settlement out of court,^[18] *NSYNC signed with Jive.^[19]

[edit] 2000-2001: Groundbreaking success and No Strings Attached

With their legal woes behind them, *NSYNC refocused and worked on tracks for its second album. In January 2000, the group released "Bye Bye Bye", an upbeat dance track, which shot into the top 5 of the Hot 100 and spent 5 weeks atop the Hot 100 Airplay chart. The song is often considered the group's signature song. They performed at the Latin Grammy show in 2001 singing the Spanish version of their song, This I Promise You, "Yo Te Voy Amar."
The accompanying album, No Strings Attached, was released on March 21, 2000. It sold a record 2.42 million in its first week of release.^[3][4] By the end of 2000, it had sold over 9.9 million copies.^[20] No Strings Attached was both the best-selling album of the decade and top-selling album of 2000.^[20] No Strings Attached is currently the eighth best selling album of the SoundScan era which received a Diamond Certification from RIAA for sales of over 11,099,000.^[21] The album was all-time bestselling pre-ordered album on Amazon.com.^[22]
The second single, "It's Gonna Be Me", became the group's first #1 single in US. The third and final single, "This I Promise You" reached the Top-5 on Billboard's Top-100 single chart. The group also embarked on a World No Strings Attached Tour that year. The adventures of preparing for the tour were featured on an MTV special "Making the Tour", which was later released on DVD. The tour was then featured on a HBO special, which aired the same week the group's song "It's Gonna Be Me" hit #1 on the charts. The group then went on the second leg of the tour in the fall and performed one last show in 2001 for the "Rock in Rio" concert. The group also released Live From Madison Square Garden, a home video release of its HBO Special.

[edit] 2001-2002: Celebrity and "Pop"

The group's third album, Celebrity, released on July 24, 2001, produced three singles: "Pop" (#19 US), "Gone" (#11 US) and "Girlfriend" (#5 US). The album featured much more creative involvement from the group, especially Chasez and Timberlake, who wrote and produced several of the tracks. The album was also notably more heavily influenced by hip-hop than the groups' previous releases. As such, rapper Nelly contributed a verse to a remix of the single "Girlfriend". The album was generally well-received, but album sales were substantially less than previous releases.
To help support the Celebrity album, the group embarked on a four-month stadium tour entitled the Pop Odyssey Tour. The outing began in May, two months before the CD's release. Over two million fans attended the concerts. The success of the tour prompted the group to extend the tour and add 33 extra shows that was called the "Celebrity Tour". A video of the concert was later released on home video, Pop Odyssey Live.

[edit] 2002-Present: Hiatus and Breakup

In April 2002, after the group's Celebrity tour, they went on a hiatus. They originally intended to resume recording in September of that year, but they decided to extend their hiatus because Timberlake wanted to focus on his solo career. The group still went to award shows and events together, and regrouped at the 2003 Grammy Awards to sing the Bee Gees Medley in tribute to the Bee Gees. It was the group's last televised performance. The last public performance for *NSYNC was at the group's 2004 Annual Challenge for the Children, where the members performed "The Star Spangled Banner". It was a fitting final performance considering "The Star Spangled Banner" was the first song the five of them ever sang together. In 2005, the members regrouped one last time for the last *NSYNC Challenge For The Children, but did not perform. In the fall of 2005, *NSYNC released a greatest hits album. It included one song, "I'll Never Stop", that had previously not been released in America. In January 2010, they released another album called The Collection that consisted of singles only released in the UK.^{[citation needed]}
The group was featured on an episode of Seth Green's stop-motion sketch comedy show Robot Chicken in 2005, but only Lance Bass and Joey Fatone voiced their own characters in the episode. Justin Timberlake was voiced by Breckin Meyer.^{[citation needed]}
Lance Bass told People magazine that "We're definitely itching to do some music," but the only thing that's really stopping a reunion is that "It's gonna be hard to get Justin to calm down and get off tour, he's a workaholic".^[23] But that statement has also been looked at with doubt because Timberlake has not released an album since 2006 and his last tour ended in 2007.^{[citation needed]} Timberlake has since then turned his attention to film and has produced a successful acting career. Joey Fatone has been featured as a host for reality game show The Singing Bee that aired on NBC and is announcer on Family Feud with Steve Harvey. Lance Bass has done some producing jobs and small film cameos.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Marketing

The group licensed their likenesses on large number of merchandise, including board games, microphones, lip balm, marionettes, books, key chains, bedding, clothing, video games,^[24] and various other articles. The group also had a deal alongside McDonald's, which included commercials featuring the group and Spears, along with a CD and a video that featured behind-the-scenes footage from the making of *NSYNC's music video. The vocal group also had a deal with Chili's Grill & Bar in which the members appeared in commercials for the restaurant, while Chili's helped sponsor the group's tour.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Members

• JC Chasez – Lead Vocals/1st Tenor
• Justin Timberlake – Lead Vocals/2nd Tenor
• Chris Kirkpatrick – Vocals/Counter-Tenor
• Joey Fatone – Vocals/Baritone
• Lance Bass – Vocals/Bass

[edit] Discography

• 1997: *NSYNC
• 1998: Home for Christmas
• 2000: No Strings Attached
• 2001: Celebrity

[edit] Awards

The group has multiple RIAA awards. These include two Diamond Awards, four platinum home video releases, and multiple platinum awards for the group's records.^[15]

[edit] See also

• List of best selling music artists in U.S.
• List of artists who reached number one on the Hot 100 (U.S.)
• Boy band

[edit] References

[edit] E

Westlife

Westlife
Westlife (from left-to-right: Feehily, Egan, Byrne, Filan) performing in 2009.
Background information
Origin	Sligo and Dublin, Ireland
Genres	Pop, teen pop, dance-pop, pop rock, jazz, big band
Years active	1998 – present
Labels	Sony Music, RCA, Syco Music
Website	www.westlife.com
Members
Nicky Byrne Kian Egan Mark Feehily Shane Filan
Past members
Brian McFadden

Westlife are an Irish pop group formed on 3 July 1998. The group's original lineup comprised Nicky Byrne, Kian Egan, Mark Feehily, Shane Filan and Brian McFadden (departed from the band in 2004). The group is the only act in British or Irish history to have their first seven singles go straight to Number 1, and they have gone on to sell over 44 million records worldwide^[1] which includes their studio, single, video, and compilation albums.^[2][3] Despite the group's worldwide success, they've only had one U.S. hit on the Billboard Hot 100 charts: "Swear It Again", which made it to #20 in 2000.
Westlife were originally signed by Simon Cowell and are currently managed by Louis Walsh. They garnered 14 number one singles in the United Kingdom, the third-highest in UK history, tying with Cliff Richard and trailing behind only Elvis Presley and The Beatles. The group has also broken a few top records, including "Music artist with most consecutive number 1's in the UK". It was officially announced by the Official Charts Company that they are the "2nd biggest selling artist" (trailing behind Robbie Williams) and "Biggest selling band of the decade" (beating Coldplay) in UK with 11 million album sales.^[4]
On 1 June 2008, Westlife marked their 10th anniversary with a concert in Croke Park, Dublin which saw more than 83,000 fans attending the special occasion. Music Week revealed on their website that Westlife is the official third top touring act within the years 2005–2008, while they were 7th top touring act of 2008.^[5] Also in 2008, they were declared as Ireland's ninth-richest celebrities under 30 years old and 13th in general with 36 million euros as a group.^[6] In 2009, they dropped as 16th richest Irish with estimated 8 million euros each.^[7] They are named as the fourth most hard-working music artist in UK by PRS in 2010.^[8]

Contents [hide] 1 History 1.1 Formation (1998–1999) 1.2 Dreams Come True - World Of Our Own (1999–2002) 1.3 Unbreakable – Departure of Brian (2002–2004) 1.4 Quintet to quartet – Where We Are (2004–2010) 1.5 Gravity (2010-present) 2 US Market 3 Collaborations 4 Artistry 4.1 Vocal ability 4.2 Instruments 4.3 Songwriting 4.4 Musical style, genre, image, content, and influences 5 Popularity and criticisms 6 Products, sponsorship, and endorsements 7 Philanthropy 8 Discography 9 Awards, nominations, records and achievements 10 Tours 11 See also 12 References 13 External links

[edit] History

[edit] Formation (1998–1999)

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. 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, IOYOU did not meet Cowell's approval for a record deal with BMG, and thus changes were needed. Three members of IOYOU 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 re-named 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. Brian 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, though only in Asia.

[edit] Dreams Come True - World Of Our Own (1999–2002)

Westlife's first big break came in 1998 when they opened for the Boyzone and Backstreet Boys' concerts in Dublin. Later that year, they won the 'Best New Tour Act' award at the Smash Hits Poll Winners Party.^[9] In March 1999, the group released their first single, "Swear It Again" which immediately topped the charts in Ireland and in UK for two weeks.^[9] Their second single, "If I Let You Go", released in August 1999 along with the highly acclaimed "Flying Without Wings" (their first 'Record of the Year'), released in October the same year, also followed suit. "Flying Without Wings" was also included on the soundtrack of the Warner Brothers film, Pokémon: The Movie 2000. The first album, simply titled Westlife, was released in November 1999 and peaked at #2 in the UK. Ironically, the album was the biggest chart dropper in the music history of UK, falling from #3 to #37. In December 1999, the double a side fourth single was released,"I Have A Dream"/"Seasons In The Sun", knocked Cliff Richard's "The Millennium Prayer" off the top spot and earning them the 1999 UK Christmas number-one single.^[10][11] The fifth and last single from the album, "Fool Again", also peaked at #1.^[12] Then, the group went on a short UK, US^[13] and Asian tour in support of their debut album before releasing a second album.
Coast to Coast was released a year after and was another #1 UK album beating the Spice Girls' Forever album. It became the country's 4th biggest selling album of 2000 and is Westlife's biggest selling album to date.^[14][15] The album was preceded by a duet with Mariah Carey on the Phil Collins' classic "Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)" and the original song, "My Love" (the song that bagged their second 'Record of the Year' award). Both singles reached #1 on the UK charts.^[16][17] With this, Westlife broke an unexpected record of having their first seven singles debut at the top of the UK charts, tying with The Beatles. However, in December 2000, they failed to secure their eighth chart-topper in a row with their UK and Ireland only single "What Makes A Man" when kid's favourite, Bob The Builder's "Can We Fix It", was crowned as the Christmas number-one single of that year.^[18] Outside the UK/Ireland territories, they have released "I Lay My Love on You" and "When You're Looking Like That" and gained chart success. In 2001, they launched their first world tour, "Where Dreams Come True Tour", unofficially nicknamed "The No Stools Tour" due to the group's reputation of performing while perched on stools.^[9][19]
Westlife released World Of Our Own, their third album, in November 2001. "Uptown Girl", "Queen of My Heart" and "World of Our Own" were released as singles, as of which all peaked at #1 in the UK.^[20][21][22] "Bop Bop Baby" was also released as a single but it peaked at #5 in the UK Singles Chart. In 2002, Westlife went on their second world tour, the World Of Our Own Tour (In The Round).^[9]

[edit] Unbreakable – Departure of Brian (2002–2004)

The group released their eleventh UK #1 single, "Unbreakable", in 2002.^[23] Amidst rumours of a split, Westlife released their first greatest hits album in November that same year entitled, Unbreakable - The Greatest Hits Vol. 1 zoomed all the way to #1 in the UK. The release was followed by the double a side single, "Tonight/Miss You Nights", which debuted at #3 in the UK.^[24] At this era, Because Films Inspire... made a TV Documentary titled as "Wild Westlife" directed by Iain MacDonald and starred by the group itself. It reveals how was their musical life on a daily basis and when on tour.^[25] In 2003, Westlife went on to their third world tour, The Greatest Hits Tour, shrugging off rumours of a split.^[26]
In September 2003, Westlife released "Hey Whatever", which peaked at #4 on the UK Charts.^[27] Their fourth studio album, Turnaround, was then released in November, earning the group another UK #1 album. "Mandy", a cover of the Barry Manilow hit, was released in November 2003. Their version won them their third Record of the Year award in under five years.^[28] Their version of Mandy is also considered as the highest single leaper to the top (from #200 to #1) in the UK music history.^[29] "Obvious" was released as the final single from the album, charting at #3.^[30] On 9 March 2004, just three weeks prior to embarking on their fourth world tour, Bryan McFadden left the group to spend more time with his family and work on solo projects. On that day, a press conference was held where all the group's members were present and gave emotional individual speeches. Bryan's final public performance as part of Westlife was at Newcastle Upon Tyne's Powerhouse nightclub on 27 February 2004.^[31][32] He subsequently began a solo career, deciding to revert the spelling of his first name back to its original 'Brian', he released his first solo single, "Real To Me" which entered the UK chart at #1 and soon after, he released his first solo album, "Irish Son" under Sony Music.^[33] He went on to release more singles with moderate success.

[edit] Quintet to quartet – Where We Are (2004–2010)

Less than a month after McFadden's departure, the group kicked off their "Turnaround Tour". A live version from the said tour of "Flying Without Wings" was released as an official UK download, earning them the title of the very first UK Downloads #1. They then put out a Rat Pack-inspired album, Allow Us to Be Frank, peaking at #3. No singles were released in the UK from this album. "Ain't That A Kick In The Head", accompanied with a music video, was released as a physical single in other European countries. "Smile" and "Fly Me To The Moon", with music videos as well, were released as digital downloads only. Prior to the album release, Westlife scouted for "the perfect fan" to help promote their album from their one-season special show "She's The One", presented by Kate Thornton.^[34] After X Factor-style auditions, they found Joanne Hindley, who recorded "The Way You Look Tonight" with the group.^[9] To mark this special collaboration, a special programme was televised, showing auditions and live performances. Performers included Joanne, Westlife members' fathers and glamour model Katie Price, Il Divo and Kevin Spacey. Westlife continued to tour Europe as part of their "The Number Ones Tour", before taking a four-month break from work.^[35] On 4 May 2005, Westlife lost their battle for European trademark from the German trademark "West".^[36] In 2005, Westlife returned with their comeback single, "You Raise Me Up", which was taken from their Face To Face album. On 5 November 2005, both the album and the single were at #1 in the UK at the same time at the second week of the single. It was the first time that Westlife have held both top album and single position in the same week.^[37][38] "You Raise Me Up" was awarded as their fourth Record Of The Year in UK for 2005. In December that year, the group released "When You Tell Me That You Love Me", a duet with Diana Ross, as the second single and it debuted at its peak position of #2.^[39] Westlife then released a third single, "Amazing", which debuted at #4 and marked as the group's lowest-selling single yet.^[40] After that, Westlife embarked on the "Face To Face Tour", travelling extensively to the UK, Ireland, Australia and Asia. This tour marked the first time that Westlife have travelled to mainland China for a concert.^[41][42]
In late 2006, Westlife signed a brand new five-album deal with Sony BMG. Their eighth album, The Love Album, was a "love" concept album which consisted of popular love song covers. The album outsold other compilation albums by Oasis, The Beatles, and U2 in its first week of release and went straight to #1. The first single from The Love Album was a cover version of Bette Midler's classic, "The Rose", which became their 14th UK #1 single.^[43] This made Westlife the third act (along with Cliff Richard) in the UK to have the most #1 singles, tailing behind Elvis Presley (21) and The Beatles (17). Westlife then kicked off their eighth world tour, "The Love Tour", in Perth, Australia.^[44] The group then went on to other Australian cities before moving on to South Africa, the UK and Ireland. Westlife staged their last major concert of 2007 at Bitts Park in Carlisle, England.^[45]
On 5 November 2007, Westlife released their ninth album, Back Home, which contained nine new original songs along with three cover songs. The album debuted at #1 on the UK Music Charts and it was also 2007's fifth biggest selling album in the UK.^[46] The first single released from the album was a cover of Michael Bublé's "Home", which peaked at #3 in the UK.^[47][48] "I'm Already There", not released as a single, managed to chart in the UK based on downloads alone following a performance on an The X Factor episode. On 15 December 2007, they had a two-hour show called The Westlife Show where they performed 10 of their songs, some voted by the fans through online and some from Back Home. It was hosted by Holly Willoughby.^[49] This time, Westlife together with Tesco brought out "The Definitive Westlife Quiz" that asked about the whole history about the group.^[50] It was participated by thousands of fans worldwide. Months later, "Us Against The World" was announced and released as their second single in UK and Ireland. It peaked at #8 and is the group's lowest charting single to date. Before the release of the second single, they embarked on the Back Home Tour on 2008 February 25. This tour marked the first time that the group have traveled and performed to New Zealand, performing four sold-out shows in Auckland, Wellington, New Plymouth and Christchurch. Meanwhile, "Something Right" was released as the second single and "Us Against The World" became the third single in Europe and the Asia Pacific region. Both songs performed well on several music charts.
To mark their tenth year in music, Westlife staged a special 10 Years Of Westlife sold-out concert at the world's thirty-third and Europe's fourth biggest stadium,^[51] Croke Park, on 1 June 2008.^[52] With a capacity of 82 300, it was the boy's biggest show to date. Shayne Ward filled in as a support act for the concert,^[53] which Kian described to be of a "pop extravaganza".^[54] Shane confirmed that a corresponding live concert DVD will be released. The group announced that they will be on hiatus for a year after their Back Home Tour^[55] and that there would not be an album release in 2008 as they would be spending more time on the production of their tenth album.^[56] As promised, the group's official website confirmed on 27 September 2008 the release of a DVD on 24 November 2008 entitled 10 Years Of Westlife - Live at Croke Park Stadium which went straight to #1 on UK, Ireland, South African, Hong Kong and New Zealand Music DVD charts.
As the group ended their successful Back Home tour, Louis Walsh announced in the show Xpose that 1 July 2008 is the official start of the longest hiatus of the group so far. He said that it will be a one-year break, from that day up to 1 July 2009. On 13 December 2008, while on a break, Westlife made an unexpected appearance on X Factor Final Performance Night where they performed "Flying Without Wings" with JLS. After the presentation, Shane and Nicky were interviewed on Xtra Factor with Ronan Keating and Stephen Gately of Boyzone. As JLS performed also "I'm Already There", Westlife's version of the song re-entered the UK Singles Chart at #63 while a new entry on Ireland Singles Chart at #47 due to extensive downloads only.
On the last week of January 2009, a DVD entitled The Karaoke Collection was released. It contains some of their music video hits. In 27 February 2009 issue of Herald Ireland, Louis revealed that Simon already picked three new songs which he reckons to be instant hits. Nicky spread the word last 8 March 2009 that Westlife will come back to music charts when they start recording in June 2009 when he received his VIP Style Awards as the Most Stylish Man on X-pose, TV3. On 18 March 2009, they won the Best Irish Pop Act on 2009 Meteor Awards for the ninth consecutive time.
Walsh has revealed that after a year's break with their friends and family Westlife will return to hit the charts once more in June when they work on their tenth studio album. Walsh also said that while he met up with Cowell they jointly managed to mastermind Westlife's comeback. At the time three songs had already been chosen which he believes will be big hits when they are released. Filan told the Irish Mirror that they want to make the next album one of their best.^[57]
The new album, Where We Are, was released on 30 November 2009 in the UK and peaked at #2 on both Irish and UK Albums Chart. The new single "What About Now", was released a few weeks earlier on 23 October 2009, with digital downloads being available the day before. The said single peaked at# 2 on both Irish and UK Singles Chart. Daughtry's original version of the song gained exposure on the audition rounds of The X Factor prior to Westlife's release. They were also part of the Haiti charity single in early 2010, "Everybody Hurts", an R.E.M. cover which was organized by Cowell.^[58] The tour in support of this album is called "The Where We Are Tour". The video album for this said tour will be released in DVD and Blu-Ray format in 29 November 2010.^[59][60]

[edit] Gravity (2010-present)

The eleventh album was recorded and processed with the Grammy award winning songwriter/producer John Shanks in London and Los Angeles. It was entirely produced by Shanks.^[61] On 19 September 2010, their first single "Safe" was heard first on X Factor as a snippet; the group later performed the song on the show on 14 November, 2010. The said single was released on 14 November 2010. It debuted on the UK Singles Chart on 21 November 2010 at #10, giving the group their 25th Top 10 single in the United Kingdom. However, it is also their lowest charting single to date in the country. The new album named Gravity, which was named by a fan, was released on a 22 November 2010.^[62] Gravity Tour dates for 2011 supporting the album have also been announced.^[63]

[edit] US Market

Despite their success in some parts of the world, Westlife have been unable to break into the US market. Their debut single and music video "Swear It Again", released in the US in 2000, was a hit on mainstream radio and the band even made an appearance on MTV's Total Request Live. The song was #75 on the Billboard Hot 100 year end chart of 2000. A US edition of their debut album, Westlife was also released. In 2002, an attempt was made to promote and release a US version of World Of Our Own but was scaled back as the band decided to concentrate promotions in other foreign markets where they had a larger fan base. This was a surprising decision as the band did not maximize the potential and opportunity available when the two most prominent boy bands in the US, the Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC, went on hiatus that year.
The Westlife hit song "Flying Without Wings" peaked at #2 in the US when American Idol Season 2 winner Ruben Studdard recorded and released it as his debut single. The band was disappointed when they heard of the news as they were planning on bringing that song to the American audiences in the near future. In 2003, Westlife went to Nashville to film a TV documentary. While they were there, they gave a live performance of the song "Daytime Friends", originally by country music legend Kenny Rogers, which won them much critical praise.

[edit] Collaborations

Westlife is signed to the management of major record label Sony Music. Louis Walsh, Simon Cowell, Sonny Takhar, and Tim Byrne comprise part of Westlife's management and production team.
Aside from Steve Mac and Wayne Hector, the group has had opportunities to work on their original songs with many well-known songwriters/producers including Savan Kotecha, Rami Yacoub, Per Magnusson, David Kreuger, Max Martin, Anders Johansson, Josef Larossi, Jorgen Elofsson, Andreas Carlsson, Arnthor Birgisson, Kristian Lundin, Jake Schulze, Diane Warren, and, most recently, Ryan Tedder, Chris Braide, Sam Watters, Louis Biancaniello, Steve Anderson, and John Shanks.
Long-time collaborator Wayne Hector once defined the essence of Westlife songwriting:

"If you want to write a song for Westlife, you’ve got to have a lyric that connects on a basic level. We’ve always thought the reason Westlife songs have been so successful is because it’s about situations that everybody goes through. We weren’t trying to be too clever about it, we were trying to be emotional."^[64]

For their remixed songs, Rokstone, Orphanz, Ashanti Boyz, Wideboys, Soul Seekerz, and Jim Steinman have already worked for the group on some of their single releases.
The group has recorded studio and live performances with some of the most renowned music acts: Mariah Carey ("Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)"), Lulu ("Back at One"), Joanne Hindley ("The Way You Look Tonight"), Diana Ross ("When You Tell Me That You Love Me"), Donna Summer ("No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)"), and Delta Goodrem ("All Out of Love"). They have also collaboorated on "If I Had Words" with The Vards, "I Have A Dream" with Indonesian child-star Sherina, and "My Love" with Amr Diab. These songs were also recorded and included on the various albums. In 2002, Westlife re-recorded their hit song "Flying Without Wings" with Cristian Castro and with Korean singer BoA as two separate duets.
Westlife has performed live duets with some of the biggest names in the music industry including: Sinéad O'Connor ("Silent Night"), Donny Osmond ("Crazy Horses"), Mariah Carey ("Never Too Far/Hero Medley"), Secret Garden ("You Raise Me Up"), Lionel Richie ("Easy"), Ronan Keating ("The Dance"), Dolores O'Riordan of The Cranberries ("Little Drummer Boy"), Roy Orbison ("Pretty Woman"), Delta Goodrem ("All Out Of Love"), Raymond Quinn ("That's Life"), Leehom Wang ("You Raise Me Up"), Mary Black ("Walking in the Air"), Kevin Spacey ("Fly Me to the Moon"), Do ("Heaven"), JLS ("Flying Without Wings"), Boyzone ("No Matter What"), Various artists "All-Stars" ("That's What Friends Are For"; "Merry Christmas Everybody"; "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday") and even their fathers ("That's Life").
Some of the music video directors who have worked with Westlife are: Cameron Casey, Wayne Isham, Nigel Dick, Stuart Gosling, Phil Griffin, Antti Jokinen, David Mould, Alex Hemming, Philip Andelman, Max Giwa and Dania Pasquini.^[65]
Shayne Ward, No Way Out, K-otic, Natural, Six, Totally Spies, D-Side and Lauren Waterworth, Bellefire, The Conway Sisters, V, Twen2y4se7en, Zoo, Kwest, Pop, Sub Bass 5, Traphic, Mark Dakriet, 4th Ba5e, Reel, Peter Andre, Girls Aloud, Eton Road, Gareth Gates, Roxanne, Alsou, The MacDonald Brothers, Billiam, Cushh, The Unconventionals, Dyyce, Lady Nada, Code 5, Annabel Fay, Hope, The Fuel, Wow, Jedward, JLS, and Wonderland have supported them on different tours.
In an interview with OK Magazine, when the band was asked who they would like to duet with if they could pick anyone, they chose Beyonce and Christina Aguilera.^[66]

[edit] Artistry

[edit] Vocal ability

The boyband concept is designed to have different parts and roles. Filan, Feehily and McFadden (pre-departure) all take part on the main vocals while Byrne and Egan usually perform the backing vocals and very occasional solos in songs up to the recent date. These are the classifications on vocal abilities: Filan has 'the popular tune' (mid-range to high voice) and thus sings the tenor-like melody most often, whereas Feehily has 'the soulful voice' and can go from quite low baritone notes through to a very high tenor voice. He sometimes sings falsetto. Byrne has 'the husky voice' and can sing high harmonies effortlessly, while Egan has 'the rocky voice' and usually does low harmonies.

[edit] Instruments

The band's main key instrument is their vocals. Some of them also play musical instruments like Egan who plays piano, drums and guitar; and Feehily plays piano. During their gigs and concert tours, they are accompanied by a band, acoustic and rock, and do not usually play instruments onstage.

[edit] Songwriting

Over years of their career, Westlife's music has evolved from teen pop to a pop sound, with an emphasis on ballads. Most of the group's hits have been composed by experienced songwriters, most notably Steve Mac and Wayne Hector. For the band's list of own songs composed, see Songs written.

[edit] Musical style, genre, image, content, and influences

The band classify themselves as a pop band recording pop songs which comprises ballads and love songs. Westlife has been known for their teen pop songs during their early days with slow, mid, and uptempo songs. Albums known for teen pop sound are Westlife, Coast to Coast, World of Our Own and Turnaround. As the years progressed they tried different genres like jazz and big band in 2004 with Allow Us to Be Frank album and pop-rock in 2009 with their album Where We Are. As they also mature, they verge into adult contemporary being most evident on their cover album, The Love Album. Matured pop songs are also found on their LPs, Face to Face and Back Home, and most likely their upcoming album Gravity.
Every Westlife album have always been a mixture of genres. R&B genre is evident as a sound of the band since the start where their voices were harmonizing and blending with each other. We can hear it on their songs "When I'm With You", "How to Break a Heart", and "Sound of a Broken Heart". Acoustic genre also took place as they have its versions with their songs "My Love", "Flying Without Wings", and "If I Let You Go". Club or electronic sounds were also heard from their remixes on each singles released. Dance music is also a genre of Westlife as heard on their songs "When You're Looking Like That", "Bad Girls", and "Uptown Girl". Live music has came to their way as they have officially released recorded live sounds such as "You Raise Me Up" (Live at Croke Park) and "To Be With You". They did country music too like their recording of "Daytime Friends, Nighttime Lovers". As a pop band they are also inspired to cover songs that were different and put into their own genre which is pop (With the likes of "Home" from jazz music, "I'm Already There" from country music).
During their starting days, the band's musical content was mostly about love and inspirational songs but as they grew older, they have given the chance the songs that were from an individual's everyday experience in life. As for their image, they publicly begun as boyband with wholesome and clean-cut image. Now, they call themselves a manband with a more broad and manly looking image as they grow older.^[67]
The group's influences are Michael Jackson, Backstreet Boys, and Boyzone while pop is their main music influence. They are adored by many people even celebrities like Chris Martin of Coldplay.^[68] The band have "tribute bands" performing their songs like Westlives,^[69] That's Life,^[70] and Westlike. On the other hand, Westlife also paid tribute to their co-boybands as one of the tour setlist.^[71]

[edit] Popularity and criticisms

When Westlife got signed formally in 1998, their managers were already emerging them to be big superstars as they went to grandiose producers and songwriters. They released their debut album and single in the right time with the bandwagon peak of pop boybands and girlbands. They went well firstly on UK and Irish music charts and got an extensive popularity worldwide. It is notable that their popularity is always there with a huge and loyal fanbase everywhere. As a testament, their latest single "What About Now" peaked at #2 on both UK and Ireland and have 13 million+ views on their music video of "Flying Without Wings" on YouTube.
Finding success worldwide was not an easy task for the band as they also passed through hard criticisms. As a boyband, they were compared to other co-boybands such as Backstreet Boys, Boyzone, Blue, A1, and Take That and to other pop bands like S Club 7 and Spice Girls.

[edit] Products, sponsorship, and endorsements

Some of the products that Westlife officially released are books, calendars (from 2001–present), tour merchandise such as T-shirts, and fragrances. They have their own webpage for their official merchandises since 2008, available for men and women.^[72] They also received sponsorship from Adidas on 2002.
To the list of their books, they have official and unofficial books released online. The lone book written by the members of Westlife was released on 16 June 2008 by HarperCollins UK Publishing entitled 'Westlife - Our Story', as part of their 10th year celebration.^[73][74] The book was said to be written by each group member for three months. It contains the life they have for the past ten years in the business. It features also some of the private pictures from the lads. On 28 May 2009, they re-released the autobiography, adding their Croke Park experience and first time in a paperback edition. At that time also, the band released a 3-piece perfume set entitled "X". It leaked on December 2008 and was formally released on November 2009.^[75] In September 2010, they will release their second fragrance entitled "With Love".^[76]

[edit] Philanthropy

While each member of the group has had their own individual humanitarian advocacies and activities, Westlife has been supporting various projects for a charity cause from the start. One of which was when the group re-recorded "I Have A Dream" with Indonesian star Sherina for a UNICEF fund raising. Aside from that, the group released their cover version of "Uptown Girl" as a Comic Relief single, which was one of their biggest selling singles to date. Apart from it, they have also helped the S.I.R.F. organization in aid of the South Asian tsunami victims.
On 4 November 2005, they performed together with Christina Aguilera and Diana Ross at Coca-Cola Dome in Johannesburg, South Africa for The “Unite of the Stars” Gala Banquet charity concert that supports four charities: the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund, Unite Against Hunger, St. Mary’s Hospital and the Topsy Foundation. They've also been actively helping both the Royal National Institute for the Deaf (RNID), ChildLine and Children in Need, Cancer Research UK, Soccer Aid organizations. Most recently, they performed "Us Against the World" live on Sports Relief, of Bluebell Wood, London and participating in Galway's Irish Water Safety Campaign by doing an advertisement. They are also an official supporter of One World Beat. They are involved also on the Helping For Haiti charity single that was released 8 February 2010 on UK. They are promoting Who's Calling awareness campaign of Childline. They are also included as ambassadors of The Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (ISPCC).^[77] They also support the Outward Bound Trust.^[78]
Aside from Soccer Aid, Nicky and Shane were among the list of international film and sports stars and amateur golfers who participated in the worlds greatest funraising golf Pro-Am, the JP McManus Pro-Am in Adare Manor Hotel and Golf Resort in Adare, Co Limerick, Ireland on the 5th and 6 July 2010. Westlife played for the 1100 invited guests at the Gala Dinner in Adare on the 6th of July after they had earlier that evening played to a sold out concert in Live at the Marquee in Cork.

[edit] Discography

Main Article: Westlife discography, Westlife songlist, Westlife videography, Westlife filmography

• Westlife (1999)
• Coast to Coast (2000)
• World of Our Own (2001)
• Unbreakable - The Greatest Hits Vol. 1 (2002)
• Turnaround (2003)
• Allow Us to Be Frank (2004)
• Face to Face (2005)
• The Love Album (2006)
• Back Home (2007)
• Where We Are (2009)
• Gravity (2010)

[edit] Awards, nominations, records and achievements

Main article: Westlife awards, Westlife records

[edit] Tours

[edit] See also

• Boy band
• List of artists who reached number one in Ireland
• List of artists who reached number one on the UK Singles Chart
• List of songs that reached number one on the Irish Singles Chart
• Top selling singles and albums in Ireland

[edit] References

[edit] External links