Archive 2
Oct-Dec 2000
| 31/12/2000 | BOB TRIUMPHS IN THE LAST CHART OF 2000 |
| Bob the builder has triumphed again at the top of the charts for the second week with
"can we fix it". The small animated pop star was not satisfied with simply being our Christmas number one but is also the last ever number one in 2000. Meanwhile Eminem has knocked Irish heart-throbs Westlife from number two, and down to number four, with his single Stan and S Club 7 have risen two places to number three with Never Had A Dream Come True. There is little change in the album charts too. With The Beatles still sitting proudly on the summit for the seventh week with their compilation 1. Eminem's Marshall Mathers LP moves up to number two and Robbie Williams to number three with his third album Sing When You're Winning. Westlife nudge up to number four from number eight with Coast to Coast and Madonna's fine Music is at number five. Three records have re-entered the album top 30 this week. They are Boyzone's By Request at number 18, Eurithmics' Greatest Hits at number 26 and Stereophonics' Performance and Cocktails at number 30. From www.dotmusic.com |
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| 24/12/2000 | BOB FIXES THE CHRISTMAS CHART |
| Bob The Builder has triumphed over the seemingly invincible
Westlife in the race to top the Christmas charts. Halting the Irish boy band's endless run of number ones and striking a blow for animated manual labourers everywhere, Bob has proved that there really is nothing he can't fix.Other novelty Christmas records didn't fare quite so well with popular television show pin-off, Sir Killalot vs Robo Babe, only making it to a miserable number 51 and The Wombles Christmas efforts grinding to a halt at number 22. The Westlife boys have to content themselves with the number two as Eminem's 'Stan' falls to three, just ahead of S Club 7's 'Never Had A Dream Come True'. Garage upstarts Oxide and Neutrino enter the Christmas chart at six with 'No Good 4 Me' and the under-exposed Sugarbabes just nudge their way to twelve. There's no change at the top of the album chart with The Beatles' '1' still sitting proudly in the pole position for the sixth week. The Christmas market reanimated sales of the year's biggest albums with Westlife, Robbie Williams, Madonna and Eminem all jumping back up the charts. From www.dotmusic.com |
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| 20/12/2000 | Bryan Brings Kerry Home For Christmas |
| Westlife star
Bryan McFadden is bringing his pop singer girlfriend Kerry Katona home to Ireland for Christmas. The celebrity couple will stay at Bryan's parents' home in north Dublin for the festive season. Bryan says, "My parents think the world of her and it means a lot to me that she is coming over. We're just going to have a really nice, relaxing time together. We have to take advantage of every spare hour we get, because we are always away touring." Bryan has been dating the Atomic Kitten singer for over a year, and was forced to keep their romance a secret from Westlife fans when they first got together. He adds, "I love Kerry to bits and we are very happy together. I'm delighted that I can spend time with both Kerry and my family this Christmas." From MTV Asia |
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| 18/12/2000 | Westlife approach Max Martin |
| Westlife
are planning to work with Max Martin, the man responsible for
writing and producing hits for Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys
and 'N Sync, according to a report in yesterday's Irish
edition of The Sunday Times. The report claimed Westlife and their manager Louis Walsh are unhappy with the group's latest album Coast To Coast, feeling that it contains too many ballads and too few upbeat tracks. The decision about tracks included on the album is said to have been made by RCA Records executive Simon Cowell who also claims a production credit on the album. In the weeks leading up to Coast To Coast's release, members of Westlife promised fans that there would be uptempo tracks on the album. However, some fans were disappointed to discover that hardly any of the record's 18 tracks strayed from the classic ballad formula. In fact, they band's failure to produce any upbeat singles is a standing joke in the music industry. Even Ant and Dec pointed out on this week's SM:tv live that each Westlife performance has the fivesome sitting on stools! The Sunday Times reported that Max Martin would soon be asked to produce Westlife's third album with recording commencing in early 2002. The group's plan to approach Martin suggests that they are looking towards a global market, in particular the US charts which are notoriously difficult to conquer, with the report also alleging that Louis Walsh plans to amend the band's image, believing it to be 'too clean' to break America. Westlife's Christmas No 1 contender What Makes A Man is out now. From worldpop |
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| 18/12/2000 | Westlife: We're really scared of Bob the Builder |
|
Christmas
crisis ... Westlife are scared of competition from a puppet. BOB the
Builder has got Westlife rattled - because he is set to hammer them
in the race to be Christmas No1. Bob,
voiced by comedy actor Neil Morrissey, knocked controversial
rapper Eminem off the top spot. |
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| 14/12/2000 | Westlife shocked |
| Chart-topping
boy band Westlife shocked fans by reacting violently when a crazed
male fan interrupted their TV performance last night. The hunky singers were at The Pepsi Chart Show in London performing their cover of the Smokey Robinson classic "My Girl" when the fan jumped on stage to join them. Singer Bryan McFadden was angered to have been interrupted mid-performance -- he lunged at the man with his fists and pushed him off the stage. Band mate Shane Filan was also forced to intervene when the obsessed fan jumped back up -- before security guards rushed in to escort him off the premises. One onlooker says, "It was quite terrifying. The band looked really angry, especially Bryan and Shane. For a second, it looked as if Bryan was going to punch him." She adds, "The guy had this mad look in his eye. Even after he was pushed off the stage the first time, he jumped back on and the whole band moved forward like they wanted to grab him before the security guards arrived." From MTV Asia |
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| 11/12/2000 | WESTLIFE 'BIGGER THAN RONAN' |
| THE svengali behind boy band
Westlife last night saw them clean up at the Smash Hits
awards - and declared them BIGGER than his other success Ronan
Keating. The heart-throbs scooped a sensational SIX gongs - just a day after millions of ITV viewers saw them win the Britannia Record of the Year award for single My Love. Jubilant guru Louis Walsh, 42 - who also manages Ronan - beamed: "Westlife are definitely the most popular at the moment. I don't think anyone is bigger than them." The Irish teenybop idols were named Best Band on Planet Pop at the Smash Hits Poll Winners bash. My Love was Best Single and their album Coast To Coast was also voted tops. To add to their haul they were named Best Non-British Band. The group's Shane Filan was Most Fancied Male - and Kian Egan, 20, won Best Haircut. Boyzone hunk Ronan, 23, who ironically was Westlife's former co-manager, won just three awards - although one was the coveted Best Male Solo Star. Shane, 21, said modestly: "We're more popular with the kids, but Ronan is our hero." From The Sun Website |
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| 11/12/2000 | WESTLIFE QUICKEST TO THE DRAW |
| Squeaky-clean popsters
Westlife got so plastered winning the Record Of The Year award they decorated bandmate
Shane Filan's face. Bored of Shane's poptastic good looks, the fellow Westlifers took to his face armed with a pen. "We got so drunk after the awards finished, that we decided to draw all over Shane's face with a black marker," Nicky said. "It was a way of getting him back for all those good looking awards he always wins instead of us. It was quite funny seeing him trying to get it all off before we turned up to the 'Smash Hits' Awards. We really had the best night of our lives though". That was despite weathering another kind of storm, however. Rival record companies executives pelted the boyband with food during their finale performance. Kian insisted "they were jealous." That feud aside, Westlife's Bryan seems to have made up with arch rivals 5ive. In true Madonna style he sported a home made 5ive t-shirt at the award ceremony to heal all rifts. From Dotmusic |
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| 10/12/2000 | Westlife win Record of the Year |
| Record-breaking Irish boy band
Westlife have scooped the Record Of The Year title for the second year running after a nationwide phone
poll. The group - who fought off competition from a shortlist of acts including Robbie Williams and All Saints - thanked fans for voting for their song,
My Love. Last year the Irish boy band took the title with their chart-topper,
Flying Without Wings. The band, managed by Boyzone singer Ronan Keating, recently became the first band to top the charts with each of their first seven singles. "Two years in a row - what can we say?" said the band after winning the record of the year title. Asked if they were nervous, they said: "It was worse than last year. We just didn't know what to expect." ITV screened performances of each of the songs vying for the title, which is now in its third year, before throwing open the phonelines for viewers to cast their vote. Best record shortlist All Saints - Pure Shores Craig David - Fill Me In Gabrielle - Rise Robbie Williams - Rock DJ Ronan Keating - Rollercoaster S Club 7 - Reach Samantha Mumba - Gotta Tell You Sonique - It Feels So Good Spiller - Groovejet (Why Does It Feel So Good?) Westlife - My Love Presenter Denise Van Outen announced Westlife as the overall winners after collating a record 1.5 million votes from 14 ITV
regions. From "News Of The Week" |
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| 04/12/2000 | Ronan Axed By Westlife |
| Pop superstar,
Ronan Keating, has been dumped as Westlife's manager. The "Way You Make Me Feel" hit maker has played a crucial role in the Irish group's meteoric rise to fame. But after Westlife's seven consecutive No.1s, Ronan has been told his services are no longer required. A source close to the five-member boy band says, "They haven't made a big deal about him going but are happy to come from behind his shadow. They are thankful for his support but Ronan is busy and Westlife are doing very well on their own." A pal of Ronan adds, "He isn't at all bitter. He's looking forward to having more free time with his family." The star's wife Yvonne is expecting their second child in February 2001. From MTV Asia |
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| 30/11/2000 | Westlife Crybabies |
| Westlife's
Shane Filan is so close to his mum -- he always cries when he leaves
her. The sensitive "Angel's Wings" singer hates leaving his Irish mother -- and they both bawl whenever he has to go away for band commitments. He says, "I always cry when I leave my mum, because I hate seeing her face when I go. I know she's going to start crying -- I can see the tears building up, it's like she's holding a river in her eyes. We're really close." Fellow band mates Nicky Byrne, Bryan McFadden and Kian Egan also cry their eyes out -- over movies. Nicky reveals, "I made Bryan and Kian watch "The Champ," it's my favorite film of all time. All three of us bawled our eyes out." Kian adds, "That's the saddest movie in the world! It's about this young guy and his dad, who used to be a world champion. This kid is such a good little actor and he cries his eyes out. There was me, Nicky and Bryan watching this movie with our security guard Paul, who is a big, big guy. All of us were bawling our eyes out. We had our heads in our pillows and the tears were just rolling!" From MTV Asia |
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| 27/11/2000 | WESTLIFE UNWRAP CHRISTMAS CRACKER |
| Irish boyband Westlife have confirmed details of their challenge for the Christmas No.1 spot. The record-breaking five-piece are to release 'What Makes A Man' on December 18 - taken from their No.1 album 'Coast To Coast' - and are firm favourites to win the festive chart race. The boys have also covered the soul classics 'My Girl' and 'What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted' as bonus tracks on the single. Westlife are aiming to secure their eighth No.1 hit of their career. From Dotmusic |
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| 25/11/2000 | Westlife's Nicky sick again |
| Nicky ... tonsillitis WESTLIFE star Nicky Byrne has pulled out of a tour of Japan after falling ill with tonsillitis. It's the second time in three weeks the boy band idol has been taken sick. Nicky, 22, suffered from exhaustion after a gruelling UK tour to promote No1 album Coast To Coast. The other four members of the Irish group will start the Japan trip without him. Nicky has been advised to stay at home and rest. A pal said: "It's been a crippling few weeks and it has taken its toll." He is expected to join Kian Egan, Shane Filan, Mark Feehily and Bryan McFadden for the second week of the Japan jaunt. From the Sun Website www.the-sun.co.uk |
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| 23/11/2000 | OH NICKY YOU'RE SO FINE! |
| Ahhhhh! Even though he could probs take his pick from adoring girlies, our Nicky Byrne from Westlife is definitely a one-woman kinda guy. He told Sunday Magazine that he only has eyes for his laydee Georgina: 'We do have a lot of beautiful women waiting outside our hotels, but you just deal with it. Everyone is faced with temptation. There's no harm in looking at the menu, as long as you don't order!' Hmm, like your honesty Nick, not sure about comparing laydees to grub... More Nicky news - we spotted him in Marks and Sparks on London's hip Kings Road t'other day - presumably just window shopping! from popboys.com |
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| 23/11/2000 | WESTLIFE GET DOLLED UP! |
| Oh dear - we hear the planned Westlife replica
toy dolls have proved a bit of a flop! Apparently, the lads weren't happy with their plastic looky-likeys cos, they aren't really v. looky-likey-ish at all! They've asked the peeps who're designing them to go back to the drawing board and re-design them, which means they're probs gonna miss out on squillions of pounds-worth of Chrimbo sales!
Kian told the Daily Star newsie: 'They don't look too bad from the side but the front view is nothing like
us.' Maybe you could still sell 'em at a 90°angle... from popboys.com |
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| 21/11/2000 | WESTLIFE LEFT IN UNDIES AGAIN |
|
WESTLIFE have been stripped to their undies again — after thieves nicked their fabulous
collection of designer suits. David, 34, has told pals the theft happened shortly after a party at his house in Bermondsey, South
London. The stylist — who has previously worked with the Spice Girls, Martine McCutcheon and Barbara Windsor — is a key member of
Westlife’s entourage. |
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| 17/11/2000 | MTV Awards live update... |
|
There was controversy last night in Stockholm at the 2000 MTV awards
by European artists who were shocked after artists from America cleaned
up on all the awards with only three exceptions. Irish boy band Westlife
won the Best UK and Ireland (as we predicted) act but snubbed the awards
after not being asked to perform. |
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| 13/11/2000 |
YOU'RE NUMBER ONE, SON BOY POWER BEATS GIRLS |
|
FOR the Spice Girls it's the end of an era. For Westlife
it's a crowning achievement which earned them a pat on the back from their
dads. The Irish boy band have made mincemeat of girl power in the bitter battle to get to the top of the album
charts. And they got there by selling a crushing 163,000 more records than their Spice rivals. Over seven sensational days the lads' second LP, Coast To Coast, sold a massive 234,000 copies across the UK. Meanwhile the once invincible Spice Girls managed to shift less than a third of that. Their third album, Forever, sold just 71,000. Yesterday Bryan McFadden, Kian Egan, Mark Feehily, Nicky Byrne and Shane Filan celebrated their entry into the pop superleague with a "Well done my son" session with their proud fathers. And while the band's professional future may look golden, if their dads are anything to go by the years ahead could well be hairless. But impending baldness wasn't on his mind last night as Bryan gushed: "We are over the moon. It's a great achievement for us to beat our first album, which charted at Number 2. We'd like to give a huge thanks to all our fans for being so supportive and helping us to achieve this very personal goal." And after five years of peerless superiority, the smiles have been wiped from the Spice Girls' faces. Faced with the inevitable spectre of defeat, Sporty, Scary, Baby and Posh have spent the last few days wittering on about "world sales" and how their album should do very well in America. But here in l'il ol' Britain the too tuneless Forever hasn't come close to the Spices' normal high standards of success. Not so long ago the idea of a Spice Girls LP not shooting straight to the top of the start would have been unthinkable. But yesterday Westlife's Kian summed it up when he declared: "The Spice Girls have lost something, which is sad." His band's triumph came at the end of an especially nasty pop feud. Mel C blasted Westlife for being "spoilt brats" and purveyors of manufactured music. Kian hit back by saying that Mel B had "a big gob" and he couldn't stand her. But yesterday, magnanimous in victory, Westlife called for an end to the mudslinging. Kian said : "We were angry about some of the things they said. Now it's time to end this bickering because we've got nothing against the Spice Girls. They're a good band and we wish them all the best." From The mirrow Website |
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| 11/11/2000 | WESTLIFE ALBUM CRUSHES SPICES |
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Victory ... Westlife outsold the Spice Girls with their album Coast To Coast. WESTLIFE claimed a crushing victory over the Spice Girls yesterday in their long-awaited albums battle. The boy band outsold the girls by more than three to one to score their first No1 album with Coast To Coast. And they got together with their dads for a special photoshoot to celebrate the triumph. Westlife notched up an incredible 234,000 sales, while Posh, Baby, Scary and Sporty came in at No2 with a paltry 71,000 with their third album Forever. The boys said yesterday: "We are over the moon. We’d like to give a huge thanks to all our fans for being so supportive and helping us to achieve this very personal goal." The victory for the boys — Bryan, Kian, Mark, Nicky and Shane — proves what a hard day’s graft can achieve in the music industry. Westlife kicked off their album launch with a non-stop 38-hour signing tour starting last Sunday, then continued to pound the streets of Britain all week. While the lads ran themselves into the ground, the Spice Girls rested on their reputation as a multi-million selling pop group. Even at their album launch the girls chose to shun the media. Meanwhile, the weary Westlife boys were putting on brave smiles and embracing anyone who wanted their pictures taken with them. As my daily reports showed you last week, midway through the first half, Westlife had hammered their way into an incredible 93,103 to 31,500 lead. As we reached half-time on Friday morning the lead had opened to a staggering 118,465 to 39,868 and there has been no looking back since. Even Mel C, who slagged them off earlier in the week, had to admit defeat. She said: "They worked hard and they deserve it." And while Westlife party on tonight, the Spice Girls will be thinking: "What went wrong?" From The Sun Website |
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| 11/11/2000 |
WESTLIFE'S Bryan McFadden and girlfriend Kerry Katona show if you can't beat
'em, join 'em. The cheeky couple - celebrating the boybands certain victory in their race with the Spice Girls to no 1 in the album chart - imitate Mel C's one - finger salute. Sporty made the gesture at the launch of the girlband's new CD Forever. My latest Big Match report on Forever versus Westlife's Coast To Coast shows the Irish boybands nearly 100,000 sales ahead - 144,000 to a measly 48,000. From The Sun |
| 11/11/2000 |
Following Westlife's opinion that the Spice Girls have failed to achieve
success in the States, the Irish boy band have revealed their plans to crack
the American market with Against All Odds. The duet with Mariah Carey, which gained a sixth No. 1 for Westlife in the UK's worldpop-sponsored official Top 40 charts, could well be a winner across the Atlantic but the guys were divided as to when the single will be released. 'It's our choice,' stated Kian Egan but bandmate Shane Filan explained that their second stab to win over the US market will not take place at least until the summer when the guys have spent some time in the recording studio in preparation for their third album. 'We can't go over there to promote it with Mariah just yet' he said. However Nicky Byrne was more optimistic about Westlife's assault on the states. 'I've a funny feeling we will release it in the future with a new video,' he confirmed laying down the gauntlet for a Spice v Westlife race take over the American charts. On a lighter note Nicky joked that Mariah Carey has been pestering Westlife with regular phone calls. 'She rings us every Friday night but we don't take her calls.' Westlife are still streets ahead in the mid-week sales figures for the official worldpop-sponsored album charts with their second album Coast to Coast giving the Spice Girls third album Forever a furious thrashing. From Worldpop |
| 09/11/2000 |
BRY'S SURPRISE! Bless his li'l Irish socks - Bryan from Westlife gave his girlf Kerry Atomic Kitten a fab surpise for her birthday recently. He turned up at her hotel in Amsterdam without telling her he was coming - at one o'clock in the morning! 'I'll never forget the look of surprise on her face!' he told TOTP mag. Let's hope it wasn't because she was in bed and hadn't had a chance to rinse her face mask off?! Miiaaoow! from Popboys |
| 09/11/2000 |
NICKY BYRNE HAS A BIT OF TURN Poor Nicky Westlife had a bit of mystery tummy bug while the lads were on their album promotional tour in Manchester. According to the Daily Star newsie the luxury people-carrier that Westlife were travelling in for their 36-hour Coast to Coast tour had to pull over twice so Nicky could jump out and... well, as you can imagine popettes, what came next wasn't pretty. Nicky said: 'I hadn't been feeling well since we started the Coast to Coast tour and it really hit me in Manchester. I thought it could have been something more serious, like exhaustion, but the doctor said I could carry on if I drank plenty of water.' Keep guzzling the Evian Nicky! from Popboys |
| 09/11/2000 |
WEST IS BEST! Westlife's Coast To Coast album looks set to be the No.1 this week, pushing those feisty Spices' Forever, into second place. And it seems Sporty Spice Mel C is not a happy bunny, declaring at the girls' album launch, where she also made rude gestures to photographers and journalists, that Westlife are 'overhyped', 'talentless' and 'manufactured'. 'They have no personality, it's all dull, dull, dull,' she stormed. The singer, whose first hit with the Spice Girls was (ahem), Wannabe, then went on to slate the Robster calling him 'a cabaret singer'. And poor old a1 and Steps also came under the Spicey attack. Oh dear, p'raps Mel had had too much sour grape juice... from Popboys |
| 08/11/2000 |
WESTLIFE OUT ON TOP
Westlife have drawn first blood in their titanic album battle with the Spice Girls. Early sales reports reckon Westlife are currently outselling their more experienced rivals by two to one, with both HMV and Woolworth's stating that Coast To Coast is flying out of the shops faster than Forever. From Worldpop |
| 07/11/2000 |
LUCKY SEVEN FOR WESTLIFE
Westlife score their record-breaking seventh No 1 today as My Love hits the top of the UK singles chart, outselling its nearest rival by more than three copies to one. But the Irish boy band need 10 more No 1 singles to equal the UK record, currently held by The
Beatles. From Worldpop |
| 01/11/2000 |
WESTLIFE IN SEVENTH HEAVEN
News taken in the Dotmusic site: |
| 31/10/2000 |
Westlife's Kian To Become A Rocker? Kian Egan a rock star? What joke. Westlife's Kian Egan wants to break away from his band's ballad fixation - and become a hard-living rocker. The "Against All Odds" star, noted for smoochy slow songs, has revealed his secret desire to collaborate with some rock legends - who play instruments. He says, "Personally I'd really like to work with Bryan Adams because I'm a big fan. Or maybe Bon Jovi. "I'm into that kind of stuff, which involves playing instruments." (from www.mtvasia.com) |
| 26/10/2000 |
FOOTBALL: LEEDS SINGER
(EXCLUSIVE)
(From The Sun Website) |
| 22/10/2000 |
STEPS SLAGGING IS A SHOCK TO US ALL WE THOUGHT THEY WERE OUR FRIENDS
(From Sunday World, Westlife Column ) |
| 21/10/2000 |
IT'S A GOOD 'LIFE
(From The News Of The World Website) |
| 18/10/2000 |
Smitten
Kitten ... Pop star Kerry
(From The Sun Website) |
| 13/10/2000 |
DISTRESSED
LIFE! Bryan
and Shane have put celebrity author Andrew Morton in his place
after bumping into him at the GMTV studios this week. Bryan made clear
his views of Morton's muck-raking biography of Lord & Lady Posham by
proclaiming to the Mirror: "The book's a disgrace!"
From TOTP.com |
| 13/10/2000 |
WESTLIFE
ATTACKED AT CHARITY BASH |
