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I have loved singing ever since I can remember. The first song I really got into was
'Uptown Girl' by Billy Joel, which my mum bought for me on tape.
It
was the first I ever owned and I played it all the time.
I also
loved 'All Night Long' by Lionel Richie.
I was only
four when those song came out, but I knew all the words and was always singing
along to them and watching the videos on Top of the Pops.
Although I had a good
voice, I was really shy and was afraid to get up and sing in front of people
when I was young.
My mum was
always so proud of her kids and she used to encourage me to sing. Fair plays to her because she gave me and all us
kids confidence in ourselves. Thanks Mum for that. Whenever we had relatives over, all us kids would have to get up and do our bit. Mairead
was a champion at Irish dancing, so she would have to get up and dance.
Peter was a great boxer and was once ranked number four in Ireland, so he would show off his
trophies. We all had to do something and I would
get up and sing for everyone.
My whole world changed when Michael Jackson brought out the Bad album when I was about eight or
nine. He took over my life and from then I
wanted to be Michael Jackson. I watched his videos for hours and learned how to dance like
him. I would push back the chairs in the room and
learn his dance moves. I even taught myself to moonwalk. I had all the videos he ever
made, every single and album. I was the biggest Michael
Jackson fan in Sligo and I even had a shiny glove and hats like him. I would ring up the record shop to find out when his latest song was
coming out, so I would be the first to get it in the town. All I dreamed of was being on stage and having screaming fans just like
him. Even when
I was at school I would daydream about being Michael Jackson, the most famous pop star in the world. I loved his music above everything for
years, especially songs like 'The Way You Make Me Feel' and 'Man In The Mirror'. For years I wanted to see him in concert and then I managed to
get a ticket for his History tour in July 1997. I was in the middle of the crowd only about 100 yards from
him. He was amazing and, to me, it
was like watching Elvis. I thought Michael Jackson was a god. His music
has changed a lot since he started, but I still think he is a brilliant artist.
The first proper stage show I was in was Grease at the Hawkswell Theatre in Sligo when I was
twelve. All the main parts were for adults or much
older kids, so I nearly didn't bother auditioning. I was also really afraid and
didn't believe I could sing that well. When you're little you
think millions of people are better than you and that everyone will laugh at you. My brother Finbarr gave me a hard time about being afraid
and he said, 'You've got a great voice, don't hide it all your life, do something about it.'
I'm glad he was like that because it stirred me up
and I went for the audition. There wasn't really a role for someone as young as me, but the producer created a special part for me and a girl
called Olwyn Morgan to sing a duet called 'We Go Together'.
I couldn't believe the reaction we got - it was amazing. I was only tiny and the stage seemed so
huge. There were about 350 people in the
audience and for a few minutes they were all looking at me and this girl. I have got that show on video and
it's so funny. I have got such a
little voice and it was so high - I could sing some serious high notes back then - and I loved to dance. For a few minutes I thought I was
Michael Jackson and I love it. A came out for the encore and was dancing away. Everyone was clapping and it was like they were cheering for me. I
felt so happy and it was at that moment I realised I wanted to be a performer.
I'll never forget after the show when my mum came over and
picked me up and gave me a big hug. She was so proud. I felt so sad when that run of Grease was over, but it gave me confidence and after that I
started to love the theatre.
When I was fourteen I went to my secondary school, Summerhill College, which was an all-boys
school. Sumerhill teamed up with the Ursuline
College girls' school every year to do musicals, and that's when I got into singing and acting in a big way. I did Annie Get Your
Gun, but had
to play a girl. I was dressed up in a skirt and a bonnet, but there were other lads dressed as girls so we could see the funny side. After
that,
people started to recognise me as a singer and I got lead roles and I started doing shows at the Hawkswell regularly as
well. I was the Artful
Dodger in Oliver at school and in a production at the theatre. I preferred singing to
acting, but doing shows was the hobby I loved above everything. I used to worry about my height when I was a teenager, but I
realised, that when you're on stage it doesn't matter at
all.
It is amazing what a big part of the show Grease has played in my life.
We did it at school when I was fifteen and I played Kenickie and Kian was
Sonny. A couple of years later we did Grease again and I was Danny
and Kian was Kenickie. I got to know Kian through the shows. He only lived about a mile from my house but we never really hung out together
because I was a year ahead of him in school. We just did the shows and went off with our own group of
friends. I also got to know Mark through
the musicals.
I was a big Boyzone fan at school, but I always got laughed at because it
wasn't really cool to like them back then. I was knocked out by their
style and success and I couldn't believe a bunch of Irish lads could do that. It really made me want to be in a pop
group. The very first idea I
had was with my friend Michael Garrett - we thought of starting a four piece and calling it SC4, after Summerhill College. Everyone was
laughing at us for wanting to do that. I asked Kian if he was interested and he just laughed as
well. He was really into heavy rock music back
then and he just said, 'A boy band? You've got to be joking!'
Michael and I got another two lads interested and fixed up to have a rehearsal, but they
didn't show up and that was the end of it. It was
all talk at this stage and it never led to anything. To be honest, I didn't really think anything would ever
happen. I thought you had to be
someone important in Dublin to stand a chance of getting into a pop group, not just a normal lad from
Sligo.
Back
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The first girl I ever kissed was Fran Keiras. She was a wee blonde girl and I'll never forget it. I was only
seven, but our two families used to
go to the house shows together all the time. Fran was my first girlfriend and we used to hold
hands, put our arms around each other and
stuff like that. There we were in out little jodhpurs, it was mad and just a kiddies'
thing. I'm still friends with Fran and her family. My
next girlfriend was Orla Kilroy and I had my first proper kiss with her.
I was only ten at the time. I met Orla through Irish dancing. My sister Mairead
wasn't really into horseriding, but she was a brilliant dancer
and she won the All Ireland Championships and came 24th in the world one year. She won just about all there is to win at Irish dancing and I
would go to the dancing competitions to watch.
My mum would say to me, 'You don't want to go to the dancing, Shane, go
horseriding, you'll have more fun.' And I would say, 'Oh, no, it's OK, mum, I
don't mind.' The reason I wanted to go was because I met loads of girls at the
shows. I would go with a couple of mates and all the girls
would look gorgeous with their hair done up. We'd act like cool little men and be disappearing round the back with the
girls, but not in a bad
way. I liked being around girls when I was younger and I always liked to have a girlfriend, but I
didn't have mad serious relationships. The
girls used to think I was a funny little fella and they would ask Mairead, 'Where's your
brother?' Those Irish dancing shows
were great fun.
When I was about fifteen, I went out with a girl who was in Grease when I was
Kenickie. We went out together for just over a year, but broke up
three times in total. She broke it off for a day, then we got back together, and then I broke it off for a few
days. The two of us broke it
off the third time because it was just not working out. I had bought her a
Valentine's card around that time, but I never sent it. I still see
her around Sligo and we get on well. My head was wrecked after we broke up and I waited for a couple of months before I went out with anyone
else. Then I started really enjoying myself. I had been tied down for a year which was stupid at such a young
age. I enjoyed being in a relationship, but, to be honest, I think it was a bit too young to be so
serious. After that I went out with girls for just a few months here and there.
Everything has become harder for us with relationships since we've been in the band. It is difficult to keep in
touch, especially when we are touring, but it is still possible to go out with
girls, especially at home.
Back to "Shane about himself"
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I come from a very close family and my mum and dad brought all us kids up to stick to one big
rule: the family comes first - above everything. That
understanding has kept us all really close, even as we have got older and moved away to get on with our
lives.
The eldest is Finbarr. He's 30 and is an industrial engineer in the west of
Ireland. Next is Peter, who is 29, and a paediatric doctor in Dublin, and then
there's the first of the girls, Yvonne. She's 28 and is a teacher at Mercy College girls' school in
Sligo. After her comes Liam, who is 27. He's a
qualified accountant, but he gave that up to look after horses and he now runs a
big horse business with my dad. After Liam, there is Denise, who is 23, and works as a physiotherapist at a hospital in
Dublin. Then there's Mairead, who
is
21, and also lives in Dublin where she's a marketing manager. I'm the last and
the baby of the bunch.
My dad, Peter, and his family have always owned restaurants, and when he moved
to Sligo with my mum, Mae, in the 1960s they opened a small restaurant called
The Mayfair with my uncle Luke. A little while later, when Sligo was a more
happening place, they opened the Carlton Café in Castle Street, which really took off and was my
family's main business for years. We were the
first
people in the town to make burgers and chips!
Sligo was a great place to grow up and I always love it when I get a chance to go home. My family have always lived in the house above the restaurant. It
doesn't look big from the street, but it goes way back and we've built on it over the
years, so it's massive now. I don't remember when all of us children
were in the house together because, by the time I was six or seven, the older guys were going off to college. Our house was always full and crazy and these
days it is mad at Christmas. Because so many of the family have moved away, it's
a like a massive family reunion, so we have to lay on extra tables for about
fifty people and it turns into an amazing party.
My mum is pretty good at organising a big party like that because she now looks
after the restaurant. A good while back, my dad started buying and selling land
and building up a horse business, which he now runs with Liam. They buy about
twenty horses a time, look after them for six mounts, then sell them. Liam is
amazing with horses. He can talk to them and he just clicks his fingers and they
do whatever he says. That is a real talent. The horse business has gone really
well and about three years ago they built a big set of stables two miles out of
town. They have about fifty horses now and they also built a sanded arena, which
is the biggest in our province. I wouldn't say our family is rich, but everyone
works really hard and I don't think we'd be short of a few quid if it came to
it.
I get on great with all of my brothers and sisters and I don't have a favourite,
but Mairead and I get on especially well, because our ages are so close. We used
to go out to discos together and hang around in the same group of friends when
we were growing up. Mairead is one of my best friends, she's great.
Because I was the youngest, I suppose I was always a bit more spoilt than the
others. All my brothers looked out for me, so other kids would never dare mess
with me. They'd say, 'Leave him alone, he's got big brothers,' which was
great because I was always small for my age. You wouldn't believe how small I
was a real midget - and everyone used to call me Shorty. We also used to
have two German Shepherd dogs when I was growing up. They were called King and
Kaiser. We still have Kaiser and we've got another one now called Oscar.
When I was about eight I loved watching Bruce Lee videos and got into kung
fu for about a year. I was good friends with a fella called Danny in the
video shop and he let me have all the films, even though I was too young. I'd
watch them for hours and practise kicking like Bruce Lee around the house on
cushions and just about anything that was at the right height - even my cousins
and Mairead!
By the time I started going to proper classes I already had a good technique
and, even though I was tiny, I was better than the bigger guys. I became
the King of the Spinning Kick in my club because I had the most accurate kick,
but I've never really had a proper fight in my life, so I've never needed to use
it seriously. I'm the type who talks my way out of situation, but when I
was younger I didn't need it anyway because I had older brothers and everyone
was scared to touch me.
Horses were a major part of my family and my childhood. All of us learned
to
ride when we were really young. I can remember being put up in the saddle when I
was only about six in the Tiny Tots class. The pony felt huge, but it was
probably only small. I had a little riding hat on and all the gear and I even
won a trophy. I started riding properly when I was nine, but gave it up for a
few years, then went back to it. I worked with the horses every evening after
school, and every weekend the whole family would go to shows all over Ireland
and sometimes in England. They were massive days out for us and brilliant fun.
If I ever have a family, I will encourage my children to be around horses. They
are beautiful animals and if you ever get to be afraid of them, it's an awful
sad thing.
I was a pretty good rider - not the best, but natural enough - and i won a lot
of shows. My best moments was when I was picked to ride in the Kerry Gold Dublin
Horse Show at the RDS Arena in Dublin, which is a massive showjumping event in
Ireland. All my family had qualified for it over the years except me, so it was
important I got in. I was twelve when I was picked, but I wasn't allowed to ride
because it would have been too dangerous - I was so small and my pony was too
slight. I was really upset.
We called our horses after the restaurant, so their names all started with
Carlton. We had a grey called Carlton Guy for about fifteen years. He was
like the family's pet pony and all of us learned to ride on him for about the
first four years. His nickname was Jasper and if I could find him now I would
buy him back. He would be about 23 now and the last I heard he was in Scotland,
but he may even be dead. He was a brilliant pony. One of my other favourites was
Carlton Flight. He was the last pony I had and I nicknamed him Condor. He
was a gorgeous-looking brown pony, with wonderful features, and we still have
him.
Michael Keirns is the jockey who rides him now. He's a genius and has won the
Best Jockey on him two years in a row at under 14s and 15s. We bought Condor for
only £500, but he is so good now he is worth a fortune. At one point I was
going to follow Liam and work with horses full time when I lift school, but I
went to college instead and then the band came up and everything took off.
I used to like Gaelic football and soccer at school. When I was
twelve, I played in goal while Liam took shots. He wasn't shooting hard, so I
said, 'Hit it
properly, will ya,' and then he really whacked it and I broke my wrist trying to
stop the ball.
The only sport I felt passionate about - apart from horses - was rugby. I
played at fly half and was in the Connaught team. When I was eighteen , I
started taking it very seriously and had trials for the Irish team. I did well
and got to the third stage, but then the band started getting more serious. I
had to work out whether I wanted to make it in rugby, or try to make platinum
records and sing for big crowds. During the trials, me and the guys were
preparing for a show and I realised I might get injured and not be able to sing.
The thought of that scared the hell out of me and I suddenly lost interest in
rugby and forgot about it. If you are serious about anything, you've got to
be totally committed.
I realised that all I wanted was to hear my songs on the radio and that was when
singing became my life.
Back to "Shane about himself"
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