Yes, I am a fan of the Irish boys of Westlife. Mark Feehily, Shane Filan, Kian Egan and Nicky Byrne have made some great pop music in the last decade, and have done some interesting duets. The first I am going to feature was not an actual duet, but was made in an edit room working with released singles. From their latest album Where We Are, Westlife sang a song first released by the American group Daughtry, What About Now. When the songs are put together with a creative editor, this is what you get.
The next song was sung live on a television program in the UK, An Audience With Lionel Ritchie. While doing a retrospective of his career, Ritchie bring out the boys to sing the Commodores hit Easy.
The boys have never shied away from being a bit adventurous, even if it is on British television. I am crazy about the beginning with Mark singing with Donna. You know he is excited, cause what gay man hasn't wanted to sing with Summer? Here is No More Tears (Enough Is Enough), and Donna looks great!
They joined Boyzone for a poignant No Matter What on a British program that honored the life of Stephen Gately earlier this year.
As promised, I was planning to do a Saturday Rocks post on Daughtry , and was toying with giving it the title '4th Place My A$$' but decided to go with the traditional title instead. Back in May 2006, Chris Daughtry was the presumed front-runner to win the fifth season of the show. That left eventual winner Taylor Hicks, runner-up Katharine McPhee, and third-place singer Elliott Yamin in the competition. While many thought this was bad news for the rocker, history proves that to be far from the truth.
In November, the self-titled album was released by the band Daughtry, with front-man Chris Daughtry having been instrumental in picking the members. He chose Jeremy Brady,guitarist; Josh Steely, lead guitarist; Josh Paul, bassist who also played for Suicidal Tendencies; and Joey Barnes, drummer, who was the lead singer of Suicide Darlings. The album debuted at #2 on the Billboard Top 100 chart, finishing behind Jay-Z's Kingdom Come, also released that week. The album hung in the Top 10 for the first 8 weeks, and then secured the top spot in the 9th. It would return to the top spot in the 15th week, and stayed in the top 100 for an amazing 116 weeks, over 2 years. Sales in the US alone were quadruple Platinum, with more than 4.5 million sold.
The first single was released ahead of the album, and did extremely well. It's Not Over was written by Gregg Wattenberg and Mark Wilkerson, with some reworking done by Chris and his buddy from Idol, Ace Young, a favorite on this blog. The debut stormed up the charts, claiming the #4 spot on the Hot 100 chart, #3 on the Pop chart, and #1 on the Adult Pop chart. With the ridiculously catchy hook and harder-edged sound, the song clearly established Daughtry as an act to keep an eye on. The song went on to sell over 2 million copies.
The second single, Home, was a sweet ballad, written by Chris Daughtry. As the story was told, he wrote it as he sat on the sofa at home in North Carolina the day before he left to compete on Idol. It helped him express his love of his family, and the desire to not let music take that away from him. It was released in April of 2007, proving such a long life for the first single. It reached #5 on the Pop Chart, making Daughtry the first former Idol to score two top 5 songs off their debut album. The song also made it to #1 on the Adult Pop chart, lasting for ten weeks. It eventually sold just shy of 2 million copies.
The fourth main single, there were two 'rock' singles in addition (What I Want & Crashed), was a song that was tougher to categorize. Feels Like Tonight was thought of by many as ballad, but the uptempo rhythms made others think of it as anthemic pop. It was written by a team of American writers and a Swede, Dr. Luke, Martin Sandberg (aka Max Martin) and Sheppard Solomon, who had already had hits like Kelly Clarkson's Since U Been Gone. My theory, of course, is that much of popular music in the last 15 years has been done by the Swedes, and they practically own the music industry. Hell, Max Martin alone, really. But the song made it to #24 on the Top 100, #17 on the Pop Chart, and once again #1 on the Adult Pop chart, keeping a successful run for the band.
The 5/7th and final single from the album was written by Ben Moody, David Hodges and Josh Hartzler, two members of the band Evanescence, as well as the man married to lead singer Amy Lee. This song, along with the previous single, were the only two songs on the album not either written or co-written by Chris Daughtry. What About Now is one of those big, anthemic stadium ballads, and Daughtry certainly knew how to play them. The song went to #18 on the Top 100, #21 on the Pop chart, and #3 on the Adult Pop chart. It was release in July of 2008, almost 17 months after the release of the album. This album had such great legs, aided by a strong line of singles that kept Daughtry on the radio and being heard by the world.
Shortly after the release of the album, Jeremy Brady left the band. He was replaced by Brian Craddock. This past April, it was announced Joey Barnes was no longer a part of the band, replaced by Robin Diaz. For more about Daughtry, check out the official website here.
Westlife has released a video for their first release in over a year, What About Now. The new album, due out in the UK at the end of the month, is called Where We Are. The video was shot on location in Iceland.
Thank you to @Westlifeus for the video link. You can follow them on Twitter and they are working on getting a website updated. For more on Westlife, you can find their official website here.
From L to R: Shane Filan, Kian Egan, Mark Feehily and Nicky Byrne.
Yes, I love Westlife. I have followed the boys for many years, and they are definitely a band some consider a guilty pleasure - I have no guilt whatsoever. I have all their CDs, and the DVDs. If they toured the US, I would be there in a minute. In fact, I have contemplated a trip to the UK to go see them. They are four Irish boys who went from typical boyband to a mature pop act that have stuck together since 1998, with only the fifth member, Brian McFadden, having left. In 2005, Mark came out in an interview, and his fellow bandmates have been unwavering in their support, both of him and his long-term relationship with Kevin McDaid.
They had taken a year off following 10 solid years of recording and touring, and just released the single What About Now in the UK this weekend. The song was written by Ben Moody, David Hodges and Josh Hartzler [the first 2 members of Evanescence and the third married to former lead singer Amy Lee]. It was previously covered by the band Daughtry, led by singer Chris Daughtry of American Idol fame. This clip is from a morning show they performed the song on.
The new CD, Where We Are, is to be released on November 30 in the UK, although I am still unsure of the release here in the US. They made their first public appearance on the UK show X-Factor, a British talent show with Simon Cowell and Louis Walsh as judges. Cowell signed Westlife to their original contract, and they have been managed by Walsh for the duration of their career. Suffice it to say I am excited about the new music! Between now and then, I plan on revisiting some of their early videos. To find out more about Westlife, you can visit their official website here.
