Mark Feehily

Mark Feehily
Mark Feehily at The Nobel Peace Prize Concert 2009 (Photo: Harry Wad)
Background information
Birth name	Markus Michael Patrick Feehily
Born	28 May 1980 (age 31) Sligo, Ireland
Genres	Pop
Occupations	Singer, songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, piano, tin-whistle
Years active	1998–present
Associated acts	Westlife
Website	www.westlife.com

Markus Michael Patrick Feehily (born 28 May 1980) is one of the lead singers of the Irish boyband Westlife.

Early life

Feehily was born in Sligo, Ireland, to Marie Verdon and Oliver Feehily. He has two younger brothers, Barry (born 1985) and Colin (born 1989).

Career

Main article: Westlife

Feehily rose to fame as one of the two lead singers of the boyband Westlife. He shares lead vocals with Shane Filan. Before Westlife, Feehily, Filan and Kian Egan came from the band IOYOU, which released the single "Together Girl Forever". Louis Walsh, the manager of the 1990s boy-band Boyzone, was contacted by Filan's mother and came to know about the group. The group was established on 3 July 1998 with the addition of two more members, Nicky Byrne and Brian McFadden. Boyzone singer Ronan Keating was brought in to co-manage the group with Walsh. Feehily has also co-written songs, some with the other band members.
Feehily has sung completely solo on songs for the band in some instances: a song the band wrote called "Imaginary Diva" of World of Our Own album and externally written "Talk Me Down" of Where We Are album and also "Before It's Too Late" of Gravity. At live performances, he also sang completely solo for the song "Silent Night". Feehily has also co-written songs, some with the other band members.
Feehily is banned for life from the Mondrian Hotel in Los Angeles following an incident during which he got drunk and threw some items from a window of the hotel.
Feehily has spoken to The Boston Globe of his embarrassment about Westlife's Rat Pack-tribute album, Allow Us to Be Frank, and blamed their label for forcing them to record it after Robbie Williams had success with this type of music, dismissing the instance a "a weird time" in Westlife's career
Feehily intends to have a solo career after Westlife and wishes to write a book and a musical