Nicky Byrne

Nicky Byrne
Nicky Byrne at The Nobel Peace Prize Concert 2009
Background information
Birth name	Nicholas Bernard James Adam Byrne Jr
Born	9 October 1978 (age 33) Dublin, Ireland
Genres	Pop
Occupations	Singer, songwriter, radio presenter, TV presenter, footballer
Instruments	Vocal
Years active	1998–present
Associated acts	Westlife

Nicholas Bernard James Adam Byrne, Jr (born 9 October 1978) is a singer-songwriter, radio and TV presenter and former footballer. From 1998 until 2012 he was the oldest member of Irish pop band, Westlife.

Before his music career, he played professional football and represented Republic of Ireland at several underage levels. Since then he has had a successful international radio and TV presenting career. His wife Georgina is the daughter of former Irish Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, and they have twin sons called Rocco Bertie Byrne and Jay Nicky Byrne.

Music career

Main article: Westlife

In June 1998, Byrne attended an audition for new Irish boyband, where he was spotted by Boyzone manager Louis Walsh, who approached him to join his new venture, Westlife. Byrne joined Westlife along with Kian Egan, Mark Feehily, Shane Filan and former member Brian McFadden. The band's name had to be changed to Westlife after it was discovered a number of bands already had the name Westside.

Byrne revealed in Westlife: Our Story that he had wanted to change the name of the band to West High; but the others preferred Westlife.

His first album with Westlife was released in November, 1999, titled Westlife. With Westlife, Byrne has had fourteen UK number ones and seven number one albums in the UK, and sold over 45 million records worldwide. With sales in excess of 45 million, 14 UK number ones and 25 top ten singles. They also certified that Westlife have sold 20.2 million records and videos in the UK across their 14-year career - 6.8 million singles, 11.9 million albums and 1.5 million videos.

Byrne also had a number one single in Ireland in 2002, alongside the Republic of Ireland national football team and Dustin the Turkey with the Irish 2002 FIFA World Cup anthem, "Here Come The Good Times (Ireland)".

Byrne has also co-written a few songs, along with the other band members, including

• "Nothing Is Impossible"
• "Don't Let Me Go"
• "When You Come Around"
• "Imaginary Diva"
• "Reason For Living"
• "Crying Girl"
• "You Don't Know"
• "Never Knew I Was Losing You"
• "Where We Belong"
• "Singing Forever"
• "I Won't Let You Down"
• "You See Friends (I See Lovers)"
• "I'm Missing Loving You"
• "When It Comes to Love"
• "Too Hard to Say Goodbye"
• "Wide Open"
• "Last Mile Of The Way"

Byrne is also one of the board of directors of Clikthrough, a video interactive site