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21st March 2001 Kian beaten up :o(
Kian was beaten up by thugs outside a kebab-shop in his hometown of Sligo in the early hours of Sunday morning (March 18) after celebrating St Patrick's Day.
Him and two friends were jumped by two men outside the Abrakebabra shop in Sligo in the west of Ireland.
According to reports in the UK press the morning of March 20th, one of the men asked: "How would you like to play The Point with a black eye?" - a reference to Westlife's record-breaking sell-out 11-night residency at the 8,000-capacity venue, which kicked off on March 19.
Despite reports in both The Mirror and The Sun describing a bloody battle following an attack from up to five men, Kian himself spoke to www.showbizireland.com, playing down the incident.
"Myself and two friends were just outside Abrakebabra in Sligo when the two guys jumped me from behind. I got several digs and my friend got one or two. There is no truth that I lost a tooth or had my nose broke. I'm 100 per cent, all I have is a small cut on my nose, that's all."
He also explained that he knew his assailants. "I went to school with the two guys that jumped me. They were classmates. It's very disappointing, because it was my very first night out in Sligo since Christmas and this happened. I didn't get a chance to hit back."
He went on: "The staff in Abrakebabra saw what was happening and they called the police. But by the time the police got there, the two lads had run away. So the police took us to the hospital, but as I said, all I had was a small cut on my nose, so they didn't even have to give me a check-up. As I said, it was just very disappointing."
The police are investigating the incident.
[source: showbizireland.com, nme.com, dotmusic.com, worldpop.com]
21st March 2001 Do you wanna be on TV?!!
This could be your chance to get on TV talking about Westlife! A brand new programme is being made about people who have met stars and celebrities and the people making it are looking for people who have met Westlife, want to be on TV and have photos or video to go with their story - and they'll pay ฃ150 for every story they feature on screen...
So whatever you story, get in touch - they'd love to hear from you!!
You can e-mail them at richard@brighter.co.uk or check out their website at www.brighter.co.uk. [source: brighter.co.uk]
>21st March 2001 Comic Relief single update!
As you probably knwo by now, Westlife's charity single for Comic Relief, Uptown Girl, went straight into the charts at number 1, giving the guys their eighth number one single!! Furthermore, it's been reported that Uptown Girl is Westlife's biggest selling single to date!!!!
Not content with donating 100% of the proceeds from sale of the single to the charity, Westlife also helped Comic Relief by auctioning the T-shirts that they wore on the cover of the Uptown Girl single on qxl.com for the charity. [source: BMG]
8th March 2001 Bry talks about being a daddy!
Westlife say that far from slowing down, they will be working even harder after Bryan's baby is born.
Bry's fiance, ex-Atomic Kitten Kerry Katona, is pregnant with the couple's first child and is due to give birth in September. Westlife will have time off while the baby is born but will be heading out to America shortly afterwards and plan to spend four or five months in the States.
'It will be like any other family, the daddy will go out to work,' the Bryan explained. 'I will see Kerry and the baby as much as I can but the baby will be based at home in Ireland with her. I'm not having my baby coming on tour buses and going to places like Asia,' he continued. 'It will be like 'Bye, bye, Daddy will see you next September,' joked Nicky.
When asked whether he is considering the rest of Westlife for godparents, McFadden spluttered, 'No, absolutely not. I'll get someone responsible!'
[source: worldpop.com, 7th March 2001]
8th March 2001 The two Bryans collaborate...
Following in the footsteps of arch rivals, Spice Girls Melanie C and Emma Bunton, Westlife's Bryan McFadden has written a song with Bryan Adams.
But Westlife fans needn't fear the end of the chart-topping boy band: the two Bryans have penned a song for Westlife, not for a McFadden solo track.
'Our producer Ray Hedges works with Chicane who worked with Bryan Adams,' Bryan McFadden explained. 'Ray played Bryan Adams a Westlife demo and he was really impressed and asked to meet us.' 'We went out to dinner with him,' continued an excited Nicky Byrne.
'It was mad going to his house to work with him,' McFadden added. 'We've written a really good song. It's not rock though, it's actually another ballad! It's like a cross between Westlife and Bryan Adams' early songs like Everything I Do.' The track is not yet scheduled for release.
[source: worldpop.com, 6th March 2001]
6th March 2001 Charity single out now!
Friday 16th March sees the return of Comic Relief, and Westlife are stepping out to release the charity single 'Uptown Girl'.
Comic Relief is the charity set up to help tackle poverty and promote social justice throughout the UK & Ireland and Africa. Since 1985 the charity has raised over ฃ174 million. A third of all the money raised goes to help in the UK and the rest helps those in Africa. You can make a donation online at www.comicrelief.com, you can phone on the day or you could go out and buy the charity single by Westlife - 100% of the proceeds made from the sale of the single go to charity!
The video to the single takes place in a 50's diner... the guys play working class heroes trying to get the ultimate uptown girl - Claudia Schiffer - and Kian admits he was reduced to a nervous wreck when he met her on the video set of the single.
He says, "She was really nice you know, really nice. I mean she was only there for half of it, but when she came in, she was really nice, really nice and all quite quiet. Hmm... I'd have no problem marrying her."
[source: mtvasia.com & BMG]
6th March 2001 WL win!!
Kelis may have beated them to Best International Newcomer, but Westlife won the Brit award for Best Pop Act at the awards show held last Tuesday in London!!
Westlife, to a thunderous cheer from the teenage fans at the front of the venue, took the award, presented to them by Cat Deeley; with the band thanking all and sundry for the honour.
Dotmusic reported that one of the guys, reacting to the cascade of criticism aimed at pop music in recent months, commented: "I want to thank me, because I'm me and I'm pop".
[source: dotmusic.com February 26th]
20th February 2001 Westlife Perform For Prime Minister
Irish pop idols Westlife have won the heart of British Prime Minister Tony Blair's 12-year-old daughter Kathryn. Mr Blair asked to meet the "My Love" hitmakers when he heard they were performing in Glasgow, Scotland, at the same time as he was hosting a Labour party conference last week.
Group member Kian Egan says, "He told us he was going to be killed if he didn't leave with autographs for her. We met him at the conference centre and promised him tickets for Wembley and a backstage pass for Kathryn to meet us."
And the heart-throbs were all very impressed by the Prime Minister. Kian adds, "He seemed very genuine. He asked which one of us was going out with Premier Bertie Ahern's daughter. He told Bertie during the week that he would be meeting us and Bertie told him to say hello to Nicky, who is going out with Georgina."
[source: mtvasia.com February 20th] [thanks again Jhen!]
20th February 2001 Westlife beat down Madonna and BSB in Latinamerica!!
As My Love was released in Latinamerica later than in the UK, the video is barely being promoted these days. However, this week the video reached number one in MTV Latinamerica Top 20 beating down Madonna from the top spot; this is the first time that Westlife have reached number 1 in the countdown so it's great news!
As if this weren't enough marketing charts showed this same week that Westlife have overtaken the BSB as the most requested songs, leaving BSB at number 2. So now it's true Westlife are just one step closer to BSB and the guys are definitely conquering Latinamerica, not to mention everywhere else!!
[source: mtvla.com February 16th] [thanks to Aimee for the news!]
9th February 2001 WL on tour!!
Westlife perform in Newcastle tonight in the first show of their tourof the UK. However according to mtvasia.com, Mark feared he wouldn't be up to the band's elaborate new dance routines when he first began rehearsing...
He said,"I didn't have much confidence starting off. But we worked with a fantastic choreographer called Priscilla. She encouraged me and pushed me to do the type of dancing I never thought possible.
"At the beginning of the rehearsals I would say to her 'I can't do that, no way.' But she would give a really serious look and ask how I could possibly know if I'd never tried it. I suddenly started co-ordinating all the moves and it felt really great.
"Now I feel I could even take on Michael Jackson -- well maybe that's stretching it. But I'm now enjoying every minute of it."
...Are you gonna see the Westlife tour?? Submit your reviews, check out other people's reviews & see pics of the tour at the Touring page!
[source: mtvasia.com February 5th] [Thanx Jhen for this 9th February 2001 Bryan Westlife Will Tour Despite Impending Birth
Westlife member Bryan McFadden will tour America with his group later this year -- even though it may mean missing his baby's birth.
Bryan is scheduled to be on tour when his ex-Atomic Kitten fiancee Kerry Katona is due to give birth in September, and the Irish group have denied reports that the singer will pull out of the concert dates in order to be by Kerry's side.
Fellow band member Kian Egan says, "Of course he's coming with us. It's just that we'll have to plan things to allow for anything to happen.
"You might have read that he's not coming with us to America, but that's not true."
[source: mtvasia.com January 31st]
26th January 2001 New video...and new haircuts...
Westlife dressed up as burger bar workers yesterday for their latest video.
Their next UK single will be a cover of Billy Joel's Uptown Girl, out on March 5th, and is in aid of the charity Comic Relief. The video features supermodel Claudia Schiffer as a snooty city girl who falls for the Irish lads. Bryan joked: "We wanted Roseanne Barr instead."
Bryan and Nicky showed off their new haircuts; Bryan, pictured second right, tinted his hair gold, while Nicky, beside him, had a dated wedge cut. An onlooker said: "These guys set trends. They can't look so atrocious."!
[source: The Sun 26th January] [link: Latest Pictures]
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