It's back to work for the boys, who've spent the last few weeks relaxing with family and friends and celebrating three special birthdays - Rocco and Jay's (Nicky's twins) and Kian's.
The band flew down to Sydney yesterday to begin a whirlwind promotional tour. First stop will be visits to the top Sydney breakfast radio shows on Friday 2nd May - local fans can listen out for chats with the boys on Mix 106.5FM, Mix 97.3FM, 2GB and 2CH. The afternoon will be taken up with a flurry of interviews for press, websites and TV.

They've then got a couple of days to prepare for the most exciting night in the Australian TV calendar - The Logies! The boys will be walking up the red carpet at the star-studded bash, then performing their new international single ‘Something Right' with a live orchestra. It's set to be an incredible show.

No time for a lie-in the next morning as they have to be up bright and early to perform ‘Something Right' and ‘Us Against The World' on ‘Sunrise' the next day, before jetting over to New Zealand in preparation for the next leg of their arena tour.

GRAHAM Albrecht is only three years old – but already he's savoured the trip of a lifetime.The Kennoway youngster, who has cerebral palsy, travelled to London to meet his musical heroes, Westlife.
He received signed memorabilia and had pictures taken with the band members – and was still wide awake and enjoying the concert nearly four hours past his bedtime! Mum Cheryl (24) explained Graham was born 15 weeks prematurely, with chronic lung disease and cerebral palsy, which left him unable to walk, talk or sit up.However, after he was allowed home from hospital, one of the first images he saw on television was a Westlife performance and he reacted enthusiastically to the music.

Graham was able to recognise the Irish boy band after that on television and radio, said Cheryl, and he has built up a large collection of their music. The trip to Wembley Arena was organised through the young people's charity Dreamz4you — which had previously provided a swing for Graham — when its founder, Jimmy Michie, visited the family at their Langside Drive home.

Graham, a pupil at Kennoway Primary School's nursery, was watching a Westlife DVD and Jimmy said he'd try to arrange for the youngster to meet his favourite band. So, accompanied by his mum, dad Graham and gran Gwyneth, young Graham headed for Wembley Arena and a live Westlife gig. He was aware he was going somewhere special, said Cheryl – and he recognised the group as soon as he saw them.

"His face lit up when he knew he was there to meet them," she added. "It was a fantastic experience — definitely a memory to treasure."

Dreamz4you also held a Pig Snout Day on Friday, in which people could buy a pig snout for £1 to raise money for children and young people affected by disabilities. The Card Warehouse in Leven was among the outlets selling the noses, while money raised in Fife would be staying in the Kingdom to help deserving local children. Cheryl hoped schools and businesses in Levenmouth and the East Neuk would support the charity, with more information available from Jimmy Michie on 0781 502 2421 or at www.dreamz4you.org

 

Bertie Ahern will be able to rely on his daughter if he needs a dig-out after stepping down as Taoiseach.

His daughter Cecelia (26) was one of the newest entrants on the latest Young Rich List with a personal fortune of €7m.

The so-called 'chick lit' author's wealth is on a par with golfer Graeme McDowell, who has also made over €7m.

Both of them stand at 18th position on the young Irish section of this year's Rich List.

Mr Ahern said he was proud of his daughter's success. "I think she's selling a lot of books. Anyway, she's doing well.''

Ms Ahern's fortunes got a serious boost recently when a film version of her first book 'PS I Love You', starring Hilary Swank and Gerard Butler, grossed €90m at the box office.

Her financial assets stand to swell even further after her US TV comedy 'Samantha Who?' was recently syndicated to stations around the world. Celia's brother-in-law Nicky Byrne of Westlife is doing well. The pop foursome, all in their 20s, are still 10th on the Young List and are worth a combined €34m.

 

Shane was at the SNooker match watching Ronnie O Sullivan play tonight and i managed to get him on video for a couple of minutes. Hes sitting on the left hand side of the screen once the players enter..

Download and watch HERE

 

article shortened, you can read full article on our forum by clicking HERE

Scotland with style


Hitting the shops in Buchanan Street
FORGET the Glasgow kiss', Scotland's largest city has become synonymous with head-turning rather than head-butting in recent years.

Since being named European City of Culture in 1990, Glasgow has emerged from the economic doldrums of the 1980s.

In 2004, it was branded "Glasgow: Scotland with style" and the title is as well-deserved as a plate of haggis, neeps and tatties after a long afternoon of shopping in Prince's Square.

Only the sniffiest of music critics would refuse to confess Abba aren't a secret guilty pleasure and anybody who hasn't enjoyed taking to the floor for Dancing Queen at a family wedding needs to take themselves less seriously.

Aside from Mamma Mia, the SECC will cater for most tastes this year with Westlife, Boyzone, Girls Aloud, Simple Minds, Status Quo, Bryan Adams, James Blunt, Steve Coogan and Kylie and Jason all paying a visit.

 

PS, I'm loaded ... as Ahern makes rich list



Saturday April 26 2008

The Taoiseach's daughters are staking their place among the nation's wealthy.

'PS, I Love You' author Cecelia (€7m) is joint 18th on the Sunday Times Irish Young Rich List while sister Georgina makes it by virtue of her marriage to Westlife's Nicky Byrne (€34m) who shares 10th with bandmates, Shane Phelan, Mark Feehily and Kian Egan.

There are 33 new names on the grown-ups' list, among them Aer Arann owner Padraig O Ceidigh (€81m) and Temple Bar publican Martin Keane (€51m).

Despite the housing downturn, the majority of new entrants are in property, including Gerry Conlon (€81m) and Dermot O'Rourke (€76m), the developers of the Millennium Park in Naas, Co Kildare.

Also new is John Fitzsimons (€73m), one of the owners of Castlethorn, the firm behind Dundrum Town Centre. The identity of Ireland's richest person will be published tomorrow.

 

By Patrice Dougan
A SOFA with personality was handed over to one lucky Ulsterman yesterday in a bid to raise money for charity.
UTV chat show host Gerry Kelly handed over his trusty sofa, which many an international celebrity derriere has graced over the years, to Brendan McAlister, after it was auctioned on website Ebay.

And in a generous move Brendan upped his donatioN to double the amount he had originally bid for the prize pieces of furniture.

The sofa got over 1,000 hits last week when it went up on the auction site and Brendan's bid of £720 secured the six-seater sofa and Gerry's own chair. At the handover yesterday he doubled the money to £1,440, which was then split between two charities - Save the Children and Threshold.

"We were expecting it to go up more than what we had paid for it, so that's what we allocated for it," said Brendan, a manager at MAKE Kitchens in Belfast. "So we thought we might as well give the rest to the charities when we had it allocated anyway."

The huge blue sofa, which was featured on the Kelly Show for five years, is already on display in their Boucher Crescent showroom. They have split it into two parts, with three seats downstairs and three seats and Gerry's chair in an upstairs display area.

Renovation

Brendan said it coincided with a complete renovation of the showrooms.
"We were looking for new sofas because the other ones had been in here for three years, so we thought they (Gerry's sofa] would be good," he said.

"So any customer can get a chance to sit on the famous sofa now."

The chance to sit on the same seat which celebrities such as Bob Geldof, Westlife, Patrick Kielty, Emma Bunton and Eddie Irvine once sat on, has already seen extra visitors to the store, Brendan said.

"We have already had people sitting down on them, and comment on them. We were asked: 'Is this where George Best sat once?'"

The store is set to get video clips and photographs of some the famous faces Gerry Kelly interviewed to be put up around the display area, creating a wall-of-fame beside the well-known seats from UTV.
 

 

4 a.m. start for teens to secure tickets


When most of us were tucked up in our beds having sweet dreams in the early hours of Wednesday morning, two young County Galway girls were wide awake on Shop Street but were still dreaming - dreaming of a summer date with their heroes Westlife!

Early birds Michelle Sweeney, Mountbellew and Orla Coyne, Newbridge started queuing outside Zhivago’s at 4am on Wednesday morning and were first to secure tickets to pop sensation Westlife’s Salthill summer gig in Pearse Stadium.

Four Castlegar teens Niamh Connell, Sharon Glynn, ElizabethGrier and Natalie Coleman have all seen the Westlife lads in concert between four and six times already, but that hasn’t dampened their enthusiasm for the Salthill gig.

The girls arrived at 6.30am and while it’s difficult for many to comprehend why anyone would get up so early and queue for anything, the girls’ response probably best sums up the feeling of thousands of fans throughout the country.

"Because its in Galway and they are Irish, because their music is so good and theyre so hot, they said"

Tickets for the pop sensations Pearse Stadium gig, on 21st June went on sale nationwide at 9am and by that time a massive queue of a few hundred fans, stretching as far back as the Kings Head pub, had formed in the city centre.

Amongst them were Shauna Biggins, (16) of Knockcanarra and Orla Divvely(16)of Newcastle who arrived at about 5.45am when about 20 fans had already gathered ahead of them .,

Shauna has already seen Westlife perform in Dublin and was prepares to queue to see them again cause they are ,great,whilst it will be Orla's first time seeing Westlife and she is veyr excited about the gig.

They were joined by their friends Ciara Steedman of Calegalway and Gemma Riordan oh Knocknacara who all agreed it was well worth getting up early just to get thei hands on the covereted tickets.

Dave O Connel who was manning the door of Zhivagos allowing ten fans in a time, said earlier that morning a romour had spread to the back of the queue that tickets had sold out.

It was untrue of course but it explains why as each block of the luck ten fans filed past him,the ecitemement and feeling of relief at having got their tickets was etched on their faces.

He said Zhivago was expecting fans to start queuing the previous night,such was the demand for tickets but this didnt happen,probably cause tickets were avaiable on Ticket Masters website.

Gerry Stroge of Stroges Mainstreet,Ballinasloe, said that the queue outsid his shop satrted forming at baout 5.30am and there was "pandemonium"whent he doors open at 9am.

Despite the huge demand for tickets Mr Stronge said it was nothing compared to Bruce Sprinstreens gigs that sold out in less than 30 minutes.

By lunchtime on wednesday a few westlife tickets were still avaiable.

"The staff arived at about 7.30am but we couldnt sell them till 9am. There was a lot of girls there and surprisingly a lot of mothers in the queue as well.

"There were a couple of hundred of fans altogether and there was pandemonium and a great buzz about the town , but it was all over andhad calmed down by 9.45am .he said./

 

 

By Richard Hercock

POP band Westlife are currently in the middle of an exhausting tour – but that won't stop Shane Filan from ditching the white suit and flying into Sheffield this weekend.

For the Irish pin-up is a huge snooker fan, big mates with Ken Doherty, and has booked tickets for the Crucible with a bunch of friends to catch some of the action at the 888.com World Championship.

"I've loved the game since I was a kid," revealed the 28-year-old. "I played pool on a table in the local café then started going to snooker clubs and playing snooker once I could reach over the table.

"It's been a hobby ever since then. Now I've got a full-size snooker table in my house and I love it.

"I've never been to a tournament before. For the last four or five years I've always wanted to go the Crucible but we've always been on tour in April.

"But this time I'm going with three friends, we'll be there during the middle weekend, I can't wait. I'm really looking forward to it," Filan told the Crucible's official tournament programme.

Filan is no stranger to Sheffield. Westlife played twice in the Steel City last month and are due back for a further date in May before the band take a 12-month break.

Filan met Doherty during a golf pro-am at the K Club, and have kept in touch ever since.

"I still remember when he won the world title in 1997," he said. "I was watching at home in Sligo. All the snooker clubs were packed.

"Ireland had never had a snooker world champion before and hasn't since so it was a great achievement."

 

We've just added an exciting new feature to the site - a Westlife Timeline that YOU can be a part of!

As well as letting you track some of the important events in the band's career, you can get involved by sending in your pictures, reviews and reminiscences for the Fan sections. It's your chance to play a part in Westlife's history, so head over to the Timeline area to start uploading your stories and photos now.

 

Ok Folks. We have a double whammy Celebrity Hitch Hiker Award for you today. Tailor to the stars Louis Copeland managed to bag TWO celebs for the price of one, when he stuck out his thumb and caught a lift with Jerry Hall & David Soul. Ooh, suit you Sir...


In Dublin, the name Louis Copeland has long been synonymous with quality tailoring and finely cut suits for men. Louis has fit-out every Irish star for the past twenty years with regular clients through his doors like Bono, Pierce Brosnan, Westlife and Boyzone.

Never-a-one to miss out on a photo opp, Louis was on hand at the launch of the Tivoli play 'Love Letters' to measure up leads Jerry Hall & David Soul for some fabric... And with a glint in his eye and a thumb in the air Mr. Copeland managed a double Celebrity Hitch Hike and bagged both of them in one go... Props too – he even had his measuring tape with him. Good man Louis - you showed those mean Xpose girls what real Celebrity Hitch Hiking is all about. It's a lost art-form you know?
 

Westlife have been confirmed as the superstar act appearing at the 50th Annual TV Week Logie Awards, the 'night of nights' which celebrates the most popular programmes and stars on Australian television.
They'll be performing their current international single ‘Something Right' at the awards, which will be held at the Crown Entertainment Complex in Melbourne on Sunday 4th May and televised on the Nine Network.
 

Madonna scores 13th UK number one
Sunday, April 20 2008, 19:44 BST

By Nick Levine, Music Editor


Madonna has knocked Estelle and Kanye West off the top of the UK singles chart to score her 13th number one.

'4 Minutes', her duet with Justin Timberlake, zooms from four to one to become her first chart-topper since 2006's 'Sorry'.

Only Elvis Presley (21 number ones), The Beatles (17), Westlife (14) and Cliff Richard (14) have reached the summit more often than the pop queen.

Estelle and Kanye West's 'American Boy' is pushed into second place after four weeks at the top, with Sam Sparro slipping to third with 'Black and Gold'.


 

It's high time for Hogan's home run

By Barry Egan


Sunday April 20 2008

BUY land: they've stopped making it. Moneybags Irish property developer Gerry Cosgrave would doubtless agree with Mark Twain's maxim. He got married last Friday in Ashford Castle to the lovely Paula Dollard (Rebecca Storm sang as they walked down the aisle.) Not surprising -- given Cosgrave's profession -- money was no object at the three-day soiree. A giant marquee was set up down by the river; the great and the good arrived by sea-plane and helicopters.

More than 180 guests, (including the likes of coiffeur to the stars David Marshall and wife Beverly, the Bank of Ireland's grand fromage in London Des Crowley and his fashionable partner Madge) watched Westlife perform on the Friday night. Louis Walsh's charges were believed to have been paid almost €300,000 for their performance.

Dickie Rock, who performed with an orchestra the following day, was possibly paid slightly less (comedian Dave Young also provided his services). The marquee was transformed into a piece-by-piece recreation of Harcourt Street's famed Krystle nightclub one night and an Indian theme the next night. The glamourati danced until dawn.

Speaking of glamourati, Lisa Hogan is evidently fond of Mark Twain too. The Irish actress is weighing up the options of moving home from London with her two children and buying somewhere suitably smart in Ballsbridge.

In the mid-Nineties, I got to know Lisa quite well. Apart from being a stunning beauty, she was also in possession of Dorothy Parker-esque wit and an utterly engaging sense of humour. Perhaps she didn't think it was funny when her marriage to the slightly eccentric Baron Steven Bentinck ended a few years ago.

Come home, Lisa. Dublin misses you.

 

by Paul Cashmere

Irish pop band Westlife will perform at the Logie Awards in Melbourne on May 4.


The Logie Awards are Australia's Emmys as recognition for excellent work on television for the previous year.

Westlife are one of the most successful Irish groups ever. The boy band has sold more than 40 million records, making them the number two Irish act after U2.

This year they celebrate their 10th anniversary.

The 50th Annual Logie Awards will take place at Crown Casino in Melbourne on May 4.

Guests on the night will include Lisa McCune, Adam Hills, Garry McDonald, Kate Ritchie, Steve Jacobs, Tim Campbell, Natalie Blair, Daryl Somers, Les Hill, Gyton Grantley, Ian Stenlake, Alison Whyte, Johanna Griggs, Sonia Kruger, Shane Jacobson, Richard Wilkins, Tracy Grimshaw, Helen Kapalos, Georgie Parker, Damien Leith, Bert Newton, Rose Byrne, Vince Colosimo, Denise Drysdale, Patti Newton, Claudia Karvan, Shaun Micallef, Eddie McGuire and Rodger Corser.
 

WE`VE known for a while now that, in honour of the 50 year milestone, Logies organisers have opted this year to recruit a revolving roster of presenters.

So it was no surprise yesterday when they rolled out a list of 30 presenters for the May 4 event and confirmed Irish boy band Westlife as the big ticket performers for the night.

While the roster of 30 comprises a fair few Channel 9 personalities and actors (a large portion of which are from dramas Sea Patrol and Underbelly), Aussie expat actress Rose Byrne is also on the list along with Gold Logies nominees Kate Ritchie, Adam Hills, Lisa McCune and Natalie Blair.

And in case you're wondering, Nine's Eddie "Everywhere" McGuire has also scored a presenting guernsey.

THE FULL LIST

Lisa McCune, Adam Hills, Garry McDonald, Kate Ritchie, Steve Jacobs, Tim Campbell, Natalie Blair, Daryl Somers, Les Hill, Gyton Grantley, Ian Stenlake, Alison Whyte, Johanna Griggs, Sonia Kruger, Shane Jacobson, Richard Wilkins, Tracy Grimshaw, Helen Kapalos, Georgie Parker, Damien Leith, Bert Newton, Rose Byrne, Vince Colosimo, Denise Drysdale, Patti Newton, Claudia Karvan, Shaun Micallef, Eddie McGuire and Rodger Corser