After Westlife, I was in a scared place, you know; you’ve three children, and I worry about providing for them, and I had no guarantees going forward about the future. Shane Filan Read Quote
You shouldn’t end a band like Westlife and not be financially secure to some extent, but I wasn’t at all – it was the complete opposite. But you look at stuff then, ‘Well, what do I have? I don’t have money but I have a great marriage, three healthy kids, and I have my voice. I’ll just start again.’ Shane Filan Read Quote
I put all my eggs in one basket and invested in property. I didn’t do anything internationally – it was all in Ireland. Shane Filan Read Quote
When I had money, I felt pressure, whether it was to invest it or do good with it, and I couldn’t let it fizzle out. It was like I needed to prove to myself that I could look after it, only I did the opposite, but you have to take a chance in life. Shane Filan Read Quote
Every year, we couldn’t believe it, and even when I look back on it now, to sell 14 million singles, 50 million albums and sell out arenas and stadiums, what Westlife achieved was crazy. It’s like One Direction probably don’t realise how big they are. They’ll look back one day and think, ‘Holy God, that was pretty amazing.’ Shane Filan Read Quote
It’s amazing how lucky Westlife were and what we achieved. It’s very rare to have seven number ones in a row. Ridiculous in fact. Shane Filan Read Quote
I didn’t want to be a solo Westlife – covers and ballads – and the reason I signed with Capitol Records was because they wanted me to write songs myself. It was pretty scary, but they put me in a studio in Nashville with some new songwriters, and the results were pretty good. Shane Filan Read Quote
When you look at bands like Take That, who have come back bigger than ever, you can see there will always be a market for good pop bands. Shane Filan Read Quote
Capitol Records were very keen for me to write and see how I got on; I think that is what defined my sound. The first session I had was with two young up-and-coming writers, Nick Atkinson and Tom Wilding, and I went into a session a bit nervous because I hadn’t written that many songs before. Shane Filan Read Quote
If I’m honest, I thought Westlife would keep going for longer than it did – we all did – but it sort of came to a natural end. When we decided we were going to split, I thought, ‘If I’m going to sing, I’m going to have to do it solo.’ Also, financially I was broke, so the decision was ultimately made for me. Shane Filan Read Quote
