Boy Band Era
Westlife is an Irish pop band that was formed on July 3, 1998. The group's original lineup comprised Brian McFadden, Nicky Byrne, Kian Egan, Mark Feehily, and Shane Filan. Filan and Feehily are the band's lead vocalists. Westlife have had 14 UK number ones and was the first act in British history to have four number one singles in a year. The band is also the only act to have number ones with their first seven singles and to date they have gone on to sell over 40 million albums worldwide.[1]
They were signed on by Simon Cowell and are currently managed by Louis Walsh. In 2008, they are declared as Ireland's 9th richest celebrities under 30 years old and 13th in general. They garnered 14 number one singles in the United Kingdom, the third-highest in UK history, tying with Cliff Richard and tailing behind Elvis Presley and The Beatles. The band has also won numerous awards such as the "Best Irish Pop Act" at the annual Ireland Meteor Awards and ITV "Record of the Year" award in the UK. The band has also broken a few top records, including "Music artist with most consecutive number 1's in the UK" and the "Biggest selling arena act in the UK".
Over years of their career, Westlife's music has evolved from teen pop to a pop sound, with an emphasis on ballads. All of the band members are songwriters, although most of their hits have been composed by external writers.
To mark their tenth year in music, Westlife staged a special 10 Years Of Westlife sold-out concert at World's thirty-third and Europe's fourth biggest stadium,[38] Croke Park, on 1 June 2008.[39] With a capacity of 82 300, it was the band' s biggest show to date. Shayne Ward filled in as a support act for the concert,[40] which Kian described to be of a pop extravaganza.[41] Shane confirmed that a corresponding live concert DVD will be released. The band announced that they will be on hiatus for a year after their Back Home Tour[42] and that there will not be an album release in 2008 as they will be spending more time on the production of their tenth album.[43] On June 16, 2008, HarperCollins UK will release Westlife's autobiography, 'Westlife - Our Story', as part of their 10th year celebration.[44][45] The book has said to be written by each members of the band for three months. It contains the life they have for the past ten years in the business. It features also some of the private pictures from the lads. As promised, the band's official website confirmed on 27 September 2008 the release of a DVD on 24 November 2008 entitled 10 Years Of Westlife - Live at Croke Park Stadium which went straight to #1 on UK, Ireland, South African, Hong Kong and New Zealand Music DVD Charts. On other note, X perfume boxed set leaked on selected perfume stores in UK and Ireland on the last week of November which was originally planned to be released on the last week of December.
As the group ended their successful Back Home tour, Louis Walsh announced in the show Xpose that 1 July 2008 is the official start of the longest hiatus of the band so far. He said that it will be a one-year break, from that day up to 1 July 2009. On 13 December 2008, while on a break, Westlife made an unexpected appearance on X Factor Final Performance Night where they performed "Flying Without Wings" with JLS. After the presentation, Shane and Nicky were interviewed on Xtra Factor with Ronan Keating and Stephen Gately of Boyzone. As JLS performed also "I'm Already There", Westlife's version of the song re-entered the UK Singles Chart at #63 while a new entry on Ireland Singles Chart at #47 due to extensive downloads only.
'N Sync (often stylized *NSYNC) was an American pop group. The group's launch to fame was financed by the boy band mogul Lou Pearlman. Since 1995, 'N Sync has sold over 56 million records worldwide.[2]
Formed in Orlando, Florida in 1995 and launched in Germany in 1996 by BMG Ariola Munich[3], the group consisted of Justin Timberlake, JC Chasez, Lance Bass, Joey Fatone and Chris Kirkpatrick. The name is derived from the last letter of the members names: Justi-N, Chri-S, Joe-Y, Lanste-N (though originally the 'N' came from an original member named Jason before he was replaced by Lance), J-C. After heavily publicized legal battles with their former manager Lou Pearlman and former record label Sony BMG, the group's 2nd album No Strings Attached sold 1.1 million copies in one day and 2.4 millon copies in one week, giving it the highest first week album sales ever in US and #5 worldwide.[4] In addition to a host of Grammy nominations, 'N Sync has performed at the Academy Awards, the World Series, the Super Bowl and the Olympics, and sang or recorded duets with the likes of Mandy Moore, Aerosmith, Mary J Blige, Britney Spears, Nelly, Michael Jackson, The Jackson Five, Stevie Wonder, Celine Dion, and Gloria Estefan. The group also appeared as themselves on The Simpsons, in an episode entitled "New Kids on the Blecch", which aired on February 25, 2001.
While 'N Sync announced a "temporary hiatus" in spring 2002, the band has not recorded new material since. The group's official website shut down in summer of 2006, and in 2007, Lance Bass confirmed that the group has "definitely broken up."[
In June 2006, Richardson left the Backstreet Boys to pursue other interests and "move on with the next chapter of his life." He issued the following statement on the band's website on June 23, 2006:
"After 13 years of what can only be described as a dream come true, I have decided that it is time to leave the Backstreet Boys. It was a very tough decision for me but one that was necessary in order to move on with the next chapter of my life. Howard, Brian, Alex and Nick will always be my little brothers and have my utmost love and support. I would like to thank the Backstreet fans for all the beautiful memories we have shared together and look forward to including you in the next phase of my life. I wish my brothers continued success and look forward to their new album."
