Shane Filan

Shane Filan
Background information
Birth name Shane Steven Filan
Born (1979-07-05) 5 July 1979
Origin Sligo, Ireland
Genres Pop
Occupation(s) Singer, songwriter
Instruments Vocals, Guitar
Years active 1997–present
Labels Sony BMG UK/Ireland (1998–2012)
Capitol (2012 - 2015)
Warner Music (2015 - Present) / London (2013–Present)
Associated acts Westlife
Website www.shanefilan.com

Shane Steven Filan (born 5 July 1979) is an Irish singer and songwriter. He was one of the lead singers and frontman of Irish boy band Westlife until the group disbanded in 2012. After Westlife disbanded, Filan released his debut solo album, You and Me, in 2013.

Early life

Filan was born on 5 July 1979 to Peter and Mae Filan and grew up in Sligo, a busy commercial town in the northwest of Ireland. The youngest of seven children, he has three brothers and three sisters: Finbarr, Peter Jr, Yvonne, Liam, Denise and Mairead. His parents owned a diner in Sligo named Carlton Café located on Castle Street and Shane used to work there as a waiter from a very early age.

Filan attended Summerhill College, a Catholic school, with Kian Egan and Mark Feehily. All three of them participated in a school production of Grease when they were about 12. The Hawkswell Theatre became a significant part of their careers. Filan was a fan of Michael Jackson as a child, and claimed the singer inspired him to pursue a career in music.[1]

Career

IOYOU and Westlife

Main article: Westlife

Before Westlife, Egan and Feehily were with Filan in a band known as I.O.U. with other Sligonians Derrick Lacey, Graham Keighron and Michael "Miggles" Garrett. He partly wrote the IOYOU's song "Together Girl Forever". For 6 months, Shane's mother, Mae Filan, tried to phone Louis Walsh (who is also the manager of Boyzone). Eventually, she was able to speak to him and talked about her son's band. 3 of them were dropped and the other 3, Shane, Kian and Mark, joined ventures to finding 2 more slots for the band. Then they were joined by Nicky Byrne and Brian McFadden to form Westside. The name of the band then changed to Westlife as there were already a number of bands with the name Westside.

Filan, along with Feehily and McFadden, was the lead singer in Westlife. Their first album was released in November 1999, titled Westlife. With Westlife, Filan has received twenty-eight platinum discs and sold 40 million records worldwide.[2]

Solo career

On 20 October 2011, Westlife announced and decided to split and go separate ways until the end of their 2012 Farewell Tour. Filan showed interest of being a solo music artist as his daily living. In December 2011, press said Filan is close to sealing a solo deal as several UK record labels are battling it out to sign the singer. Shane and his manager Louis Walsh, have been in talks with several record companies in London that month. "There's four, possibly five labels so far who have made it clear that they want to sign Shane", said a music source, to showbiz writer Paul Martin. "He's an incredible singer and he already has a very good idea of the kind of album he wants to make. He and Louis have been in meeting after meeting this week and are looking at their options. It's looking very good for Shane – he has his choice of record deals." Louis Walsh added:

"Shane Filan has one of the greatest voices out there [...] He's a complete natural – he's never, ever out of tune. He wants to do an album of modern, contemporary songs along the lines of Michael Bublé – something that would have wide appeal. He can tackle any music really simply because he has the voice."[3] "I'm going to manage Shane Filan. He's going for the Michael Bublé market", Louis said on Irish TV over the weekend. "They're all good but I can only manage one. I love Shane's voice. I love Mark's voice too. The other boys are going to do TV and different stuff and radio. They are going out on a high [...] [He] is going to be a big artist. I will only manage someone if I believe in them. If I get someone amazing I will manage them."[4]

Back in 2008, Filan showed no interest on planning a solo career.[5] On 4 March 2012, it was updated that three major labels battling to sign him including Simon Cowell's record label, Syco Records.[6] Paul Martin of The Irish Daily Mirror revealed the singer "has a number of multi-million euro offers and is currently deciding which to go with. Songs are already being picked out for Shane's debut album which could see him become one of the biggest singers to come out of Ireland since Ronan Keating. An insider said: “Everything seems to be going perfect for Shane right now. Having three labels fighting over you is about as good as it gets. It’s going to be a tough decision picking who he goes for as the offers are all extremely good. But for Shane a lot of it is coming down to what they can offer him. He wants to be sure there is good promotion waiting for when he begins as a solo artist. Behind the scenes his team are already eyeing up the songs that will go on his first record. They want to make sure the album is absolutely perfect. It seems to have been decided that Michael Bublé is the person Shane should aim towards becoming. If a tenth of the people who bought a Bublé album buy Shane’s first album he’ll be an immediate success. This is going to be a hugely hectic year for Shane. The hope is to get his album out towards the end of the year when there’s still a buzz after Westlife.”[7]

In a March 2012 interview with Paul Martin, Filan said he will be signing on the dotted line in the next few weeks and he admitted that the nerves are jangling at the thought of going it alone and did not want to rush on things.

"It's exciting but, of course, I'll be nervous. It's only natural when you're coming out of a band after 14 years, you don't know where your life's going to take you [...] But all I want to do is sing, sing great songs and see where it goes. It's down to the songs." I'm just working out now exactly what's happening, there's different things happening and we'll work it out in the next month or two. Obviously I want to make the right decision", he said.[8]

In December that year, it was announced that Filan has landed with a recording contract with Universal Music Entertainment. He spent time in Nashville with some well-known pop singers to boost his solo career. On 9 April 2013, an official website for Filan was launched, with a countdown to reveal news about his solo career. On 12 April, the official website of opened with an apology for keeping the fans waiting for a long time, and an announcement from him that he has signed a record deal with London Records, which is a part of Universal music Entertainment Group. He also stated that he had spent the past 12 months in both US and UK writing songs and recording. He also announced that a forthcoming single and an album later this year. He also said that "One of the things that pleases me the most about this record is that I've been given the opportunity to write my own songs. I'm so excited for people to hear them."[9]

On 10 May, he announced that his first single will be released, along with three other tracks as an EP, via his Twitter account.[10] On 17 May, he released a teaser from the studio through his official YouTube channel, and issued some lyrics featured in the teaser through Facebook and Twitter and also uploaded the photo of the lyrics in Instagram.[11][12]

On 31 May, he announced that the website will be launched soon, and that he had finished the album and had been doing some shooting in Los Angeles for the video of the first single. He also stated that the first single will be released in few weeks, and he would be doing some radio work and some small gigs to promote his album.[13] On 14 May, Shane revealed that the first single will be out on August.[14] On 4 July, Filan revealed the title of his first single was "Everything to Me", and the resulting EP has three other songs "Everytime", "Today's Not Yesterday" and "Once". The release date was also announced as 25 August.

On 20 August 2013, Filan performed "Everything to Me" live at the 2013 Rose of Tralee festival, his first live solo TV performance.[15]

On 10 September 2013, Filan released About You, the second single from his album You and Me.[16] Shane released his latest CD You and Me in November 2013 and he is going a UK tour in 2014.

Right Here (2015)

On 13 March 2015, Filan announced he was working on his second studio album after You & Me, tour, Westlife split, bankruptcy and his debut autobiography My Side of Life. On 10 August 2015, Filan released the music video for first single of his second album Right Here, titled "Me and the Moon". The album was mainly recorded in London and Denmark, with Shane working on the music with Cutfather (The Saturdays, JLS), Jez Ashurst (Will Young, Gabrielle Aplin), Jon Maguire (Union J) and Tre Jean-Marie (MNEK, Jason Derulo). On 25 September 2015, Shane's second album Right Here was released. It reached #1 at Irish Album Charts at its first week of release.

Personal life

Filan married his childhood sweetheart, Gillian Walsh on 28 December 2003 at Ballintubber Abbey, followed by a reception at Ashford Castle, Ireland.[17] Gillian is the cousin of fellow band member, Kian Egan, making Filan and Egan cousins-in-law.[18] They have three children: daughter Nicole Rose (born on 23 July 2005 in Sligo, Ireland) and sons Patrick Michael, (born on 15 September 2008 in Sligo, Ireland) and Shane Peter (born 22 January 2010), named after his father.

He and his eldest brother, Finbar, run Shafin Developments – a property development company. The company was placed in receivership in May 2012[19] and Filan was declared bankrupt a little over a month later after suffering losses in Ireland's property crash.[20]

Discography

Studio albums

Title Album details Peak chart positions
IRE
[21]
UK
[22]
SCO
[23]
You and Me 3 6 4
Right Here[24] 1 11 7
"—" denotes an album that did not chart or was not released in that territory.

Singles

As lead artist

Year Title Peak chart positions Album
IRE
[21]
UK
[22]
SCO
[25]
2013 "Everything to Me"[26] 7 14 9 You and Me
"About You" 60 54 39
"Knee Deep in My Heart" 92 69 72
2015 "Me and the Moon"[27][28][29] Right Here
"I Could Be"
(with Nadine Coyle)
"—" denotes a single that did not chart or was not released in that territory.
Year Title Album
2015 "When I Grow Up"[30]
(The Association of Irish Musical Societies featuring Shane Filan & Grace Lee)
N/A

Songwriting

Filan, along with the other band members of Westlife, has co-written a number of songs, including:

^1 – Songs were found to be Filan's co-written songs. No other details whether it's for Westlife or not.

Songs written for other artists, (together with his former bandmate McFadden):

In the week beginning 26 April 2010, an unreleased solo song by Filan called "Beautiful in White" leaked on the Internet, but it was credited as being recorded by Shayne Ward instead of Filan.

Tours

Setlist

    1. When I Met You
    2. Everytime
    3. Uptown Girl (Westlife song)
    4. What Makes a Man (Westlife song)
    5. My Love (Westlife song)
    6. Baby, Let's Dance
    7. Once
    8. Swear It Again (Westlife song)
    9. Amazed
    10. Flying Without Wings (Westlife song)
    11. Blurred Lines/Wake Me Up (Medley)
    12. What About Now (Westlife song)
    13. Mandy (Westlife song)
    14. Let It Be
    15. About You
    16. You Raise Me Up (Westlife song)
    17. Everything to Me
    18. Knee Deep in My Heart

In The End and Beautiful in White are also performed at the later of tour

References

  1. "Westlife's Shane: I was a Jacko nut". Virgin Media: music news. 30 October 2009. Retrieved 5 November 2009.
  2. "Dublin Events". Visit Dublin. Retrieved 7 August 2013.
  3. "Westlife's Shane Filan close to a solo deal – Clickonline.com – Get Movies, Games, Tech and Entertainment – News, Reviews, Previews and Interviews". Clickonline.com. 16 December 2011. Retrieved 24 May 2012.
  4. "Westlife's Shane Filan wants to be the new Michael Bublé". heatworld.com. Retrieved 24 May 2012.
  5. "SHANE: I will never go solo; EXCLUSIVE WESTLIFE STAR ON WHY HE WON'T QUIT LIKE BRIAN. – Free Online Library". Thefreelibrary.com. Retrieved 24 May 2012.
  6. "Westlife.Gr". Westlife.gr. Retrieved 24 May 2012.
  7. "Westlife.Gr". Westlife.gr. Retrieved 24 May 2012.
  8. Horoscopes. "Shane joins festival fans as he faces final hurdle in his first solo record deal – Around Town, Entertainment". Herald.ie. Retrieved 24 May 2012.
  9. "OK! Magazine: First For Celebrity News :: Latest Celebrity News :: Shane Filan bounces back from bankruptcy with new record deal". Ok.co.uk. 19 April 2013. Retrieved 7 August 2013.
  10. "Twitter / Search – #albumtaster". Twitter.com. Retrieved 7 August 2013.
  11. "Filan Friday: From the Studio". YouTube. Retrieved 7 August 2013.
  12. "Instagram". Instagram. Retrieved 7 August 2013.
  13. "Filan Friday | Shane Filan Official". Shanefilan.com. 31 May 2013. Retrieved 7 August 2013.
  14. "Shane Filan Official". Shanefilan.com. Retrieved 7 August 2013.
  15. "Shane Filan admits nerves ahead of first solo performance on Rose of Tralee". Irish Independent. 20 August 2013. Retrieved 21 August 2013.
  16. "Listen to "About You"". shanefilan.com. 10 September 2013. Retrieved 14 September 2013.
  17. "Shane & Paula Marry in Mayo...". ShowBiz Ireland. 29 December 2003. Retrieved 5 October 2008.
  18. http://popdirt.com/kian-tried-to-stop-cousin-from-dating-westlife-bandmate/4736/
  19. "Westlife singer Shane Filan's company in receivership". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
  20. "Westlife singer Shane Filan is declared bankrupt". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 14 June 2012.
  21. 1 2 Hung, Steffen. "Discography Shane Filan". Irish Charts Portal. Hung Medien (Steffen Hung).
  22. 1 2 "Shane Filan > UK Charts". officialcharts.com/ Official Charts Company.
  23. Peak positions for albums in Scotland:
  24. "Shane Filan — "Right Here"". iTunes Store. September 25, 2015. Retrieved August 22, 2015.
  25. Peak positions for songs in Scotland:
  26. iTunes – Music – Everything To Me – EP by Shane Filan
  27. iTunes – Music – Me and the Moon – Single by Shane Filan
  28. Me and the Moon (single). Shane Filan. East West Records. 2015.
  29. "Shane Filan announces second solo album - watch the video for new single 'Me and the Moon' now". Independent.ie. Retrieved 2015-08-22.
  30. When I Grow Up (feat. Shane Filan & Grace Lee) - Single by The Association of Irish Musical Societies on iTunes
  31. Archived 30 November 2007 at the Wayback Machine.

http://shanefilan.com/watch-the-official-video-for-knee-deep-in-my-heart/

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