Westlife is an irish pop band that was formed on july 3, '98.they were signed on by simon cowell and are currently managed by louis walsh.over the years, their music has evolved from teen pop to an adult contemporary sound,w/an emphasis on ballads.the grps. original line up comprised of nicky byrne,kian egan,mark feehily, shane filan @ bryan mcfadden.filan is the lead vocalist,however,feehily shares the part of the lead vocals on certain songs as did mcfadden before his departure.some of the members can play musical instruments but all of them are songwriters,although most of their hits have been composed by external writers.on march 9, '04 mcfadden departed from them to spend more time w/his family @ to work on his solo projects.they have sold 40 million records worldwide @ garnered 14 no.1 singles in UK @ the 3rd highest in UK history tying w/ cliff richard @ tailing behind elvis presley @ the beatles.they also won numerous awards such as the 'BEST IRISH POP ACT' at the annual ireland meteor awards @ ITV 'RECORD OF THE YEAR AWARD IN UK'.the band has also broken a few top records,including 'MUSIC ARTIST W/ MOST CONSECUTIVE NO.1'S IN UK @ THE BIGGEST SELLING ARENA ACT'.