Louis: Westlife Are The Best - November 2006

 

By LOUIS WALSH

 

A BATTLE is raging in the album charts between pop heavyweights The Beatles, Oasis and U2. But four Irish lads are putting the legends to shame with an album of rehashed covers. Cheesy, bland, boring, predictable – all words used to describe Westlife in the past. And yesterday The Sun’s Bizarre column launched a campaign to stop them getting to No1 with The Love Album. But here their manager, X Factor judge Louis Walsh, explains why he thinks Westlife are the world’s greatest band.

 

"WESTLIFE truly are the people’s band — they appeal to ordinary people, people like you and me. The sort of people who pick up this paper every day. That is the key to their success.

 

It’s people on the street up and down the country who buy their records — not the trendy London types who are too snobby to think they are any good.

 

Look at the numbers and they speak for themselves. People go out and buy Westlife records in the shops in their thousands. They’re not the type of fans who will download them.

 

And the lads themselves are solid gold. Mark, Nicky, Shane and Kian keep their feet firmly on the ground — they don’t try to be anything they are not.

 

They know they are just four guys from Ireland who got lucky and, at the end of the day, they are nice people who don’t forget their roots.

 

Four normal lads in an extraordinary situation who are close, tight, good friends. I think that comes across with people.

 

As a band, they are not in competition with anyone — there’s no one else out there who compares.

 

Take That are similar in terms of being a successful boy band but it’s a different kind of music.

 

In terms of other boybands, they have seen them all come and go. Westlife have sold 32million records and they’re going to go on for ever. It’s all down to hard work.

 

They put records out back to back and they just don’t stop. It means their fans keep coming back for more.

 

They’ve had 14 No1 singles — and will try to get 20.

 

They never get good airplay, they cannot get played on Radio 1 for love nor money . . . but it doesn’t matter. They’ve proved you don’t need Radio 1.

 

Westlife aren’t hip but I think that’s why many people like them. Like the band, their fans don’t pretend to be something they are not either.

 

Westlife have a huge fanbase. They’ve sold 150,000 tickets for their tour.

 

I love Oasis — I’ve bought the new album — and I love The Beatles.

 

Westlife are No1 in Ireland this week — they’ve beaten U2 there, which has never happened. This is going to be their biggest-selling album in Ireland.

 

They are set to do eight nights at The Point in Dublin next year — no one else can do that.

 

As for the tunes, I pick them all — including the “cheesy” ones.

 

I pick them because I love them and it seems a whole load of people out there love them too.”

 

Credit/Source: www.thesun.co.uk