Shane Filan

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Shane Filan
Background information
Birth name	Shane Steven Filan
Born	July 5, 1979 (age 27) Sligo, Ireland
Genre(s)	Pop
Occupation(s)	Singer, songwriter
Instrument(s)	Vocals, Guitar
Years active	1998 to present
Associated acts	Westlife

Shane Steven Filan is a member of the Irish pop band Westlife. Filan is one of the four (formerly five) original Westlife members, along with other current members Kian Egan, Mark Feehily and Nicky Byrne. Before Westlife, Kian Egan and Mark Feehily were with Shane in a band known as I.O.U. with other Sligonians Derrick Lacey, Graham Keighron and Michael "Miggles" Garrett. He is married to Gillain Walsh (kian's cousin)

He grew up in Sligo, a large town in the northwest of Ireland. He was born on July 5, 1979 to Peter and Mae Filan. He is 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 Cafe located on Castle Street and Shane used to work there as a waiter from a very early age. When Peter and Mae decided to close the cafe in 2003, Shane bought it back and turned it into a clothes shop. Shane is a big fan of Michael Jackson and even learned how to moonwalk. He 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. Shane loves horses, owns lots of them, and used to compete at horse tournaments. All of Shane's horses are named Carlton something(e.g. Carlton Flight, Carlton Clover).^{[citation needed]}

Shane Filan is together with Mark Feehily the main lead singer (first voice) in Westlife. He has also cowritten a few songs, along with the other band members, including:

• "Fragile Heart"
• "Bop Bop Baby" (Became a hit single and made it into #5 in U.K. singles charts)
• "I Wanna Grow Old With You"
• "Don't Say It's Too Late"
• "Love Crime"
• "How Does It Feel"
• "Crying Girl"
• "Reason For Living"
• "Miss You When I'm Dreaming"

He used to write songs for other artists (together with his former bandmate, Brian McFadden)

• "Listen Girl" sung by John Ostberg
• "Let Me Be The One" sung by Simon Casey (the song written by only Shane himself)
• "Sei Parte Ormai Di Me" sung by Il Divo

Shane married his childhood sweetheart, Gillian Walsh (Kian's cousin), on Sunday December 28, 2003 at Ballintubber Abbey. Followed by a lavish reception at Ashford Catle, Ireland.

Shane's wife Gillian gave birth to their first child on July 23, 2005, a daughter whom they named Nicole Rose Filan. Nicole weighed 5lbs 7ozs and was born at Sligo General Hospital (the same weight as her father when he was born).

Contents 1 Awards 2 Trivia 3 Quotes 4 External links

[edit] Awards

• 2000 Voice of the 21st Century
• 2000 Smash Hits Most Fanciable Male
• 2000 TV Hits Most Good Looking Pop Star
• 2001 The Sun Most Sexiest Male

[edit] Trivia

• Shane's usual hairstyle is spiky, but in the videos for "Tonight" and the songs from the "Allow Us To Be Frank" album he changed it.

• He and his eldest brother, Finbarr, have a company called Shafin Developments Ltd.. They are hoping to expand its portfolio with the proposed construction of 63 luxury apartments at the rear of Lisroyan House, Knappagh Road, Sligo.

• He is a massive Manchester United fan. He and bandmate Nicky Byrne proudly wore their Man Utd scarfs as they were half time guests at Old Trafford for the game between United and Bolton Wanderers on 17/03/07.

[edit] Quotes

• "I'm young, free and single. So if there's anyone out there! Seriously it is very hard to have girlfriends as we are away so much - that's the reality of it and it's going to be worse before it gets better." (Shane on having girlfriends in the business).
• "I felt weird - I was dead paranoid about it. I thought, 'Is everyone staring at me, is it obvious?'" (Shane on having to wear make-up).
• "I used to have a toy cat called Kitty. It wasn't a pink cat but it wasn't a black cat either if you know what I mean. It was something a girl would definitely have had. I'd hide him under the bed when my friends came round."
• "I was caught speeding past a hospital doing 47 mph in a 30 mph zone. There were four of us in the car and it was just after I passed my test. We were on our way to the Irish trials for rugby and we were late so on the bigger roads I was probably going a lot faster. Luckily the cop loved rugby so he let me off although he wasn't too happy with my dodgy number plate."
• "I went away for a three-day rugby tournament and I forgot all my boxer shorts. We were in the middle of nowhere and I had to wear the same pair day in, day in, day out, even during the matches. They smelt after a while!"

[edit] External links

• Official Website
• Shane Filan NL
• Shane Filan at the Internet Movie Database