Nicky Byrne

Nicky Byrne
Nicky Byrne at The Nobel Peace Prize Concert 2009
Background information
Birth name	Nicholas Bernard James Adam Byrne Jr
Born	9 October 1978 (1978-10-09) (age 33) Dublin, Ireland
Genres	Pop
Occupations	Singer, songwriter
Instruments	Vocal
Years active	1998–present
Associated acts	Westlife

Nicholas Bernard James Adam Byrne, Jr (born 9 October 1978 in Dublin) is a singer-songwriter, radio presenter and former footballer. From 1998 until 2012 he was the oldest member of Irish pop band, Westlife.

Before his music career, he played professional football and represented Republic of Ireland at several underage levels. Since then he has had a successful international radio career. His wife is the daughter of former Irish Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, and they have twin sons.

Public life

Football career

Byrne was a footballer who played for Home Farm F.C. and St. Kevins Boys F.C. in North Dublin.^[1] He became a professional football player, and joined Leeds United as a goalkeeper in 1995, and was a squad member of the FA Youth Cup winning team of 1997^[2]

He played for Leeds for two years, leaving when his contract expired in June 1997. He played in a reserve game for Scarborough F.C. and in a trial game with Cambridge United before returning to join Dublin club Shelbourne. He then signed for Cobh Ramblers playing 11 games, then St. Francis F.C., all in Ireland's League of Ireland.^[3]

On 14 May 2009 Nicky was a substitute for a Liverpool F.C. Legends XI that played against an All Star XI in a Hillsborough Memorial match to mark the 20th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster. All the proceeds from the match went to the Marina Dalglish appeal.

He represented the Republic of Ireland at U15, U16 and U18 levels. He is a fan of Celtic FC, and on 9 August 2011 played in a Celtic Legends XI at Celtic Park in front of a 54,000 crowd against a Manchester Utd Legends team.

Music career

Main article: Westlife

In June 1998, Byrne attended an audition for new Irish boyband, where he was spotted by Boyzone manager Louis Walsh, who approached him to join his new venture, Westlife. Byrne joined Westlife along with Kian Egan, Mark Feehily, Shane Filan and Brian McFadden. The band's name had to be changed to Westlife after it was discovered a number of bands already had the name Westside.

Byrne revealed in Westlife: Our Story that he had wanted to change the name of the band to West High; but the others preferred Westlife. His first album with Westlife was released in November, 1999, titled Westlife. With Westlife, Byrne has had fourteen UK number ones and seven number one albums in the UK, and sold forty million records worldwide.^[4]

Byrne also had a number one single in Ireland in 2002, alongside the Republic of Ireland national football team and Dustin the Turkey with the Irish 2002 FIFA World Cup anthem, "Here Come The Good Times (Ireland)".

Byrne has also co-written a few songs, along with the other band members, including:^[5]

• "Nothing Is Impossible"
• "Don't Let Me Go"
• "When You Come Around"
• "Imaginary Diva"
• "Reason For Living"
• "Crying Girl"
• "You Don't Know"
• "Never Knew I Was Losing You"
• "Where We Belong"
• "Singing Forever"
• "I Won't Let You Down"
• "You See Friends (I See Lovers)"
• "I'm Missing Loving You"
• "When It Comes to Love"
• "Too Hard to Say Goodbye"

Byrne is also currently one of the board of directors of Clikthrough, a video interactive site.^[6]

Radio career

Byrne presented several editions of the Celebrity Sunday programme on RTÉ 2fm in 2010.^[7] Listeners tuned in from as far and wide as Mexico, Chile, England, Scotland, Philippines and Indonesia. The fourth and final edition of the programme, broadcast on February 14, 2010, was a top-ten international trend on Twitter.^[8]

FM104 offered him a job in 2011.^[9]

Private life

Family

Byrne married his childhood sweetheart Georgina Ahern, on 5 August 2003 at the Wicklow Registry Office, Wicklow, County Wicklow.^[10] The civil ceremony was followed on 9 August by a church blessing at the Roman Catholic Church of St Pierre et St Paul in Gallardon, Eure-et-Loir, France and a reception at the nearby 16th century Château d'Esclimont.^[11]

Georgina gave birth to fraternal twin sons, Jay and Rocco, on 20 April 2007, six weeks premature.^[12] The children were christened on 15 July 2007 in the Saint Sylvester Roman Catholic Church in Malahide, County Dublin.^[13]

Godparents for the children are Nicky's sister Gillian Byrne and her husband Mark Gallagher and Georgina's sister Cecelia Ahern and Nicky's brother Adam McGarry Byrne.^[14]

Nicky's father, Nikki Byrne Sr., died on November 3, 2009, from a suspected heart attack. Westlife's promotional tour of the UK was cancelled as Nicky flew to Dublin to be with his family.^[15] Byrne Sr. sang part-time on Dublin's cabaret and karaoke scene and was presented with a Harley-Davidson motorbike by his son on his sixtieth birthday party the year before his death.^[16]

References

1. ^ "Home Farm F.C.". http://www.homefarmfc.ie/news.php. 
2. ^ "Nicky Byrne — Biography". http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0970757/bio. 
3. ^ "Club History". http://www.cobhramblers.com/history.htm. 
4. ^ "Westlife line-up spring show". Manchester Evening News. http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/entertainment/music/rock_and_pop/s/1020062_westlife_lineup_spring_show. 
5. ^ Westlife Songwriters List. thecommitted.net.
6. ^ http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/people.asp?privcapId=61249990
7. ^ "Nicky Byrne hosts 2fm's Celebrity Sunday". RTÉ Entertainment. http://www.rte.ie/arts/2010/0205/byrnen.html. Retrieved 2010-02-05. 
8. ^ "Nicky Byrne signs for extra 2fm shows". RTÉ Entertainment. http://www.rte.ie/arts/2010/0215/byrnen.html. Retrieved 2010-02-15. 
9. ^ "Job offer for Westlife's Nicky Byrne". RTÉ Entertainment. http://www.rte.ie/ten/2011/1021/byrnen.html. Retrieved 2011-10-21. 
10. ^ BBC News (9 August 2003). "Westlife star's French wedding" (Website). BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/showbiz/3135709.stm. Retrieved 2007-12-22. 
11. ^ "Taoiseach becomes grandad to twin boys". The Irish Times. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2007/0421/1176455026505.html. 
12. ^ Daniel Kilkelly. "Westlife star becomes dad to twins" (Website). Digital Spy. http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/showbiz/a45541/westlife-star-becomes-dad-to-twins.html?rss. Retrieved 2007-12-22. 
13. ^ "Westlifer Nicky Byrne's twin babies are christened". London: Daily Mail. 16 July 2007. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=468674&in_page_id=1811. 
14. ^ "Bertie's a double winner". Irish Independent. http://www.independent.ie/national-news/berties-a-double-winner-1038154.html.  Breda Heffernan, Monday July 16, 2007.
15. ^ Ben Todd and Eva Marie Gibney. Westlife star Nicky Byrne puts on a brave face as he comforts his mother after father's death. Daily Mail. 4th November 2009.
16. ^ "Nicky Byrne mourns death of father". RTÉ Entertainment. http://www.rte.ie/arts/2009/1104/byrnen.html. Retrieved 2009-11-04. 

External links

• Nicky Byrne Official Twitter Page
• Official Website

Persondata
Name	Byrne, Nicky
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	9 October 1978
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death