Meet Westlife!!

Tiger Beat Magazine, February 2000

Thanks to Jenny Wilkinson for this article!

Meeting incredibly cute and talented guys is a typical day's work here at Tiger Beat. We've lunched with *nsync, gone shopping with Backstreet Boys, hung out in the recording studio with LFO, etc. And though we don't mean to be a drag, you've got to be pretty darn incredible to make a dent in our swoon-o-meter. But swoon we did when the Irish lads of Westlife dropped by our offices for a chat over brunch. They were so sweet, so charming, so cute, and their impromptu a cappella perfomance left us weak in the knees. Nicky, Shane, Kian, Bryan and Mark reminded you blasé, TB editers that, at heart, we're just as susceptible to captivating crooners as our readers. And apparently, we're not alone.
Westlife's three singles in the UK - Swear It Again, If I Let You Go, and Flying Without Wings - all debuted at number one on the charts, stirring up Westlife mania all across Europe! That's a record breaking feat you'll understand when the guys' debut album makes its way Stateside this March. Keep your ears perked for their single, and find out why we love Westlife right here in this intimate chat with TB!

Nicky Byrne
Birthday: October 9, 1978
Toothbrush color: Green and white
Favorite Movie: Armageddon
Favorite singer: AJ from Backstreet Boys
Celebrity Crush: Elizabeth Hurley
What do you look for in a girl?
Kind of a posh girl. You know, really elegant, really sexy - kind of short skirts. Eyes are very important to me, really. Eyes are the most important thing, really. That's the first thing you see in a girl.
What's the most romantic thing you've ever done for Valentine's Day? When I was playing soccer in England, I went out with a girl and on Valentine's Day I filled her room with balloons and flowers. Another time, I had been away for two or three months, I flew home without her knowing it and drove straight to her house and went and rang the door bell. Her mom answered the door and I was like "Where is she?" And she goes, "She's up in the shower." So I went into her bedroom and waited for her. She came in and she was like drying her hair and she was like "Ahhh!" She just came in and she was shocked. I remember she was shaking because she hadn't seen me in so long.

Shane Filan
Birthday: July 5, 1979
Toothbrush color: Purple
Favorite Movie: Armageddon. We all went to see that together. We all nearly cried, we were all like 'sniff'. We were all just trying to cover ourselves up.
Favorite Singers: George Michael, Michael Jackson, and Brian from Backstreet Boys
Celebrity Crush: Catherine Zeta-Jones. She's quality
What do you look for in a girl? Lools are important to me but aren't the end all. Cute face. I think Catherine Zeta-Jones. Nice legs. Good personality, someone you can really have fun with. Cute looking face, that's what I like. What's the most romantic thing you've ever done for Valentine's Day? Just cards and roses.

Kian Egan
Birthday: April 29, 1980
Toothbrush color: No favorite color, just a toothbrush.
Favorite movie: Titanic
Favorite Singer: AJ from Backstreet Boys. I went to Virgin Records and got all the Backstreet Boys videos that you can't get int he UK.
Celebrity Crushes: Heather Graham, Cameron Diaz
What do you look for in a girl? Just a good personality and someone who can have a good laugh but can be serious at times. I'm not really fussy, she doesn't have to be blonde hair and blue eyes or dark hair and brown eyes. Just a nice person.
What's the most romantic thing you've ever done on Valentine's Day? The most romantic thing I've ever done, I think, is right before the band started. I sent her a bunch of red roses. I haden't even left and she thought that was very romantic. I think little things are more romantic than big things like a bunch of flowers and stuff. Spending time with a girl - if you've got a girlfriend - and just being romantic in general.

Bryan McFadden
Birthday: April 12, 1980
Toothbrush color: White and blue
Favorite movies: Patch Adams, Titanic, and Matrix
Favorite singers: Brian from Backstreet Boys, Brian McKnight, Frank Sinatra
Celebrity Crush: Jennifer Love Hewitt
What do you look for in a girl? I like cute girls. I am not into big sexy girls - wearing tight clothes and short skirts. I don't really like that. I like a girl who's cute and attractive. Just in a pair of jeans, not really a tomboy but just really natural looking. Not wearing much makeup. I like girls who have a laugh, not really stuck-up. They're just really down to earth. But I'll take Jennifer Love Hewitt.
What's the most romantic thing you've ever done for Valentine's Day? When I really fancied this girl - it was two years ago, when I was 16 - I wrote a song about her and went to her front door and knocked on her door and I sang the song to her. She slapped me. So I walked off with my tail between my legs. But I thought that was romantic.

Mark Feehily
Birthday: May 28, 1980
Toothbrush color: White and blue
Favorite movies: The Nutty Professor. I like big movies like Titanic and Amrageddon, wacky movies.
Favorite singers: Mariah Carey, Michael Jackson and Destiny's Child.
Celebrity Crush: Mariah Carey
What do you look for in a girl? I don't think looks are 100 percent important, but when you see someone, unless you can read people's minds, you can't tell what they're like. It's the first inital thing that attracts you to someone, the way you look, so it's slightly important but it's not very important. There's no particular type of look of a person that I like. Generally being able to have a good laugh or whatever. Just be kind of happy and not be the kind of person that is negative.
What's the most romantic thing you've ever done for Valentine's Day? I can't remember anything romantic. I just remember breaking it off with a girl on Valentine's Day!

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