Westlife's Love Life!

Creme Magazine [New Zealand], February 2000

thanks to Jo Fergus for this article

Irish sensations Westlife have blown all competition out of the water. When it comes to scmoozing a crowd of screaming girls, these boys are in a league of their own. It's been nearly two years and already Westlife have won Smash Hits best new band, had numerous singles at number 1 AND are about to sing and dance their own way through their own Spice Girls-style film. Westlife boys have raw talent. It's not often manager Ronan Keating (Boyzone) stumbles across a group of good-looking lads with strong voices, acting experience and fiery ambition. They have the X-factor to potentially out-do any boy band on the planet.

Westlife member Shane is up for questioning! As much as Creme would like to find out the goss on all of them, Shane appears to be the mysterious one of the bunch.

Read on as Shane bears all .......

DO YOU HAVE A GIRLFRIEND?
No, no girlfriend. If I could, I would have a girlfriend tomorrow, definitely. Nicky has had a girlfriend for the past five years. Her father is the Prime Minister of Ireland, so you could say he doesn't have to pay any taxes!

WHO WAS YOUR FIRST CRUSH?
Olivia Newton John! She was amazing. And one of my teachers when I was 14 was very cute. Everyday I was like.....when I grow big and strong, someday you'll be mine. But I've never been in love. I'm waiting for the day and it better come quick!

WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR IN A GIRL?
Hair colour doesn't bother me but looks are definitely important to me. I mean she doesn't have to be a model or anything, just cute.

BLOND OR BRUNETTE?
All of them! I love the look of Catherine Zeta-Jones. I love sexy looking girls. But then again I really like cute, puppy dog-looking girls. I like girls that act younger than they should, kinda cute, cuddly andinnocent. I don't like too much of a serious girl.

HOW DOES A GIRL WIN YOUR HEART?
Well, I can't tell you that, otherwise all the girls will be doing it! They'll just have to come up, do their best and see what happens.

IF YOU HAD A GIRLFRIEND, WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO OFFER HER?
A horrendous schedule!

AS A WESTLIFE MEMBER, IS IT HARD TO MEET A GIRL THAT IS GENUINELY INTERESTED IN YOU, RATHER THAN YOUR STARDOM?
Well people say all the time "It must be so hard, blah blah blah". It depends. It is hard to meet genuine girls though. You do kinda wonder if they'd talk to you if you were a normal bloke or only because I'm in Westlife. But you do meet a lot of girls - put it this way, being in Westlife definitely helps when it comes to girls. You get a lot more options. But you know within five or so minutes after chatting to them if they're genuine or not. I know anyway, I've learnt from it."

HAVE YOU OR ANY OF THE OTHER LADS CRASHED AND BURNED USING PICK UP LINES?
I think we kinda stay away from pick-up lines to be honest because I don't think they work anymore. I think girls have heard every pick up line in the book and twice over. So we just stick to the normal "What's your name, how are ya doin?" But if you spot a girl, like in a bar, and you catch her looking at you and you're looking at her too, what I do is keep staring at her. I mean, I won't be like weird or anything.

DID YOU MEET ANY GIRLS WHEN YOU WERE IN NEW ZEALAND EARLIER THIS YEAR?
No. I met my pillow and that was it.

WHAT DOES IT FEEL LIKE HAVING ENORMOUS NUMBERS OF GIRLS SCREAMING AT YOU?
Oh, it's brilliant. Of course, it's brilliant! [laughs] it's great, especially when girls are screaming and shouting your name. It gives you kinda more inspiration to do more, you know what I mean, the more the merrier!

DO YOU USUALLY GIVE OUT MANY VALENTINES?
Yeah ... usually one year to a new lover or infatuation in my life. I think I might send Catherine Zeta-Jones one this year, she actually might get it. I hope to meet her ... yeah!

HAVE YOU RECEIVED MANY VALENTINES?
Most years I get three or four or eight. One year I got none, I was devastated, I was only 10! [laughs]

SINCE THE BEGINNING OF WESTLIFE, DO YOU THINK YOU HAVE GROWN UP?
Totally, you won't believe how much this job will mature you. We still act like idiots, but my outlook on life is more serious. Next year, I'm planning on building a house for my parents. Not many people can do that at 20.

WHERE DO YOU SEE WESTLIFE IN FIVE YEARS TIME?
Well I hope in six or seven years time, if Westlife ends, I hope I don't look back and say "Have I wasted time?" Now that I think about it, what will I do? I feel like I've done it all. The only thing that worries me about being in a band is being bored. Some day it will end but in the meantime we plan to break the five year boy-band record!

ARE YOU COMING BACK TO NEW ZEALAND SOON?
We were meant to come back in September '99 but were headlining the next Smash Hits tour so we couldn't miss out on that. I'd say we will be back in the next six months or so, definitely. We love New Zealand!

article © Creme Magazine