My whole life changed when Michael Jackson brought out the Bad album when I
was about eight or nine. He took over my life. I even had a shiny glove and
hat like him! Later when I did my first proper stage show aged 12, it was Grease at the Hawkswell Theatre in Sligo, for a few minutes I thought that I was
Michael Jackson and I loved it! I felt so happy and it was at that moment I
realised that I wanted to be a performer.
I also got to know Kian and Mark through those shows. In fact Kian only lived
a mile from my house, but we never really hung out together because I was a
year ahead of him in school.
I was a big Boyzone fan at school, but I always got laughed at because it
wasn't really cool to like them back then. I was knocked out by their style
and success and I couldn't believe that a bunch of Irish lads could do that.
It really made me want to be in a pop group. The first idea I had was with my
friend Michael Garrett - we thought of starting a four-piece and calling it
SC4, after our school, Summerhill College. I asked Kian if he was interested
but he just laughed. He was really into heavy rock back then and he said "A
boyband? You've got to be joking!"
Kian's story
I got married for the first time when I was seven! The wedding was at the
back of an empty old house in the street where I lived. My first 'wife'
dressed in a white communion dress and I put on my bow tie. I think that
marriage only lasted a few days, then I got a divorce and married someone
else. It was a great laugh and it gave me a good excuse to snog different
girls!
The other thing in my life was performing. When I was four, I went in for my
first talent competition. They're a big tradition in our country and kids get
to perform anything they want: poetry reading, singing, dancing, playing an
instrument; you can do just about anything. At the first one I recited a poem
called whispers at a hotel in Sligo. I won and still have the little trophy.
Then, when I was about ten, I dreamed of being a rock star. I started playing
the guitar and actually taught myself before I had any proper lessons. I used
to love rock bands like Metallica, Guns 'N' Roses, Iron Maiden and Bon Jovi,
and I was always practising loud guitar solos and jamming with friends. Four
of us formed a band which lasted for a long while. We went through various
names, I remember our first name was Scrod! One time we went into a talent
contest and this time we won £500. That didn't last as long as the trophy!
Mark's story.
When I was a baby I had trouble sleeping, so my mum used to put the radio on
when she left me in the cot in her bedroom. These days I still can't go to
sleep without a radio or a television on!
The biggest change for me when I was young was leaving my local school aged
12 and going to Summerhill college in Sligo. That was a massive change. I was
not as mature or as 'with it' as the other lads. My social life was just
staying at home and playing with my cousins, which was very boring to the
Sligo guys. I'm a shy person, so it took me a while to settle at Summerhill.
However, one big influence on my life was seeing the movie Grease, first of
all I couldn't believe such a brilliant movie existed and then I saw it as a
stage show in Hawkswell Theatre. I didn't know Shane then, but I was in the
audience with my mum thinking that he was good and had a great voice.
Watching him really hit me and made me even more determined to get into
musicals. It's amazing that watching Shane had such an influence on me,
especially when you think how every thing has turned out in the band.
My other musical memory, is working in a restaurant as a teenager where they
always played Words by Boyzone which was in the charts at the time. That is
my least favourite Boyzone song because it always reminds me of cleaning
toilets.
Nicky's story
I don't mind admitting it, I was quite a sensitive boy. If I can home from
school and my mam wasn't in, I would cry at the door. So when I went to play
football for Leeds United I got very homesick, and then later, when the new
manager, George Graham told me that they weren't going to keep me on because
I was only 5ft 10in - too short for a goalie - I was devastated. I actually
dreaded coming back to Dublin, but my mam and dad were fantastic to me at
that toughest time in my life. And so was Georgina.
I'd never had a serious girlfriend until I met Georgina at school. For ages I
didn't know what to say to her and she was so shy she wouldn't talk to me
either. I would do laps in the corridor between classes, so I would pass her.
I remember the first night we went out was the day before my 16th birthday. I
was really nervous when I met her dad for the first time, but he was great.
As a lot of people know already, her dad is the Irish Prime Minister, Bertie
Aherne, but he's just a normal Dublin guy. Me and Georgina have been together
for five years now.
Bryan's story
I got a lot of flak when I was a kid because I was really fat, which was hard
on me emotionally. It was not that I was huge, but I had a big belly and a
fat face. I got called Fatso and Fatboy all the time and it had a big effect
on me. For instance, girls were never interested in me.
I was in love with the same girl for eight years. She was the love of my life
and I thought about her every day - I still do even now. Once we both got
drunk and I told her I'd been mad about her all this time. She couldn't
believe it and she was in tears. She said that she just wanted to stay
friends because of this other guy, and that's hard to hear when you love
someone so much.
Around December 1997, I was introduced to two guys - Tim and Darragh - and we
started a band together. We called it Cartel. We were together all through
the first part of 1998 and every thing looked like it was taking off. We even
got recognised in the street. I'm sure that we could have gone onto something
big, but we didn't have any money behind us, so there was a limit to how far
we could go. Still, I will never forget being in that band, it was the best
experience of my life, well, until I got into Westlife obviously!