Big Saturday Interview with Nicky
“We’d have to call it a day if one of us quit now. We are a band of four and without all four Westlife would be no more”. PAUL MARTIN’S BIG Saturday interview with Nicky Byrne on taking on Take That and the joys of fatherhood.
01 January 2009 – WHEN Westlife made the decision to take a year-long holiday in the summer someone must have forgotten to tell Nicky Byrne. The hunky pop star never was one for resting on his laurels – even when they include more than EUR15 million in career earnings and over a dozen number one hits. Surely Nicky should have been happy sitting on his sofa scoffing junk food, watching football and piling on the pounds. He’s earned it, after all, having been through a gruelling 10 years of promotion, touring and recording as part of Ireland’s biggest pop sensations .
But if you happened to be watching the telly over the past three weeks you might have noticed the Dubliner popping up on the Late Late Toy Show, hosting the Childline gig at the Point and, quite randomly, on BBC1’s Question Of Sport.
Holiday?
As Nicky strolls confidently into the room to meet me he looks far from that out-of-shape burger-scoffing crooner. He’s toned and trim and styled to the max in designer clothes with perfectly groomed hair. He flashes that perfect smile – minus the braces he sported for a couple of years – and greets me a familiar: “Howya doin’ Paul. Great to see you again”. Nicky has always been a shrewd operator when dealing with the media.
Nicky has always been a shrewd operator when dealing with the media.
When Westlife first started off he’d regularly call or text me all hours to let me know exciting new places, people and experiences the lads had been enjoying – never one to waste a good PR opportunity in those early days. He seems as chirpy and relaxed as I have ever seen him, settling back on the sofa and waving at well-wishers who are passing by behind us.
If rumours are to be believed, Westlife we be well and truly back on the pop map by next summer with a new album, massive tour and a huge promotion blitz. When the call comes to pick up the microphone again Nicky, for one, is determined to be ready – mentally and physically. He tells me “I’ve been working out three or four days a week and looking after myself that way. “I have my own gym at home so that helps. “It’s kitted out with running machines and weights and the like. I’ve always been big into the fitness side of things since I was a Leeds Utd youth team player and I still try to keep pretty fit”. Nicky is candid and open when I ask him if he ever feared taking a lengthy break from the group could spell the end for Westlife.
They flirted with such a horrendous prospect five years ago when Brian McFadden quit the group to go solo. But they regrouped and came back stronger than ever with a barrage of No1 hits. But Nicky doesn’t beat around the bush when I ask him if another casualty really would finish them off for good: “Oh definitely, there would be no coming back from that. We’d have to call it a day if one of us quit now. We are a band of four people and without all four Westlife would not exist. We all know that.
Surely that’s a pressure cooker situation, I suggest, knowing one feud of disheartened member could bring the whole thing crashing down. He admits: “Of course and we do have arguments from time to time – but it’s always over silly things that blow over as quickly as they occur. “It’s only natural we will disagree over things. Take four people in a meeting in an office on a daily basis and they are not going to see eye-to-eye on everything. But it doesn’t mean someone gets up and hands in the resignation every time does it?. We all get on great and we’re mature enough to be able to disagree on something and not let it bring us all down”.
Nicky may not be the biggest vocalist in the band as Shane and Mark dish out the lead singing roles between them, but he certainly has a significant presence in the running of the band behind the scenes. However, back home in his plush mansion on the outskirts of Dublin Nicky is far from being the boss.
That role is firmly in the tiny hands of his 20-month-old twins Rocco and Jay. Breaking in to a smile Nicky says: “They definitely rule the roost in the Byrne household. The twins are amazing and they are at that age now when they are into everything”. Admirably Nicky and his popular wife Georgina resisted the temptation of hiring nannies to take over when the going got tough and have been savouring their role as parents. Nicky added: “We wanted to do it and live it and experience it all properly. “It was tough the first few months. The sleep deprivation really gets to you but I have to say we have honestly loved every second of it. “Now the boys are at an age where their little personalities are really developing and they are just great fun”.
For now Nicky’s blissful family life may be firmly on the agenda but he knows it won’t be long before the lure of life as a boyband superstar comes calling again. He knows Westlife will have to come up with something extra special to maintain their claim to be one of the world’s top pop bands. And no prizes for guessing who he regards as their biggest rivals: “I think Take That have stunned everyone. You have to hand it to them – every song is slick and their live shows are incredible. But they won’t have it all their own way – we want to give them a run for their money”.
And in a timely moment of publicity genius masterminded by manager Louis Walsh the lads took an unscheduled break to pop up on the X Factor final. Nicky appreciated the magnitude of hitting an audience of 14 million and says: “That was an opportunity too good to refuse, even if it meant cancelling our holidays temporarily. There was no hesitation. You don’t turn down something like the X Factor final. It’s huge”. And he concludes: “We have no intention of walking away any time soon. We still have the fire in the belly”. Take That have stunned everyone. You have to hand it to them. But we want to give them a run for their money.
Source: Irish Daily Mirror – published 27 December 2008.

 

 

 

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