Nicky Byrne

Nicholas Bernard James Adam McGarry Byrne Jr. (born 9 October 1978) is an Irish pop singer, songwriter and radio and television presenter.

He is best known for being a member of the pop group Westlife; Westlife has since released twelve albums, embarked on thirteen world tours, and won some awards, becoming one of the most successful Irish boys groups of all time.

Before his music career, he played professional soccer, representing Republic of Ireland at several teen levels.

Since then he has had a successful TV and radio presenting career.

His wife Georgina is the daughter of former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, and they have fraternal twin sons and a daughter.

He became a professional player, and joined Leeds United as a goalkeeper in 1995, and was a squad member of the FA Youth Cup winning team of 1997.

He played for Leeds for two years, leaving when his contract expired in June 1997.

He played in a reserve game for Scarborough and in a trial game with Cambridge United, before returning to join Dublin club Shelbourne.

He then signed for Cobh Ramblers playing 15 games in all competitions, then St. Francis F.C., all in Ireland's League of Ireland.

In June 1998, Byrne attended an audition for new Irish boyband, where Boyzone manager Louis Walsh approached him to join his new venture, Westlife.

Byrne joined Westlife along with Kian Egan, Mark Feehily, Shane Filan and Brian McFadden.

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.

With Westlife, Byrne has had 25 top ten UK singles, 14 of which were number one, 7 number one albums and has sold in excess of over 55 million records worldwide.

It is certified that Westlife have sold 20.2 million records and videos in the UK across their 14-year career – 6.8 million singles, 11.9 million albums and 1.5 million videos.

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)".

He also co-wrote many of Westlife songs.

In 2003, Byrne guest-hosted an edition of CD:UK with Cat Deeley.

Byrne hosted the closing ceremony of the Special Olympics live from Dublin's Croke Park in front of 80,000 spectators.

Throughout the years, Byrne has appeared on Children in Need and Comic Relief several times.

On 14 May 2009, Byrne was a substitute for a Liverpool 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 crowd of 54,000 against a Manchester Utd Legends team.

In September 2012, it was announced that Byrne would be a contestant for the tenth series of Strictly Come Dancing.

He was the ninth contestant to be eliminated.

He was ranked number two on Ireland's Sexiest Man of 2014.

Byrne participated in and won Soccer Aid 2014.

He scored in the match, played at Old Trafford.

He was the only non-professional player to score in the match.

The Rest of the World team won the game 4–2.

After RTÉ internally chose him to represent Ireland, he released the song "Sunlight" and performed it in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 competition in Stockholm in May 2016, but failed to advance to the final.

Byrne was a footballer and played for Home Farm and St. Kevins Boys in North Dublin.

In early January 2016, it was rumored that RTÉ had internally chosen Byrne to represent Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016.

Byrne had not yet confirmed or denied such information but announced that he would grab the opportunity with both hands if given.

On 13 January, Byrne was confirmed to be the Irish singer for the 2016 contest in Stockholm with the song, "Sunlight".

He performed in the second semi final on 12 May 2016, but failed to advance to the final.

In October 2018, a video was posted to Westlife's official social media platforms announcing the group's reunion as a four-piece.

In 2019, the group headlined "The 20 Tour", named in honour of Westlife's 20th anniversary since its formation and the release of its first single, "Swear It Again", in 1999.

In addition to touring, Westlife also released new music.

"Hello My Love", the first single from the group's eleventh album, Spectrum, debuted on the Graham Norton Show on 10 and 11 January 2019.