After winning six awards at the December Smash Hits Poll Winners Party, the Irish hunks can rightly lay claim to the title of Britain's biggest pop acts - but where did it all start?
Original band members Shane Filan, Kian Egan and Mark Feehily were born and grew up in the windy Irish west coast town of Sligo. In , after success on local TV, Boyzone's manager Louis Walsh snapped then up and landed them a support slot in Dublin with boy band stalwarts The Backstreet Boys.
For the gig the trio contracted two further singers, Dubliners Bryan McFadden and Nicky Byrne. Boyzone frontman Ronan Keating then stepped in to manage the band and help nurture its raw talent.
In April , Westlife's first single, Swear It Again, stormed into the top of the UK charts and since then there's been no looking back .he boys held the Christmas number one spot with their version of Abba's hit I Have A Dream for four weeks.
They then outsold the Spice Girls three times over with their new album Coast To Coast in November Rumours of a feud sprang up when Bryan dismissed the Spices' album Forever saying: "I've heard it, but I thought all the songs sounded the same." Mel C retorted on TV that she thought the boys were "talentless".
At the start of pop's best-kept secret was revealed when Bryan announced that he was to wed former Atomic Kitten singer Kerry Katona. It later emerged that the couple were expecting a child together - baby girl Molly was born on August 31, and second daughter Lilly Sue followed on February 5,
The other boys have also maintained fairly high profile romances. Nicky married Irish prime minister's daughter Georgina Ahern in August , and the pair have welcomed three children together. Kian meanwhile married actress and singer Jodi Albert in and much like Nicky, the happy couple have also welcomed three children together.
Shane married childhood sweetheart Gillian Walsh, who is the cousin of Kian, in The couple have three children, Nicole, 17, Patrick, 14, and Shane Jr,
Mark came out as gay in , revealing that he was in a relationship with photographer Kevin McDaid. The pair got engaged in , but on 31 December , Mark confirmed the pair had split. The singer has since entered into a relationship with Cailean O'Neill, and the pair welcomed daughter Layla, three, in October
On March 9, Westlife fans were left stunned after Bryan McFadden revealed that he was to leave the band, saying he wanted to spend more time with his wife Kerry and their two young children. His family break was short lived, however and in October , he announced he and his reality TV star wife were splitting up. The rest of the group continued successfully as a four, before announcing their amicable split in October
The band didn't stay apart forever, as in it emerged that they were planning a reunion, although Bryan McFadden would not be involved. They released their first single Hello My Love to critical acclaim at the start of , and it became a certified gold hit seven months later in the UK. The band released their 11th studio album, Spectrum, later in the year before heading on a global tour.
Westlife continue to make music , with their latest album, Wild Dreams, being released in after they signed on with Warner Music UK and East West Records.