Mark Feehily

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Mark Feehily

Background information
Birth name	Marcus Michael Patrick Feehily
Born	May 28, 1980 (age 26)
Origin	Sligo, Ireland
Genre(s)	Pop
Occupation(s)	singer
Instrument(s)	Vocals
Years active	1998 - present
Associated acts	Westlife

Marcus Michael Patrick Feehily (born 28 May 1980 in Sligo, Ireland), better known as Mark Feehily, is a member of the popular Irish vocal pop group, Westlife.

He has two younger brothers named Barry and Colin Feehily. His parents are Marie Verdon and Oliver Feehily.

In Westlife's music, Mark is distinctive for his rich, soulful voice, which is prominently featured in all of Westlife's hits, together with Shane Filan. Nicky Byrne and Kian Egan have less solos.

[edit] Private life

Feehily publicly came out as gay in the UK tabloid The Sun, and announced his long-term relationship with Kevin McDaid.^[1] In an interview he said, "My life has got umpteen times better. My sexuality doesn't define me as a person, but it's a huge part of anyone to be open about it. It's changed my life totally as I feel so much happier and at ease. It's the best thing I've ever done." Unlike his band mates, for years Feehily did not discuss his private life.

Feehily later told Gay.com UK, "I am gay, and I'm very proud of who I am."

In yet another interview, Feehily told the Sydney Morning Herald that despite the fact that the majority of Westlife's fans are female, that there had really been no negative reaction to his revelation. "I am so much happier now and I think our fans can see that," he said. "Through the years of getting to the point where I wanted to come out, I had to go through every kind of emotion, but I can honestly say that the day before I came out, I didn't care what the reaction was going to be. That was the hardest point to get to."

Feehily also said that while he did not intend on getting married right away, he is happy to know he could in Britain with the recent passing of the Civil Partnership Act.