| Nicky Byrne | |
|---|---|
Nicky Byrne at The Nobel Peace Prize Concert 2009 |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Nicholas Bernard James Adam Byrne Jr |
| Born | 9 October 1978 Dublin, Ireland |
| Genres | Pop |
| Occupations | Singer, songwriter, radio presenter, TV presenter, footballer |
| Instruments | Vocal |
| Years active | 1998–present |
| Associated acts | Westlife |
Nicholas Bernard James Adam Byrne, Jr (born 9 October 1978) is a singer-songwriter, radio and TV presenter and former footballer. From 1998 until 2011 he was the oldest member of Irish pop band, Westlife.
Before his music career, he played professional football and represented Republic of Ireland at several underage levels. Since then he has had a successful international radio and TV presenting career. His wife Georgina is the daughter of former Irish Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, and they have twin sons called Rocco Bertie Byrne and Jay Nicky Byrne.
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Byrne was a footballer who played for Home Farm and St. Kevins Boys in North Dublin.[1] He became a professional football player, and joined Leeds United as a goalkeeper in 1995, and was a squad member of the FA Youth Cup winning team of 1997[2]
He played for Leeds for two years, leaving when his contract expired in June 1997. He played in a reserve game for Scarborough F.C. and in a trial game with Cambridge United before returning to join Dublin club Shelbourne. He then signed for Cobh Ramblers playing 11 games, then St. Francis F.C., all in Ireland's League of Ireland.[3]
On 14 May 2009 Nicky was a substitute for a Liverpool F.C. 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 54,000 crowd against a Manchester Utd Legends team.
In June 1998, Byrne attended an audition for new Irish boyband, where he was spotted by Boyzone manager Louis Walsh, who approached him to join his new venture, Westlife. Byrne joined Westlife along with Kian Egan, Mark Feehily, Shane Filan and former member Brian McFadden. The band's name had to be changed to Westlife after it was discovered a number of bands already had the name Westside.
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. His first album with Westlife was released in November, 1999, titled Westlife. With Westlife, Byrne has had fourteen UK number ones and seven number one albums in the UK, and sold over 44 million records worldwide. With sales in excess of 44 million, 14 UK number ones and 25 top ten singles. They also 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)".
Byrne has also co-written a few songs, along with the other band members, including:[4]
Byrne is also currently one of the board of directors of Clikthrough, a video interactive site.[5]
Byrne presented several editions of the Celebrity Sunday radio programme on RTÉ 2fm in 2010.[6] Listeners tuned in from as far and wide as Mexico, Chile, England, Scotland, Philippines and Indonesia. The fourth and final edition of the programme, broadcast on February 14, 2010, was a top-ten international trend on Twitter.[7]
FM104 offered him a job in 2011.[8]
Byrne has hosted several events of the Cheerios ChildLine Concert as well as performed with Westlife, and he co-hosted on BBC Radio2 in London with Paddy Kielty on 18 November 2011 as part of Children in Need charity day. Byrne has narrated stage shows such as The Snowman Christmas Special and the "Picture of You" documentary dedicated to former Boyzone member Stephen Gately who died on October 10th, 2009.
He has spoken of his desire for a role on The X Factor.[9]
Nicky was born to proud parents Yvonne and Nicky. His Irish name is Nucal O'Broin. He was born as the middle child, having an older sister, Gillian, and a younger brother, Adam.
Byrne married his childhood sweetheart Georgina Ahern, whom he met when they were about 12 years old, on 5 August 2003 at the Wicklow Registry Office, Wicklow, County Wicklow.[10] The civil ceremony was followed on 9 August by a church blessing at the Roman Catholic Church of St Pierre et St Paul in Gallardon, Eure-et-Loir, France and a reception at the nearby 16th century Château d'Esclimont.[11]
Georgina gave birth to fraternal twin sons, Jay and Rocco, on 20 April 2007, almost eight weeks prematurely. The children were christened on 15 July 2007 in the Saint Sylvester Roman Catholic Church in Malahide, County Dublin.[12]
Godparents for the children are Nicky's sister Gillian Byrne and her husband Mark Gallagher and Georgina's sister Cecelia Ahern and Nicky's brother Adam McGarry Byrne.[13]
Nicky's father, Nikki Byrne Sr., died on November 3, 2009, from a suspected heart attack. Westlife's promotional tour of the UK was cancelled as Nicky flew to Dublin to be with his family.[14] Byrne Sr. sang part-time on Dublin's cabaret and karaoke scene and was presented with a Harley-Davidson motorbike by his son on his sixtieth birthday party the year before his death.[15]
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