Shane Steven Filan (born July 5, 1979) is one of the lead singers in the Irish pop band Westlife. Filan is one of the five original Westlife members, along with other current members Kian Egan, Mark Feehily and Nicky Byrne and former member Brian McFadden.Filan was born on July 5, 1979 to Peter and Mae Filan, and grew up in Sligo, a busy commercial town in the northwest of Ireland. The youngest of seven children, he has three brothers and three sisters: Finbarr, Peter Jr, Yvonne, Liam, Denise and Mairead. His parents owned a diner in Sligo named Carlton Caf'e located on Castle Street and Shane used to work there as a waiter from a very early age.
Filan attended Summerhill College, a Catholic school, with Kian Egan and Mark Feehily. All three of them participated in a school production of Grease when they were about 12. The Hawkswell Theatre became a significant part of their careers. Filan was a fan of Michael Jackson as a child, and claimed the singer inspired him to pursue a career in music.
Before Westlife, Egan and Feehily were with Filan in a band known as I.O.U. with other Sligonians Derrick Lacey, Graham Keighron and Michael "Miggles" Garrett. He partly wrote the IOYOU's song Together Girl Forever. For 6 months, Shane's mum, Mae Filan, tried to phone Louis Walsh (who is also the manager of Boyzone). Eventually, she was able to speak to him and talked about her son's band. 3 of them were dropped and the other 3, Shane, Kian and Mark, joined ventures to finding 2 more slots for the band. Then they were joined by Nicky Byrne and Brian McFadden to form Westside. The name of the band then changed to Westlife as there were already a number of bands with the name Westside.
Filan, along with Mark Feehily, is the main lead singer (first voice) in Westlife. Their first album was released in November, 1999, titled Westlife. With Westlife, Filan has received twenty-eight platinum discs and sold 40 million records worldwide.
