Shane Filan Quotes

I didn't want to be a solo Westlife - covers and ballads - and the reason I signed with Capitol Records was because they wanted me to write songs myself. It was pretty scary, but they put me in a studio in Nashville with some new songwriters, and the results were pretty good.

I've been a solo artist for a year now, and I think I should start thinking about the future now. Every spare time I get, I want to be in the studio and work on music for 2015. It's a lot of work.

The couple of years before I was declared bankrupt were the roughest. The bank letters, the pressure, the stress was awful. You're in this twilight zone of not knowing where your life is going, and yet you're in Westlife. Everything was great with the band. I was earning money, and it looked good.

I'm more of a debit card person, and I live in the 'now'. I don't like credit cards anymore. I try to live with whatever I can afford and don't try to put myself in an awkward position. I've done that before.

It's a big deal to bring your family on the road, you know? I'd love to do it sometime, but you have to work out schools and all that.

After Westlife, I was in a scared place, you know; you've three children, and I worry about providing for them, and I had no guarantees going forward about the future.

You're only as good as your last album.

The adrenaline of performing on stage to a crowd - there's nothing like it.

Working on solo material is something I had always dreamed of doing, and I'm incredibly happy with the results. 'Everything To Me' is a very personal song to me lyrically; it is such an upbeat and optimistic record, perfect for the summer. I can't wait for people to hear it!

Not sure if you know this. But when we first met, I got so nervous I couldn't speak

My mum and dad ran a family cafe in Sligo for 35 years and worked long hours. We grew up in a very hard-working family and had a lovely atmosphere, as we lived above the restaurant. It definitely made me want to work hard, whatever I chose to do. As the baby of seven kids, I was definitely a bit spoilt.

My whole world changed when Michael Jackson brought out the Bad album when I was about eight or nine. He took over my whole life and from then on I wanted to be Michael Jackson. I watched his videos for hours and learned how to dance like him. I would push back the chairs in the room and learn his dance moves. I even taught myself to moonwalk.

Capitol Records were very keen for me to write and see how I got on; I think that is what defined my sound. The first session I had was with two young up-and-coming writers, Nick Atkinson and Tom Wilding, and I went into a session a bit nervous because I hadn't written that many songs before.

I have worked long and hard to try to reduce my debts, and I am devastated that it came to this conclusion. I now intend to focus on the remaining dates of the Westlife tour and my commitments to the band before looking to rebuild a future for my wife, my three children and myself.

I worry about putting food on the table, paying for my kids needs, their college fees in years to come. It's about earning enough to have a living to be able to look after your children.

I think Westlife is very unique: we have a certain sound; we do our thing our way, and we don't try to change too much. I think that's what the fans love about us. We keep giving the fans what they want every year. The style of music never really changes too much.

My wife is my best friend. The thought that people are afraid to go home to their partners for fear of being abused physically or emotionally makes me feel sick. It's not easy but you need to get help and get out.

'Everything To Me' is about everything that's important. It's about my wife, my kids, it's about life, about being happy. It's about life in general, you know, about not knowing what's going to be around the corner, but you've got to enjoy it and enjoy the things you have. My wife, my kids, my health, and stuff like that.

It's amazing how lucky Westlife were and what we achieved. It's very rare to have seven number ones in a row. Ridiculous in fact.

When I finished Westlife, we had - Louie Walsh is still managing me - I was lucky to have options from different labels such as Sony and Universal. When we met Capitol and Nick Raphael, I just believed in them the most, and it looked like they believed in me the most.

Everybody, every tradesman that worked for Shafin or built my house got fully paid, well paid. Everybody got paid. I would like that to be said if I could because I haven't said it before, and it's important. People kind of think we left all these plumbers or electricians without getting paid.

Every year, we couldn't believe it, and even when I look back on it now, to sell 14 million singles, 50 million albums and sell out arenas and stadiums, what Westlife achieved was crazy. It's like One Direction probably don't realise how big they are. They'll look back one day and think, 'Holy God, that was pretty amazing.'

When you realise that money doesn't actually make you happy, it's a quick fix to have things you've always wanted, but then when you have it, you realise that's not what actually makes you happy. It's more about having a great marriage and happy children; that's what life's all about.

I will definitely start in small venues, as I want to find my feet as a performer; the first shows that Westlife did was ten dates at Wembley, which was just crazy. We didn't have a clue what we were doing because it was so big.