Best known for his 14 chart-topping singles and 44 million album sales with Irish boyband Westlife, Shane Filan is embarking on a major UK tour following the release of his second solo offering, Right Here.

With Shane this month bringing the new show to Birmingham's Symphony Hall, Lauren Foster chatted to him about the new album, his Westlife days and his love of Michael Jackson...

You released your second record, Right Here, in September last year. Can you tell us about the album, Shane?
I was working on Right Here for five or six months last year. It’s doing really well; the fans seem to love it, which is great. I’ve released a couple of singles off it and we’ve now arrived at that special time of the year - tour time. I’m really looking forward to getting out on the road and performing.

The album reached number one in the Irish chart in its first week. It must be a great feeling getting that much support from your home country?
That was a very special moment - a really big day. It’s something you obviously hope for and would love to happen, so it was a very proud moment for me to have my own number one album, officially. And yes, it was even more special being in my home country.

The second track off the album - I Could Be - features former Girls Aloud star Nadine Coyle. How did that come about?
I Could Be was one of the first songs we wrote when we went to Denmark for a writing session. Its sound was brilliant. I knew it was definitely going to be a single, and the record label were very excited about it. Because it was a big song vocally, we needed to find somebody who had a big voice from a girl point of view. Nadine was one of the first mentioned. We sent her the track and she loved it. We were in the studio a month later recording it. She does an amazing job; she’s such a great singer. I’m really, really proud of that song.  

What’s your relationship like with your manager, Louis Walsh?
It’s great! I have a great relationship with him. I’ve known him quite a long time. I trust him 100% and he trusts me. We’re very honest with each other, and that’s what I need in a manager. I need someone who, number one, believes in me, and number two, can really deliver for me - and he does. He really does his best for me and we’re still going strong after 18 years.

Is it true that your mum spent months trying to get hold of him prior to your Westlife success?
She was calling him on and off for a couple of months, yeah. She was calling during the day, but Louis actually works later. He comes into his office mid-afternoon and stays until nighttime - he’s a late riser. She kept missing him, but one night he answered the phone and the rest is history. I met him a few weeks later. I have a lot to thank my mum for when it comes to my career. It’s a pretty cool story, yeah.

As the former lead singer of Westlife, you’re used to performing in a group. How did you find your first solo performance?
It was very weird, actually. The first night I performed was a couple of years ago at Liverpool’s Philharmonic Hall. It holds a couple of thousand people, but it felt as though it was about 200,000. It was quite scary, but I had my band with me. I have a great band I tour with who get involved in the show, so I never feel like I’m completely on my tod. Playing the Philharmonic Hall was as amazing as playing in a big stadium. I’d never felt the intensity of a crowd so close to me. A smaller venue can be as loud as an arena - if not louder - because they’re all screaming at you, they’re all singing at you. It’s an amazing atmosphere in these venues, and that’s why I can’t wait to get back out there.

Back in your Westlife days, you were signed to Simon Cowell’s label. How was that experience?
We signed to his label early on, before he was famous. He basically worked with us right through until our last album, right until the very end. He picked all our singles and picked all our number ones. He was amazing to work with, an unbelievable guy to work with. He always knew what he wanted and he was usually right. Sometimes we’d be thinking, ‘Oh god, that’s the wrong one to go with’, but the next thing we knew it would be at number one. He was a very funny character and a great music man. That’s why he’s so successful.

You’ve got three children - Nicole, Patrick and Shane. Are they fans of your music?
They are, yes, definitely. They’ve grown up with daddy just being a singer, so they know no different. They miss me a lot when I go away, but they’re used to it now. They come to the shows if they can. They love going on tour, they love coming away for a weekend. They’re going to be on Easter holidays for about half the tour, so they’re looking forward to seeing the big double decker tour bus. I think they’re more excited about the bus than the show!

Has music always been your passion?
Absolutely. I think Michael Jackson really got me into it - the Bad album and stuff. I was probably about six or seven when that came out. That really got me into pop music, and I idolised him for years. I literally used to dress up and wear hats and gloves to look like him. I was a proper full-time fan. Without Michael, I probably wouldn’t be singing.

Did you have any other musical influences growing up?
When I got a bit older I was into The Backstreet Boys and Take That. I loved the whole boyband thing, obviously. If you’re into music as a young lad, I think boybands are the next step - I was mad into that. I loved the way The Backstreet Boys did their harmonies and their vocals; they were so powerful. Once I got into them, that was it. Westlife happened fairly quickly after that. Funnily enough, our first ever proper gig with Louis was supporting The Backstreet Boys. That was a pretty unreal experience, to get to meet them. It felt like I was meeting Michael Jackson.

It’s not uncommon these days for musicians to take acting roles on TV - Boyzone’s Keith Duffy in Coronation Street, for example. Is this something you’ve ever considered?
You know what, I started out acting and singing when I was younger. I did a lot of musicals - Oliver!, Grease and stuff like that. I was on stage doing that as a young kid, but singing is something that I love. It’s something I don’t need to think about. Singing is like breathing - I love to sing. I love the idea of maybe doing a small part in a movie or something. I don’t know whether I’m any good at acting, though. It’s something that would be a bit alien to me, but I love the idea of making movies and being on set watching it happen. It’s something maybe in the future I would do. Maybe just a small part with Tom Cruise in something like Mission: Impossible 7!

You must get asked this all the time, but is there any possibility of a Westlife reunion in the future?
I don’t know. At the moment there are no plans for it. Whether that will change in the future, I don’t know. We all stay in touch and we all get on very well, so who knows?

And finally, your tour starts in March. Do you have anything else in the pipeline for 2016?
I’m going to be travelling a bit more, doing trips to Asia for promo and stuff for the album. I work only three or four months in advance. You never know what might come up later in the year, so I don’t like planning too far ahead. I definitely want to get my golf a bit better, though, so I’m going to practise a lot more. I’m a big golf fan, so playing is my recreation for 2016.
It’s going to be a busy year. I have a few different things in the pipeline, so we’ll see...

Shane Filan is playing at Symphony Hall, Birmingham on Saturday 26 March.

Tickets are priced £35.00 - £50.00 and are available HERE