About Shane Filan

Shane Steven Filan (born 5 July 1979) is an Irish singer and songwriter. He was one of the lead singers of an Irish boy band Westlife before the group disbanded in 2012.

Shane Filan was born on 5 July 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. Shane Filan was a fan of Michael Jackson as a child, and claimed the singer inspired him to pursue a career in music

Personal Life:

Shane Filan married his childhood sweetheart, Gillian on 28 December 2003 at Ballintubber Abbey, followed by a reception at Ashford Castle, Ireland. Gillian gave birth to their first child, a daughter, Nicole Rose, at Sligo General Hospital on 23 July 2005. Their second child, a son, Patrick Michael, was born at Sligo General Hospital on 15 September 2008. On 5 July 2009 (the day of his 30th birthday) Shane announced that he and Gillian were having their third child. Shane Peter, named after his father, was born at 9.34pm on 22 January 2010 weighing in at 6 lbs 9oz.

Shane likes to play golf in his spare time, but loves horses much more. He and his family own more than 70 of them, and used to compete at horse tournaments. All of Shane's horses are named Carlton something (e.g. Carlton Flight, Carlton Clover Association of Ireland). A massive Manchester United fan, Shane Filan and his bandmate Nicky Byrne proudly wore their Man Utd scarves as they were half time guests at Old Trafford for the game between United and Bolton Wanderers.

In 2010, Shane Filan participated and won Soccer Aid, a British charity football match, alongside bandmate Nicky Byrne and the Rest of the World Team. Following in the footsteps of his bandmate, Kian, Filan appeared as Walsh's guest judge in the groups category of The X Factor. .