Westlife's Mark gives health update after missing show's due to pneumonia
He's recovered and ready to return to stage!
Last updated 6th Jan 2023
Westlife fans across the UK and Ireland were left gutted at the end of last year when Mark Feehily was forced to pull out of the band's live shows, after it emerged the singer was suffering from pneumonia.
Following six weeks off due to the illness, Mark has now delighted his fans by revealing he's been given the green light by his doctor to return to work and doing what he loves. Taking to Instagram to share the good news, the 42-year-old shared a video of himself alongside the song 'I'm Coming Out' by Diana Ross.
He told fans: 'Celebrate good times! Hey all, great news… I’ll be FLYING WITHOUT WINGS once more!
'Finally the doctor has said that I can start getting myself back to normal. I was in his waiting room earlier worried he was going to tell me “no you’re still not right” but he was very happy with how I am doing.'
Mark went on to share thanks, adding: 'I have so much thanks to give. I won’t lie, although there are lots of people much worse off than me, the past 6 weeks have been very difficult. Weirdly the most difficult thing was not being ill (that wasn’t easy either!) it was having no choice but to sit back and watch my own band be on tour without me and miss all of the shared moments of joy and happiness with the other lads onstage and of course the interaction with the audiences and fans.
'@shanefilanofficial @nickybyrneinsta @kianegan you three legends, you lads re-choreographed and re-arranged the entire show with about 1hrs notice that evening in Newcastle when I had to make the horrible phone call to tell you I couldn’t do the show…the way you handled it shows how talented and professional you 3 are! You kept the @westlife flag flying for the rest of December and I’m so grateful for that. Love ❤️
'Thank you to the audiences who helped sing my parts in my absence and thank you to all the fans for the constant messages of support online - it really helped and btw… I missed you guys as much as you missed me 😊❤️.
'Thanks to our AMAZING tour crew and management for dealing with the challenge so well and just nailing it I miss you all and the fun times backstage but I will be seeing you very soon 😁😁😁 🎵 🕺🏻 🎤
'My amazing family and friends who took such good care of me while I was ill. ❤️❤️❤️❤️'.
Showing he didn't lose his humour whilst being ill, Mark then added: '(Ok Mark mate you haven't won an Oscar you just had a bad chest infection…sorry I’m just excited!)
'Anyway I thought I’d do a happy positive daft little video to celebrate after all the doom and gloom 😊❤️❤️
'2023 let’s have ya! (One step at a time!)
'Love Mx'. (sic)
Check out Westlife's amazing career below:
1998: Westlife is born
Kian Egan, Mark Feehily and Shane Filan knew each other from school, forming a pop group with fellow students Derrick Lacey, Graham Keighron, and Michael Garrett called Six As One in 1997, soon changing their name to IOYOU. When Mark's mum Mae Filan got in touch with Louis Walsh, who managed Boyzone, and he took them on - but when they got shot down by Simon Cowell, Louis fired Derrick, Graham and Michael, and held auditions to replace them.
They recruited Nicky Byrne and Brian McFadden, and officially became Westside in July 1998 - quickly changing to Westlife when they discovered a band already called Westside.
They signed a £4 million deal with RCA Records, and they were the opening act for both Boyzone and Backstreet Boys, with Ronan Keating of Boyzone co-managing the group with Louis. They recorded their first EP, 'Swear It Again', in 1999, which went to Number 1 in the UK
1999: Debut album and follow-up
The band's self-titled debut album 'Westlife' was released in November 1999, containing singles 'Flying Without Wings', 'Seasons in the Sun' and 'More Than Words', topping the charts in Ireland and going to Number 2 in the UK.
The band released their second album 'Coast to Coast' a year later, spawning singles 'Against All Odds', 'What Makes a Man' and 'When You're Looking Like That'. It went to Number 1 in the UK and Ireland, beating Spice Girls' 'Forever', and the boys embarked on their 'Where Dreams Come True Tour' in 2001.
2001: Third album and BRIT Awards
Westlife's third album 'World of Our Own' was released just one year later, containing singles 'Uptown Girl', 'Evergreen' and the album's titular song. It went to Number 1 in the UK and Ireland, and they sold over 12 million records in just three years. Westlife won Best Pop Act at the BRIT Awards in both 2001 and 2002.
Their 'Unbreakable - The Greatest Hits Vol. 1' was released in 2002, also going to Number 1 in both the UK and Ireland and Westlife then went on 'The Greatest Hits Tour' in 2003. They released their fourth album 'Turnaround' later that year, spawning singles 'Hey Whatever', 'Mandy' and 'Obvious' - it went to Number 1 in the UK and Ireland.
2004: Bryan McFadden's departure
Bryan announced that he was leaving the group in March 2004 to spend more time with his family, as he had two young daughters with then-wife Kerry Katona (pictured). He also reverted back to using the spelling Brian. His departure came three weeks before the band went on their 'Turnaround Tour', with Brian watching in the audience.
The remaining members carried on without him, releasing fifth album '...Allow Us To Be Frank' in 2004 which was a Rat Pack tribute album and contained many covers by Frank Sinatra, going to Number 3 in the UK. They released sixth album 'Face to Face' in 2005, containing 'You Raise Me Up', seventh album 'The Love Album' in 2006, which contained covers of famous love songs and eighth album 'Back Home' in 2007.
2008: 10th anniversary of Westlife and hiatus
To celebrate their 10-year anniversary, Westlife put on a show called '10 Years of Westlife' at Croke Park in Dublin in June 2008. In July, Louis announced that the group would be taking a hiatus for one year until July 2009.
They released 10th album 'Where We Are' in November 2009, and they won a Guinness World Record as the top selling album group of the 21st century. Westlife took part in the 2010 charity single 'Everybody Hurts' to raise money for victims of the Haiti earthquake, along with Rod Stewart, Mariah Carey, Take That and Kylie Minogue among many others. Their eleventh album 'Gravity' was released in November 2010, going to Number 1 in Ireland and Number 3 in the UK.
2011: Split and 'The Farewell Tour'
In March 2011, Westlife split from Simon Cowell's label Syco, and released their album 'Greatest Hits' in November 2011, and despite rumours that Brian could reunite with the band for an interview, this never happened. Westlife announced their 'The Greatest Hits Tour' or 'The Farewell Tour' on 18th October 2011, and announced their split a day later.
The statement read, 'The decision is entirely amicable and after spending all of our adult life together so far, we want to have a well-earned break and look at new ventures. We would like to thank our fans who have been with us on this amazing journey and are part of our family too. We never imagined when we started out in 1998 that 14 years later we would still be recording, touring and having hits together. It has been a dream come true for all of us. Kian, Mark, Nicky and Shane.'
2012 - 2017: Solo ventures and reunion rumours
After the group's split, all four went onto solo endeavours. Shane released three solo albums: 'You and Me' (2013), 'Right Here' (2015) and 'Love Always' (2017). Mark released his debut solo album 'Fire' in October 2015, performing as an opening act for Mariah Carey and Wet Wet Wet. He released his second solo album 'Christmas' in December 2017.
Kian released debut solo album 'Home' (2014), became a coach on The Voice of Ireland and won I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! in 2013. Nicky released his solo album 'Sunlight' in 2016 and represented Ireland at the Eurovision Song Contest in the same year, sadly failing to advance to the final. He also took part in Strictly Come Dancing in 2012.
Throughout the years between 2011 and 2017, there were many rumours about Westlife reuniting, and whilst they initially said they would never get back together, each member started to hint that they'd like to reunite as the years went on.
2018: Reunion at last
Westlife announced that they were getting back together in October 2018, revealing that they were going on tour and bringing out new music. Brian confirmed in an interview with Closer magazine that he would not be taking part.
The band released their first single as 'Westlife 2.0' in January 2019 - 'Hello My Love', which was co-written by Ed Sheeran. They performed it at the National Television Awards in 2019, and released the album 'Spectrum' in November 2019, which went to Number 1 in the UK and Ireland. Ed also co-wrote four other tracks on the album including 'Better Man'. They went on 'The Twenty Tour' in 2019.
2020: Stadiums in the Summer Tour
Westlife were set to embark on their 'Stadiums in the Summer Tour' in June 2020, visiting 21 venues around Europe including Scarborough Open Air Theatre, Cardiff City Stadium and Wembley Stadium among others. Sadly, it was cancelled due to Government advice around the Coronavirus pandemic.
2021: New record label and Wembley shows
Westlife broke the news on St Patrick's Day that they had signed a deal with Warner Music UK label East West Records, having left EMI Records earlier in the year.
They also added a second Wembley show date - going on to perform at the venue on Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd August 2021.
2022: 'The Wild Dreams Tour'
The band released their 'Wild Dreams' album on 26th November 2021, going on to hit the road on a sell-out UK and Ireland tour. The lads performed all of their greatest hits 'Swear It Again', 'Flying Without Wings' and 'World of our Own' as well as tracks from 'Wild Dreams'. They performed gigs in Dublin's Aviva Stadium and two shows in Belfast's SSE Arena.
2024: North and South American tour dates
Westlife will be performing a series of tour dates in March 2024, visiting Canada, the United States, Mexico and Brazil.
Mark Feehily won't be joining the band on tour, having been forced to 'stand down' from Westlife touring due to health issues.
Despite Mark being unable to perform in December, that didn't stop the rest of the band taking to the stage while on their 'The Wild Dreams Tour'.
During the tour, Kian Egan shared some touching videos of their fans filling in for Mark.
Posting videos from their gigs in Newcastle, Sheffield and Liverpool, Kian showed how the fans rallied around singing Mark's parts to their song 'Flying Without Wings' and the crowd shouting "Mark we miss you... Mark we love you...".
Mark, who usually performs alongside Kian Egan, Shane Filan and Nicky Byrne in Westlife, took to social media at the end of November to reveal he would be unable to perform.
He said: 'Firstly, I'd like to say a huge sincere thank you to everybody for sending their and get well soon messages - it means so much. I was really gutted to miss the weekend shows in Newcastle but I started to feel quite unwell on Friday and that doctors have confirmed that it is a bout of pneumonia.
'I know it's scary when you first hear the word 'Pneumonia', but thankfully, I got to the doctor and the hospital very quickly and got on the antibiotics as soon as possible - so everything is currently under control.
'I have been informed that the quickest way to recovery is to rest and continue the antibiotics. I'm feeling a bit better everyday. The nurses and doctors are taking amazing care of me so it should all be over in no time.'
Mark then went on to reveal he would be missing more gigs at the time, saying: 'This does however mean missing more gigs which is horrible but I'll be back on stage as soon as I can get the all clear.
'Until then, Nicky, Shane, and Kian will continue to fly the Westlife flag high for all of us. Please scream even louder than usual for those three legends in my absence.
'Sending love to you all, I hope to see you back on the road very, very, soon. Mark.' (sic)
Are Westlife on tour?
Westlife performed on their 'The Wild Dreams Tour' across the UK and Ireland in November-December 2022.
The band are now about to embark on the South East Asia leg in February, playing dates in Hong Kong, Jakarta, Tangerang City, Singapore, Manila, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok.
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