Out Spotlight

Today’s Out Spotlight is a singer, songwriter and former member of a boy band. Today’s Out Spotlight is  Mark Feehily.

Markus Michael Patrick Verdon Feehily was born in Sligo, Ireland, to Marie Verdon and Oliver Feehily on March 28, 1980. The oldest of three, he has two younger brothers, Barry and Colin.

Feehily rose to fame as one of the two lead singers of the Irish boyband Westlife sharing lead vocals with Shane Filan. Before Westlife, Feehily, Filan and Kian Egan came from the band IOYOU, which released the single "Together Girl Forever".  Louis Walsh, the manager of the 1990s boy-band Boyzone, was contacted by Filan’s mom about the group. The new group was established in July 1998 with the addition of two more members, Nicky Byrne and Brian McFadden. Boyzone singer Ronan Keating was brought in to co-manage the group with Walsh.  The band was originally signed by Simon Cowell.

Westlife has sold over 45 million records worldwide which includes studio albums, singles, video release, and compilation albums.  The group accumulated 14 number-one singles in the United Kingdom, the third-highest in UK history, tying with Cliff Richard, breaking a several records, including "Music artist with most consecutive number 1's in the UK", which consists of their first seven singles and with them only behind The Beatles and Elvis Presley.  The band have 14 UK number ones and 25 top ten singles, consisting of 20.2 million records and videos in the UK across their 14-year career - 6.8 million singles, 11.9 million albums and 1.5 million videos. Despite the group's worldwide success, they only have one hit single in the United States, "Swear It Again", which peaked in 2000 on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 20.

Feehily wrote and sang "Imaginary Diva" of World of Our Own album and externally written "Talk Me Down" of Where We Are album and also "Before It's Too Late" of Gravity. At live performances, he also sang solos for "Oh Holy Night" and "Il Adore".  He has also co-written songs, some on his own with others and also with the other band members.

In August 2005, Feehily publicly revealed he was gay during an interview with the British tabloid The Sun.  He had recognized his sexual orientation when he was 14- or 15-years old.  His family, band mates and close friends knew his sexual orientation. Westlife's manager Louis Walsh, however, was unaware of his sexual orientation when he began managing the group. As the only gay member in Westlife, he kept his sexual orientation private and never had a boyfriend.  Unlike his band mates, he did not discuss his private life in interviews, although he had dated women prior to his coming out. He was shown with girlfriends in the press, but "in order to avoid speculation".

Speaking of his coming out he said:

"My life has got umpteen times better. My sexuality doesn't define me as a person, but it's a huge part of anyone to be open about it. It's changed my life totally as I feel so much happier and at ease. It's the best thing I've ever done."

Feehily told The Sydney Morning Herald that despite the fact that the majority of Westlife's fans are female, there had really been no negative reaction to his coming out.  

"I am so much happier now and I think our fans can see that," he said. "Through the years of getting to the point where I wanted to come out, I had to go through every kind of emotion, but I can honestly say that the day before I came out, I didn't care what the reaction was going to be. “

During the interview with The Sun, he also announced his romantic relationship with British fashion photographer Kevin McDaid, a member of the now-defunct British boy band V.  The pair, who live had been dating since January 2005 after having met at a Cheerios Childline Concert in Ireland.

 In December 2007, Feehily and McDaid appeared on the cover of Attitude giving their only interview together.

The couple was engaged on their 5^th anniversary in February 2010, which he confirmed by Twitter. In 2011, he discussed the couple's plans concerning having children together and discussed their wedding plans.  But on New Year’s Eve he announced via his Twitter account that he and Kevin had split up.

Feehily supports the charity group Aware. He was shortlisted in 2011 as one of the top 50 most influential gays in United Kingdom.