Westlife made a cheeky dig at Louis Walsh as they appeared on This Morning on Friday ahead of their sold out Wembley Stadium concert this weekend.
As the music manager celebrates his 70th birthday today, the band’s conversation with Josie Gibson and Vernon Kay turned to their long-time No1 fan.
The group – formed of Shane Filan, Mark Feehily, Kian Egan and Nicky Byrne – said they had texted their manager wishing him a happy birthday, after their incredible 20-year career together.
As they called into the ITV daytime show from Wembley Stadium, where they are preparing for their concert, Nicky then began chanting about Louis: “Is he one? No, no. Is he two? No, no.”
His bandmate Kian then hilariously joked: “That could go on for a while,” before the group collapsed in laughter.
Mark then poignantly said: “I think that when it comes to Louis, the way he plucked us and put us onto the map, this gig, this weekend, Louis is a huge part of our story.
“Between us and him being here, we think back to the band starting in high school. It is very much a milestone event in our career.”
As the interview then came to an end, one of the Westlife band members was heard jokily shouting: “Happy 50th birthday Louis!”
The Irish boyband have packed out the venue on their The Wild Dreams tour, which was originally scheduled to take place in 2020 but was cancelled due to the pandemic.
Music mogul Louis formed the band 20 years ago and their recent record Spectrum proved to be the band’s first No1 album in 12 years.
Shane, Nicky, Mark and Kian also made history by being officially confirmed as the biggest selling Irish band in the UK in the 21st century.
Spectrum shifted more than three times as many as the No.2 album, Courage by Celine Dion in its first week of release.
The 11 track album, co-written by Westlife and superstar hitmakers Ed Sheeran and Steve Mac, saw the band on their finest form, showcasing their stunning vocals with a collection of fresh pop anthems and soul-stirring ballads, cementing their triumphant return to music.
The boys said at the time: “It is amazing. It means more to us now than at any time in our careers. We’ve been blown away by the reaction to the new album.
“None of us can quite believe that we’re back at Number 1. It has been a great year for us and the resounding success of the album really does round it off.
“We want to say a massive thank you to our fans. We’re looking forward to celebrating with them at our stadium tour next summer.”
