“I'd like to keep singing - whether that's small or big. To stop singing for a living would break my heart.”
“It's a big deal to bring your family on the road, you know? I'd love to do it sometime, but you have to work out schools and all that.”
“When you look at bands like Take That, who have come back bigger than ever, you can see there will always be a market for good pop bands.”
“Yes, it's true, I have bought a helicopter. I really like it. I can't fly it, but I plan to get a licence one day.”
“You're only as good as your last album.”
“After Westlife, I was in a scared place, you know; you've three children, and I worry about providing for them, and I had no guarantees going forward about the future.”
“Capitol Records were very keen for me to write and see how I got on; I think that is what defined my sound. The first session I had was with two young up-and-coming writers, Nick Atkinson and Tom Wilding, and I went into a session a bit nervous because I hadn't written that many songs before.”
“Every year, we couldn't believe it, and even when I look back on it now, to sell 14 million singles, 50 million albums and sell out arenas and stadiums, what Westlife achieved was crazy. It's like One Direction probably don't realise how big they are. They'll look back one day and think, 'Holy God, that was pretty amazing.'”
“Everybody, every tradesman that worked for Shafin or built my house got fully paid, well paid. Everybody got paid. I would like that to be said if I could because I haven't said it before, and it's important. People kind of think we left all these plumbers or electricians without getting paid.”
“I didn't want to be a solo Westlife - covers and ballads - and the reason I signed with Capitol Records was because they wanted me to write songs myself. It was pretty scary, but they put me in a studio in Nashville with some new songwriters, and the results were pretty good.”