Biography
Nicky Bernard James Adam Byrne was born in Dublin on the 9th of October 1978.
He grew up in Baldyole, which is by the seaside in north Dublin. He's got a
sister (Gillian) and a brother (Adam) who is 12 years younger than him. His
mother (Yvonne) is a housewife and his dad is a painter and decorater. When his
father was in a band (it was called Nicky and Studz) Nicky would go and help
him set up the gear and set up the mic stands during the day.
Nicky spent most of his childhood playing sport. From the age of 6 he played
for Home Farm in Dublin. He played there for 9 years. In his final year he went
to St. Kelvin's and after that Leeds United.
When he was playing for Leeds he signed a two-year contract. But then George
Graham came in as a manager and he brought his own staff in. He was used to have
big keepers so Nicky didn't fit in and he left to do his Leaving Cert.
In primary school he went to Baldoyle Boys National School. He missed the first
three/four days of school, because he was knocked down, outside his house, by a
guy on a pushbike. He was in hospital for a day.
In secondary school he went to Pobalscoil Neasáin (or St. Neasáin's). There he
was really close to his music teacher, Miss Murphy. He had Mr. Kane as his year
head. Mr. Kane was also his football manager so he had a great relationship with
him and the principal, Mr. Murphy.
He never passed a music class until his Junior Cert. He had to sing for the Junior
Cert because he was doing honours.
He never learned to play instruments. Something he regrets now. He never really
had interest in the actual music side of it at school, though he was always
interested in the singing side of it. He used to be in the school chor for
example.
He also went to Baldyole Secondary School. He found English quite interesting
but he wasn't good at maths. As he says himself: "It just wasn't my thing".
Nicky never got into trouble when he was in school. "My man and dad brought me
up that way. I have so much respect for them, they gave me everything I wanted",
Nicky said.
His mother always said to him: "You're not better than anybody else and nobody's
better than you - they might have more money or a nicer car, or they might be
better off, but as a person they're noy better than you".
At school he was always the one to make jokes in class. He always got on with
every teacher, but when he hot into trouble he'd give a little smile and said
'sorry' and they used to let him get away with it.
When Nicky came back from Leeds he went to St. Plunkett's College in Whitehall
for a year. That was quite hard for him because he'd been a professional
footballer who had been earning great money. But still he got a great Leaving
Cert. He did the Garda exam, passed that and just before 'Swear It Again'
was released hit mother got a letter in the post to say that he had to start in
Templemore (A police training college).
Nicky was a fan of Boyzone. When he went to Leeds, he hadd all their albums and
singles. He sang them constantly. When he was watching them he always wanted to
be in the band.
On the radio he heard about an audition for a band. He rang the guy and asked what
he had to do. The guy told him that he had to do a demo, record 2 or 3 songs and
he had to send a picture of himself. Nicky recorded 'Isn't It A Wonder?' by
Boyzone and 2 Irish acapella ('The Town I Loved So Well' and 'She Moved Trough
The Fair'). He sent the tape off and they called him back. He could come to the
audition. He went to the audition for a new traditional band, which was called Ceol.
He sang 'Father And Son', by Boyzone and 'She Moved Through The Fair'.
Then Louis called him down and said that he was setting up a new boyband called
IOU and that they were looking for one more person. The second audition he went
to was for IOU. They liked Nicky and Bryan the most and they couldn't choose
between them. They went to Sligo to live with the other boys (Kian, Mark, Shane
and Michael) for a while.
Later it was decided that they wanted both Nicky and Bryan so Michael had to
leave.
They changed IOU into Westside but there was already a band called like that so
they changed it into Westlife.
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