Westlife 'Felt Unloved' Under Simon Cowell's Management
Thursday, 14 April 2011
Written by James Conlon
Westlife’s Nicky Byrne has claimed that Simon Cowell became too busy to manage the boyband properly in recent years. The singer asserted that Cowell was brilliant during the initial stages of their career, but went on to claim that projects such as the hugely successful ‘X Factor’ left him with little time for the Irish four-piece.
Speaking to ahlanlive.com, Byrne said: "We signed to Simon back in 1998 and he was brilliant, but then came the development of ‘X Factor’ and ‘American Idol’. Simon became famous himself and his interests went that way rather than on Westlife."
He continued: "We almost felt a little bit unloved with Simon Cowell, if I was to be honest. We had [full-time support] with Simon but he got so busy and would do it at the very last minute and we needed someone who was on it all the time."
Westlife were signed to Sony BMG and Cowell’s own label SyCo for 13 years before terminating their contract earlier this year. Despite earning 14 Number One singles over that period, the group expressed a number of complaints over the past twelve months, asserting that they were being pressured to record cover versions rather than being given space to do original tracks.
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