An Post has unveiled a tribute stamp to Irish boy band Westlife, but left out founder member Brian McFadden.
The group, set up in 1998 by boy band manager Louis Walsh, had five original members: McFadden, who spelt his name Bryan during his Westlife period, Nicky Byrne, Kian Egan, Mark Feehily and Shane Filan.
McFadden and his bandmates had huge success, releasing four No 1 albums and 17 hit singles in the early 2000s.
In 2004, however, McFadden departed in somewhat acrimonious circumstances to spend more time with his family – his then wife Kerry Katona and their two daughters. The couple divorced in 2006.
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He went on to pursue a solo career, with little success.
The stamp, unveiled on Thursday, marks 25 years of the band touring together. When asked why McFadden was left out of the commemorative issue, a spokeswoman said: “We love Brian but he was only with the band in the early years and the stamps are celebrating their reaching 25 years, most of which have involved Shane, Kian, Mark and Nicky.”
She said demand for the stamps came from “fans, fans and more fans”.
“We received a huge number of suggestions from fans who wanted their 25th anniversary and global success marked with a stamp.”
And no, she stressed, Westlife did not pay for the stamp, though the publicity is likely to come in handy in advance of their 25th anniversary tour, which includes a series of dates in Ireland and the UK.
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The Westlife stamps are not the first ones this year to raise eyebrows. A recently issued stamp to mark the 250th anniversary of the birth of Daniel O’Connell drew attention for its inclusion of a rather anachronistic television aerial.
An Post defended that issue saying it was meant to symbolise O’Connell’s power as a communicator.
