Shane Filan Net Worth

What is Shane Filan's Net Worth?

Shane Filan is an Irish singer who has a net worth of $4 million. If you were expecting Shane Filan's net worth to be higher, please note that he has experienced some severe financial problems over the years, including a 2012 bankruptcy filing, which we detail in the next section below.

Shane Filan is best known as a member of the Irish pop vocal group Westlife, with which he has released such hit albums as "Westlife," "Coast to Coast," "World of Our Own," "Turnaround," and "Back Home." He has also had a successful solo career, with albums including "You and Me," "Right Here," and "Love Always."

Bankruptcy

Shane Filan declared bankruptcy in the UK in June 2012 after the collapse of the Irish property market left his development company with debts of approximately £18 million (~$28.5 million USD), forcing him to surrender his assets and rebuild his finances from scratch. He strategically filed in the UK to utilize a shorter twelve-month insolvency period, allowing him to be discharged by June 2013 and immediately begin his financial recovery through a solo music career, an autobiography, and the highly lucrative Westlife reunion tours. He has since fully recovered with no recent financial issues reported; his company, Ocean Wave Music Ltd, has recently shown accumulated profits of over €1.8 million (~$1.9 million USD).

Early Life and Education

Shane Filan was born on July 5, 1979 in Sligo, Ireland as the youngest of seven children of Mae and Peter, who ran a diner in Sligo called the Carlton Café. Filan was educated at a local Catholic school and at Summerhill College. At the latter, he met his future Westlife bandmates Mark Feehily and Kian Egan.

First Band

Filan's first band with his friends Mark Feehily and Kian Egan was called Six as One. It was later renamed IOYOU and added singers Graham Keighron, Derrick Lacey, and Michael Garrett.

Westlife

For six months, Filan's mother tried to call music manager Louis Walsh about her son's band. She eventually succeeded, and in the summer of 1998 Filan became a member of the new pop vocal group Westside. Soon renamed Westlife, the group included Filan's former bandmates Kian Egan and Mark Feehily as well as new additions Nicky Byrne and Brian McFadden. Signed to RCA Records, Westlife hit it big with its first single, "Swear it Again," which came out in the spring of 1999. The song became the first of the group's 16 number-one singles in Ireland and 14 number-one singles in the UK, and also its only single to chart in the US, peaking at number 20 on the Billboard Hot 100. "Swear it Again" served as the lead single from Westlife's eponymous debut album, which came out in late 1999. The album was a massive hit, and spawned four additional number-one hit singles in the UK: "If I Let You Go," "Flying Without Wings," "I Have a Dream"/"Seasons in the Sun," and "Fool Again."

Westlife continued its incredible success with its second album, "Coast to Coast," which was released in late 2000. A number-one album in Ireland and the UK, it launched the hit singles "Against All Odds," "My Love," "What Makes a Man," "I Lay My Love on You," and "When You're Looking Like That." Westlife had another number-one album in 2001 with "World of Our Own." The following year, the group released its first greatest hits album, which became its fourth consecutive number-one album in Ireland. Westlife had its fifth consecutive number-one album in Ireland with "Turnaround," which was released in late 2003 and spawned the successful singles "Hey Whatever," "Mandy," and "Obvious." McFadden left the group after that, and as a four-piece, Westlife released the Rat Pack tribute album "…Allow Us to Be Frank" in late 2004. That was followed by "Face to Face" in 2005 and "The Love Album" in 2006, both big hits. Westlife scored big again with the album "Back Home," released in 2007.

Coming off a hiatus in 2008, Westlife returned with the hit album "Where We Are" in 2009. That was followed by "Gravity" in 2010. Some months after the release of the massively popular "Greatest Hits" compilation album in late 2011, Westlife broke up. Nearly seven years later, in 2018, the group got back together and signed with Universal Music Group and Virgin EMI Records. Westlife went on to release the singles "Hello My Love," "Better Man," "Dynamite," and "My Blood," which were included on its 11th studio album, "Spectrum." The album was yet another number-one hit in Ireland and the UK for the group. Westlife's next studio album, "Wild Dreams," came out in late 2021 on East West Records. It peaked at number two in both Ireland and the UK. To support the album, Westlife embarked on its first-ever tour of North America as part of the larger Wild Dreams Tour. In early 2024, Feehily announced his temporary departure from the group because of ongoing health issues. The next year, Westlife launched its 25th Anniversary World Tour.

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Solo Career

In 2013, Filan began his solo recording career with the album "You and Me." Featuring the singles "Everything to Me," "About You," and "Knee Deep in My Heart," the album peaked at number three in Ireland and number six in the UK. Filan released his next solo album, "Right Here," in 2015; it reached number one in Ireland. That was followed in 2017 by "Love Always," which includes covers of some of Filan's favorite love ballads, such as "Eternal Flame" by the Bangles and "This I Promise You" by NSYNC. He embarked on the Love Always Tour from 2017 to 2019 in support of the album.

Personal Life

At the end of 2003, Filan married his childhood sweetheart Gillian Walsh, who is a cousin of his bandmate Kian Egan. The couple has a daughter and two sons.

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