Kian John Francis Egan (born 29 April 1980) is an Irish singer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter. Best known as a member of music group Westlife. Westlife has since released twelve albums, embarked on thirteen world tours, and won several awards. They became one of the most successful musical groups of all time. He was a judge and coach on The Voice of Ireland and won the thirteenth series of I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! in 2013.
Music career
1997–2012: Westlife and Wonderland
In his early musical years, he was part of a rock band named Skrod. Kian can play more than five musical instruments that include guitar, piano, and drums. He is a grade 8 pianist and was taught piano by his brother Gavin Egan. Gavin is a university music graduate and full-time teacher of music in the UK. Not only was he in Westlife, but Egan was also part of a pop group called Six as One.
Later he formed IOYOU with fellow Westlife members Mark Feehily and Shane Filan. And with Graham Keighron, Michael “Miggles” Garrett and Derrick Lacey. Egan, during a year long hiatus from Westlife in 2008, launched a new venture with Louis Walsh to put together and co-manage girlband, Wonderland. Their debut album reached number 6 on the Irish Albums Chart. And after that number 8 on the UK Albums Chart. However, just four months later, they were dropped by Mercury Records.
2014: Home
It was announced in January 2014 that Egan had signed to Rhino Records of Warner Music Group. His debut album Home was released on 14 March in Ireland and 17 March in the UK. The song is 3:43 seconds long. His debut single “Home”, a cover of the track by band Daughtry, had its first exclusive play on BBC Radio 2 on lunch time with Terry Wogan’s show. The album has peaked to number 2 on the Irish Singles Chart and number 9 on the UK Albums Chart. In May 2014, Egan released “I’ll Be”. This was the second single from the album, a cover of the track by Edwin McCain.
2018–present: Westlife reunion
In October 2018, a video was posted to Westlife’s official social media platforms announcing the group’s reunion as a four-piece. It was 2019 when the group headlined “The 20 Tour”, named in honour of Westlife’s 20th anniversary since its formation and the release of its first single, “Swear It Again”, in 1999. In addition to touring, Westlife also released new music. “Hello My Love”, the first single from the group’s upcoming album, debuted on The Graham Norton Show on 10 and 11 January 2019.
Television career
Egan was one of four coaches on The Voice of Ireland. However, his dreams of winning the show went to tatters as he threw his lot in with Jim Devine, from Northern Ireland. This immediately put him at a disadvantage to the other contestants. Ahead of the final, viewers in Northern Ireland could not download his single. The tally of which contributed to his vote. Egan was left fuming. In need of support from Sharon Corr he expressed his opinion on the unfairness of it all. He had “huge rows” about it but to no avail.
In June 2012, Egan announced in an interview with the Sunday Life that he was “looking at doing a TV show with Sky on surfing”. Later reports suggested that the show would be eight episodes long and would broadcast on Sky1 later in the year.
In July 2012, Egan presented the British programme This Morning’s Hub on a regular basis. Standing in for the regular hosts. Later that year he began giving reports on another British programme about the remaining contestants in the ninth series of The X Factor, before the competition’s live shows that weekend.
On 21 October 2012, Egan co-presented the revamped version of Surprise Surprise, but did not return the following year.
In 2013, Egan appeared on the thirteenth series of I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here!. He was ultimately crowned King Of The Jungle, which contributed to an invitation to being signed by Rhino Records to create his Home album.
From 5 to 9 January 2015, Egan and Angela Griffin co-hosted Fat Pets: Slimmer of the Year on ITV.
Personal life
Egan was born to Kevin Egan (1945-2009) and Patricia Egan (née Moore). He is the fifth of their seven children. His older siblings are Vivienne, Gavin, Fenella and Thomas, and his younger siblings are Marielle and Colm. He attended Summerhill College secondary school in Sligo, where he met fellow band members Mark Feehily and Shane Filan. He is the cousin of Filan’s wife, Gillian Walsh. Before Westlife, he worked for a jeans shop.
Egan married English actress and Girl Thing and Wonderland member Jodi Albert on 8 May 2009. Due to illness, Egan’s father was unable to attend the marriage ceremony. Sadly he was being diagnosed with a rare brain tumour, and died shortly after. On 31 July 2011, the couple announced they were expecting their first child. Westlife’s official Facebook page announced that Albert had given birth to a baby boy, Koa on 20 December 2011. The family live in Strandhill, County Sligo. On 15 November 2014, the pair announced they were expecting their second child in the spring. On 21 May 2015, Egan and his wife welcomed a second son, Zekey. Their third son Cobi Egan was born 29 September 2017.
Egan spoke of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. He said he would not go after the Republic of Ireland national football team was eliminated from the tournament after Thierry Henry’s handball.
Egan was ranked number five on Ireland’s Sexiest Man of 2014. As of 2017, his net worth is 18 million euros.
