ONE of the biggest names in UK boy band history comes to Bridgwater’s Blake Hall on Saturday for his sole Sedgemoor show. 

Former Westlife singer Shane Filan will treat fans to something old, something new and something borrowed – though never a song from rivals Blue … Filan’s debut solo record, ‘You And Me’, sees the artist heading down the acoustic-pop road.

Whet your appetite for the main event with ten facts about Shane…

1, Shane was born on July 5, 1979, the youngest of seven children with three brothers and three sisters.

2, He grew up in Sligo, a busy commercial town in Ireland’s northwest.

3, His parents owned a diner called Carlton Cafe, where Shane worked as a waiter from a very early age.

4, It was at Summerhill College, a Catholic school, where he met Kian Egan and Mark Feehily, fellow members of Westlife.

5, A Michael Jackson fan since childhood, Shane claims the singer inspired him to pursue a music career.

6, Before Westlife, Egan and Feehily were with Filan in a band known as I.O.U. with other Sligonians Derrick Lacey, Graham Keighron and Michael ‘Miggles’ Garrett.

7, His mum, Mae Filan, called Louis Walsh, who was then manager of Boyzone, for six months before he picked up the phone.

8, Shane was far from considering a solo career when Westlife first split in October, 2011.

9, In 2003 he married his childhood sweetheart, Gillian, on December 28 at Ballintubber Abbey. He and Gillian are now mum and dad to two boys and a girl.

10, You can sample ‘You And Me’ before Saturday night online at shanefilan.com/music o

TICKETS for the gig cost £30 from the Blake Hall and music shop Strings ’n’ Things in Bridgwater and online at ticketmaster.co.uk

Ticket-holders for the formerly arranged Yeovil show can attend the Blake Hall concert on their Yeovil ticket.