Music mogul Louis Walsh backs Daniel O’Donnell’s ambition to duet with Westlife

Daniel last week revealed that he would love the chance to sing with Shane Filan, Kian Egan, Nicky Byrne and Mark Feehily, whose jukebox of smash hits include one of his favourites, Flying Without Wings, the song that was playing when he met Majella.

Westlife have previously duetted with divas such as Mariah Carey, Diana Ross and Donna Summer.

“Personally, I wouldn’t be against Daniel duetting with Westlife because there’s nobody else like him,” Louis tells theSunday World in an exclusive interview.

“Daniel has a secret recipe that works for him.

“I’ve watched him through the decades and he has achieved great success on his own, doing it his way.

“He knows his market, he works hard, he’s nice to everybody and he has reinvented himself a couple of times.

“Everybody loves Daniel because he’s a genuine guy.

“I think a duet with Daniel and Westlife would work.

“In America everybody duets with everybody and there’s no reason why this wouldn’t work.

“And I would pick a great song for them.”

However, Louis says that a Daniel duet would ultimately be a decision for Westlife, who have a hectic scheduled lined up as they head into one of the most successful years of their entire career.

“They will be working all around the world — Asia, China, Japan.

“They’ve just had the biggest year ever and now they’re going to top it in 2023.

“Everybody wants to hear the Westlife hits, that’s the secret to their success.

“They have great songs and they have great singers. Every song is a hit, everybody knows them and everybody sings along. It’s the soundtrack to so many people’s lives.

“You know exactly what you’re going to get when you go to see Westlife. Like Daniel, they work it, they are nice to everybody and they put on a great show.

“It’s almost like they were 20 years ago — they still have the passion for it, they love it, they live it and they want it.

“I think they’ve seen a lot of other bands coming and going and they have learned from everybody else’s mistakes.”

After launching the careers of Boyzone and Westlife, Louis himself went on to have a major TV career in Britain as one of the judges on The X Factor. At its peak, the show had more than 17 million viewers.

The Mayo man says he’s still inundated with offers of TV work on major shows in the UK, but these days he prefers to concentrate on music.

“I don’t just want to be on TV for the sake of being on TV,” Louis tells me.

“I’ve been offered I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here!, Strictly Come Dancing, every show, but I don’t want to be one of those people. I just like music and I’ll do anything to do with music.

“I think TV in general is so bad these days. It’s the same faces, there is nothing new.

“We need new ideas, new people, new faces and new formats.

“I don’t want to see another talent show. There was only one that mattered and that was The X Factor.

“All the other versions are like bad copies of it and they’re not as interesting, they’re not as real — they’re no fun and there are no stars coming out of any of them…no record deals, no nothing.

“Does anyone even know who won The Voice last year?”

Although he’s still passionate about the music business, Louis says it has changed beyond recognition from the industry he cut his teeth in.

“It’s harder now to get a record deal,” he reveals.

“When you go into the record companies today they ask you about your socials and how many people have you on TikTok and Instagram and all that. Nobody asks ‘can they sing and have they got great songs’, like they used to do.

“I want it to be about the songs. The TikTok thing is big at the moment and so is Instagram, but it can’t last. It has to go back to what it was… songs, voices and great artists.”