FAMILY LIFE

Mark grew up in a townland about two miles outside of Sligo town. Mark has two brothers called Barry and Colin. Mark is the eldest, then Barry and Colin in the youngest. Barry’s more shy than Mark and Barry is mad about horses and cars. You could name a car and he'll tell you everything there is to know about that car. The speed, size of the engine, everything. Colin loves soccer and is a big Manchester United fan. Colin goes to all of the Sligo Rovers games. Mark’s mum, Marie, is a housewife and she is also a civil servant and works in the department of agriculture. Marie is originally from Sligo and her family owned a pub in town. Mark’s dad, Oliver, used to be the Sligo agent for Senator windows, and he does conservatories now. Oliver has been very successful running his own business. Oliver was brought up where the Feehily family still lives. 

BABY LIFE

When Mark was a baby he had trouble sleeping, so his mum used to put the radio on, so there was noise in his room, and it helped him to get to sleep. Mark still can’t go to sleep without the radio or television on, so he has a personal CD player, so if he shares a room with another ‘Life member he won’t wake them up.

SCHOOL

SPORT

Mark’s dad used to go to a tennis club about 5 miles from his house, and played squash there. Mark used to go to the tennis club with his dad if there wasn’t anyone at their house. Then Mark got into it and went even if there was someone in his house. He started to play tennis, badminton and squash. Mark travelled all over Ireland playing tennis tournaments, and he played at inter-provincial level. Mark was also on the local football team, and played mid-field. 

The first school that Mark went to was a small infant school called ‘Calry National’. Mark’s primary school was called ‘St Patrick’s National school’, which is a school just outside Sligo town. This school was also quite small. It had about 300 kids. Mark says ‘I enjoyed it there, although I was totally off the point in class. I was a total daydreamer and I made one teacher’s life hell because my mind was never on studying. I was always talking or distracting other kids, or looking out the window and singing to myself. I didn’t mean to be badly behaved, and I was not a troublemaker, but it’s just that my mind was elsewhere.‘ - From Westlife - Our Story by Rob McGibbon. When Mark was 12 he started school at ‘Summerhill College.‘ - Kian and Shane also went there. Mark says he found Summerhill College a big difference to his primary school because there were over 1000 pupils compared to the 300 at his primary school. The school buildings were also much bigger than the ones at St Patrick’s National school. The subjects that Mark picked when he started Summerhill College were: English, Irish, maths, French, business studies, woodwork, science and geography. The first show Mark remembers doing was a play called ‘Scrooged.’ Then Mark got a part in ‘West Side Story’ at the Hawkswell Theatre. The first time Mark saw ‘Grease’ as a stage show was when he was 10 or 11. Shane was in it, but they didn’t know each other then. He was in the audience thinking how good Shane was, and watching Shane made Mark even more determined to get into musicals. Mark says ‘It’s amazing that watching Shane had such an influence on me, especially when you think how everything has turned out with the band.’ At Summerhill College the first show Mark did was ‘Annie Get Your Gun’ and he also did ‘Oliver!’ When Mark was in the third year he was in ‘Grease.’ That was the first time Mark got to sing properly in a show. Mark played Johnny Casino and Teen Angel and he had three solos. Shane was Kenickie and Kian was Sonny. Mark’s best friend is called Rowen. They have both known each other since they were very young and have both always been interested in music.