Nicky Byrne

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Nicky Byrne bigraphy, stories - Irish footballer

Nicky Byrne : biography

9 October 1978 –

Nicholas Bernard James Adam Byrne, Jr. (born 9 October 1978) is an Irish singer-songwriter, radio and TV presenter, dancer and former footballer, best known for being a member of Irish music band Westlife; he was the band’s oldest member. Before his music career, he played professional football, representing Republic of Ireland at several junior levels. Since then he has had a successful TV presenting career. His wife Georgina is the daughter of former Irish Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, and they have twin sons called Rocco Bertie Byrne and Jay Nicky Byrne. On 7 September 2012, it was announced that Byrne would be a contestant for the tenth series of Strictly Come Dancing.

Personal life

Nicky was born to parents Yvonne and Nicholas. He has an older sister, Gillian, and a younger brother, Adam. Byrne married his teenage sweetheart Georgina Ahern, whom he met when they were about 12 years old, on 5 August 2003 at the Wicklow Register Office, Wicklow, County Wicklow. The civil ceremony was followed on 9 August by a church blessing at the Roman Catholic Church of St Pierre et St Paul in Gallardon, Eure-et-Loir, France and a reception at the nearby 16th century Château d’Esclimont. Georgina gave birth to fraternal twin sons, Jay and Rocco, on 20 April 2007, born six weeks prematurely. The children were baptised on 15 July 2007 in the Saint Sylvester Roman Catholic Church in Malahide, County Dublin. On 29 April 2013 Byrne announced on his Twitter page that he and his wife Georgina were expecting their third child.http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/baby-on-the-way-for-nicky-and-georgina-29230072.html

Godparents for the children are Nicky’s sister Gillian Byrne and her husband Mark Gallagher and Georgina’s sister Cecelia Ahern and Nicky’s brother Adam McGarry Byrne. Breda Heffernan, Monday 16 July 2007. Nicky’s father, Nikki Byrne Sr., died on 3 November 2009, from a heart attack. Westlife’s promotional tour of the UK was cancelled as Nicky flew to Dublin to be with his family.Ben Todd and Eva Marie Gibney. . Daily Mail. 4 November 2009. Byrne Sr. sang part-time on Dublin’s cabaret and karaoke scene and was presented with a Harley-Davidson motorbike by his son on his sixtieth birthday party the year before his death.

Philanthropy

In 2010, Byrne and his family organised the ‘Nikki Byrne Twilight Ball’, a fundraising event, in memory of their father who died in November 2009. The event raised over €200,000 and completely funded a television and radio heart attack awareness campaign in connection with ‘The Irish Heart Foundation’. Nicky, and his wife Georgina, are keen supporters of the Irish Premature Babies charity. Nicky also supports UNICEF and has taken part in several UNICEF Campaigns, such as the UNICEF ‘Euro for Zero’ campaign where the goal was to raise as much money as possible in November 2010 for Child Survival Programmes.

Career

Football

Byrne was a footballer and played for Home Farm and St. Kevins Boys in North Dublin. He became a professional player, and joined Leeds United as a goalkeeper in 1995, and was a squad member of the FA Youth Cup winning team of 1997. He played for Leeds for two years, leaving when his contract expired in June 1997. He played in a reserve game for Scarborough F.C. and in a trial game with Cambridge United before returning to join Dublin club Shelbourne. He then signed for Cobh Ramblers playing 11 games, then St. Francis F.C., all in Ireland’s League of Ireland.

On 14 May 2009 Byrne was a substitute for a Liverpool F.C. Legends XI that played against an All Star XI in a Hillsborough Memorial match to mark the 20th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster. All the proceeds from the match went to the Marina Dalglish appeal. He represented the Republic of Ireland at U15, U16 and U18 levels. He is a fan of Celtic FC, and on 9 August 2011 played in a Celtic Legends XI at Celtic Park in front of a 54,000 crowd against a Manchester Utd Legends team. In 2010, Byrne participated and won Soccer Aid, a British charity football match, alongside bandmate Shane Filan and the Rest of the World Team.