Westlife 'Blacklisted' In America

Irish pop heartthrobs Westlife will never break the American charts - because they've been blacklisted by US radio stations.

The COAST TO COAST crooners have made several attempts to crack America, but have failed to impress across the Atlantic, and now bandmember Nicky Byrne claims they will never succeed in the US because radio bosses don't like their image.

The blond singer says, "We sent over a CD of WORLD OF OUR OWN (their second LP) with no name on it. They didn't know it was Westlife and every single radio station in the States - all came back and said that this is an absolutely huge hit.

"They said it was great for radio and people are gonna love it, especially as there's just a slight bit of rock guitar to it.

"But as soon as we revealed it was Westlife, the radio pluggers all went, 'Whoa, not Westlife - it's a boyband.' And we cannot break that down, no matter what song we come out with.

"The problem with America is that it's all radio and you've got to break into radio first. And currently radio doesn't want to play boy bands or pop music.

"If Bono wrote a song with us tomorrow and it was the biggest hit in the world, if Westlife's name is put to it, it won't be a hit in America because radio will not play us."