Shane Finlan and his mother Mae during a television appearance. Credit: GMTVShe played a big role in helping the boy band get their first big break.
Westlife star Shane Filan's mother Mae has sadly passed away.
Mae, who was originally from Co. Mayo, was mother to seven children - Finbarr, Peter, Yvonne, Liam, Denise, Mairéad, and Shane, and passed away in Sligo's North West Hospice yesterday surrounded by family.
One of the biggest supporters of Shane’s dreams to become a pop star, it was Mae who famously convinced Louis Walsh to give her son’s fledgling boyband a shot at stardom.
Speaking to the Irish Independent, Walsh recalled how Mae got Shane his big break with a simple phone call.
"She knew my mother. Mae was from Kiltimagh originally and was living in Sligo,” she said.
"Anyway, she rang me and said how good her son and the group were, and for some reason I believed her.
"Every mother says their son is brilliant. I believed Mae Filan.
"And I met them and there was something about them. They were rough around the edges."
Mae is also survived by her husband Peter, and sister Kathleen Gilmartin. She has twenty-two grandchildren.
Her funeral mass will take place tomorrow, Tuesday December 17, in St Anne’s Church. Burial will follow in Sligo Cemetery.
