Well-known Galway family businesswoman says Westlife star playing wedding was 'a dream'
It was one of Mark Feehily’s first public appearances after being absent from Westlife’s latest tour following concerns about his health
Westlife hit the top of the charts with a cover version of ABBA’s ‘I Have A Dream’ but their star’s wedding appearance made one Galway businesswoman’s dreams come true at the weekend.
Lisa Marie Leonard tied the knot with husband Niall Mullins at the beautiful Lough Eske Castle in Donegal but as if that wasn’t fairytale enough, they were serenaded by Westlife’s Mark Feehily for their first dance.
Mark belted out the iconic ‘Flying Without Wings’ to a singalong crowd after joining Lisa and Niall’s wedding band All Folk'd Up on stage.
Lisa Marie runs LML management and marketing agency and is also part of the Leonard Group, a family run business since 1968 offering a wide range of services to the construction and haulage sectors and who also operate several popular traditional pubs, bars, and restaurants across Galway.
Lisa Marie was completely unaware that Aiden Leonard had organised the surprise performance after winning a charity auction last year.
Mark Feehily had promised to sing at a wedding for the winner of a Neurodiversity Ireland auction - with Aiden putting in the highest bid.
Lisa Marie said of the surprise: “What a dream. Aiden Leonard you are one of a kind. Love you so much, Niall.”
Mark was absent from Westlife’s latest tour after concerns about his health following an operation.
Fellow bandmate Kian Egan told Kathryn Thomas’ podcast Are We There Yet?: “He is still a member of Westlife. The best way to describe it is, he just doesn’t have the energy to do what we’re doing.
“He’s just not well enough to tour. Obviously we’re on stage for two hours every night.”
“We try not to divulge information that he doesn’t want out there. So I think the way to kind of describe it is that he’s had sepsis repeated on him a few times.
“When we were on the last tour, Mark got sepsis, and then got pneumonia, and then he went back in for an operation. And so he’s doing well. He’s trying to get everything back together and just live a normal life.
Hopefully he’ll be back with us as soon as he feels ready. He did tell us to continue on with this tour. He didn’t want us to stop. So we were kind of like, ‘Okay, you know, if you’re happy, then we’ll go for it’.
“He will be back, he just doesn’t know when he’s going to be back to his full health.”