For Westlife, working with Mariah Carey gave them newfound respect for the pop star. Holing up in a Capri studio just off Italy, the Irish pop group teamed with the diva to re-record the Phil Collins song "Against All Odds (Take a Look At Me Now)" (Carey's solo version is on her last album Rainbow).

"You know the way you see people's names on the credits, and it's like, I wonder if she actually really did that or are they just getting their name on there [because they're] such a big artist?" vocalist Mark Feehilly asks. "I always wondered that about Mariah Carey, and I was so happy to find out that she actually sat there at the desk, pushing up and down the buttons. She actually does produce her own songs and she writes her own songs, too. So, as a big fan, it made me respect her even more."

Though they've sold five million copies of their 1999 debut worldwide, Westlife has only just started to break stateside. So when they met up with Carey at an American Music Awards after-show party a few months back, they were surprised that she not only knew who they were, but was also familiar with their work.

"We were introduced," vocalist Kian Egan says, "and she was like, 'I know you guys.' And we were like, 'Do you? How?' And she's like, 'I really like that song 'Flying Without Wings' . . . maybe someday you can come to Wembley and come on stage with me and just sing for a laugh, just for a show thing.' And we were like, 'Wow.'"

"And then [former Arista president] Clive Davis, who controls us in the U.S., got a phone call the next day from her 'people,' [affecting a Mafioso-like accent] and her people got in touch with my people [laughs]. It just all got rolling and we decided, why not?"

Westlife's duet with Carey is set to be released as a single in Europe in August.

KAREN BLISS
(July 1, 2000)