Michael Louis Vincent Walsh (born 5 August 1952) is an Irish music manager and television personality. He has managed Johnny Logan, Boyzone, Jedward and Westlife, four of Ireland's most successful pop acts in the 1990s and 2000s. He later became a talent judge on television shows such as Popstars (2001–2002), You're a Star (2003–2004), The X Factor (2004–2014; 2016–2017), and Ireland's Got Talent (2018–2019). Early life Michael Louis Vincent Walsh was born in Kiltimagh on 5 August 1952, the son of Maureen and Frank Walsh. He has one older sibling and six younger siblings. He was raised Roman Catholic. Music manager Having moved to Dublin to start his music industry career in the 1990s, Walsh decided to create an Irish version of Take That, which the papers picked up on when he advertised the open auditions. The end result was Boyzone, whom he managed to international success with 16 top three singles, six of which were number ones, as well as four number one albums, selling more than 20 million copies worldwide. When Ronan Keating announced he wanted to take a break from Boyzone, Walsh continued to manage his career. Keating achieved a number one hit with "When You Say Nothing At All" in 1999 and also "Life Is a Rollercoaster" in 2000, while his album sold 4.4 million copies. Keating and Walsh later agreed to part company as Keating's solo career reached an all-time high. Walsh then went back to the boy band formula to create Westlife, which Keating co-managed with Walsh for the first couple of Westlife's number one singles and albums. Westlife were an Irish boy band, formed in Dublin in July 1998. They sold over 50 million records worldwide, a total that included studio albums, singles, video releases, and compilation albums. The group accumulated 14 number-one singles in the United Kingdom. They achieved a total of 26 UK top ten singles over their 14-year career, and achieved the first number one on the UK Singles Downloads Chart with "Flying Without Wings" in September 2004. Despite an earlier bitter feud, Walsh had a public reconciliation with Boyzone on the ITV2 programme Ghosthunting With... in which they explored a network of subterranean streets beneath Edinburgh. In December 2012, he became Union J's manager. Television career Walsh's first television work was in 2001, in the Irish version of Popstars. The following year Walsh appeared as a judge on the