He grew up in Sligo, a small town in the northwest of Ireland. He was born on July 5, 1979 to Peter and Mae Filan. He is the youngest of seven children. He's got three brothers and three sisters: Finbarr, Peter Jr, Yvonne, Liam, Denise and Mairead. His parents owned a diner in Sligo named Carlton Cafe and Shane used to work there as a waiter from a very early age. When Peter and Mae decided to close the cafe in 2003, Shane bought it back and turned it into a clothes shop. Shane is a big fan of Michael Jackson and even learned how to moonwalk. He attended Summerhill College, a Catholic school, with Kian Egan and Mark Feehily. All three of them participated in a school production of Grease when they were about 12. Shane loves horses, owns lots of them, and used to compete at horse tournaments.

Shane Filan sings a lot of lead vocals on Westlife songs. He has also cowritten a few songs, along with the other band members, including:

"Fragile Heart" "Bop Bop Baby" "I Wanna Grow Old With You" "Don't Say It's Too Late" "Love Crime" "How Does It Feel" "Crying Girl" "Reason For Living" "Miss You When I'm Dreaming" Shane married his childhood sweetheart, Gillian Walsh, on Sunday December 28, 2003 at Ballintubber Abbey.