"Flying Without Wings" is a song by Irish boy band Westlife, released on 18 October 1999 as the third single from their self-titled debut studio album (1999).

In an interview with HitQuarters, Hector said the basic idea for the song came to him while on a break from working on a hip hop session with Ezi Cut in Los Angeles: I came up with a couple of lines for the first verse and then phoned my mama's house, left it on the answering machine, and said, "Don't get rid of this!

"[3] Upon returning to England, Hector went into the studio to work on the idea with long-time songwriting partner and producer Steve Mac.

A big moment for me was when Flying Without Wings came out, I'd had a few Number 1s at that point, but that convinced people I could write good pop songs.

After that, I started working with bigger acts and over a more diverse range of genres, including country and rock, which helped me pick up some credibility."

The song also won the band their first of four Record of the Year prizes on the annual televised ITV music awards on 11 December 1999, scoring a total of 159,590 votes to beat Boyzone's Ronan Keating to the title.

[5] The Official Charts Company stated, "Flying Without Wings wasn't the first boyband ballad, nor is it the biggest selling, but it was certainly influential.

Flying Without Wings has soundtracked births, proposals, marriages, funerals, and untold TV talent show montages over the last two decades."

"Flying Without Wings" was covered by American Idol season 2 winner Ruben Studdard as his debut single in 2003.