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Brian Nicholas McFadden (born 12 April 1980) is an Irish singer, who rose to fame with Irish boy band Westlife before leaving the band to forge his own solo career. He was married to former Atomic Kitten member Kerry Katona, and is now engaged to Australian singer Delta Goodrem. Brian has found considerable success in Australia since his relationship with Delta Goodrem . He is also the brother of Grease actress/reality show winner Susan McFadden.
Early years
When he was younger, McFadden juggled two jobs. By day, he worked as a mopper in his local McDonald's, and by night was a reverse stripogram, he would show up naked at a party and people would quickly pay him to put his clothes back on. Together with his sister, he attended Billie Barry Stage School in Dublin and performed as an actor in most of the major theatres in Ireland. He had a passionate 6 month affair with Adel King while at this school. He also had a role in the Irish TV show "Finbar's Class", a comedy revolving around a group of student-singers. In 1998 he started a pop and R&B-influenced group called Cartel, who performed live in Dublin pubs.
Personal Life
During 1998 and 1999, Brian dated Aqua singer Lene Nystrøm Rasted. After the split, he briefly dated S Club 7 singer Hannah Spearritt. McFadden married former Atomic Kitten singer and virgin Kerry Katona on 5 January 2002 at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Rathfoe, County Dublin. He had sex with a lapdancer on his stag night, just before getting married. They have two daughters: Molly Marie McFadden (born 31 August 2001, Dublin, Ireland), and Lilly-Sue McFadden (born 3 February 2003, Dublin, Ireland) who were both delivered at Dublin's Mount Carmel Hospital. Brian was voted Celebrity Dad of the Year in 2002, and Kerry was chosen as Best Celebrity Mum in 2002 and 2003. Katona and McFadden announced their separation in September 2004 and their divorce was finalized in December 2006. McFadden is currently engaged to Australian singer and actress Delta Goodrem, with whom he collaborated on the duet "Almost Here". After breaking up with Katona, McFadden claimed Goodrem was 'helping him' get over the pain, until he later admitted that the relationship was romantic. The couple underwent weeks of tabloid scrutiny, focused particularly on the fallout of McFadden's marriage with Kerry Katona. Press speculation suggested that the pair had began their relationship before McFadden had separated with Katona. This was denied by both Goodrem and McFadden. According to both parties, Goodrem began dating McFadden in 2004, after the breakdown of McFadden's relationship with Katona, with Goodrem relocating from Australia to the UK to live with McFadden. The couple faced further media scrutiny in May 2006 when a newspaper claimed that Goodrem's mother had advised her to end her relationship with a fat loser like McFadden. On 29 November 2007, McFadden announced his engagement to Goodrem. The couple confirmed their engagement on Friday, amidst false reports that Goodrem had turned down the proposal insisting she was “too young” to settle down. Goodrem’s management issued a statement, saying, “The couple were hoping to keep the news private however they feel it is important to now confirm their exciting news.” It was reported in the Christmas Eve issue of OK Magazine Australia that Brian pre-planned the proposal for months.
Westlife Career
Westlife are an Irish pop music group, formed in July 1998. They are signed by Simon Cowell and managed by Louis Walsh. The group is popular in the Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia and much of Europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa. He departed from Westlife after the release of the album Turnaround. With Westlife, McFadden sold more than 30 million albums and 7 million singles, had 12 #1 singles in the UK chart and sold out arenas all over the world.
Prior to becoming successful, Kian, Mark and Shane along with fellow Sligonians Derrick Lacey, Graham Keighron and Michael Garrett, were part of a six-member pop vocal group called IOYOU. Managed by choreographer Mary McDonagh along with two other informal managers, they released a single titled "Together Girl Forever". Louis Walsh, the manager of the 1990s boy-band Boyzone, was contacted by Shane's mother and came to know about the group. However, IOYOU did not meet Simon Cowell's approval for a record deal with BMG, and thus changes were needed. Three members of IOYOU were told they would not be part of the new group, and auditions were held in Dublin where Nicky Byrne and Brian McFadden were recruited. The new group, formed on 3 July 1998, was re-named Westside but as the name was already taken by another band, it was changed to Westlife. Also changing the spelling of Brian's name to Bryan. Boyzone singer Ronan Keating was brought in to co-manage the group with Walsh. Westlife then released an EP titled Swear It Again, though only in Asia.
On 9 March 2004, just three weeks prior to embarking on their fourth world tour, Brian McFadden left the group to spend more time with his family and work on solo projects. On that day, a press conference was held where all the group's members were present and gave emotional individual speeches.
Some of Westlife's songs were co-written by McFadden, such as:
McFadden appears on the following Westlife albums:
Solo Career
On the eve of the Turnaround tour (9 March 2004), McFadden left Westlife to spend more time with his family and work on solo projects. His final public performance as part of Westlife was at Newcastle upon Tyne's Powerhouse nightclub on 27 February 2004. Before launching his solo career he co-wrote the song "If My World Stopped Turning" which was sung by Ireland's entry Chris Doran in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004.
Irish Son
In July 2004 McFadden was signed to the major record company Sony BMG. In September he released his debut single "Real to Me", which went straight to #1 in the UK Singles Chart. His first album Irish Son charted in the Top 40 of the UK Albums Chart. Most of the songs were co-written with Guy Chambers, best known for his successful collaboration with Robbie Williams and INXS. Yahoo Music wrote: "Ultimately, the best you can say about McFadden is that he's unexceptionally inoffensive and probably of equal talent to the other thousand buskers who populate the streets of Dublin." His second single, "Irish Son", released in November 2004 went to #6 in the UK chart. The music video for "Irish Son" caused controversy as it showed a Christian Brothers school in Sutton, whilst the lyrics falsely implied that McFadden had been physically abused at that school. After the school's protests, the record label decided to withdraw the video. In fact, McFadden attended a different CBS school, in Artane. The song criticised the alleged negative hold that the Roman Catholic Church held on Irish society in the past, while McFadden claimed in the song that "it was leaving that saved me."
The third single, "Almost Here", a duet with Australian singer Delta Goodrem, peaked at #3 in the UK chart, but reached #1 in Australia in 2005. McFadden and Goodrem have collaborated on several songs which appeared on her album, Delta. The fourth and final single from the album, "Demons", reached #28 in the UK chart in May 2005. McFadden's career stalled at this point due to the intense media backlash he suffered due to his personal life. The music video was directed by Howard Greenhalgh, and was later remade into a different version featuring scenes from the popular TV show Lost by the American network ABC in order to promote the show.
After Irish Son
McFadden continued writing songs for artists as diverse as Il Divo and Girls Aloud, as well as co-writing the theme "Together We Are One" for the 2006 Commonwealth Games. That same year, McFadden duetted with American singer LeAnn Rimes on the song called "Everybody's Someone". The song featured on her album Whatever We Wanna. The single reached #48 in the UK chart. In 2006 McFadden stated that he was disillusioned with life in pop's fastlane and want to follow in the footsteps of country music legends Johnny Cash and Garth Brooks. He revealed: "Country music is great. It's not hick and it's not frowned upon any more. "In country music songs are not just about love but everything. Every song tells a story. I've already been working with some amazing country songwriters." On 22 March 2007 McFadden was reportedly dropped by Sony BMG due to the pathetic album sales and the total failure of recent single "Demons". McFadden later stated that they had simply parted ways as he wanted to have creative control over his music.
Set In Stone
In 2007, McFadden set up his own record label under the name of BMF Records Ireland, which he would use for all future releases, allowing him more control and creativity over his music. McFadden announced that his second album, Set in Stone, would be released in Australia and New Zealand on 19 April 2008. His first single from the album was "Like Only A Woman Can". The album reached #5 in Australia, during its first week of release. His second single, "Twisted", peaked at #29 on the ARIA chart but slowly became a radio hit. A third single, "Everything But You", was released digitally in November 2008, but failed to chart. The album is yet to be released in the UK, Europe and Asia.
Wall of Soundz
In the Summer of 2009, McFadden announced a new project with songwriter Robert Conley. The pair are in the process of creating an electronic pop album entitled Wall of Soundz. McFadden and Conley released demos of four songs to their YouTube channel, entitled "Do You Like Me?", "Take A Bite", "Just Say No" and "Kickin' Around The Love". The pair were due to tour with New Kids on the Block, on their Australian leg of Full Service Tour, but later cancelled all australian dates. 'Wall Of Soundz' will be the follow up to his 2008 release 'Set In Stone' which debuted at #5 on the ARIA Albums chart.
The first single from the album, entitled "Just Say So", will be released in 8th March,2010
The album Wall of Soundz will be released in 23th April,2010
Other Work
Television
In 2008 McFadden took on the role of television presenter as co-host of FOX8's Football Superstar in Australia. The reality series chronicles the fortunes of fifteen would-be football stars vying for the chance to take a place in the squad of the Australian A-League team Sydney FC. Mcfadden reprised his role for the second season in 2009. In August 2009, McFadden appeared as a guest judge on Channel 10's Australian Idol.
In 2010 McFadden will become a judge on Australia's Got Talent to air on Channel Seven in the first half of 2010. He will judge alongside friend Kyle Sandilands and X-Factor judge Dannii Minogue.
Radio
In late 2008, McFadden teamed up with fellow singer Ricki-Lee Coulter and former Big Brother host Mike Goldman to present the Summer Breakfast Show on 2Day FM, and networked around the country on the Today Network. On 22 September 2009, McFadden returned to radio by co-hosting on 2dayFM with Jackie O and Andrew G for breakfast.[1]
Solo discography
Albums
Singles
References
- ^ [1] - Brian McFadden fills in
- ^ a b Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. pp. 339. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
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