Brian McFadden

Brian McFadden

Brian Nicholas McFadden (born 12 April, 1980 in Artane, Dublin, Ireland) is an Irish singer and songwriter.

Biography

McFadden has a sister, Susan, and his parents' names are Brendan and Mairead.

McFadden married Kerry Katona on 5 January 2002 at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Rathfeigh, County Meath. They had their honeymoon in Mauritius and have two daughters: Molly Marie McFadden (born August 31 2001, Dublin, Ireland), and Lilly-Sue McFadden (born February 3 2003, Dublin, Ireland) who were both born at Dublin's Mount Cameral Hospital. The couple announced their separation in September 2004 and their divorce was finalized in December 2006.

McFadden is now dating Australian singer and actress Delta Goodrem. McFadden and Goodrem are currently both recording new albums and are busy flying between Dublin and Sydney and the recording studio.

The early years

McFadden's main interests have always been singing and football. Together with his sister he attended Billie Barry Stage School in Dublin and performed as an actor onstage all major theatres in Ireland. He also had a role in the Irish TV show Finbar's class, a comedy about a group of teenagers set in a school.

In 1998 he set up a pop and R&B-influenced group called Cartel with two other boys named Tim and Darragh. Together they successfully performed live in most of Dublin's pubs.

Westlife

McFadden came to fame as a member of the boy band Westlife.

The turning point in his singing career was a meeting with Louis Walsh, who at that time was managing Boyzone. Walsh wasn't interested in signing Cartel but instead invited McFadden to join another group made up of boys from Sligo, formerly known as IOYOU (or IOU). McFadden auditioned together with his friend Nicky Byrne, and they made such an impression that they both ended up being part of the new boy band Westside. Brian became known as Bryan.

A few months later the group, who had again changed their name this to time to the now famous Westlife, debuted at #1 in the UK Chart with their first seven singles, setting a new record in the Guinness World Records.

Some of Westlife's songs were co-written by McFadden, such as Fragile Heart (from the album "Coast to Coast"), Bop Bop Baby, I Wanna Grow Old With You and Love Crime (from the album "World of Our Own").

With Westlife, McFadden sold more than 30 millions albums and 7 millions singles, had 12 #1 singles in the UK chart and sold out stadiums all over the world.

Solo career

McFadden left Westlife on 9 March 2004 to spend more time with his family and work on solo projects.

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.

In July 2004 McFadden was signed to the major record company Sony BMG and to begin his solo career Brian resumed the original spelling of his name. In September he released his debut single "Real to Me", which went straight to #1 on the UK charts.

His first album Irish Son charted in the Top 30 of the UK charts. Most of the songs were co-written with Guy Chambers, best known for his successful collaboration with Robbie Williams.

His second single, "Irish Son", released in November 2004 went to #6 on the UK charts. The music video for Irish Son caused serious controversy as it showed a Christian Brothers school in Sutton, whilst the lyrics implied that McFadden had been physically abused at that school. After the school's protests, the label decided to withdraw the video. In fact, McFadden attended a different CBS school, in Artane. The song for the most part 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 on the UK charts and reached #1 in Australia in 2005. McFadden and Goodrem have collaborated on several songs which appeared in her album Mistaken Identity.

The fourth and final single from the album, "Demons", reached #28 on the UK Charts in May 2005. 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.

Brian 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 also duetted with American singer LeAnn Rimes, the song called "Everybody's Someone" featured on her album "Whatever We Wanna". The single reached #48 on the UK charts.

On 22 March 2007 McFadden was dropped by Sony BMG due to disapointing album sales and the failure of recent singles "Demons" and "Everybody's Someone".

2007 Onwards

His newest single “Like Only A Woman Can” is be released in Ireland on April 20 2007. It reveals a grown up, more mature Brian McFadden then previously experienced. The self-penned song is the first track from his yet untitled second solo album, Brian describes it as being about his relationship with Delta Goodrem and admitting mistakes in the past whilst looking forward to the future. It will be released on his own label, BMF.

Future projects include further writing with Delta Goodrem, a collaboration with Westlife’s Mark Feehily as well as the completion of the new solo album and the development of the BMF label internationally.

Solo discography

Albums

Year	Title	Chart positions			Label
		UK	IRE	AUS
2004	Irish Son	28	6	-	Sony BMG

Singles

Year	Title	Chart positions			Album	Label
		UK	IRE	AUS
2004	"Real To Me"	1	1	54	Irish Son	Sony BMG
2004	"Irish Son"	6	2	83	Irish Son	Sony BMG
2005	"Almost Here" [feat. Delta Goodrem]	3	1	1	Irish Son	Sony BMG
2005	"Demons"	28	24	N/R	Irish Son	Sony BMG
2006	"Everybody's Someone" [feat. LeAnn Rimes]	48	27	N/R	Whatever We Wanna	Sony BMG
2007	"Like Only A Woman Can"				TBC	BMF

See also

• Westlife

Trivia

• McFadden performed with Westlife as Bryan because it made signing autographs easier for him.
• He owns a recording studio in Dublin called the Vocal Lab.
• The tattoo in his inner left arm reads "Sometimes life breaks in mysterious ways", a line from his song Sorry Love Daddy which he dedicated to his daughters.
• Brian is a keen footballer and is a fan of Coventry City.
• He is currently managing South African rock band Franklin, as well as Irish group Melt Hair And The Love Rats who have covered his hit single Real To Me.

Quotes

-"I'll know I'm famous when I have five Ferrari's, seven houses, Cameron Diaz on my arm and a little man following me with a huge bag of money".

-"I've worked in a cash and carry store, a wine cellar and McDonalds, which was by far the worst. I was a security guard for McDonalds in Dublin City Centre and it was awful. I just stood there all day - it was so boring." (Bryan on his previous jobs).

-"When I was at school I got lines for dropping a big squelchy, loud fart. My teacher, who was a priest, made me write 'I must not fart in class' 100 times. I left that school shortly afterwards."

-"We were round Ronan's having dinner. One of his friends was having a drink and we swapped his short with a swig of vinegar. Then we started going 'Drink, drink, drink!' He did it, his face turned green and then he puked everywhere!"

-"I bite my finger nails and spit them out. I once spat off a roof and hit someone. I didn't mean to but it was a direct hit."

-"I collected Discovery Magazine. Looking back it was such a boring thing to do cos it's all about stuff like the Kings and Queens of England. I used to keep each copy stashed away in a file!"

External links

• Brian McFadden Official site
• Brian McFadden Official Ireland site
• Brian McFadden MySpace site
• Brian McFadden Last.fm site
• Modest! Management
• Mark Jones Management
• Cartel Official site
• Billie Barry Stage School
• Brian and Delta Heaven Fansite
• Brian McFadden Fansite