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Brian McFadden

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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[1] to spend more time with his family and work on solo projects.

McFadden was signed to the major record company Sony BMG and his first album Irish Son charted in the Top 30 of the UK charts. Most of the songs were co-written with Guy Chambers, who is mostly known for his successful collaboration with Robbie Williams. To start his solo career Brian resumed the original spelling of his name.

He released his debut single "Real to Me" in September 2004, which went to #1 on the UK charts.

His second single, "Irish Son", was released in November 2004 and went to #6 on the UK charts. The video for Irish Son caused some 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.[2] In fact, McFadden attended a different CBS school, in Artane. The song for the most part criticises the alleged negative hold that the Roman Catholic Church held on Irish society in the past, while McFadden claims in the song that "it was leaving that saved me".

The third single, "Almost Here", a duet with Australian singer Delta Goodrem, peaked at No. 3 on the UK charts and reached No. 1 in Australia. McFadden and Goodrem have collaborated on several songs, which appeared in her album Mistaken Identity. They have continued to write songs together and hope to become a well-established song-writing team.

The fourth single from the album, "Demons", only reached #28 in May 2005. The 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 itself.

McFadden co-wrote the song "If My World Stopped Turning" which was sung by Chris Doran in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004.

In 2006 McFadden has also duetted with American singer LeAnn Rimes in a song called "Everybody's Someone", which featured on her album "Whatever We Wanna". The single reached number 48 in the British charts.

It was announced on the 22/03/2007 that McFadden had been dropped by his record label due to poor album sales the failure of recent singles "Demons" and "Everybody's Someone" and possibly his inability to reach any major music markets outside of the UK and Ireland. [3]

It is currently unknown what stage McFadden is at with his second solo album and with his releasing from his contract with SonyBMG, as well as when his next single will be released.

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.[4] 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

Trivia

  • McFadden performed with Westlife as Bryan because it made signing autographs easier for him.[citation needed]
  • 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.[5]
  • 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.[6]

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!"

References

  1. ^ Westlife Announce The Departure Of Bryan McFadden
  2. ^ Label withdraws McFadden's video
  3. ^ Brian McFadden dropped by record label
  4. ^ "Like Only A Woman Can" press release
  5. ^ [1]
  6. ^ Brian McFadden at WikiMusicGuide
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