Brian McFadden

Brian McFadden
Born	Brian Nicholas McFadden (1980-04-12) 12 April 1980 Dublin, Ireland
Other names	Bryan McFadden
Occupation	Singer-songwriter television presenter
Years active	1998–present
Spouse(s)	Kerry Katona (m. 2002; div. 2006) Vogue Williams (m. 2012; separated 2015)
Children	2
Relatives	Susan McFadden (sister)
Musical career
Genres	Pop soft rock
Labels	Sony BMG BMF Universal
Associated acts	Westlife Kerry Katona Delta Goodrem Ronan Keating Sinéad O'Connor Christy Dignam
Website	brianmcfadden.com

Brian Nicholas McFadden (born 12 April 1980) is an Irish singer-songwriter and TV presenter who rose to fame in 1998 as a member of the Irish boyband Westlife as one of the lead singers and frontman. When he resided in Australia, he was a judge on Australia's Got Talent. Following his departure from Westlife in 2004, McFadden released his debut solo album, Irish Son, which peaked within the top 5 on both the Danish and Irish Albums Charts, and produced his first two No. 1 solo singles "Real to Me" in four European countries^[1] and also "Almost Here", a duet with his now ex-fiancée Delta Goodrem which gained a platinum accreditation in Australia.^[2] "Like Only a Woman Can", the lead single from his second album, Set in Stone (2008), became his third No. 1 single as a solo artist.^[3] In 2010, McFadden scored his fourth No. 1 with the hit single "Just Say So", featuring American singer Kevin Rudolf, and gained his second Australian platinum accreditation.^[4] The single received a nomination at the 2010 ARIA Music Awards for Most Popular Australian Single.^[5]

Early life

McFadden was born in Dublin, Ireland, and was raised Catholic.^[6] Throughout his younger years, he always had an interest in singing, dancing and football.^[7] Along with his sister Susan, McFadden attended the Billie Barry Stage School in Dublin,^[7] which led him to doing stage and TV roles, including a role in the Irish TV show Finbar's Class, a comedy revolving around a group of student-swingers.^[8] In early 1998, he formed a pop-R&B group with his friends Tim and Darragh, called Cartel, and performed live gigs in Dublin pubs.^[7]

Music career

1998–2004: Westlife

In June 1998, McFadden auditioned for Irish male band, Westlife and was against another blond Nicky Byrne and eventually both joined the group alongside Kian Egan, Mark Feehily and Shane Filan. After joining, he changed the spelling of his name Brian to Bryan to make it easier to sign autographs. He shared lead vocals with Filan and Feehily. With McFadden as part of the group, Westlife released their first single Swear It Again. Four Irish No. 1 studio albums and a No. 1 greatest hits album. They also released seventeen Irish top 5 singles including the hit single "Uptown Girl", which peaked within the top 10 in seven European countries and also in Australia and New Zealand. In March 2004, McFadden left the group to spend more time with his family and work on solo projects. He subsequently began a solo career and decided to revert the spelling of his first name back to its original, "Brian". 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.

2004–06: Irish Son

Following his departure from Westlife, McFadden signed to major record label, Sony BMG.^[9] In September 2004, he released his debut solo single "Real to Me", which became his first solo No. 1 single in Britain, Ireland, Denmark and Norway.^[1] His second single and title track, "Irish Son", peaked within the top 10 on the British and Ireland Singles Charts. Following the release of the two singles, McFadden released his debut solo album, Irish Son, in November 2004 and it peaked within the top 10 on the Irish Albums Chart. McFadden co-wrote most of the songs on the album with Guy Chambers, best known for his successful collaboration with Robbie Williams and INXS. The third single "Almost Here", a duet with Australian singer Delta Goodrem became McFadden's second No. 1 single in Ireland as a solo artist and his first in Australia^[10] and gained a platinum accreditation there.^[2] The fourth and final single, "Demons" peaked within the top 30 on the charts in Ireland and Britain. McFadden continued writing songs for artists such as, Il Divo and Girls Aloud, as well as co-writing the theme song "Together We Are One" for the 2006 Commonwealth Games.^[7] That same year, McFadden collaborated with American singer LeAnn Rimes on the song, "Everybody's Someone".

2007–08: Label change and Set in Stone

While working on the second album, McFadden's record label, Sony BMG insisted that he work with an A&R man, after disappointing sales of his last album, which only sold 800,000 copies worldwide.^[9] However, there were claims that McFadden's A&R man did not want McFadden to work with Guy Chambers, who had previously worked with McFadden on his last album and fought about his songs and musical direction.^[9] His A&R man wanted him to make songs like James Morrison, Paolo Nutini and the Scissor Sisters but McFadden insisted he make songs that are of his style.^[9] It was later revealed in March 2007 that McFadden parted ways with Sony BMG. Later that year, he set up his own record label under the name of BMF Records and released his new single "Like Only a Woman Can" in Ireland, through the label. "Like Only a Woman Can" became his third Irish No. 1 single as a solo artist.^[3] In early 2008, McFadden signed to Universal Music Australia^[11] and released the single there in April 2008, which peaked within the ARIA top 15.^[3] Following the release of "Like Only a Woman Can", McFadden released his second studio album, Set in Stone. The album peaked in Australia at No. 5 on the ARIA Albums Chart.^[12] Other singles were released from the album: "Twisted" peaked within the top 30 on the ARIA Singles Chart^[13] and "Everything But You" failed to chart the ARIA top 50.

2010: Wall of Soundz

In April 2010, McFadden released "Just Say So", which features American rapper Kevin Rudolf. The single debuted on the ARIA Singles Chart at No. 1 and stayed there for three weeks.^[14] It spent seven weeks in the ARIA top ten and thirteen weeks in the ARIA top 50 and gained a platinum accreditation.^[4][14] Following the release of "Just Say So", McFadden released his third studio album, Wall of Soundz, in Australia on 23 April 2010. The album was originally going to be released as a side-project McFadden embarked on with American songwriter Rob Conley but both decided to release it as McFadden's third solo album.^[15] It debuted at No. 27 on the ARIA Albums Chart and spent only three weeks in the ARIA top 50.^[16] "Chemical Rush" was the second single released from the album in June 2010 and peaked at No. 12 on the charts.^[17] In September 2010, McFadden released the third single entitled "Mistakes", a duet with his then fiancée Delta Goodrem. McFadden also recorded a duet with Ronan Keating on Keating's duet album, a cover of the Bee Gees' "To Love Somebody".

2011–12: Just The Way You Are and the controversy

On 25 February 2011, McFadden released a new single "Just the Way You Are (Drunk at the Bar)". The song has been criticised as a glorification of date rape.^[18] McFadden's cancelled the shooting of a proposed pop video for the song; he asked that the song not be played on the radio and pledged via his Twitter account to donate all proceeds from the song to rape victims.^[19] "Just the Way You Are (Drunk at the Bar)" debuted on the ARIA Singles Chart at number sixty-one on 8 March 2011, and peaked at number forty-nine the next week.^[20][21]

In June 2011, McFadden appeared on Australian radio show The Kyle & Jackie O Show to launch both of his new singles Come Party and That's How Life Goes, which was co-written by multi-platinum singer, songwriter and producer Ray Ruffin. Despite heavy promotion and appearances on TV shows such as Dancing With the Stars, the new singles failed to impact the charts at all, which was surprising considering his high-profile appearances on Australia's Got Talent. Some of this has been attributed to the negative press surrounding his previous single "Just the Way You Are (Drunk at the Bar)". This, as well as his much-publicized split with Delta Goodrem, appear to have had a negative impact on his music career. There is speculation that the release of his fourth album may be put on hold.^[22]

McFadden released his new single "Wrap My Arms" on 20 January 2012 in Australia.^[23] The song was used in a Promo for Home and Away and it managed to peak at 70 in the ARIA top 100.^[24]

2012–13: The Irish Connection

On 13 September 2012, McFadden announced the release of his fourth studio album, The Irish Connection, featuring covers of his favourite Irish songs as well as duets with Ronan Keating and Sinéad O'Connor. The album was recorded in both Sydney and Dublin. This album features none of McFadden's past five single releases which do not appear in an album format to date.

On 18 September 2012 Ronan Keating announced that McFadden would be joining him on his 2013 UK Fires Tour.^[25]

Television and radio career

In 2008, McFadden took on the role of television presenter as co-host of FOX8's Football Superstar in Australia. He reprised his role for the second season in 2009. In August 2009, McFadden appeared as a guest judge on Australian Idol.

In 2010, McFadden became one of the new judges on Australia's Got Talent alongside Kyle Sandilands and Dannii Minogue. He was a judge for series 4-6, but did not return for series 7.^[26]

In late 2008, McFadden teamed up with singer Ricki-Lee Coulter and former Big Brother host Mike Goldman to present the Summer Breakfast Show on 2Day FM. In September 2009, McFadden returned to radio by co-hosting on the breakfast show on 2dayFM with Jackie O and Andrew G, replacing host Kyle Sandilands for a short period of time.

2013 saw McFadden and his former wife Vogue Williams come in second place on ITV dancing show Stepping Out, hosted by Davina McCall.

In 2014, McFadden co-hosted the Channel 5 dating game show Stand By Your Man alongside Laura Jackson.^[27]

In September 2014, McFadden began hosting daytime ITV series Who's Doing the Dishes?.^[28] The show returned for a second series in September 2015 and a third in September 2016. In January 2015, McFadden took part in celebrity talent show Get Your Act Together.^[29] In December 2015, McFadden and Vogue Williams took part in a celebrity couples edition of Catchphrase.

In 2016, McFadden participated in the third series of The Jump on Channel 4. He was the fourth celebrity to be eliminated from the show.^[30]

Filmography

Television

• Australia's Got Talent (2010–2012) – Judge
• Football Superstar (2008) – Presenter
• Summer Breakfast Show (2008) – Co-presenter
• Australian Idol (2009) – Guest judge
• Stepping Out (2013) – Contestant
• Stand By Your Man (2014) – Co-presenter
• Who's Doing the Dishes? (2014–present) – Presenter
• Get Your Act Together (2015) – Contestant
• The Jump (2016) – Contestant

Guest appearances

• The Chase: Celebrity Special^[31] (27 September 2014) – Contestant
• Catchphrase: Celebrity Couples Special (5 December 2015) – Contestant
• The Chase: Text Santa Special (18 December 2015) – Contestant

Personal life

Marriages and relationships

Vogue Williams (2014)

McFadden married former Atomic Kitten singer Kerry Katona on 5 January 2002 in Rathfeigh, County Meath, Republic of Ireland. They have two daughters: Molly Marie McFadden (born 31 August 2001) and Lilly-Sue McFadden (born 3 February 2003). McFadden filed for divorce from Katona in September 2004 and separated for two years until their divorce was finalised in December 2006.

In 2004, McFadden began dating Australian singer and actress Delta Goodrem, On 1 April 2011, McFadden and Goodrem released a joint statement announcing that they had broken up.^{[32] [33][34]}

McFadden got into trouble with law for being drunk and hostile on a Air Virgin flight ^[35][36][37]

Since May 2011, he has been together with Irish DJ and reality star Vogue Williams and their engagement was announced on 12 January 2012. They were married on 2 September 2012 in Florence, Italy. In July 2015, he announced on Twitter that he and Vogue Williams were no longer a couple and that they would separate.^[38]

Views on homosexuality

In August 2008, GayNZ.com drew attention to remarks about gays and lesbians McFadden made while he co-hosted the breakfast show on More FM in Auckland, New Zealand, stating:

Saying pink is a form of red is the same as saying homosexual is a form of male. In the old days there was no such thing as gay. It was frowned upon. The church would burn you at the stake. Modern day, if you are not gay, a man should not be wearing pink. Unless of course you're in the Americas Cup and you're one of these pansies who walk around with Gant t-shirts with your collars up, and you wear pink and you wear white trousers with those dirty brown slip-on shoes. Then you're just an idiot.^[39]

McFadden's comments made headlines in news reports, gossip websites and weblogs worldwide, provoking considerable condemnation from the LGBT community.^[40] He later denied he was homophobic, saying through his publicist that his comments had been "taken out of context".^[41]

Discography

• Irish Son (2004)
• Set in Stone (2008)
• Wall of Soundz (2010)
• The Irish Connection (2013)

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Brian McFadden.

• Brian McFadden at the Internet Movie Database