Brian McFadden Biography

Summary

"Brian Nicholas McFadden" (born 12 April, 1980 in Artane, Dublin, Ireland) is an Irish singer and songwriter. He is the brother of Grease actress Susan McFadden.

Early years

He worked as a security guard in McDonalds and as a bingo caller before finding fame with Westlife. McFadden's main interests have always been singing, dancing 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 started a pop and R&B-influenced group called "Cartel" with two other boys named Tim and Darragh. Together they performed live in many of Dublin's pubs.

Relationships

McFadden married Kerry Katona on 5 January 2002 at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Rathfeigh, County Meath. Their honeymoon was in Mauritius. They 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 Carmel Hospital. Bryan was voted Celebrity Dad of the Year in 2002, and Kerry was crowned Best Celebrity Mum in 2002 and 2004.

He had engaged in oral sex with lapdancer Amy Barker on his stag night in 2001 just a few weeks before his wedding. The singer paid Barker to enter into a confidentiality agreement, but she later went to the tabloids with her story anyway. The lap dancer has received an apology from McFadden (who had denied her claim). Barker stated, 'We started off having sex and after about a minute I pulled away and performed a sex act (gave him oral sex) on him. I didn't enjoy it and it was over in three minutes. He was only concerned about his own needs.' McFadden said of the sexual encounter and Kerry finding out, 'I felt suicidal and I wanted to die. There's no life for me without Kerry. But sure, I allowed Amy Barker to give me oral sex on my stag night.' Kerry's opinion of what happened at the time, 'The bottom line is, Brian was very drunk that night and she wasn't. I think that says a lot.' The couple announced their separation in September 2004 and their divorce was finalized in December 2006.

McFadden claims Kerry and he did not spend their wedding night together and were more interested in the event being covered by Hello! magazine. He told British publication Reveal, 'It wasn't a real wedding. We were getting married to have a big party and get loads of money for it and to appear showbiz. 'My marriage ended on the stag night.'

PR guru Max Clifford claimed he had to stop working for Brian McFadden because of his out-of-control drinking. Celebrity publicist Clifford said McFadden kept publicly slagging his ex-wife Kerry Katona when he was drunk.

Supermodel Sophie Anderton claimed that McFadden begged her to come back to his hotel in 2004 - before he split from wife Kerry. The father-of-two pleaded with Sophie to join him at his hotel and drunkenly shrugged his shoulders when she asked: 'What about your wife Kerry?' Sophie spurned his advances, but Brian was determined that Sophie should change her mind and join him at his hotel at a post showbiz bash earlier that summer. She eventually refused.

McFadden is now dating Australian singer and actress Delta Goodrem, with whom he collaborated on the duet 'Almost Here'. Initially, the couple denied being romantically linked. After breaking up with Kerry, he claimed Delta was 'helping him' get over the pain, and the two shared many long phone calls. until McFadden admitted the relationship. The couple underwent weeks of tabloid scrutiny, focusing particularly on the fallout of McFadden's marriage with Kerry Katona. Press speculation suggested that the pair had embarked on their affair before McFadden had separated with Katona. This was denied by both Goodrem and McFadden. The couple's relationship faced further scrutiny in May 2006 when a newspaper claimed that Goodrem's mother had advised her to end her relationship with McFadden. There have been repeated rumours that the couple are engaged, though this has been strongly denied.

McFadden recently revealed he only married Katona in 2002 for the money and fame and that he was too immature to have two children with her. The singer - who divorced Katona after two-and-a-half years of marriage - said, 'If we hadn't had kids, the marriage wouldn't have lasted as long as it did. I was too young to understand what having kids meant. Having a child was like getting a dog.'

In October 2007 Brian stated about Delta 'She's sexy in general," 'I don't think the way she dresses now has changed the way she is as a person. People finally see she can be as sexy any one else in the world.'

Westlife

"Westlife" are an Irish pop music group, formed on July 1998. They are signed by Simon Cowell and managed by Louis Walsh. The group is popular in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and much of Europe Asia, Latin America and Africa.

Brian who was known as Bryan in the band was known as the joker of the band and it was only until 2003 where he settled down and started to take the lead vocal within the band.

With Westlife, Funnyman 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.

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').

Westlife were keen to replace departed member Brian Mcfadden with superstar Justin Timberlake - but feared he would put their dance routines to shame.The band looked to My Love hitmaker as a replacement following McFadden's departure in 2004.But singer Shane Filan believes Timberlake would have embarrassed the band on the dance floor.

It was reported in October 2007 that Westlife want Robbie Williams to join their band - in a trade-off for their own ex-member Brian McFadden joining Robbie's former band Take That. Nicky Byrne ( a member of the band) said: 'Take That should have Brian back, and we'll have Robbie.' 'If I was Take That I wouldn't want Robbie back.' 'I think they're doing very well without him and Robbie's doing very well on his own.' Nicky's bandmate Kian Egan can see why fans would like to see both bands reunited with their departed fifth members, but insists there is too much 'politics? involved.

Brian is on the following westlife albums:

Westlife

Coast to Coast

World Of Our Own

Unbreakable - The Greatest Hits Vol. 1

Turnaround

Solo career

Over time, McFadden started to get more lead vocals for Westlife songs, particularly on Turnaround album. He also gained a reputation as quite the comedian. On the eve of the Turnaround tour,McFadden left Westlife on 9 March 2004 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 Friday 27th 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.

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 and INXS. '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. ' Yahoo Music

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 falsley 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'.Elton John slammed the Irish Son single when he reviewed the latest tracks in Time Out. He said the song was 'just horrible'

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 Delta.

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.

In 2005 Brian wanted to tour with girlfriend Delta Goodrem. He hinted he may open shows for the 20- year-old former Neighbours' star when she begins her first ever tour this summer.

In 2006 Brian 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 dropped by Sony BMG due to disappointing album sales and the failure of recent single 'Demons .

There has been recent press reports to that Westlife would not welcome him back to the group again.

2007 Onwards

His latest single 'Like Only A Woman Can? was released in Ireland on April 20 2007 and reached the Number 1 position on the Irish Singles Chart. It reveals a grown up, more mature Brian McFadden than 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 he also said the song was about his Mother and Sister and Women in general, and admitting mistakes in the past whilst looking forward to the future. It was released on his own label, BMF.

MCFADDEN won GBP57,000 ($114,000) on a GBP400 ($800) bet at a London casino on 10th July 2007. He couldn't believe his luck when he landed one of the top prizes trendy London bar/casino Fifty, only hours after attending Justin Timberlake's gig at the city's O2 arena.

In August 2007 Brian hoped 'You're A Star' (Ireland's Television talent programme) would give a boost to his own singing career. He launched his new song, Jones, live on the show to great publicity. He hoped to improve its chances of making it into the charts by airing it after the amateurs' performances.

Brian is reportedly set to take part in the next series of British reality show, I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here!, after music mogul Louis Walsh recommended him for the programme.

Future projects include further writing with Delta Goodrem (with whom he is currently romantically involved), Chris Leonard and a writing collaboration with Westlife's Mark Feehily as well as the completion of his new solo album and the development of his BMF label internationally.

He secured a meeting with film director Steven Spielberg to star in a Spielberg film. The Daily Mail 'Brian went to castings in Los Angeles with Delta last year and he really impressed some top LA bigwigs.' 'They thought he was a natural, they've now set up a meeting with Spielberg, who's working on two new projects and they think Brian would be ideal for either of them.'

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".

His sister Susan McFadden,also a singer and an actress won Grease Is the Word and will be performing in the West-End Theatre.

Susan McFadden asked him NOT to turn up and support her in TV talent show Grease Is The Word - for HIS own sake. Susan asked Brian not to come along as she feared he might be upset by the attention he would get. She said: 'I could just see them putting the camera on him in the audience all the time, and that would be annoying for him and maybe a bit distracting for me.