Brian Nicholas McFadden (12 April 1980), is an Irish singer-composer-producer who rose to fame in the late 90s as a member of the Irish male band, Westlife. He is now a judge on Australia's Got Talent.
In June 1998, McFadden auditioned for the new Irish male band (at the time), Westlife with 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. With McFadden as part of the group, Westlife released 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.
Following his departure from Westlife, McFadden released his debut solo album, Irish Son which peaked within the top 5 on both the Denmark and Ireland Albums Charts, and produced his first two No. 1 solo singles "Real to Me" in four European countries and also "Almost Here", a duet with his now ex-fiancée Delta Goodrem which gained a platinum accreditation in Australia. "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. In 2010, McFadden scored his fourth No. 1 with the hit single, "Just Say So" featuring American rapper, Kevin Rudolf and gained his second Australian platinum accreditation. The single received a nomination at the 2010 ARIA Music Awards for Most Popular Australian Single.
McFadden was born in Dublin, Ireland and was raised Catholic. Throughout his younger years, he always had an interest in singing, dancing and football. Along with his sister Susan, McFadden attended the Billie Barry Stage School in Dublin 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. 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.
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, he became one of the new judges on Australia's Got Talent alongside Kyle Sandilands and Dannii Minogue.
In August 2008, GayNZ.com drew attention to a number of disparaging 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."
McFadden's comments made headlines in news reports, gossip websites and weblogs worldwide, provoking considerable condemnation from the LGBT community. He later denied he was homophobic, saying through his publicist that his comments had been "taken out of context". 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.
