Del.icio.usBrian McFadden
McFadden came to fame as a band member of the group Westlife. He left the band on March 9, 2004 to work on solo projects.
McFadden performed with Westlife as "Bryan McFadden" but afterwards decided to use "Brian" as the spelling of his name, as it was the original spelling.
He released his debut single "Real to Me" in September 2004, and it went to No. 1 on the UK charts. His second single, "Irish Son", was released in November 2004 and went to No. 6 on the UK charts. However, the album of the same name only reached the top 30 in 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 a CBS school, when he did not actually attend one. The song for the most part criticises the hold that the Catholic Church held on Irish society in the past, despite this having been seriously diminished by the time McFadden was born.
McFadden married Kerry Katona of Atomic Kitten in 2002. The couple have two children, Molly and Lilly Sue, but they announced their separation in September, 2004. Since then, Brian has allegedly been dating Australian singer and actress Delta Goodrem. They have also released a duet, "Almost Here", which reached #3 in the UK charts in February 2005, and also #1 in Australia.
The next single from the album, "Demons", only reached #28 in May 2005.