Former Westlife star Brian McFadden has reacted angrily to claims that he and fiancee Delta Goodrem's relationship is on the rocks.
The Dubliner jetted back to his adopted home of Australia last week to be with his singer girlfriend for the New Year celebrations, having spent Christmas at home in Dublin with his his two daughters, Molly (9) and Lilly Sue (7).
It had been claimed that the couple, who have been together for five years, were on the verge of splitting after Delta missed the Christmas celebrations in Brian's family home in Artane.
Delta was forced to cancel her trip to Ireland when she had to reschedule a performance at the Sydney Opera House for Christmas Eve.
Delta had originally been due to take to the stage for her Christmas Carols and Hits concert on, December 6, but had to cancel due to illness, postponing the performance to December 24.
A family insider today insisted that there is no truth to reports that Brian jetted home for crisis talks with the former Neighbours actress.
"Him and Delta are fine," said the family source. "They're still rock solid. I don't know where these rumours come from.
"Everyone was disappointed she couldn't make it to Dublin for Christmas but these things happen. They had plans for New Year's Eve and that's why he went back. No other reason.
"I think we would have heard about it if they were on the rocks," they added.
Meanwhile Brian was determined to assure fans that all was well, posting the following comment on his Twitter page.
"What would we do without the English press? Just when I thought Delta and I were happy they let me know we're not. Thanks I almost missed it," he wrote.
The couple had been due to marry this Christmas in Bali, however, last May Brian announced that the wedding had been postponed, explaining that they did not want to get married while they were on tour.
The former Westlife singer was quick to insist that their relationship was fine, blaming "increased work commitments" for the delay.
Despite the absence of his other half at Christmas, the dad of two made the most of his time at home, enjoying plenty of quality time with his family.
Brian took his daughters to see their idol Miley Cyrus in concert during his visit home for the holidays.
4 jan 2010, 20:36
Australia ....
MCFADDEN TO FRONT BOYBAND SHOWBRIAN MCFADDEN is putting his time in Irish group WESTLIFE to good use - he's fronting a new show chronicling the drama of putting together a boyband. MCFadden shot to fame with the Flying Without Wings hitmakers in 1999, but quit in 2004 to pursue a solo career. Now the 29 year old has teamed up with Australian DJ Kyle Sandilands for a show documenting the creation of a five-piece boyband. Sandilands says, "It follows what happens in a group and how you take a boy band and market them. "It will go through how a song is written, what life is like on the road - because he (MCFadden) has experienced that - and hearing his stories. His journey and all the shenanigans, we thought it would be appealing. It's more a documentary, not a reality show so much and how they go from five guys to a Westlife or 'N Sync." Auditions for the new group kick off in Melbourne, Australia later this month (Feb10).
Brian McFadden, formerly of Irish Boyband Westlife, will sing in the Hennessy Artistry 2009 concert in Hanoi on October 6.
CRISIS TALKS: McFadden 3rd January 2010 By Daily star reporter BRIAN McFadden begged for crisis talks with fiancée Delta Goodrem in a bid to rescue their relationship.
The singer, 29, jetted out to Australia last Wednesday to talk to the stunning former Neighbours star.
The singer told pals he was furious when Delta snubbed an offer to spend Christmas at his Dublin home with his children Molly, nine, and Lilly-Sue. seven.
Delta, 24, cancelled at the last minute, insisting she was still suffering from an allergic reaction to cold medication.
Pals say Brian, her lover of five years, fears their relationship is heading down the billabong.
He flew back to Sydney and arranged to meet Delta on New Year"s Eve to plead for a final chance.
Over the past five years Brian has blown an estimated £3million.
And he confessed his spending on poker and flashy cars has driven a wedge between the once happy couple.
In May the ex-Westlife hunk said they were postponing their wedding which had been due to take place in Bali last month.
He insisted that their relationship was fine and said they didn"t want to marry while he was on his solo tour.
Special day: Brian McFadden took his two daughters to a church in Dublin for their First Holy Communion
Westlife invited to Brian's wedding
Brian said he is planning to invite the other member of Westlife to his wedding with Australian singer Delta Goodrem. No date has yet been set for the big day but it is expected Brian will marry his pop star fiancee in 2009. The father-of-two, who was previously married to Kerry Katona, said: "It's more realistically going to be 2009, due to our massive workload. We don't want our wedding to be squeezed in between Delta doing a gig and me shooting a video. We want to have space and time to enjoy it."
The four remaining Westlife members - Mark Feehily, Kian Egan, Nicky Byrne and Shane Filan - all attended his first wedding to former Atomic Kitten Kerry. But Brian said he was not sure the boys could go this time. "I'll be inviting them. Whether they come or not is a different matter," he said. "It'll be hard enough to plan a wedding around our schedules, let alone theirs."
15th March 2009 - Brian About Westlife On The Late Late Show
Pat Kenny: What about Westlife? I mean, there were so many saying that when you left it would stop. In fact it hasn't, it's got even bigger maybe. Brian: Well I think what was the great thing about Westlife was that not one member was ever bigger than the rest. It was, the five of us together was great but then you'd take one out, it never made a difference. There was many times that one member would be sick and the band was still strong. Then the boys are so hungry as well, you know, they really love what they do and there'll be a long time till they stop.
Pat Kenny: yeah, do you've any regrets though when you look back and you think 'It was a great time ok bit for straiting aways but...'? Brian: No regrets at all. The one regret I've had was when I'd seen the boys playing Croke Park. That was a kick in the ass, I swear to God. I was still in Australia and I was watching it on the news and I was just like 'Woooah!'. Cause the one thing we said from day one was 'One day we wanna play Croke Park. We've seen Gareth Brooks playing there and U2 and we'd said the day we'd made it the day we'd play Croke Park and I never got to. Anyways I played Lansdown Road which was amazing and Markevich Park in Sligo but...
Pat Kenny: But you nearly got to play Croke Park. I mean, there were plans on foot when you were still in the band to play Croke Park and it never happened. Why didn't happen? Brian: I don't know. I think Croke Park kinda put on something like four concerts a year or certain amount and they'd always reached that number by the time we decided to do it, so we had to setle for Lansdown Road which was still a nice place to play.
Pat Kenny: So it never happened though. That's the big regret you have. Brian: But they've done it now and I was watching all the clips on Youtube and it looked amazing. That's the one thing since I've left the band that I'm watching all 'Woah...'. I wish I'd been there for that.
Pat Kenny: What about your solo carrer as a musician / songwritter? Brian: Solo career has been great. Well it was really interesting going over there because it was the first place in the world I've gone to where Westlife we hadn't really had much success there so there nobody really knew. You know, they're not like here where Westlife is a household name. It was pretty unknown when I went over there so people had no idea who I was so I was really starting from scratch again.
Pat Kenny: You go back to the glory days of Westlife and you had tens of thousand people at your fingertips... (talking about how Brian now performs in front of small audiences in contrast to his days in Westlife) Brian: Yeah... But I did that. You know, I did that and now it's nice to start from scratch again cause hopefully one day I'll be back playig the same level again on my own. But it takes a long time and you know, we were, Westlife were a one off thing and that doesn't happen everyday. And the chances to doing that twice are not likely but I really enjoy the hunt of chasing it again. Like you know, every time something happens like when my album went Gold in Australia for me that was massive. In the Westlife days if the album didn't go Platinum we were all upset. But now getting Gold or, you know, just achieving something it just feels so great.
I was an arrogant idiot, admits Brian McFadden
Mar 29 2008 Beverley Lyons And Laura Sutherland
BRIAN McFadden admits he was an arrogant idiot who believed his own hype when he embarked on his first solo deal after quitting Westlife.
He claims his already large ego grew in 2004 following the success of first single Real To Me, which led to an album deal with the record giant Sony BMG.
He said: "You do start to believe your own hype. I was very arrogant. And because of the money they spent and the deal I got there was not enough for them to make a profit.
"I could have not taken the p*** with my deal and sold 800,000 albums and everyone would have money. But I had to be an idiot."
The Irish star's confession comes as he launches a second solo album, Set In Stone, on his own label and amid news that he asked - and was turned down - to rejoin Westlife last year.
Brian, 27, says he insisted on being treated like a proper star and wanted no expense spared.
He said: "I had to have first-class flights for me and my team that I didn't need, but I wanted to take advantage for the things they'd done in the past."
His management negotiated huge royalty points for every album sold and he insisted on his team being given two cars at all time - one for smokers, one for non-smokers. He said: "I even had a hairdresser on a retainer of £100,000 a year. It was ridiculous.
"They'd taken the p*** out of us in Westlife for so long, so many things annoyed me, so I took the p*** out of them in my deal. And it came back to bite me in the a**e."
Brian reckons his first album was doomed due to his split with Kerry Katona and fresh relationship with Delta Goodrem, which left his fans with a bad taste in their mouths.
He said: "I could have taken the 10 biggest-selling songs from around the world that year for my album and I still wouldn't have sold anything. It's frustrating."
Brian believes Sony BMG got their revenge when he was due to make his second solo album, telling Australia's Herald Sun that their A&R man tried to pigeonhole him.
Brian said: "He'd play me the No.1 that week - James Morrison, Paolo Nutini, Scissor Sisters - and say 'You need to sound more like that'. But I don't want to be James Blunt, I want to be Brian McFadden.
"The pigeonhole of the song he wanted me to write kept shrinking - no love lyrics, no hate lyrics, no dark melodies. I lost my rag."
Brian split with Sony BMG and believes funding his own material on his label BMF records was the best move he could make. He said: "From there things took off. Every song I wrote I could decide if it was good enough."
Set In Stone is due for release in the UK in the summer.
McFadden: Westlife fans were 'nuts' Sunday, November 2 2008, 00:22 GMT
By Michael Thornton
Brian McFadden has admitted that he struggled to deal with the enthusiasm of Westlife fans.
The singer left the boyband in 2004 after six years and has since attempted to forge out a solo career. Now he claims to have a more sedate following than in his time with the group.
"Back in the Westlife days I might have thought: 'Not you again'. The fans did get a bit much, but they were very young, of course," he said.
"It's not like that now because a lot of my fans are in their 20s or my age, but yes, back in the Westlife days it was like: 'Oh my God, here they come again - they're nuts!'"
Brian McFadden scores second Aussie No.1 Monday,
Brian McFadden has scored his second No.1 on the Australian singles chart.
'Just Say So' - featuring, co-written and produced by Kevin Rudolf - debuts in the top spot this week, ending Train's month-long reign at the summit with 'Hey, Soul Sister'.
The former Westlife singer previously reached the top with 'Like Only A Woman Can' in 2007.
Train slip to second position this week, while 'I Like That', a dance collaboration between US DJs Richard Vission and Static Revenger, holds steady at three.
Meanwhile, American Idol star Adam Lambert scores his first Aussie top ten hit after climbing from 11 to five with 'Whataya Want From Me'.
Lady GaGa's latest Antipodean release, 'Alejandro', also enters the top ten this week, leaping from 28 to six to become her seventh Aussie top ten hit in less than two years.
1. (-) Brian McFadden ft. Kevin Rudolf: 'Just Say So' 2. (1) Train: 'Hey, Soul Sister' 3. (3) Richard Vission & Static Revenger ft. Luciana: 'I Like That' 4. (2) Jason Derulo: 'In My Head' 5. (11) Adam Lambert: 'Whataya Want From Me' 6. (28) Lady GaGa: 'Alejandro' 7. (8) B.o.B. ft. Bruno Mars: 'Nothin' On You' 8. (7) Kevin Rudolf: 'I Made It' 9. Justin Bieber ft. Ludacris: 'Baby' 10. (15) Usher ft. will.i.am: 'OMG'
Brian McFadden has caused controversy by reportedly having a fiery exchange with a British contestant on 'Australia's Got Talent'.
The former Westlife singer is a judge on the programme, and it is alleged an argument broke out on the set of the talent show after a 50-year-old mother of two, Anne Ferguson-Howe, completed a comedy routine and was being questioned by the panel of judges.
Ferguson-Howe reportedly commented on another judge's controversial background at which point it is claimed McFadden "pulled his mike off, climbed on stage and very cleverly, without anyone hearing, said: 'Why don't you just **** off back to England,"
AdvertisementSydney's Daily Telegraph reports Ferguson-Howe as saying: "I'm a thick-skinned woman of 50 who loves a laugh but if it had been a 20-year-old girl the size I am with low self-esteem I think I would have gone home and shot myself."
A spokesperson for Channel 7, which broadcasts the show, said: All contestants who take part in the auditions know what to expect . the exchange was unacceptable and didn't fit with the vibe of the show, so it was deleted."
McFadden was so amazed by the youngster that he ran on stage and kissed him on the cheek.
He said: "You are a superstar I can just go home now. Job done."