1998–2004: Westlife In June 1998, McFadden auditioned for Irish boy band
Westlife and was against another blonde
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 from Brian to Bryan to make it easier to sign autographs. With McFadden as part of the group, Westlife were under the music mogul
Simon Cowell and released their first single, "
Swear It Again", which was the group's first and only single to have charted in the US in 2000, 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.
2004–2006: Going solo and Irish Son for his family and later released his solo music. Following his departure from Westlife, McFadden signed to major record label,
Sony BMG. 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. 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 and gained a platinum accreditation there. 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. In early 2008, McFadden signed to
Universal Music Australia and released the single there in April 2008, which peaked within the
ARIA top 15. Other singles were released from the album: "
Twisted", which peaked within the top 30 on the
ARIA Singles Chart and "
Everything But You", which failed to chart the ARIA top 50. 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. It spent seven weeks in the ARIA top ten and thirteen weeks in the ARIA top 50 and gained a platinum accreditation. It debuted at No. 27 on the ARIA Albums Chart and spent only three weeks in the ARIA top 50. "
Chemical Rush" was the second single released from the album in June 2010 and peaked at No. 12 on the charts. 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".
2011–2015: "Just the Way You Are" and The Irish Connection On 25 February 2011, McFadden released the new single "
Just the Way You Are (Drunk at the Bar)". The song was criticised by some as a glorification of
date rape, as a result of which he cancelled the shooting of a proposed pop video for the song, 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. "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. 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 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, appeared to have had a negative impact on his music career. McFadden released his new single "Wrap My Arms" on 20 January 2012 in Australia. The song was used in a promo for
Home and Away and it managed to peak at No. 70 on the
ARIA top 100. 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 and features none of McFadden's past five single releases, which have not appeared 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.
2016–present: Boyzlife Boyzlife is a duo consisting of McFadden and
Boyzone's
Keith Duffy, formed by the pair in 2016. In 2020, they released their debut album,
Strings Attached. In February 2020, Duffy invited
John Junior, a
mental health activist, on stage with McFadden on their Boyzlife tour to share his mental health journey with their fans. Junior travels around the United Kingdom with Charlie the Duck, who accompanies him, encouraging people to speak up about mental health. Duffy is friends with Junior and supports his campaign to raise awareness for mental health. On 19 January 2022, the duo announced the release of their second studio album,
Old School. The album debuted and peaked at number 42 on the UK Albums Chart in May 2022. On 13 January 2025, Boyzlife released the single "Dancing with the Echoes". The single peaked at number 94 on the UK Singles Downloads Chart. In March 2025, they announced a UK tour for spring 2026. On 24 October 2025, they released the single "Lovebirds", which peaked at number 76 on the UK Singles Downloads Chart. In December 2025, they announced a UK tour for autumn 2026. ==Television and radio career==