February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
Despite the buckets of tears raining down the cheeks of bandmates Kian Egan, Nicky Byrne, Shane Filan and Mark Feehily during the press conference when Brian announced his decision to quit the group, his departure was a relief to the act’s music company, BMG. The weekly newspaper Ireland on Sunday reports that BMG considered McFadden “disruptive” and thought he acted “like a spoiled child.” The band’s tour manager was tapped to lay down the law with the young Dubliner.
“[He said] ‘The record company don’t want you to do this and they want you to do that,’ ” Brian recalled. “I was crouching in my seat, thinking, ‘I just don’t want to do this.’ “
Among the things Brian didn’t want to do were icky, middle-of-the-road covers.
“A lot of the stuff annoyed me — covers and cabaret songs,” he said. “[Recording] Barry Manilow’s ‘Mandy’ over a backing track . . . was a big downer.”
Let’s be honest here: listening to it was no picnic either.
Things came to a head at last winter’s Meteor Awards, when the press corps peppered Brian with questions about his personal life, virtually ignoring the other four Westlifers. Needless to say, a few tender egos were bruised, a few pouts were, well, pouted, and Brian decided that enough was, like, enough.
“You know what?” he announced. “I don’t want to be in the band anymore.”
The other guys assumed he was just blowing off steam, but Brian was serious. He confided in a few pals and his wife, former Atomic Kitten Kerry Katona. Three days later, as the band started rehearsals for their upcoming tour, Brian dropped the “F-bomb.”
He wanted his freedom.
Walsh and the band desperately tried to talk him out of his decision. They brought up his obligations. They wooed him with money. They even suggested that he see a psychiatrist.
“They thought it might be a head thing,” laughed Brian. As if.
The band has soldiered on as a foursome, and they insist that they’re happier now without their one-time comrade.
“We are stronger than ever,” Nicky told The Sun. “Brian was just going through the motions and you can’t go on like that.”
Despite all the controversy, the guys insist that there are no hard feelings.
“He’s still one of our best mates,” said Shane. “We wish him the best of luck.”
These days, Brian is almost unrecognizable: he’s 30 pounds lighter, sports a scruffy beard and has let his guy-lights grow out. The effect is surprisingly sexy, and should appeal to an older audience. The rest of his image makeover includes hiring Robbie Williams’s songwriting partner, Guy Chambers. But while he hopes to achieve the same level of success as the former Take That singer, Brian has no intention of being a clone.
“I don’t want to be like anybody else,” he said. “I want to be like me.”