Westlife's Brian McFadden says boy bands get famous overnight and 'it is hard'
The singer said he went from working in McDonald's to performing on stage within a week
What did you miss?
Brian McFadden has said people don’t understand how quickly boy bands like One Direction become famous and how tough that can be.
The singer shot to fame fast himself, when he joined Westlife in 1998 as an 18-year-old. He revealed on The One Show that he went from working in McDonald’s to performing on stage in front of thousands of people just days later.
McFadden said some groups became very big overnight, referring to his own band and One Direction, which was formed on The X Factor and has been in the headlines in the last few weeks after singer Liam Payne died falling from a third floor balcony of his hotel in Buenos Aires.
What, how and why?
McFadden was on The One Show on Monday, 11 November to discuss new BBC series Boybands Forever. The Louis Theroux-produced documentary looks at boy band culture and some of the stresses associated with it. He told hosts Alex Jones and Roman Kemp what a “brilliant” time he had in the band.
But when Kemp pointed out that it could be “hard mentally and physically” on some people, he agreed there could be another side to it.
“I think, you know, a lot of people don’t understand how quick most boy bands become famous because it seems to happen overnight,” he said.
“With the exception of maybe Take That, Boyzone, they kind of did all the groundwork, but for Westlife and for people like One Direction it happens so fast.
“And you kind of go from, for me I was working in McDonald’s when I got into Westlife and then a week later there I am on stage with Boyzone as their support act in front of 18,000 people.
"So my life kind of changed so quick, and it is hard. Trying to get used to that is something that just, it never happens.”
McFadden, now 44, went on: “It wasn’t until I actually was gone out of the band that I kind of sat back and looked at everything, that I realised how crazy it was, how manic it was.
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“Personally, I was able to deal with it. You know, I think we had a great relationship in Westlife as well, we all looked after each other, we were quite a strong group of lads.
"But I have seen other bands, how it can be quite a lonely time for them and I suppose it can mentally get on top of you.”
However, McFadden said of his own boy band experience: “We had a great time, it was so much fun.
"Can you imagine five kids, we were 18-years-old and getting to live a dream like that? It was amazing.”
The One Show airs at 7pm on BBC One on weekdays.
Boybands Forever begins on BBC Two on 16 November.
