Delta

Singer Delta Goodrem talks to Michael Sheather about life, death and the love of her life, former Westlife star Brian McFadden — and tells why he has given her the confidence to take on the world.

See Delta Goodrem throughout her career in pictures here.

Brian McFadden makes Delta Goodrem smile. Love is hard to disguise at the best of times, but when you wear your emotions on your sleeve as Delta does, it’s nigh on impossible. It’s there in her eyes, in the enthusiasm that pushes her forward to the edge of her chair, in the passion that infuses her voice when she speaks about him. Brian’s her man and that means everything to Delta.

While Delta is very much her own woman, Brian occupies the epicentre of her world. He’s her fiancé, her friend, confidant, lover and creative partner — and responsible, in part, for the flourishing confidence and independence that today permeates her life and career.

“I’ve discovered how to have fun again, how to enjoy life,” says Delta, 24, Australia’s premier, multi-award-winning female artist, who has sold more than four million albums worldwide and who, this month, begins her national Believe Again tour. “Brian has played a huge part in that. In a lot of ways, we’re opposites. I’m a perfectionist and take things very seriously. Brian takes his life and work seriously, too, but he’s helped me find how to laugh at myself if something doesn’t go right. If someone’s negative, he makes a joke and that has got me used to seeing the lighter side. Now, I can weather the storm and concentrate on tomorrow.”

And Delta has every reason for optimism. The cancer that cast a shadow over her life and career when she was just 19 is now firmly in the past, though she is the face of a groundbreaking $100million cancer research facility to be built at Sydney’s St Vincent’s Hospital. Her third album, Delta, like her previous albums Innocent Eyes and Mistaken Identity, was a huge domestic hit, winning her a coveted ARIA Award for the biggest selling Australian record of the year. Many of her concerts sold out instantly. And she has just returned from six months in the US, where she is making her mark in the world’s most competitive music market, one so difficult that even veteran megastars such as Kylie Minogue have failed to make significant inroads.