Brendan Maclean is an Australian pop artist and LGBTQIA+ icon—an award-winning singer-songwriter and acclaimed stage and screen performer known for powerhouse vocals, theatrical flair, and unforgettable live shows.

Maclean first gained international attention with his 2013 debut single “Stupid,” celebrated for its charming one-take music video and amplified by cult podcast Welcome to Night Vale. The release led to a publishing deal with Universal and caught the attention of Baz Luhrmann, who cast Maclean as Klipspringer—the organ-playing lodger—in The Great Gatsby. He has since independently released five EPs and two Australian Top Ten albums, including the electro-pop favourite funbang1, which cemented his place as one of the first openly gay Australian pop artists to come out at the height of their career.

In 2017, Maclean made queer-culture history with his now-infamous music video “House of Air.” Shot in London on film and inspired by Hal Fischer’s 1966 essay Gay Semiotics, the video’s explicit, unfiltered celebration of homoerotic subculture saw it banned from YouTube—yet it has gone on to exceed 7.5 million views as a Vimeo Staff Pick. Directed by Australians Brian & Karl, the work earned honours from the Berlin Music Video Awards, Raindance, SXSW, and the Tom of Finland Foundation, and was named one of the top five music videos of 2017 by Vulture and HuffPost. It remains a subject of academic study and received praise from Berghain, the Barbican and Fischer himself at his 2019 Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition.

More recently, Maclean starred as MC and principal performer in Tim Burton’s Wednesday Island cabaret for Netflix, reaching an online audience of 55 million. In 2025, he appeared opposite Hugo Weaving in the feature film How To Make Gravy; his single “Fine” from the film’s soundtrack earned major wins at both the AACTA Awards and the ARIAs.

Maclean has performed with or supported artists including Kylie Minogue, Alan Cumming, Savage Garden, John Grant and Amanda Palmer, appearing at many of Australia’s most prestigious venues such as the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall, the Sidney Myer Music Bowl and the Hordern Pavilion.

He has been invited to perform private events in Monaco, Lake Como, Hawaii and Bangkok for brands including Bulgari, Tiffany & Co. and Belvedere. A former presenter on Australia’s national youth broadcaster triple j, he remains a sought-after DJ for pride celebrations and major corporate events.