Brian Hibbard was born on 26 November 1946 in Ebbw Vale, Monmouthshire, and was educated at Ebbw Vale Grammar School. Before turning to performing he worked as a teacher, steelworker, barman and chimney sweep. Some sources describe his birthplace more specifically as Cwm, near Ebbw Vale, though people who knew him locally recall him growing up in the Glan-yr-Afon area of Ebbw Vale itself, near Furnace Street.
Hibbard first found fame as the lead vocalist of The Flying Pickets, an a cappella group formed by a circle of actors who had taken to singing together on coach journeys between theatre bookings. Their cover of Yazoo's 'Only You' topped the UK Singles Chart and was the Christmas number one for 1983.
He went on to build a long career as a television actor. He made a guest appearance in the 1987 'Doctor Who' story 'Delta and the Bannermen', played petty criminal 'Chunky' across three series of the Manchester drama 'Making Out' (1989-1991), and spent two years as garage mechanic Doug Murray in 'Coronation Street'. He also had roles in 'Emmerdale', 'EastEnders', 'Minder' and the Welsh-language soap 'Pobol y Cwm', and played Dai Rees, the self-styled 'Karaoke King', in the 1997 Welsh film 'Twin Town'.
Hibbard was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2000 and died of the disease on 17 June 2012 in Cardiff, at the age of 65. He was survived by his wife Caroline and their three children.