McFly are an
English pop rock band who first found fame in 2004. The band consists of
Tom Fletcher (
lead vocals and
guitar),
Danny Jones (lead vocals and guitar),
Dougie Poynter (
backing vocals and
bass guitar) and
Harry Judd (
drums and backing vocals). They are managed by Prestige Worldwide and were signed to the Island Records label from their 2004 launch until December 2007, before creating their own label, Super Records. The band rose to fame after fellow pop band
Busted helped launch them by inviting them to tour in March 2004. The band's name originates from
Marty McFly, the
protagonist of the
Back to the Future trilogy. McFly have sold an estimated 8 million records worldwide and have also won a
BRIT Award.
McFly's debut album, Room on the 3rd Floor, debuted at number 1 in the UK album chart and is certified as double platinum; this led to the band becoming known as the youngest band ever to have an album debut at number 1 – a title taken from The Beatles. The band's second album, Wonderland, also charted at number 1 in the UK, and was released in 2005. Their third album, Motion in the Ocean, was released on 6 November 2006 and charted at number 6 in the UK. McFly released their All the Greatest Hits compilation album on 5 November 2007, which charted at number 4 in the UK. The band's fourth studio album, , was given away for free as a supplement in The Mail on Sunday on 20 July 2008, before being released in the conventional manner (via physical release) on 22 September 2008. As of November 2010, McFly have had eighteen consecutive top twenty singles, seven of which reached number 1 in the UK Singles Chart and fifteen of which were consecutive top ten singles.
McFly appeared in the teen comedy film Just My Luck, starring Lindsay Lohan and Chris Pine, in 2006. The band played themselves in the film and released a US album, Just My Luck, which was also used as the film's soundtrack. The group have also performed at various charity projects such as Comic Relief, Children in Need, Live 8 and Sport Relief.
History
2002: Formation
met
Tom Fletcher at auditions for
V.]]
Named by frontman
Tom Fletcher, after he auditioned for
Busted but lost out on the place to
Charlie Simpson (who later went on to co-found
post-hardcore band
Fightstar). Originally, Fletcher was accepted as part of Busted's line-up; however, the
Island record label went on to reassess the situation, eventually deciding to have the band as a threesome rather than a foursome. Fletcher then apparently stated that "I was in the band for approximately 24 hours." He later denied this, saying "I was never in this band. Anyone who says I was is an idiot". Though the record label decided against offering Fletcher a place in Busted, they were intrigued by his songwriting talents and later offered him a place on the Busted songwriting 'team', alongside band member (and already accomplished songwriter)
James Bourne; Fletcher has since stated that it was Bourne who taught him how to "properly" structure songs, and how to "come up with good, poppy melodies".
During the writing project for Busted's second album, A Present for Everyone, Fletcher was asked by the record label if he was available to film auditions for a new band, V. It was at this time that Danny Jones and Fletcher met for the first time; Jones went to the audition mistaking the band to be an instrumental band, rather than the conventional, all-singing, all-dancing boyband, for which they were intended. Fletcher was impressed with Jones's unique style, and so approached and invited him to write with himself and Bourne. When writing projects for Busted had come to an end, the two began collaborating for their own (as of yet, unnamed) band, and, eventually, moved into the InterContinental Hotel in London for two months,(whilst still receiving help from Bourne) to concentrate on writing together. Bassist Dougie Poynter and drummer Harry Judd were subsequently recruited via a classified advertisement in the NME magazine.
2003–04: Room on the 3rd Floor
McFly's early sound was surf/pop rock. Their debut single, "
5 Colours in Her Hair", released 29 March 2004, entered the
UK Singles Chart at
number 1 in April 2004 and stayed there the following week. In July 2004 their second single, "
Obviously", also topped the charts. This was followed by the album
Room on the 3rd Floor debuting at number 1 in the
UK Albums Chart. The fourth single,
Room on the 3rd Floor, the album's title track, was released on 15 November 2004 and reached number 5. McFly supported Busted on their nationwide arena tour with all profits donated to
Comic Relief. Several months later, on 2 July, McFly co-headlined
Live 8 Japan, with
Björk and
Good Charlotte. The second single from
Wonderland, "
I'll Be OK", was released in the UK on the 15 August 2005 and scored them their fourth UK number 1. The album itself was released on 29 August 2005 entering at number 1. Their fourth and final single, "
Ultraviolet/The Ballad of Paul K" from
Wonderland was released on 12 December 2005 and reached number 9. McFly headlined their Wonderland Arena Tour, which started on 15 September 2005, supported by Tyler James and Famous Last Words. A
DVD of the tour, recorded live at the
MEN Arena in
Manchester, was released on 28 November. The band also played at the 2005
Royal Variety Performance.
Nemesis, an inverted roller coaster at the
Alton Towers theme park was renamed Wonderland for a month in 2005 to celebrate the album's release. The band were filmed riding Nemesis with competition winners by music show .
In 2006, McFly turned their attentions to America, appearing in the Lindsay Lohan movie Just My Luck, as well as attending the American premiere of Just My Luck in Hollywood. It reached number 1 in the UK charts on 23 July, making it the band's fifth number 1 single of their career. On 14 September 2006, it was confirmed via an email newsletter from McFly's official website, that the third album would be called Motion in the Ocean. The album was released on 6 November 2006, and reached number 6. "Star Girl" reached number 1 in its first week. The third release from the album, "Sorry's Not Good Enough/Friday Night", was released on 18 December 2006, and reached number 3 in the UK singles charts. "Friday Night" is featured in the movie Night at the Museum, which was released on 22 December 2006, in Canada and the US and 26 December 2006, in the UK. Their next single, "Baby's Coming Back/Transylvania", was released on the 7 May 2007, becoming the band's seventh number 1. The original single release date was due to be 26 February, but the band took up the offer to return at that time to the town of Kamwokya in Uganda, which they previously visited for Comic Relief in 2005. "Baby's Coming Back/Transylvania" holds the record for the biggest fall from number one for a non-limited edition single. It fell from number 1 to number 20 after a week, matching a limited edition Elvis Presley single, "One Night".
McFly held their Motion in the Ocean tour from 17 September 2006 and were supported by The Click Five and Nylon. They also held their McFly Up Close and Personal tour, supported by Lil' Chris, which started on 20 March 2007, and consisted of performing in twenty four locations not covered by their arena tours over thirty four dates.
Motion in the Ocean was re-released as a double disc edition with "Baby's Coming Back" and DVD from the Wembley show on 14 May 2007 and reached number 14.
2007–08: All The Greatest Hits
McFly's
All the Greatest Hits compilation album was released on 5 November 2007 and reached number 4 in the charts. was premiered at the
V Festival in August. The album also featured two new songs alongside "The Heart Never Lies": "The Way You Make Me Feel" and "Don't Wake Me Up". The band went on a 26-date Greatest Hits tour for a month, starting near the end of November 2007 supported by
Elliot Minor and
Saving Aimee, in order to promote the album.
On 23 February and 1 March 2008, they performed two small gigs at the Annandale Hotel in Sydney, Australia while recording Radio:Active. They performed the same set list as for their Greatest Hits tour. It was here where they recorded the crowd singing "we don't care" which was later used on their single "One for the Radio".
A compilation album of B-Sides was also released on 3 December 2007, , which contains 12 B-sides of their UK singles.
2008–09: Radio:ACTIVE
On 20 May 2008 McFly confirmed that their fourth studio album would be titled
(typeset as
Radio:ACTIVE). It was recorded in Australia, and given away for free as a supplement in
The Mail on Sunday on 20 July 2008. It was subsequently released in stores on 22 September 2008 with four additional tracks, a DVD and a 32-page booklet. The album was announced after McFly confirmed that they had left
Island Records as they were unhappy with some of the decisions that the label was making for them. Since announcing the launch of their new record label, the band have said that they "won't rule out" signing other acts, but that for the moment they're just concentrating on releasing their "own stuff".
Radio:Active mixes their love of vintage rock with a British twist on the modern pop-rock sound.
The first single released from the Radio:Active album was "One for the Radio", a song about as the band's "constant struggle for critical acceptance". The single was premiered on BBC Radio 1's Switch with Nick Grimshaw on 1 June 2008 and was released on 14 July 2008. As of the 25 June 2008, "One for the Radio" was included in Radio 2's A list, meaning that it receives primary airplay during the daytime. The single charted at number 2 in the charts. The album was recorded, and produced in Australia. McFly performed a showcase concert on 10 July 2008 at Shepherds Bush Empire and performed another concert at KOKO on 24 July 2008 as part of the iTunes Live Festival '08. An EP of the performance, released 4 August 2008, was made available to download from the iTunes store. The second single from the album, "Lies" was released on 15 September 2008 and reached number 4 in the charts.
McFly embarked on their sixth arena tour in 2008, starting from 7 November 2008, attending 14 dates, supported by manufactured pop band Avenue and Indie pop rock band Reemer. They also performed four concerts in Brazil from 5 October 2008 to 11 October 2008. The third single from the album was "Do Ya/Stay With Me", released 23 November 2008. The song was released in aid of 2008's Children In Need and reached number 18 in the UK Singles Chart, the lowest charting position of any of their singles to date, and their first single not to reach Top 10. In 2009 McFly decided to once again arrange a tour to situate smaller venues, this time being called Up Close... And This Time It's Personal starting on 18 April in Amsterdam. They then did 14 dates in the UK before going on to do 7 dates in South America including Chile and Brazil. David Archuleta, the American Idol runner up, supported them on their UK stint. They were due to also play in Mexico although this was cancelled due to the swine flu pandemic which started in this country.
McFly achieved their third number 1 album, Radio:Active, with the Tour DVD on 17 May 2009. The Up Close... And This Time It's Personal tour ended on 2 June. Later this month Mcfly did 3 shows for the forestry commission, which are concerts that take place every year in order to raise awareness of the UK forests. They were supported by indie-rock band Vagabond. Also in June, McFly made a surprise appearance at The Jonas Brothers show at Wembley on 15 June, joining them on stage to sing "Star Girl".
2010–present: Above the Noise
On 25 November 2009, Fletcher confirmed via
Twitter that McFly have been writing new material in collaboration with
Taio Cruz.
The band went to
Atlanta to write songs with
Dallas Austin. According to their Twitter accounts, they did write some new songs. Some sources have claimed McFly have written songs called "Foolish", "Hotel on a Hill", "Here Comes the Storm" and "Mona Lisa" with NazTokio, but the only song to be confirmed is "Hotel on a Hill". This was confirmed by Fletcher on his official Twitter account. It has been confirmed by Fletcher that McFly have written a song for
The Saturdays' new album, although it is unknown if the track will make the final cut on the record. McFly returned to the UK and continued on the album. Austin came to the UK and spent 3 weeks there to help on the album. Shortly afterwards, they all went back to Atlanta to continue the recording. Cruz told a fan while he was in Los Angeles that he wrote two songs that are going to be on the album and one of them is going to be the first single released.
The band also revealed their new logo on 5 July at a concert in Wigan. The logo was said to remind fans of the first ever McFly logo used on the albums Room on the 3rd Floor and Wonderland, but with a new futuristic twist.
On July 9, 2010 Fletcher and Poynter confirmed on Twitter that the first single from their fifth album would be called "Party Girl", which was written in Atlanta with Dallas Austin, and will be released in early September. It premiered on 14 July on Radio 1 and a minute-long clip has been posted on McFly's official Myspace page. On the same day, In:Demand played the full song, and had its first play on Radio 1 on the July 18. "Party Girl" was released on the 5 September and reached number 6 in the UK charts. The first performance of the song was at In:Demand Live, confirming on the same day that "Party Girl" will be released on 5 September. It was also made A-List on Radio 1.
The second single from the album is confirmed to be "Shine a Light", a song penned with Taio Cruz. "Shine a Light" reached number 4 in the UK charts. The album Above the Noise was released for the Pioneer's of the supersite free to download on the 1st of November, two weeks before being released physically on 15 November. It debuted at number 20 in the album charts & reached number 7 in the album download charts. Fletcher confirmed on Twitter and In:Demand radio that the band have made a mini 40-minute long movie titled Nowhere Left to Run which has a vampire scene along with a sex scene involving Judd. The "Party Girl" video will be taken from the movie. This was released on DVD on the 29th November exclusively to HMV stores. On 10 September, McFly revealed that their new album is called Above the Noise.
The "Party Girl" music video was voted Number 1 by fans, in the 4music Video Honours of 2010, beating the likes of Lady Gaga and Rihanna.
Super Records
Super Records Ltd. is an independent label operated and owned by McFly. Initially, McFly were signed to major record outlet
Universal Island Records. Although they have left Universal, McFly's singles are distributed by a company named "Absolute" who also distribute for acts like
Cascada and
Jay Sean and are part of the Universal Group. Super Records was created after McFly decided to leave Island, Universal Records at the end of 2007. It was said that
X Factor 2008 reject
Laura White was offered a record deal by McFly's manager. McFly's Super Records slogan being " Saving the world, one song at a time. McFly in 2010 signed back with Universal records in a 50/50 deal.
Cover Versions
VIP area.]]
McFly have recorded and performed a variety of officially released and unreleased
cover versions of well-known songs.
McFly collaborated with Busted for a cover of The Kinks' song "Lola" (which was a B-side on the "5 Colours in Her Hair" single) and a version of "Build Me Up Buttercup" by The Foundations from Busted's "Crashed the Wedding" single. Their cover of "Help!", originally by The Beatles, was featured on the "Obviously" single while "She Loves You", also by The Beatles, was featured on the "That Girl" single. The New Years' carol "Deck the Halls", and "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", originally by Queen, were also featured on the "Room on the Third Floor" single. In December 2004, McFly performed "Little Saint Nick", originally by The Beach Boys, on the EastEnders Christmas Special.
McFly released "You've Got a Friend", originally by Carole King, which they recorded as part of the official 2005 Comic Relief song, along with "All About You", where the video sees the band visiting children in Uganda affected by AIDS. and "I Predict a Riot", originally by the Kaiser Chiefs, which they performed at BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge session and is featured on the "Ultraviolet" single. McFly teamed up with Roger Daltrey of The Who in September 2005 to re-record the 1965 hit, "My Generation" to raise money for the Teenage Cancer Trust and to launch HMV Digital's new download service. They also released a cover of The Who's "Pinball Wizard" on the single "I'll Be OK" with a video.
At a gig in Manchester they also mixed a verse of "American Idiot" by Green Day, into their song "5 Colours In Her Hair".
, Dublin.]]
McFly performed a version of Thin Lizzy's "The Boys Are Back in Town" at The Prince's Trust on 20 May 2006. They released a cover of "Don't Stop Me Now", originally by Queen, which was recorded to raise money for Sport Relief 2006 as the official song along with "Please, Please". who also performed the opening riff to "5 Colours in Her Hair". Matt Willis also joined McFly to play "Don't Stop Me Now" at Wembley Arena and the Manchester Evening News Arena. Also on the tour, they performed "Fight for Your Right (To Party)", originally by the Beastie Boys and the "Ghostbusters" theme tune, originally by Ray Parker Jr. A few weeks later, they opened Children in Need 2006 with "I Want to Hold Your Hand" by The Beatles. They also covered "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" by John Lennon for BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge. The song "Rockin' Robin", originally by Bobby Day, was performed at the Top of the Pops Christmas Special and was also featured on the "Sorry's Not Good Enough/Friday Night" single.
On 23 February 2007, McFly performed Primal Scream's "Rocks" with Charlotte Church on The Charlotte Church Show. They also covered "Baby's Coming Back", originally by Jellyfish, which they released as a double A-side to "Transylvania". McFly recorded the song "You're the One That I Want" from Grease for an album which was in aid of The Association of Children's Hospices and was recorded in five days, Over the Rainbow. McFly were among forty artists who recorded a track for Radio 1’s birthday celebrations, covering The Jam classic "Town Called Malice", to feature on the compilation album Radio 1 Established 1967. The hit Rihanna song, "Umbrella", was also covered by McFly for the single, "The Heart Never Lies", and also had a video created for it. They also covered Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run" for BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge. For the album All the Greatest Hits, they covered a song by a small band named Foolproof. The song is titled "The Way You Make Me Feel" (originally titled "Can't Stop Diggin'"). McFly gave very little credit to the original band in the inlay of the album, and most believe that the song was written by McFly themselves.
Party in The Mall, London.]]
McFly performed "The Winner Takes It All", originally by ABBA, at the London 2012 Olympic Visa Party on 24 August 2008 and an acoustic version of the song was featured on the "Lies" single. The band also performed "I Kissed a Girl" by Katy Perry for BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge on 10 September 2008. McFly also covered "Stay With Me", originally by Rod Stewart and The Faces as a double A side with "Do Ya" as the official 2008 Children in Need single. McFly also performed a cover of Michael Jackson's "Black or White" on their Radio:Active tour, which was sung just by Danny Jones.
In the UK McFly performed "Up Close...and This Time It's Personal" from 21 April to 10 May and covered Girls Aloud's' "The Promise."
On their European tour they sang part of the Black Eyed Peas hit called "I Gotta Feeling."
In BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge McFly performed a cover of Taio Cruz's UK No. 1 hit "Dynamite", which was featured on the album Radio 1's Live Lounge – Volume 5, released 25 October 2010.
On The Sun newspaper's show 'Biz' McFly did a three song Set in which the covered The Verve's "Bittersweet Symphony"
In the first days after the opening of their new website, SuperCity, Tom covered "Yesterday" by Paul McCartney.
Television and film appearances
. Their participation featured heavily in the marketing of the film in the UK.]]
In January 2005, the band guest-starred in an episode of the long-running
British drama series
Casualty. In May 2006, they starred in the teen comedy film
Just My Luck with
Lindsay Lohan and
Chris Pine, which was released in the US on 12 May 2006 and in the UK on 30 June 2006. The UK premiere of the film took place on 28 June 2006 in London. The film generally did not receive good reviews, gaining a 13% rating on
Rotten Tomatoes.
On 16 March 2007, McFly guest starred in the
Top Gear comic relief show
Top Gear of the Pops, where they were given a challenge to come up with a song from scratch without using the words 'love', 'baby', or 'heart'. In addition, they had to include in the song the words 'sofa', 'administration', and 'Hyundai'. Near the end of the show they performed the song they named 'The Top Gear Blues'.
On 23 June 2007, McFly made a cameo appearance in an episode of the science fiction series Doctor Who. The episode "The Sound of Drums", saw the band appearing in a spoof party political broadcast, which featured testimonials from British celebrities such as McFly and Sharon Osbourne showing their support for Mr Saxon to become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
On 22 October 2007, McFly hosted the first annual Nickelodeon UK Kids Choice Awards.
McFly also appeared on the show Ghosthunting with... in 2007.
On 27 May 2008 McFly appeared on Gordon Ramsay's The F Word as the celebrity guests and cooked a three course meal for 50 customers. Their score was that 115 out of 150 dishes were paid for. On 20 July 2008, McFly also played at T4 on the Beach in Weston-super-Mare.
McFly's performance at KOKO on 24 July 2008, as part of the iTunes Live Festival '08, was broadcast at Vue cinemas across the UK on the same day.
On 25 August 2008 McFly performed at the London 2012 Olympic Visa Party.
On 14 December 2008 McFly were the headline music act for Miss World in South Africa, which had a predicted worldwide audience of over 2 billion viewers. Their hits "5 Colours In Her Hair" and "Lies" were played during the show.
They appeared in teen soap Hollyoaks on Channel 4 on Friday, 8 May 2009 performing in the SU Bar with The Somethings as a support group.
On 31 May 2009 McFly performed at the biggest TV show in Brazil Domingão do Faustão which had a predicted audience of over 30 million viewers.
In June and July 2009, McFly did a Woodland tour, performing at forest venues around the UK.
Furthermore, McFly have also been referenced on Television shows such as "Hope and Faith" and "Skins (tv series)".
Recent song appearances
McFly's song "Star Girl" has recently been featured every Friday on
The Chris Moyles Show on
Radio 1. The feature has now been dubbed "McFly Day" and involves Chris and the team singing along to portions of the song.
"All About You/You've Got a Friend", from the Wonderland album, has been featured as the ending theme for the South Korean variety show Invincible Youth since the show's original pilot episode, which aired on October 23, 2009. The variety show is still ongoing and continues to use the song to highlight the ending credits of each broadcast.
One of their newest singles "Party Girl" premiered on UK radio on 14 July at 7:20pm on In:Demand, and has been played every day since and will continue to be played every day until the August 8. They have recently paired with Taio Cruz, with a new hit "Shine A Light" which is expected to be released on November 7, 2010. Their new album Above The Noise is to be released on November 15, however it has been released 2 weeks early for fans who have become a 'Pioneer' on their new site Super City.
Super City
McFly's official website, known as Super City, gives fans exclusive access to the band. Forums, demos, original chat, new material, and a constant online presence make McFly a band highly connected to its users. The band has had issues with song demos being leaked. In response to these leaks, band member Danny Jones stated "look, leaks are going to happen whether you like it or not. Our idea was if you can't beat them, join them."
Smash Hits Awards - Best UK Band
Smash Hits Awards - Best Album for Room on the 3rd Floor
Smash Hits Awards - Best Video for "That Girl"
Smash Hits Awards - Best Stars of the Year
Smash Hits Awards -
Most Fanciable Male (Danny Jones)
2005
Smash Hits Awards - Best UK Band
Smash Hits Awards - Most Snoggable Male (Danny Jones)
Smash Hits Awards - Best Single for "All About You'"
Smash Hits Awards -
Best Album for
Wonderland
BRIT Awards -
Best Pop Act
2006
Virgin.net Music Awards - Best Group
* BT Digital Music Award for People's Choice Award for Best Official Music Site official McFly site www.mcflyofficial.com
Virgin.net Music Awards - Best Live Act
2008
Nickelodeon UK Kids Choice Awards - Best Band
Star Smash Awards 2008 - Best Album (Radio:ACTIVE)
Star Smash Awards 2008 - Best Band
Star Smash Awards 2008 - Artist Of The Year
2009
Meus Premios Nickelodeon Brazil 2009 - Best International Artist
UK Music Video Awards - Best Live Music Coverage
News of the World - The Most Sexiest Men of the Year (Dougie Poynter)
Also nominated for MTV Latin Awards
2010
4Music Video Honours - Best Video of 2010 for Party Girl
References
External links
Category:BRIT Award winners
Category:English rock music groups
Category:English pop music groups
Category:British pop punk musical groups
Category:British pop rock music groups
Category:Musical groups established in 2004
Category:2000s music groups
Category:2010s music groups
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![[OFFICIAL] Mcfly Transylvania [VIDEO]](http://web.archive.org./web/20110609085114im_/http://i.ytimg.com/vi/BXZOgltvUEA/0.jpg "[OFFICIAL] Mcfly Transylvania [VIDEO]")
