McFly
(L-R) Harry Judd, Dougie Poynter, Danny Jones and Tom Fletcher
Background information
Origin	United Kingdom
Genres	Pop,[1] Rock[2]
Years active	2003–present
Labels	Island, Super
Associated acts	Busted, Taio Cruz
Website	www.mcfly.com
Members
Tom Fletcher Danny Jones Dougie Poynter Harry Judd

McFly is an English pop band who first found fame in 2004. The band consists of Tom Fletcher (lead vocals, guitar and piano), Danny Jones (lead vocals and guitar), Dougie Poynter (backing vocals and bass guitar) and Harry Judd (drums). They were signed to the Island Records label from their 2004 launch until December 2007, before creating their own label, Super Records.^[3] The band rose to fame after fellow boyband Busted helped launch them by inviting them to tour in March 2004.

McFly's debut album Room on the 3rd Floor debuted at number 1 in the UK Album Chart and is certified as double platinum;^[4] 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.^[5] A month after the album was released, the band had their first UK headlining tour.^[6] The band's second album, Wonderland, also charted at number 1 in the UK, and was released in 2005.^[7] Their third album, Motion in the Ocean, was released on 6 November 2006 and charted at number 6 in the UK.^[8] McFly released their All the Greatest Hits compilation album on 5 November 2007, which charted at number 4 in the UK.^[9] The band's fourth studio album, Radio:Active, 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.

In 2006, McFly appeared in the film Just My Luck, starring Lindsay Lohan and Chris Pine.^[10] The band played themselves in the film and released a US album, Just My Luck, which was also used as the film's soundtrack.^[11] The group have also performed at various charity projects such as Comic Relief, Children in Need, Live 8 and Sport Relief.

History[link]

2002: Formation[link]

Guitarist Danny Jones met Tom Fletcher at auditions for V.

McFly were named by frontman Tom Fletcher (for the character Marty McFly from the 1985 movie Back to the Future) after he auditioned for Busted,^[12] 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. 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's 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".^{[citation needed]}

While writing 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.^[13] 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)^[14] to concentrate on writing together. Bassist Dougie Poynter and drummer Harry Judd were subsequently recruited via a classified advertisement in the NME magazine.^[12] The pair, both Essex lads, coincidentally turned up at the same audition and got to talking over their shared appreciation of the band The Starting Line, after Poynter noticed their name and logo was printed on Judd's t shirt. The name McFly was eventually decided upon as the band name. Fletcher proposed the idea, based on his love for the American science-fiction comedy Back to the Future and Michael J. Fox's character Marty McFly. At first Jones didn't agree with the name, but after watching the movie he changed his mind. Especially after he saw that the side of the manure truck says "D. Jones" on it.^[15]

[edit] 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.^[16] In July 2004 their second single, "Obviously", also topped the charts.^[17] This was followed by the album Room on the 3rd Floor debuting at number 1 in the UK Albums Chart.^[13] It would go on to be certified double platinum by the British Phonographic Industry.^[4] The album broke records, as McFly earned an award from Guinness World Records for being the youngest band to have a debut album enter the charts in the top position, a distinction previously held by The Beatles.^[5] The idea for the album name came from where Jones and Fletcher wrote most of the songs for the album: room 363 in the InterContinental Hotel in London.^[14] The third single, "That Girl", was released on 6 September 2004, placing at number 3.^[18] The fourth single, Room on the 3rd Floor, the album's title track, was released on 15 November 2004 and reached number 5.^[19] McFly supported Busted on their nationwide arena tour^[13] along with V in February 2004 and then had their first headlining tour in September 2004.^[6]

[edit] 2004–06: Wonderland

Tom Fletcher of McFly performs at T4 on the Beach in Weston-super-Mare in 2006.

In March 2005, McFly released a double A-side of "All About You/You've Got a Friend" from their second album, Wonderland, which featured a 60-piece orchestra. The single reached number 1 for a week on 13 March 2005,^[20] with all profits donated to Comic Relief.^[21] The video for "You've Got a Friend" was shot in Uganda, Africa, which McFly visited for the charity appeal.^[22][23] Several months later, on 2 July, McFly co-headlined Live 8 Japan, with Björk and Good Charlotte.^[24][25] 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.^[26] The album itself was released on 29 August 2005 entering at number 1.^[7] The third single from Wonderland, "I Wanna Hold You", was released on 17 October 2005 with an unknown song Easy Way Out on the single and it gave them their 6th top 3 single.^[27] Their fourth and final single, "Ultraviolet/The Ballad of Paul K" from Wonderland was released on 12 December 2005 and reached number 9.^[28] 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.^[29] The band also played at the 2005 Royal Variety Performance.^[30] 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 CD:UK.^[31]

In 2006, McFly turned their attentions to America, appearing in the Lindsay Lohan movie Just My Luck,^[10] released on 12 May, three days after the soundtrack of the movie, which comprised McFly songs taken from both Room on the Third Floor and Wonderland,^[11] as well as a new version of "Five Colours In Her Hair". The band played several gigs in Los Angeles and New York,^[32] as well as attending the American premiere of Just My Luck in Hollywood.^[11]

[edit] 2006–07: Motion in the Ocean

McFly's first single of 2006 was "Please, Please", released in the UK as a double A-side with a cover of the Queen hit "Don't Stop Me Now" on 17 July as the official song for Sport Relief 2006.^[33][34] It reached number 1 in the UK charts on 23 July,^[35] 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.^[36] The album was released on 6 November 2006, and reached number 6.^[8] The second release from the album, "Star Girl" was released on 23 October 2006, to promote the album.^[37] "Star Girl" reached number 1 in its first week.^[38] 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.^[39] "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.^[40] Their next single, "Baby's Coming Back/Transylvania", was released on the 7 May 2007, becoming the band's seventh number 1.^[41] The original single release date was due to be 26 February,^[42] 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.^[43] "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".^[44]

McFly held their Motion in the Ocean tour from 17 September 2006 and were supported by The Click Five and Nylon.^[45][46] They also held their McFly Up Close and Personal tour, supported by Lil' Chris,^[47] which started on 20 March 2007, and consisted of performing in twenty four locations not covered by their arena tours over thirty four dates.^[48] 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.^[49][50]

[edit] 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.^[9] The first single from the album, The Heart Never Lies, which reached number 3 in the UK singles chart,^[51] was premiered at the V Festival in August.^[52] 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^[53] supported by Elliot Minor^[54] and Saving Aimee,^[55] 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".^{[citation needed]} A compilation album of B-Sides was also released on 3 December 2007, The Greatest Bits: B-Sides & Rarities, which contains 12 B-sides of their UK singles.

[edit] 2008–09: Radio:Active

On 20 May 2008, McFly confirmed that their fourth studio album would be titled Radio:Active (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.^[56] 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".^[57] Radio:Active mixes their love of vintage rock with a British twist on the modern pop-rock sound.^[58]

The first single released from the Radio:Active album was "One for the Radio",^[59] a song about as the band's "constant struggle for critical acceptance".^[60] The single was premiered on BBC Radio 1's Switch with Nick Grimshaw on 1 June 2008^[61] and was released on 14 July 2008.^[62] As of the 25 June 2008, "One for the Radio" was included in Radio 2's A list,^[63] 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^[64] and performed another concert at KOKO on 24 July 2008 as part of the iTunes Live Festival '08.^[65] 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,^[66] 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 Brasil, Argentina and Chile. David Archuleta, the American Idol runner up, supported them on their UK stint.[1]^{[dead link]} 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 Radio:Active – Live at Wembley Tour DVD on 17 May 2009. The Up Close... And This Time It's Personal tour ended on 9 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 Stadium on 15 June, joining them on stage to sing "Star Girl".

[edit] 2010–2011: Above the Noise

The first single from their fifth album, "Party Girl", was written in Atlanta with Dallas Austin.^[67] It premiered on 14 July on BBC Radio 1 and was released on the 5 September and reached number 6 in the UK charts. The "Party Girl" music video was voted number 1 by fans, in the 4music Video Honours of 2010.^{[citation needed]} The album, Above the Noise, was released on 15 November. It debuted at number 20 in the album charts & reached number 7 in the album download charts. The second single released from the album was "Shine a Light", a song penned with Taio Cruz. "Shine a Light" reached number 3 in the UK charts. The third single, "That's the Truth", was released on 6 March 2011.

The band 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 was taken from the movie. This was released on DVD on the 29th November exclusively to HMV stores.

[edit] 2011–present: Sixth studio album

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

In August 2011, McFly announced that they will be doing a tour consisting of 26 dates around the UK in March/April 2012. On 1 November McFly teamed up with Gioia Jewellery to release their first official jewellery range designs include each member's SuperCity logo and more coming soon.^[68] On 4 December, Dougie won the eleventh series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!.^[69] On 17 December, Harry won the ninth series of Strictly Come Dancing.

On the band's current tour, entitled Keep Calm and Play Louder Tour, they are showcasing three brand new songs entitled Do Whatcha, Red and Touch The Rain, all of which are presumed to be on their sixth studio album. It was announced on Tom Fletcher's Twitter that their next single would be "Red" as it had been so well received on the tour. They also told the crowd that the new album will be out in June.^{[citation needed]}

Come September -- the band has tentative plans to head to the U.S. for a few targeted shows. "We just want to go over and do some small shows for the fans that we know we have there," says McFly's co-lead singer and guitarist Tom Fletcher. "We've been wanting to do that for years and years and years and years. But we've just never had the opportunity, or something else has come up." "We have some fans in America that have been fans for like eight or nine years -- right from the beginning -- so much so that they fly over to see us in the U.K. It's amazing that they are so dedicated. So I think we owe it to them to come over." .^[70]

Super Records[link]

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.^[71] Super Records was created after McFly decided to leave Island, Universal Records at the end of 2007.

Television and film appearances[link]

In January 2005, the band guest-starred in an episode of the long-running British drama series Casualty.^[72] 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.^[10] They play themselves in the film and the soundtrack features a variety of their songs from their first two albums.^[11] The band also recorded another song, "Just My Luck", which was to be included on the US-only album release of the same name. McFly held a concert at the London Hammersmith Apollo on 19 May 2005 which was used in the film.^[73] The UK premiere of the film took place on 28 June 2006 in London.^[74] The film generally did not receive good reviews, gaining a 13% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.^[75] 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'. It was later renamed 'Sofa, Hyundai Administration' and placed as a B Side on The Heart Never Lies Single. 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.^[76]

On 22 October 2007, McFly hosted the first annual Nickelodeon UK Kids Choice Awards.^[77] McFly also appeared on the show Ghosthunting with... in 2007.^[78]

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.^[79]

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.^[80][81] On 14 December, they 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, they 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", "Skins" and "Pretty Little Liars" McFly made a cameo appearance in Derren Brown's Enigma tour in 2009-10. A recording of the live stage show first aired on Channel 4 on 6 January 2011.

McFly are made a return to T4 on the Beach in July 2011.

Tom Fletcher took on The Cube in a celebrity special in the 3rd season, and walked away with £100,000

The band's drummer, Harry Judd, won the 9th series of Strictly Come Dancing with his dance partner Aliona Vilani.^[82]

Dougie Poynter won the 11th series of the UK TV series I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!.

Dougie Poynter and Harry Judd appeared on the "Hunks Special" of Celebrity Juice in 1st March 2012

Danny Jones also participated in 2010's Popstar to Operastar.

The band had their own fly on the wall documentary series in 2011. It followed the band as they embarked on their lastest UK tour. It ran for 6 episodes. The first episode aired on 5Star on May 11th, the last episode aired on June 15th.

Discography[link]

• Room On the 3rd Floor (2004)
• Wonderland (2005)
• Motion In the Ocean (2006)
• Radio:ACTIVE (2008)
• Above the Noise (2010)

Members[link]

• Danny Jones - Lead vocals, guitar, harmonica, keyboards
• Tom Fletcher - Lead vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards, bass guitar
• Dougie Poynter - Bass guitar, guitar, vocals
• Harry Judd - Drums, percussion

Awards[link]

2004

• Walt Disney Awards - Best Newcomer^[83]
• 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)^[84]

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^[85]
• BRIT Awards - Best Pop Act^[86]

2006

• Virgin.net Music Awards - God Group^[87]
• BT Digital Music Award for People's Choice Award for Best Official Music Site^[88]

2007

• Nickelodeon UK Kids Choice Awards - Best Band (also hosted)^[77]
• UK Festival Awards - Best Pop Act (for appearance at V Festival)^[89]
• Virgin.net Music Awards - Best Live Act^[90]

2008

• Nickelodeon UK Kids Choice Awards - Best Band^[91]
• 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^[92]
• UK Music Video Awards - Best Live Music Coverage^[93]
• 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

2011

• Nordoff Robbins - American Express Digital Innovation Award
• In Rock Magazine - Best British Band
• Tv show Strictly Come Dancing - (Harry Judd with Aliona Vilani)
• Tv show I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! - (Dougie Poynter).

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: McFly

• Official website
• McFly at the Internet Movie Database