McFly
McFly are an English pop rock/pop band[1][2] formed in London in 2003. The band took their name from the Back to the Future character Marty McFly. The band consists of Tom Fletcher (lead vocals, guitar, and piano), Danny Jones (lead vocals, harmonica, and guitar), Dougie Poynter (bass guitar, vocals) and Harry Judd (drums). They were signed to Island Records from their 2004 launch until December 2007, before creating their own label, Super Records.[3]
"SuperCity" redirects here. For other uses, see Super City.
McFly
London, England
2003–2013
2016–present
McFly rose to fame after fellow band Busted, with whom they later formed McBusted, helped launch them by inviting them to tour in 2004. In 2005, they won the Brit Award for Best British Pop Act.[4] McFly's debut album Room on the 3rd Floor debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart and is certified as double platinum;[5] this led to them taking the record, in the Guinness Book of records, as being the youngest band ever to have an album debut at number one—a title taken from the Beatles.[6] A month after the album was released, the band had their first UK headlining tour.[7]
The band's second album, Wonderland, which was released in 2005, also charted at number one in the UK[8] making them the youngest band to have topped the UK Albums Chart twice.[9] Their third album, Motion in the Ocean, was released on 6 November 2006 and charted at number 6 in the UK.[10] McFly released their All the Greatest Hits compilation album on 5 November 2007, which charted at number 4 in the UK.[11] 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 2 September 2008. Their fifth album Above the Noise was released in November 2010 and charted at number 20.
In November 2013, it was announced that McFly would be joining forces with Busted to form the "supergroup" McBusted. They played a 34-date tour with both Busted and McFly songs.[12] The only member of the original groups not to participate in the new lineup was former Busted singer Charlie Simpson.[13] After Simpson's return to Busted in November 2015, McFly made a return and sold out their Anthology Tour in September 2016. After that, the band took an indefinite hiatus, with their Twitter account confirming that the boys were focusing on solo projects in 2018.[14] In January 2019, Poynter confirmed via a podcast that the band would be reforming that year with a new album and tour.[15] In September the band announced a new album of previously unreleased material and a concert at the O2 Arena in November 2019,[16] followed by a 2020 come-back arena tour, this would however be delayed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Their sixth album, Young Dumb Thrills, was released in 2020.[17]
According to the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), McFly has been certified for 2 million albums and 2.6 million singles in the UK.[18] and more than 10 million records worldwide. As of 2016, McFly have had 18 consecutive UK top 20 singles, seven of which reached number one in the UK Singles Chart and fifteen of which were consecutive top ten singles.
History[edit]
2002–2004: Formation and Room on the 3rd Floor[edit]
In 2001, Tom Fletcher auditioned for Busted,[19] but lost out on the place to Charlie Simpson. Fletcher was originally accepted as part of Busted's line-up, but Island Records went on to reassess the situation and eventually decided to have the band as a three-piece rather than a four-piece. 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 Busted's songwriting 'team', alongside band member (and already accomplished songwriter) James Bourne, whom Fletcher credits with helping him to compose melodies.[20]
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 Jones and Fletcher met for the first time; Danny 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.[21] Fletcher was impressed with Jones' 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 (yet unnamed) band and, eventually, moved into the InterContinental Hotel in London for two months, (while still receiving help from Bourne)[22] to concentrate on writing together. Bassist Dougie Poynter and drummer Harry Judd were subsequently recruited via a classified advertisement in the NME magazine.[19] The pair, both from Essex, coincidentally turned up at the same audition and discussed their shared appreciation of the band the Starting Line, after Poynter noticed their name and logo was printed on Judd's T-shirt.
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.[23] In July 2004 their second single, "Obviously", also topped the charts.[24] This was followed by the album Room on the 3rd Floor debuting at number 1 in the UK Albums Chart.[21] It would go on to be certified double platinum by the British Phonographic Industry.[5] 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.[6] 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.[22] The third single, "That Girl", was released on 6 September 2004, placing at number 3.[11] The fourth single, Room on the 3rd Floor, the album's title track, was released on 15 November 2004 and reached number 5.[25] McFly supported Busted on their nationwide arena tour[21] along with V in February 2004 and then had their first headlining tour in September 2004.[7]
2004–2007: Wonderland and Motion in the Ocean[edit]
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, with all profits donated to Comic Relief.[11][26] The video for "You've Got a Friend" was shot in Uganda, Africa, which McFly visited for to raise awareness for the cause.[27][28] Several months later, on 2 July, McFly co-headlined Live 8 Japan, with Björk and Good Charlotte and also took part in the London concert at Hyde Park. The second single from Wonderland, "I'll Be OK", was released in the UK on 15 August 2005 and scored them their fourth UK number 1.[11] The album itself was released on 29 August 2005 entering at number 1.[11] 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.[11] Their fourth and final single, "Ultraviolet/The Ballad of Paul K" from Wonderland was released on 12 December 2005 and reached number 9.[11] 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 the United States, appearing in the Lindsay Lohan movie Just My Luck,[32] released on 12 May, three days after the soundtrack of the movie, which comprised McFly songs taken from both Room on the 3rd Floor and Wonderland,[33] as well as a new version of "Five Colours in Her Hair". The band played several gigs in Los Angeles and New York,[34] as well as attending the American premiere of Just My Luck in Hollywood.[33]
Television and film appearances[edit]
Throughout the early years, McFly were regular guests on CBBC and CD:UK.[108][109]
In January 2005, the band guest-starred in an episode of the long-running British drama series Casualty.[110] In May 2006, they starred in the American 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.[32] They play themselves in the film and the soundtrack features a variety of their songs from their first two albums.[33] 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.[111] The UK premiere of the film took place on 28 June 2006 in London.[112] The film generally did not receive good reviews, gaining a 13% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[113]
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', and including the words 'sofa', 'administration', and 'Hyundai'. Near the end of the show they performed the song they named 'The Top Gear Blues'. It was later renamed 'Sofa, Hyundai, Administration' and placed as a B-side on "The Heart Never Lies" single. 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 and trying to encourage others to "Vote Saxon!" in support of Mr Saxon (The Master played by John Simm) to become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.[114]
On 22 October 2007, McFly hosted the first annual Nickelodeon UK Kids Choice Awards.[115] McFly also appeared on the show Ghosthunting with... in 2007.[116]
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.[117]
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.[118] 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. In October 2008 McFly performed on the 50th birthday episode of Blue Peter, live outside BBC Television Centre.
McFly made a cameo appearance in Derren Brown's Enigma tour in 2009–2010. A recording of the live stage show first aired on Channel 4 on 6 January 2011. McFly made a return to T4 on the Beach in July 2011.
Fletcher took on The Cube in a celebrity special in the 3rd season and walked away with £100,000. Judd won the 9th series of Strictly Come Dancing with his dance partner Aliona Vilani.[119] Poynter won the 11th series of the UK TV series I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!. Poynter and Judd appeared on the "Hunks Special" of Celebrity Juice on 1 March 2012. Jones also participated in 2010's Popstar to Operastar, placing 5th.
The band had their own McFly on the Wall documentary series in 2011. It followed the band as they embarked on their latest UK tour. It ran for 6 episodes. The first episode aired on Five Star on 11 May, and the last episode aired on 15 June. In 2012 McFly appeared on the celebrity edition of Deal or No Deal in which they won £10,000 for their chosen charities.
On 8 December 2012, McFly appeared as themselves on ITV in a one-off special called The McFly Show. It featured special guests, comedy sketches and the band performing their hit songs.
On 23 March 2013, McFly performed a one-off concert as part of an event organised by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) for Earth Hour 2013 which was broadcast live via YouTube.[120]
On 21 September 2013, McFly were the guest band on the BBC One show When Miranda Met Bruce with Miranda Hart and Bruce Forsyth.
Since 2017, Jones has appeared as a coach on The Voice Kids UK. This is aired on ITV.
Influence[edit]
McFly have been cited as having influenced a number of high-profile musicians in various different ways. Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson of One Direction, have credited McFly as the opening act of the first concert they had ever attended.[121] Speaking about meeting with the group, Jones said "it turned out that Niall and Louis were at one of our first ever shows. And they were all like, 'we copied your haircuts, and you made us want to play guitar', which is really amazing to hear. They're the biggest band in the world right now. And their favourite band was us! We influenced them. It's really strange, because you feel like a veteran!".[122] Reviews for One Direction's debut album Up All Night had credited McFly as a notable influence,[123][124][125] and Horan stated the group were very happy to have such a comparison noted.[126] McFly had contributed song-writing to the first three studio albums that the group released.
Also citing McFly as influences are British pop rock band The Vamps, who supported McFly on their 2013 Memory Lane tour. Guitarist and vocalist James McVey stated "McFly is a band we love to be compared to over other bands, simply for the fact of their good musicianship. They write very well and they're very energetic on stage, which is something we try to replicate in our own performances."[127] Drummer Tristan Evans also spoke of the band, explaining "McFly were an influence on me wanting to get into music and we feel like the next generation of their take on pop," while bassist Connor Ball continued "They're chilled-out and we hope we can have that calm attitude if we ever get that successful."[128] Frontman Brad Simpson also referred to McFly when asked about influences, stating "Their debut album was a first in all of our collections".[129] 5 Seconds of Summer have themselves confirmed that McFly are an influence on their music on a number of occasions,[130][131] while they have also been compared to McFly in reviews.[132][133] When UK pop/R&B group Rixton were asked which bands they had looked up to when they were younger, Jake Roche said, "I listened to a lot of McFly when I was growing up. I was a part of that era."[134]
Asked about influencing a new generation of bands, Jones stated, "There's a few bands, like the 1D boys, and they're all getting to that age where Busted or McFly was the first gig they ever went to. It's really nice to see that bands are taking influence from what you do." He continued, "to actually see people in bands picking up guitars and doing their thing – any musical influence that we can give them – is amazing to see."[135]
Studio albums
Touring members
Number ones in the UK Singles Chart[136]
(1) Obviously (27-06-2004)
(2) 5 Colours In Her Hair (04-04-2004)
(3) All About You (13-03-2005)
(4) I'll Be OK (21-08-2005)
(5) Star Girl (29-10-2006)
(6) Don't Stop Me Now (23-07-2006)
(7) Baby's Coming Back (13-05-2007)
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014