McFly

For other uses, see McFly (disambiguation).

McFly

McFly are a British pop rock band who successfully launched into the music scene in early 2004 with their number one single, "5 Colours in Her Hair".Their biggest fan's are Jessica Frances Smith and Cheryl April Stacey from Batley. The band was founded by Tom Fletcher (born 17 July 1985) and also consists of Danny Jones (born 12 March 1986), Dougie Poynter (born 30 November 1987) and Harry Judd (born 23 December 1985). They are signed to the Island Records label and are managed by Prestige Management.

As of May 2007, McFly have an impressive chart record of twelve top ten singles, seven of which reached number one in the UK Singles Chart and two number one albums, their debut being Room on the 3rd Floor followed by Wonderland. Their third album, Motion in the Ocean, was released on 6 November 2006 and charted at number six. An announcement was made on their MySpace page in April 2007 that the band will be releasing a Greatest Hits so far compilation on November 5th, 2007, and a fourth studio album on April 28 2008.

History

Formation

The name "McFly" was chosen by Tom Fletcher, the band's founding member, based on his love for the American science-fiction comedy Back to the Future series and Michael J. Fox's character Marty McFly. In 2004, the band found out that there was an American band also called McFly. The American McFly subsequently received a pay-off to change their name, which they did - renaming themselves Biff Tannen, after Marty McFly's enemy from the Back to the Future movie.

Fletcher had originally auditioned for Busted, but was rejected. He then started writing songs with Busted member James Bourne and was asked to come along to film auditions for a new band, V. Jones came along to the audition mistaking it for an audition for a Busted-like band. Fletcher spoke to Jones afterwards and Jones and Fletcher moved into the Intercontinental Hotel in London for 2 months, and the two began writing songs along with Bourne. To complete the band, they held auditions at London's Covent Garden for a drummer and a bass player. Coincidentally, Poynter and Judd both auditioned on the same day. Thus, McFly was formed.

Room on the 3rd Floor

McFly's early sound was a mixture of pop and rock. Their debut single, "5 Colours in Her Hair", released 29 March 2004, entered the UK Singles Chart at number one in April 2004 and stayed there for two weeks. 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 one in the UK Albums Chart. The album broke records, as McFly were the youngest band to have a debut album enter the charts in the top position, beating The Beatles. The third single, "That Girl", was released on 6 September 2004 and lost the battle for the top spot to Brian McFadden's "Real to Me". It went to number three, despite topping midweek sales charts. The fourth single, Room on the 3rd Floor (the album's title track), was released on 15 November 2004 and made number five. The idea for the album name "Room on the Third Floor", and song, came from where Danny and Tom wrote most of the songs for the album.

Wonderland

In March 2005, McFly released "All About You/You've Got a Friend", a double A-side of their sixth and seventh singles and the first release from their second album, Wonderland, which features a 60-piece orchestra. The single reached number one for a week on 13 March 2005 and the profits from the single were donated to Comic Relief. The video for "You've Got a Friend" was shot in Uganda, Africa, which McFly visited for the charity appeal. They completed their first arena tour in October 2005. 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 one. The album itself was released on 29 August 2005 entering at number one. The third single from Wonderland, "I Wanna Hold You", was released on 17 October, giving them their sixth top three single, missing out on number one to the Arctic Monkeys. Their fourth single, "Ultraviolet/The Ballad of Paul K" was released on 12 December 2005 and reached number nine.

Motion in the Ocean

McFly's "Motion in the Ocean Album" Cover

The first single from Motion in the Ocean was named, "Please, Please", released in the UK as a double A-side with the Queen hit "Don't Stop Me Now" on 17 July 2006 as the official song for Sport Relief 2006. The double A-side reached number one in the UK charts on 23 July 2006 making it the band's fifth number one single of their career. After losing a bet to the owner of G-A-Y, McFly had to appear naked on stage during their Motion in The Ocean Tour 2006 as they did in their "Please, Please" video. 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 six. The second release from the album, "Star Girl" was released on 23 October 2006, to promote the album. "Star Girl" reached number one in its first week with 54,802 copies sold. The third release from the album, "Sorry's Not Good Enough/Friday Night", was released on 18 December 2006, and reached number three 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 one. 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 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 one to twenty after a week, matching a limited edition Elvis Presley single, "One Night". It also holds the record for the shortest stay in the Top 75 for a No1 single, spending just four weeks in the chart.

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.

Greatest Hits

McFly's Greatest Hits album is due to be released on November 5, 2007. The first single from the album, The Heart Never Lies, can be heard on the radios from September 10, 2007. The track was premiered at the V Festival in August. .

Cover songs

McFly have recorded and performed a variety of officially released and unreleased cover versions of well-known songs.

2004

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. "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", originally by Queen, was featured on the "Room on the Third Floor" single.

2005

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. McFly also recorded the 2004 hit "Mr Brightside", originally by The Killers, which is featured on the "I Wanna Hold You" single, and "I Predict a Riot", originally by the Kaiser Chiefs, which they performed at BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge session and is also featured on the "Ultraviolet" single. McFly also 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 covers of songs as singles such as The Who's "Pinball Wizard", which they performed on Movie Music Mania on 12 November 2005. McFly also performed a version of The Used's "On My Own" on 15 December 2005 at a Harrods Winter Signing.

2006

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". When performing this cover on their Motion In The Ocean tour 2006, they were joined onstage by Queen guitarist Brian May at Wembley Arena, who also performed the opening riff to "5 Colours in Her Hair". Matt Willis also despite "Don't Stop Me Now" with the band at Wembley Arena and 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 Wanna Hold Your Hand" by The Beatles. The song "Rockin' Robin", originally by Bobby Day, was featured on the "Sorry's Not Good Enough/Friday Night" single, and the band also performed it at the Top Of The Pops Christmas Special.

2007

On the 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 was the double A-side to "Transylvania". This double-A single was number one in the Official UK Top 40, before dropping nineteen places to chart at #20 in only its second week of release. It is their seventh number one. McFly recorded the song You're The One That I Want from Grease for an album which was recorded in just five days, Over the Rainbow. The proceeds from the Challenge Anneka album go to childrens' hospices across the UK. McFly are among a long list of artists who recorded a track for Radio 1’s forthcoming 40th birthday celebrations. Each artist contributing to the album had to choose a song from a given year in the last 40. McFly were handed 1982, and chose to cover The Jam classic Town Called Malice. The track is featured on the compilation album Radio 1. Established 1967. The hit Rihanna song, Umbrella, was also covered by McFly and is on their latest single, The Heart Never Lies.

Television and film appearances

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. They play themselves in the film and the soundtrack features a variety of their songs from their first two albums. 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. The UK premiere of the film took place on 28 June 2006 in London. The film was critically panned.

On June 23, 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.

On October 22, 2007, McFly will be presenting the UK's first Nikelodeon Kid's Choice Awards in London.

Tours

File:McFly live dublin 06-01.JPG

Harry Judd performs at The Point, Dublin, in October 2006 as part of the Motion in the Ocean tour.

McFly have played four major tours to date:

• 2004 - Supporting Busted on their nationwide UK arena tour with V.
• 2004 - UK Theatre Tour (also known as McFly: The Tour)
• 2005 - Wonderland Arena Tour (supported by The Famous Last Words and Tyler James)
• 2006 - Motion in the Ocean Arena Tour (supported by Click Five and Nylon)
• 2007 - McFly Up Close and Personal: originally twenty four locations not covered by their arena tours but a further 10 dates were later added, taking the count up to thirty four dates and venues. Tickets sold out in under 2 hours. (supported by Lil Chris)
• 2007 - The Greatest Hits Tour: originally just an arena tour, but soon a further 16 dates were added (one later cancelled), all at smaller venues. (supported by Saving Aimee)

Discography

Main article: McFly discography

Awards

In 2004, McFly won five Smash Hits Awards including Stars of the Year, Best UK Band, Best Album (Room on the 3rd Floor), Best Video (That Girl), Best Stars of the Year and Danny Jones won Most Fanciable Male. McFly beat their number of awards in the 2005 Smash Hits Awards by winning Stars of the Year, Best UK Band, Best Single (All About You), Best Album (Wonderland) while Danny Jones won 'Most Snoggable Male' and Dougie Poynter won 'Top Mop'. Also in 2005, McFly won Best Pop Act at the BRIT Awards. The band won Best Group and Dougie Poynter won Most Fanciable Male in the Virgin.net Music Awards for 2006. McFly have recently been nominated for "Best Band" at the first UK Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Awards and Danny Jones was also nominated for "Best Male Singer".

External links

• Official Website
• McFly's MySpace Profile
• McFly at Curlie