Tom Fletcher
| Tom Fletcher | |
|---|---|
 Tom performing on stage |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Thomas Michael Fletcher |
| Born | 17 July 1985 Harrow, London, England |
| Genres | Pop punk, pop |
| Occupations | Singer-songwriter |
| Instruments | Vocals, guitar, piano, drums, bass guitar, ukulele |
| Years active | 2003–present |
| Labels | Island, Super |
| Associated acts | McFly, James Bourne, Busted |
| Website | www.mcfly.com |
| Notable instruments | |
| Gibson Les Paul Gibson Flying V Gibson ES-335 Fender Stratocaster Gibson SG Gibson Les Paul Junior |
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Thomas Michael "Tom" Fletcher (born 17 July 1985) is an English singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Among his accomplishments he is one of the lead vocalists and guitarists of English pop rock band McFly,[1] in addition to being the group's founder and principal songwriter. In his nearly ten-year career as a professional songwriter, Fletcher has penned ten UK number one singles and twenty-one top ten singles.
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Early life [edit]
Fletcher was born in Harrow, London, to a working-class family.[2] His father Bob Fletcher, who worked at Kodak and played in local bands, and mother Debbie Fletcher, a special needs teacher, encouraged and supported his love of music from a young age.[2] He has a younger sister, Carrie Hope Fletcher, who produces vlogs, also known as video logs or video blogs, for the video sharing site YouTube. When he was 10, Fletcher starred as the main role in Oliver! at the London Palladium alongside Jim Dale as Fagin. He then went on to do a documentary about HIV for schools.
Education [edit]
Fletcher attended the Sylvia Young Theatre School, a co-educational independent school in the Marylebone area of the City of Westminster in west London, on a scholarship.[2][3]
Musical career [edit]
At a very young age, Fletcher began writing music commercially.[2] He originally auditioned for Busted,[4] but lost out on the place to Charlie Simpson after the record label Island decided the band should be a trio rather than a four-piece; Fletcher states that he was in the band "for approximately 24-hours."[citation needed] This led to a job with the bands songwriting team however, where Fletcher got to know Busted band member James Bourne. He has since stated that it was Bourne who taught him how to "properly" structure songs, and how to "come up with good, poppy melodies." [5]
McFly [edit]
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 he and Danny Jones met for the first time; Jones went to the audition mistaking the band to be a Busted-esque band, rather than the conventional, all-singing, all-dancing, boyband, for which they were intended.[6] Fletcher was impressed with Jones's style, and so invited him to write with him and Bourne. When writing projects for Busted had come to an end, the two began collaborating for their own (as yet unnamed) band, and, eventually, moved into the InterContinental Hotel in London for 2 months[7] to concentrate on writing together. Bassist (Dougie Poynter) and drummer (Harry Judd) were subsequently recruited via a classified advertisement . McFly rose to fame after fellow teen pop band Busted then helped launch them by inviting them to tour in March 2004" [8]
In 2004, McFly made it into the Guinness Book of World Records, beating The Beatles's record for "the youngest band to have a début album go straight to number one".[9] Fletcher has written the majority of McFly's songs with Jones and Poynter, with occasional contributions by Judd; Bourne has also assisted with songwriting on occasions. As of 15 November 2010, McFly have released five studio albums and two compilation albums. A new greatest hits album entitled 'Memory Lane' which includes a number of B sides from earlier albums, original demos of well known tracks as well as 3 new singles was released in November 2012. As well as being the founding member of McFly, Fletcher plays rhythm guitar, shares lead Vocals with Danny Jones and sometimes undertakes the role of ukelele player and pianist. He named the band after Marty McFly, the main character from his favourite film "Back to the Future."
Songwriting [edit]
Fletcher has written or co-written ten UK number-one singles: "Crashed The Wedding," "Who's David?," and "Thunderbirds" for Busted; and "Five Colours in Her Hair," "Obviously," "All About You," "I'll Be OK," "Please, Please," "Star Girl," and "Transylvania" for McFly. He co-wrote eight of the songs on A Present for Everyone, as well as all but one ("Not Alone," written by Jones) of the tracks on McFly's debut album, Room on the 3rd Floor. He is the primary writer on the majority of tracks on all five of the band's albums. Of McFly's four members, he has "the most songwriting credits and therefore the most money."
Fletcher wrote "On a Rainbow," the official song of the 2012 Summer Olympics' mascots Wenlock and Mandeville.[10] The song features vocals from him and his sister Carrie. He also wrote the song "I Want" for One Direction's Up All Night album, "I Would" and "Irresistible" from One Direction's second album Take Me Home.[11] He has co written a lot of songs with James Bourne including "Chills in the Evening" recorded by V. Fletcher has penned ten UK number one singles and twenty-one top ten singles" Despite the decision to exclude Fletcher from the line-up of band Busted he was included as a member of their song-writing team, this was mainly because of the labels intruige at his writing talents.
Other work [edit]
In 2008, Fletcher contributed to the short story anthology, Wow! 366.[12] Fletcher, along with the rest of McFly, have made a deal with Transworld Publishers and released their memoir 'Unsaid Things... Our Story' in the autumn of 2012.[13] He released a children's story with Dougie Poynter entitled "The Dinosaur That Pooped Christmas", about a boy who gets a pet dinosaur for Christmas. The book was released on 25 October 2012.[14]
Personal life [edit]
On 18 April 2011, Fletcher became engaged to his longtime girlfriend Giovanna Falcone. He proposed to Giovanna Falcone at the Sylvia Young Theatre School where they first met at age 13.[15] Fletcher and Falcone were married on 12 May 2012.[16] They sold the rights to OK! Magazine. The article was published on 22 May 2012. In January 2013, Tom uploaded a video of his wedding speech, sung to the tunes of several McFly songs, which has received over 10 million views. [17] He currently lives in London with Giovanna and their three cats Marvin, Leia and Aurora.[18]
In McFly's recent autobiography 'Unsaid Things' Fletcher has admitted to suffering from bipolar affective disorder. He has also described his struggles with his weight and obsessive dieting [19][20][21][22][23]
References [edit]
- ^ "Tom Fletcher biography". McFly Official website. Archived from the original on 1 July 2008. Retrieved 2008-07-02.
- ^ a b c d Gannon, Louise. "The super McFly guys". Mail Online (The Daily Mail) (London). Retrieved 28 October 2011.
- ^ McFly's Tom Fletcher... Accessed 20 March 2011
- ^ "McFly Interview by CMU's Chris Cooke". CMU Beats Bar. December 2005. Retrieved 2007-11-23.
- ^ "tom fletcher". Retrieved 11 March 2013.
- ^ Alexis Petridis (2004-07-23). "Mad about the boys". The Guardian (London). Retrieved 2007-11-23.
- ^ "Debut McFly album track by track". McFlyOfficial.com. Archived from the original on 24 December 2007. Retrieved 2007-11-23.
- ^ "Fletcher". Retrieved 12 March 2013.
- ^ "BBC Interview". BBC. Retrieved 2008-09-21.
- ^ London2012. "Mascot song behind the scenes with Tom and Carrie Fletcher - London 2012". London 2012 Official YouTube Channel. Retrieved 22 October 2011.
- ^ Renshaw, David (14 September 2011). "One Direction 'Can't Imagine Splitting Up'". Retrieved 28 September 2011.
- ^ "Press Release: Wow! 366". Scholastic. 2008. Retrieved 13 May 2012.
- ^ "McFly Announce Plans For Biography, Discuss Jessie J Dreams". Yahoo.com. 9 March 2012. Retrieved 13 May 2012.
- ^ Jamieson, Natalie (15 March 2012). "McFly's Tom Fletcher and Dougie Poynter pen kid's book". BBC. Retrieved 13 May 2012.
- ^ Smart, Gordon. "Mcfly Star Tom is Engaged". London: The Sun. Retrieved 19 April 2011.
- ^ Sheridan, Emily (12 May 2012). "Mcfly's Tom Fletcher weds Giovanna Falcone". The Daily Mail. Retrieved 13 May 2012.
- ^ {http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27WufdasQYs}
- ^ Fletcher, Tom. "Tumblr".
- ^ "McFly's Tom Fletcher survived on one muffin and coffee a day during obsessive dieting struggles | Mail Online". Dailymail.co.uk. 2012-10-13. Retrieved 2012-10-24.
- ^ "Tom Fletcher | Tom Fletcher Struggled With Weight Obsession Before Bipolar Diagnosis". Contactmusic.com. 2012-10-13. Retrieved 2012-10-24.
- ^ "McFly's Tom Fletcher: 'I Was Diagnosed With Bipolar Two Years Ago' - Celebrity Gossip, News & Photos, Movie Reviews, Competitions". Entertainmentwise. 2012-10-14. Retrieved 2012-10-24.
- ^ "McFly's Tom Fletcher: 'I hated being the fat one' - Showbiz News". Digital Spy. 2012-10-13. Retrieved 2012-10-24.
- ^ "Tom McFly reveals weight issues - RTÉ Ten". Rte.ie. Retrieved 2012-10-24.
External links [edit]
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