dougiexlove

Born in November 1987, Douglas Lee Poynter grew up in Corringham, Essex with his mum and a younger sister, Jazzie, who is 3 years younger than him. Being an unusual animal lover, he also lived with two lizards (Zookie+ Buffy), two cats, two "dogs", a hamster and a frog. From a young age, not only did he start breeding reptiles, but he also began exploring his musical talents, punk or pop rock being his favourite genres. Inspired by Tom Delonge and Mark Hoppus of Blink 182, he took up the bass guitar, while also being an enthusiastic guitar player.
He attended an arts college, called "Gable Hall School Arts College" in his home town, and studied there after being registered by his parents. His personality was always described as quiet, a little shy, and as he called himself, "a loser".

In 2003, when Dougie was a young 15 years old, he auditioned for a new guitar-pop band set to be managed on Busted's label. The audition had been organised by Tom Fletcher, a songwriter for Universal Island Records and Busted, who had even auditioned and nearly got into Busted. Being good friends with James Bourne of Busted, gave him many opportunities, and being just 17 ventured out to start his own band, placing an advert in the weekly and popular alternative/rock/indie magazine, NME.
After meeting up with Danny Jones through someone in the label, they started writing songs together, but after the auditions for two more members took place, out of the four last candidates, one drummer and one bassist stood out. That bassist turned out to be Dougie Poynter, and as he recalls how fast it all went: "I was just at school, auditioned, and now I'm not at school."

The band decided on the name, McFly, as a reference to the films, "Back to the Future", but before confirming, they had two problems. The first was guitarist Danny Jones was not too happy with the name. This problem was easily fixed, as they sat him down to watch the movie. One scene featured a vehicle with the name "D. Jones Manufacturing" on the side, and this convinced him to accept the name. Their second problem was to do with another band with the same name. Because they were not managed and signed, McFly won the right to the name and the other band changed their name to Mighty McFly. Read about this below. After these two problems were fixed, McFly went on with their careers not knowing that they'd be massive household names in weeks to come.

With the support of their label and mates, Busted, they released their first single in March 2004. Titled "5 Colours in Her Hair", the song was a mix of pop-rock origins and bouncy guitar music. They became an instant hit in the UK charts, flew off the charts, landing at Number One straight away. But they didn't stop there. Their second single, "Obviously", which had a different but simultaneously similar sound, hit the Number One spot in June 2004. The success of their two debut singles gained them many fans and supporters, and by July 2004, they released their debut album which went straight to the top of the charts.

Their third single to come from album, "Room On The Third Floor", was "That Girl" in September. Another bouncy tune, it became a big favourite and anthem, and although missing out on the Number One spot, they appeared at the Number Three position. Their fourth and last release from the album, was the song entitled "Room On The Third Floor" which is where they got the album name from. A much slower and more meaningful song, it redeemed McFly, and removed the "just-got-out-of-school-and-started-puberty" image that they had acquired and although they only got to Number Five, the light really did shine out of their asses around that time.

McFly took a small break after that release, and started using their celebrity status to support important charities and campaigns, as well as laying down new tracks for the next album. After taking part in the Comic Relief or Red Nose Day campaign of 2005, they were asked to present some of their new songs in the hope of releasing it as the official RND'05 single. After playing a few songs to the organisers, they chose "All About You" a catchy ballad which seemed very appropriate, and to a degree, was exactly what they were looking for. The single was released in March of 2005, and quickly became Number One, raising a lot of money for the Comic Relief fund.
McFly are now associated as kind-hearted young men in the music industry. While supporting other campaigns such as the Make Poverty History campaign and visiting Uganda to not only film the video to "All About You" b-side, "You've Got A Friend", but to devote time to meet those that they wanted and set out to help, they began their journey in the mid-year of 2005 as a household and infamous name. They also started filming a movie to be released later this year. You can read more about it here.
McFly now consist of Harry Judd (drums), Tom Fletcher (vocals + guitar), Danny Jones (vocals + guitar) and the subject of this fansite, Dougie Poynter (bass + backing vocals). To think that 2 years ago, McFly were a very young band just starting it out in the business, playing small intimate gigs to even smaller amounts of fans, and laying down tracks which would unknowingly become pop anthems, is almost unbelievable. after meeting many celebrities, especially on the video set of "All About You", and becoming such well known people, fame doesn't seem to have changed them much, apart from the small exception of Dougie's quietness. Now he just seems more and more quirky, more confident, and fame, in its highest form has changed him into a young man with amazing talents and capabilities. Maybe it's just the girls flashing, or the fact he probably gets crushed by a teenage girl every day.

We are still very unsure of Dougie, seeing as he still does not talk much. Although sometimes he appears much more happy and some would say, fidgety, he also has his quiet side. He can actually sit through an hour-long interview without uttering one word. If he's thinking of someone or something, or even just in a bad mood, it is always uncertain, but his personality cannot shine through, even when he does talk. With the pressure of managers and the record company, we will never know what goes through Dougie's mind. One day, I hope to find out. Dougie, if you are reading this, keep rocking. You rule dude, and hopefully we really will find out what goes on in that mind of yours, may it be perverted, or just plain boring.
Dougie's talents are outstanding. Inspired by his role models and idols, Blink 182, he is now, himself a rockstar in his own right, and the fact that he can even make a photoshoot of him holding a carton of "Just Juice" appealing (advertising in it's small and hidden form) makes him one of the biggest stars this decade. He will become a legend, well to me anyway.

Piczo