Dougie
Lee Poynter (born November 30,
1987 in Corringham, Essex, England) is bass player and backing
vocalist for the British pop rock/pop punk band McFly, along with
fellow band members Danny Jones, Tom Fletcher and Harry Judd. McFly
rose to fame after the release of their first single, Five Colours In
Her Hair, which reached #1 in the charts, as did their following debut
album Room On The Third Floor. They were also helped by former band
(and friends) Busted who invited them to tour with them, as support
act, in October 2003 (on their A Ticket For Everyone tour). Poynter
is the youngest member of the band, being only fifteen when he joined.
Dougie
Poynter was born in Orsett Hospital; he was brought up in Corringham,
Essex. He attended Gable Hall School. Before joining McFly, Poynter
lived with his mother Sam and younger sister Jazzie (born in 1990). In
his paragraph in the 'thankyou's booklet', available with the 2007
Greatest Hits album, Poynter claims that he was a month premature,
stating: 'The mother goose otherwise known as Sam or Mother to my
sibling, carried me aboad herself for approximately 8 months...'
During his younger years, Poynter
would breed lizards, earning himself the nickname 'Lizard King' at
school (he was also known as 'Grunger', for his different music and
fashion tastes as compared to the other students). He was in a punk
rock band called Ataiz. His decision to leave for London was clearly
taken with mixed sentiment amongst Poynter's friends. From the old
Ataiz Website:
"Everything was beginning to
look up for the band and they were on the brink of sending their
demos off and seriously trying to get signed just after their East
Thurrock gig when suddenly Poynter announced that he was leaving to
join another band called McFly, who were well marketed and produced
by a large, expensive label called Universal Island Records. This
was a shock to the band and a shame as it was always assumed that if
they'd make it, they'd make it together."
Personal
Life
Poynter
is a publicly shy person, rarely commenting during earlier McFly
interviews. However, he has since admitted this was mostly down to his
father's abandonment a few weeks before he joined McFly. Despite this
shy exterior, he is also known to be the bubbliest band member and,
according to fellow bandmates, often says things without thinking. Tom
Fletcher has on more than one occasion stated concern that the bassist
will one day land the band into trouble by saying something offensive
or upsetting to someone or in front of an audience. Recently Poynter
has become more relaxed with the band's growing fame, and has begun
speaking more in interviews, as well as performing 'riskier' stunts in
front of an audience.
Poynter has four tattoos - a star on
each ankle (one blue, one red), the word "Athletes" across
the top of his foot (as in Athlete's Foot; the other McFly members
have similar tattoos), and a large space-themed scene - complete with
rocket and lizard-skull - over his upper right chest, which he got to
celebrate his eighteenth birthday; in the summer of 2006 he had the
tattoo extended down his right arm.
Poynter owns a small 'zoo' (as he
himself dubs it) of animals; being fond of pets from an early age,
especially terrapins and squamata's. In 2005 he purchased a young
bearded dragon lizard, Jerry (this came about when one of his two
childhood pet dragons, Buffy, died) he also has another dragon named
Zukie, when the McFly band moved into separate quarters, Poynter also
purchased: two rhino iguanas, two snakes, two tortoises and, in 2007,
a chocolate labrador puppy named Flea. He has admitted to being
allergic to horses, budgies and hamsters and, when once asked what his
favourite type of pet was in an interview, he replied: "Well,
it's hardly going to be a cat, is it?".
Poynter currently lives on the bottom
floor of a three-storey apartment block; bandmate Danny Jones lives on
the top floor, with the band's personal studio situated in the middle.
Other bandmates Harry Judd and Tom Fletcher also live in the same
gated community. Poynter is an open skateboarding fan and often wears
skate/surf brand clothing to highlight this, as well as having a
half-pipe ramp in his back garden. Poynter and (bandmate) Jones claim
to be the 'flashest' members of McFly, each owning, more than one,
wide-screened television set complete with surround sound, as well as,
more recently, clubbing together to buy a seven-seater hot tub, which
is situated in the duos back garden.
McFly
Poynter
plays the bass guitar, provides backing vocals and also has solo
vocals in songs such as 'Transylvania' - as well as certain versions
of 'Baby's Coming Back', certain versions of 'I'll Be Okay', a small
solo vocal in 'Too Close for Comfort', 'Silence is a Scary Sound', and
'Ignorance'. At the age of fourteen, he wrote the song 'Silence is a
Scary Sound' with some input from previous bandmates in Ataiz; the
song was debuted on McFly's 2005 arena tour (Wonderland). Poynter also
co-wrote (with Tom Fletcher) 'Transylvania' (however Fletcher admitted
the song was 'Dougie's baby') the double A-side to 'Baby's Coming
Back'; this was the band's first single to feature Poynter on lead
vocals.
More recently, Poynter has solely
penned 'Ignorance', the B-side to the single 'The Heart Never Lies'.
The song is obviously heavily influenced by many of Poynter's idols
(Blink-182, New Found Glory, My Chemical Romance etc.), this fact
becomes obvious when listening to it. It has been commented several
times that the song is 'nothing like' McFly's usual springy,
bubble-gum pop tunes, and is perhaps even leaning towards a more punk
inspired sound; this is typical of Poynter's self-penned songs, which
always seem to have a 'darker edge'.
Poynter has played bass since
"before he can remember", according to one interview; he
later specified this age at being, 'about thirteen'. Band members
Danny Jones and Tom Fletcher recall Poynter as being by far the best
technical bassist they auditioned.
Television
Appearances
In
January 2005, Poynter (alongside band members) guest-starred in an
episode of the long-running British drama series Casualty. In
May 2006, he made his 'big-screen' debut, by starring in the teen
comedy film Just My Luck with Lindsay Lohan and Chris Pine, the film
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 generally did not receive good reviews, gaining a 13%
rating on Rotten Tomatoes. 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.
On 22 October 2007, Poynter co-hosted
the first annual Nickelodeon UK Kids Choice Awards, alongside his McFly
band members. McFly also appeared on the show Ghosthunting with... in
2007; Poynter was notably shaken throughout the programme, and later
(when being interviewed on The Paul O'Grady Show) admitted to being
'absolutely terrified'. On 27 May 2008 Poynter appeared, with
bandmates, 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. 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.
