Harrow’s musical heritage is long and varied, dating back to W. S. Gilbert, artist, songwriter and former owner of Grim’s Dyke. More recently, Harrow has celebrated some of its more modern homegrown talent, and in this article, we’re shining the spotlight on Tom Fletcher.
Stage and screen
Born in Harrow on July 17th, 1985, Thomas Michael Fletcher had his sights set on stardom from a young age. At the age of 10, Tom played Oliver alongside Jim Dale at the London Palladium before going on to star in a HTV documentary for schools and a number of TV adverts. He also made a brief appearance in the video for the Mike + The Mechanics hit record “Over My Shoulder”.
Shine a light
While Tom’s career began on the stage and screen, he was writing songs from an early age. He successfully auditioned for the band “Busted” but stated that he was in the band “for about 24 hours” as the label, Island Records, made the decision to change the format to three members instead of four. He would, however, go on to become a songwriter for Busted’s team, forging a strong relationship with band member, James Bourne.
Tom Fletcher, along with Dougie Poynter and Harry Judd, would then go on to form McFly – named after the character Marty McFly from the smash hit film trilogy, Back To The Future. McFly was launched in style when Tom’s pals from Busted invited the band to open for them on their 2004 tour. McFly would go on to have a number of hits including the uber-catchy “It’s All About You”.
A novel turn of events
In 2012, Tom married Giovanna Falcone – a musical theatre actress and his childhood sweetheart from the tender age of 13 – and the couple have three children, Buzz, Buddy and Max. That same year, Tom (along with his bandmate Dougie) released a children’s book – The Dinosaur That Pooped Christmas which became the most popular kid’s book of 2012, selling over 72,000 copies. The duo released The Dinosaur That Pooped A Planet the following year. Tom is also the author of a number of other novels including The Christmasaurus and The Eve Of Man written with his wife, Giovanna.
Coming up
When he’s not busy writing books and songs, Tom is something of a TV personality appearing on a number of programs including All Star Family Fortunes, All Star Mr and Mrs, Deal or No Deal, Never Mind The Buzzcocks, Celebrity Juice and Lorraine. He was also a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing in 2021.
NOW READ:
Nicci, born in Cumbria in 1971, moved to London at 17 to work for Mute Records. She has a diverse career spanning design, copywriting, and PR. Nicci is an author, freelance copywriter, and PR professional, with her own agency, Front Page Promotions. She covers historical stories for Harrow Online and has authored several books. She currently resides in Harrow, North West London
