Thomas Michael "Tom" Fletcher (born 17 July 1985) is an English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and children's author. Among his accomplishments he is one of the lead vocalists and guitarists of English pop rock band McFly, in addition to being the group's founder and principal songwriter. He originally auditioned and was accepted into the band Busted before losing out on the place to Charlie Simpson after the record label Island decided the band should be a trio rather than a four-piece. He carried on writing with the band. In his twelve-year career as a professional songwriter, Fletcher has penned ten UK number one singles and twenty-one top ten singles. He is credited as having written songs for bands including One Direction, Busted, The Vamps and 5 Seconds of Summer.