Justin Fletcher

Born in Reading, U.K., children’s entertainer Justin Fletcher gained his widest recognition performing as both actor and presenter on the BBC’s preschool network CBeebies. He built that profile through an array of self-created characters, the most prominent being Mr. Tumble. Song-and-dance routines formed a central part of these personas, drawing on classic pop hits, familiar nursery rhymes, and occasional originals he wrote himself. His first collection, 2012’s Hands Up: The Album, applied that method to traditional rhymes such as “The Eensy-Weensy Spider,” “Nellie the Elephant,” and “Old MacDonald Had a Farm,” wrapping them in contemporary synth textures and dance/electronic arrangements typical of the early twenty-first century. The 2013 follow-up, Best of Friends, largely repeated the same formula while adding one new track, “The Best of Friends,” composed for a children’s stage tour Fletcher was then undertaking. For his third release, Just Party, he shifted focus from nursery material to a set of well-known party anthems that included “The Macarena,” “Let’s Twist Again,” and “What Does the Fox Say?” Late in 2016 he issued his fourth album, Mr Tumble’s Christmas Party, which presented seasonal standards both vintage and recent through the voice of the Mr. Tumble character.