DOUGLAS JOHN MCCARTHY was born in Barking on the border of East London and Essex on September 1st, 1966. He is the vocalist and songwriter for NITZER EBB, FIXMER/MCCARTHY and DOUGLAS J. MCCARTHY.

Douglas started his music career in 1982 with Nitzer Ebb in Chelmsford, Essex. The avant garde electro-punk band formed with Bon Harris and David Gooday rose to cult status after they released a slew of high-energy aggressive 12” dance tracks on their own label, POWER OF VOICE COMMUNICATIONS, and the subsequent debut album THAT TOTAL AGE on DANIEL MILLER’S label MUTE and LA based label GEFFEN in 1986.

They went on to release a further 4 albums, BELIEF (1988), SHOWTIME (1990), EBBHEAD (1991), and BIG HIT (1995) to great critical acclaim, garnering a global audience by touring extensively on their own and with Mute label mates and stadium rock merchants Depeche Mode. As well as bringing the band to a wider audience, touring with Depeche forged a lasting and close relationship between both bands. Douglas has contributed to a number of tracks for RECOIL, Alan Wilder's solo project, and Alan co-produced EBBHEAD with longtime EBB producer FLOOD.

During a fairly lengthy hiatus from making music, Douglas branched out into design and film work before returning to the frey in 2004 when he joined forces with French techno master Terence Fixmer to release BETWEEN THE DEVIL, the debut FIXMER/MCCARTHY (FM) album on German label SPV.

In 2006 Mute released BODY OF WORK and BODY OR REWORK, 2 double CD compilations of the Ebb’s finest work and remixes. This brought the band out on the road for the REUNION TOUR that took them on a worldwide jaunt visiting 4 continents and playing over 75 shows. Basing himself back in Los Angeles Douglas found time to work with Bon on new Nitzer Ebb material as well as working with Terence on new FM songs. These songs led to the release of FM’s 2nd album, INTO THE NIGHT, in 2008, and Nitzer Ebb’s 6th studio album INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX.

With another huge 135 show Nitzer Ebb tour under his belt (which included a return to supporting Depeche Mode in Europe and Russia) Douglas returned to LA and started working on writing his first solo album, LIFE IS SUCKING THE LIFE OUT OF ME.