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Neil Finn

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For the football player, see Neil Finn (footballer).

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Neil Mullane Finn OBE (born May 27 1958, in Te Awamutu, New Zealand) is a singer and songwriter and one of New Zealand's foremost popular musicians. He is the frontman for Crowded House and previously for Split Enz. He was born Cornelius Mullane Finn ("I was christened Cornelius, and dropped it at an early age thinking it was a bit corny", Finn told Australian television host Andrew Denton in 1995.)

Finn rose to prominence in the late 1970s after replacing singer songwriter Phil Judd in his brother Tim Finn's band Split Enz. With the group, Finn wrote the hits "One Step Ahead", "History Never Repeats", "I Got You" and "Message to My Girl", among others. Finn rose from prominence to international fame after Split Enz broke up in 1984 when he formed Crowded House with Split Enz's final drummer Paul Hester in 1985. The group achieved international success in 1987 when they released the single "Don't Dream It's Over" written by Finn. Finn ended Crowded House in 1996 to embark upon what was to become a moderately successful solo career, and has released two albums with his brother Tim under the title the Finn Brothers. In 2007, Finn reunited Crowded House and released a new album, Time on Earth, and the band began a world tour.

Biography

Early years / Split Enz

Neil attended school at Sacred Heart boarding school and Te Awamutu College. He decided at the age of 12 to become a musician and throughout his school years performed in prisons and hospitals as well as at home gatherings.

Neil finished school in 1975. A year later he formed a group known as After Hours with Mark Hough, Geoff Chunn and Alan Brown. Not long after the debut performance of After Hours Neil was invited to London to join Split Enz, the band formed by his elder brother Tim Finn. By 1980 Neil was sharing lead singer duties. He wrote their first international hit "I Got You" and contributed significantly to all their later albums, even briefly assuming leadership of the band after Tim left in 1984, soon before its split.

Crowded House

Split Enz broke up in 1984. Finn formed a new band called The Mullanes (Mullane being both his middle name and his mother's maiden name) with Split Enz drummer Paul Hester, guitarist Craig Hooper of The Reels and bassist Nick Seymour (younger brother of Hunters & Collectors leader Mark Seymour), whom Neil had met on the final Split Enz tour. Hooper left just before they recorded their first album, at which time the band was renamed Crowded House — inspired by the rental home they shared while recording in Los Angeles.

In 1986 Finn performed with The Rock Party a charity project initiated by The National Campaign Against Drug Abuse (NCADA), which included many Australasian musicians such as Reg Mombassa (Mental As Anything), Eddie Rayner, Tim Finn, Nick Seymour (Crowded House), Paul Hester (Crowded House), Geoff Stapleton (GANGgajang), Robbie James (GANGgajang), Mary Azzopardi (Rockmelons), Andrew Barnum (The Vitabeats), Lissa Barnum, Michael Barclay, Peter Blakely, Mark Callaghan (GANGAjang), Deborah Conway, Jenny Morris, Danny De Costa, Greg Herbert (The Promise), Spencer P Jones, Sean Kelly (The Models), John Kennedy, Paul Kelly, Martin Plaza (Mental as Anything), Robert Susz (Dynamic Hepnotics) and Rick Swinn (The Venetians).[1] The Rock Party released a 12" single "Everything To Live For", which was produced by Joe Wissert, Phil Rigger and Phil Beazley.[1]

Neil Finn during Crowded House's heyday - San Francisco, 1987

Crowded House went on to enormous success worldwide, in particular with two major hits: "Don't Dream It's Over" (U.S. #2, 1987) and "Weather With You" (U.K. #7, 1992). Both Neil and his brother Tim were made OBE (Order of the British Empire) for services to New Zealand music in the 1993 Queen's Birthday Honours List. After releasing four albums, Crowded House, Temple of Low Men, Woodface, and Together Alone, the group broke up in 1996, and followed this action by releasing a greatest hits album Recurring Dream. Following this, Neil went solo. Later the album Afterglow was released, which contained Crowded House tracks not previously found on any of the band's albums.

In January 2007, it was announced that Crowded House would reform with Neil, Nick Seymour, Mark Hart and new drummer Matt Sherrod (following the death of Paul Hester in 2005). The group's new album Time on Earth was released in June 2007; in the pre-release build up, they headlined a show at Coachella in April 2007, then commenced a world tour.

Solo years

Finn has recorded two solo albums to date: Try Whistling This (1998) and One Nil (2001). (One Nil was released in the US and Canada — remixed, reordered and renamed One All — in 2002.) In addition, he and brother Tim have collaborated on two Finn Brothers albums, Finn (1995) and Everyone Is Here (2004).

In 2001, he released a live album/DVD (7 Worlds Collide) consisting of songs recorded at St James Theatre in Auckland, New Zealand with the likes of Lisa Germano, Sebastian Steinberg (Soul Coughing), Ed O'Brien and Phil Selway (Radiohead), Johnny Marr (The Smiths), Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam), Paul Jeffrey, Tim Finn, and Betchadupa. Also in 2001, Finn was heavily involved in creating the soundtrack for the motion picture Rain.

The Dixie Chicks release Taking The Long Way has a song co-written with Finn, entitled "Silent House." Neil Finn was also featured as a backing vocalist on the Sheryl Crow song, "Everyday is a Winding Road" from her self-titled second album, released in 1997. Finn has also produced and recorded with various New Zealand acts such as Bic Runga, The Mutton Birds and Dave Dobbyn.

In 2006, Neil and Tim Finn were both honoured by a slew of women re-recording and re-interpreting a selection of their songs with the album She Will Have Her Way which featured artists performing Neil Finn's songs such as Kasey Chambers, Clare Bowditch, Boh Runga with her band Stellar*, Renée Geyer, Brooke Fraser, Holly Throsby, Sarah Blasko, Amiel and Natalie Imbruglia.

In February 2007, Neil Finn performed with his son Elroy and Jimmy Barnes at a charity benefit concert for cerebral palsy. The event was held at the Roxburgh Hall, Stowe School, Stowe in Buckinghamshire, UK. The benefit was in aid of he UK charity Scope (formerly "The Spastics Society"), England's largest charity working for people living with cerebral palsy and their families.

In December 2008 the 7 Worlds Collide lineup will reconvene in Auckland, New Zealand to record a charity album for Oxfam. The album will be recorded in Finn's own Roundhead Studios and will feature all-new material, with singing and songwriting contributions divided amongst the group. Most of the original members will return, along with several new additions including Jeff Tweedy and three other members of Wilco, Scottish singer-songwriter KT Tunstall, and notable New Zealand songwriters Don McGlashan and Bic Runga. As in 2001 the group will give a series of live performances, though the venue will be more intimate and the performances may have a looser, freewheeling style.

Finn has contributed solo music to various film and TV soundtracks including Rain, Boston Legal, Boston Public, The Waiting Game, Antz, and Sports Night.

Finn had a cameo role on the BBC Radio Show Flight of the Conchords.

Finn appeared on fellow musician Missy Higgins' CD, On a Clear Night (2007). He played the electric guitar for the song "Peachy", and sang backup on "Going North".

Family

Finn married Sharon Dawn Johnson, on February 13, 1982. The song "I Love You Dawn," available on Afterglow (an album of unreleased Crowded House tracks and B-sides) was penned in her honour.

They have two sons, Liam Mullane (born 1983 - Split Enz's "Our Day" was written about his birth) and Elroy Timothy (born 1989). Both sons play various instruments, and often perform alongside their father on tour and in the recording studio. Liam had his own band, Betchadupa, originally based in Auckland, then London before releasing a solo album, I'll Be Lightning in 2008. He also plays in Crowded House's touring band lineup. Elroy Finn is also following in his father and brother's musical footsteps as drummer for the psychobilly band The Tricks.

Sharon Finn creates chandeliers in her workshop in Auckland. Numerous chandeliers designed by Sharon featured on stage in the 2004-05 tours promoting the Everyone Is Here album.

Sharon has appeared on backing vocals on various albums such as Crowded House and Alex Lloyd's Watching Angels Mend.

Neil Finn solo discography

This discography relates to solo releases by Neil Finn only. See Split Enz discography, Crowded House discography and The Finn Brothers' discography for other related works.

Albums

Album Release Charts Singles
Try Whistling This 1998
  • Debut studio release
Sessions at West 54th 2000

 

 

One Nil 2001
  • Second studio release
  • Released with the title One All in the United States in 2002.
7 Worlds Collide 2001

 

Singles

Date Single Album Charts
NZ AU UK
1998-06-14 "Sinner" Try Whistling This - #40 #39
1998-06-21 "She Will Have Her Way" Try Whistling This #19 - #26
1999-06-27 "I Can See Clearly Now" #16 - -
1999-10-03 "Can You Hear Us" #1 - -
2001-03-25 "Rest of the Day Off" One Nil #29 - -
2001 "Wherever You Are" One Nil - - #32
2001 "Hole In the Ice" One Nil - - -

Other contributions

References

  1. ^ a b Holmgren, Magnus (ed.). "The Rock Party". Australian Rock database. Retrieved 2008-09-25.
  • Chunn, Mike, Stranger Than Fiction: The Life and Times of Split Enz, GP Publications, 1992. ISBN 1-86956-050-7
  • Bourke, Chris, Something So Strong, Macmillan Australia, 1997, ISBN 0-7329-0886-8
  • Twomey, Chris & Doole, Kerry, Crowded House: Private Universe, Omnibus Pr, 1998, ISBN 0-7119-4816-X
  • Dix, John, Stranded in Paradise: New Zealand Rock and Roll, 1955 to the Modern Era, Penguin Books, 2005, ISBN 0-14-301953-8
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