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Mention New Zealand music and Neil Finn is probably one of the first names to spring to mind. With a musical career that has spanned two of New Zealand's most successful exports; Split Enz and Crowded House as well as an acclaimed solo career, Neil Finn is arguably New Zealand's King of Pop.
Neil Mullane Finn was born on 27th May 1958 in Te Awamutu on the North Island of New Zealand. Neil's older brother Tim Finn was a big influence on Neil from an early age. Tim formed Split Enz in the early seventies and Neil immediately became a fan and began writing his own music. By 1975 Neil was supporting Split Enz and in '76 he formed the short lived After Hours. Soon after, Neil received a call from Tim asking him to join Split Enz.
Neil brought a fresh perspective to the songwriting, and he penned many of the band’s major hits, most notably 'I Got You', which virtually catapulted the Enz from obscurity to international fame. It was the biggest selling Australian Single that year and received the 'Song of the Year' award at the ARIA's, Australia's biggest music award.
After the Enz broke up, Neil, Paul Hester (Split Enz's last drummer) and Melbourne bassist/artist Nick Seymour created a band originally called The Mullanes. They moved to Los Angeles in 1985 and stayed in a cramped North Hollywood home while shopping for a record label, which inspired a name change to Crowded House.
After securing a record deal from Capitol Records Crowded House released their debut hit 'Don't Dream It's Over' This reached #2 on the billboard charts and the rest is history.
Neil returned home to New Zealand in 1995 where he and his brother Tim produced their album 'Finn'.
In 1996, Neil took part in ENZSO, the symphonic orchestration of the music. And not long after that Crowded House decided to call it quits. They did so in style with a huge concert for charity in Sydney, Australia on November 24, 1996.
The following 2 years Neil spent a lot of time in his basement studio working on his solo project, 'Try Whistling This.' He recorded the album in New York City in December 1997 and released it in New Zealand in the following year.
And the Finn musical legacy now continues into the next generation with Neil's son Liam forming the quickly up-and-coming punk band Betchadupa.
Artist Website
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