Neil Finn

**Neil Finn**,  (born 27 May 1958) is a rock singer. He was born in New Zealand. Together with his brother Tim, he was the lead singer for Split Enz. He is the frontman of Crowded House. He has released solo albums. He has created the 7 Worlds Collide project and the Pajama Club band.

## Musical career

In the late 1970s he replaced singer songwriter Phil Judd in Split Enz. Split Enz was his brother Tim's band. Neil went on to write some of the biggest hits for the band. Examples are "One Step Ahead", "History Never Repeats", "I Got You" and "Message to My Girl". Split Enz broke up in 1984.

After that, Neil formed Crowded House with Split Enz's final drummer Paul Hester and bass player Nick Seymour in 1985. They became famous worldwide in 1987 when they released the single "Don't Dream It's Over". He ended Crowded House in 1996 to start a solo career.

Neil 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.) He has also worked together with his brother Tim on two Finn Brothers albums, _Finn_ (1995) and _Everyone Is Here (2004)._

In 2001, he released a live album/DVD (_7 Worlds Collide_) with songs that were recorded at St James Theatre in Auckland, New Zealand. Other musicians that were on stage with him were 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.

In 2009, another album was released under the "7 Worlds Collide" name. This was _The Sun Came Out_. It was a charity studio record for Oxfam.  This album has songs by Jeff Tweedy and three other members of Wilco, Scottish singer-songwriter KT Tunstall, and New Zealand songwriters Don McGlashan and Bic Runga.

Finn has contributed solo music to various film and TV soundtracks including _Rain_, _Boston Legal_, _Boston Public_, _The Waiting Game_, _Antz_, and _Sports Night_.

In 2007, Finn reformed Crowded House with Beck's former drummer Matt Sherrod. They released two albums _Time on Earth_ (2007) and _Intriguer_ (2010).

In 2011, he has formed Pajama Club with his wife Sharon, New Zealand indie artist SJD and Alana Skyring. They released an album.

In 2014, Dizzy Heights, a Neil Finn solo album was released.

## Personal life

Finn married Sharon Dawn Johnson, on 13 February 1982. The song "I Love You Dawn", available on _Afterglow_ was written in her honour. Sharon makes chandeliers in her workshop in Auckland. She has appeared on backing vocals on various albums such as _Crowded House_ and Alex Lloyd's _Watching Angels Mend_ She also features prominently on the second 7 Worlds Collide project, co-writing (and sharing lead vocal) the track 'Little By Little' with her husband and sings on the track 'Isolation' on the new Crowded House album, Intriguer. In 2011, she becomes part of the _Pajama Club_ band after a jam session with Neil.

They have two sons, Liam Mullane Finn (born 1983) and Elroy Timothy Finn (born 1989). Both sons have performed alongside their father. 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 drummer for the psychobilly band The Tricks and has been filling in on drums for Cut Off Your Hands.

## Infobox (musical artist)

- **name**: Neil Finn
- **img**: Neil Finn at Calvin Theatre.jpg
- **img capt**: Neil Finn at Calvin Theatre, 2007
- **background**: solo_singer
- **birth name**: Cornelius Mullane Finn
- **alias**: Neil Finn
- **birth place**: Te Awamutu, New Zealand
- **instrument**: Singing, Vocals, guitar, ukulele, mandolin, Keyboard instrument, keyboards, Bass Guitar, drums
- **genre**: Pop music, Pop, Rock music, rock
- **occupation**: Musician, songwriter
- **years active**: 1976–present
- **label**: Columbia Records, Columbia
- **associated acts**: After Hours (rock band), After Hours, Split Enz, Crowded House, Finn Brothers, The Mullanes, 7 Worlds Collide