New Famous people
Do you think that some one in this "Famous New Zealand People" is missing?
Add your Famous New Zealander, in the Kiwi blog, login or register and add your favourite Kiwi.
Guide to New Zealand, the most populare New Zealand Guide online.
was born in Te Awamutu, a small town near Hamilton in the volcanic regions of New Zealand, on May 27, 1958. His father, Richard, was a farmer's accountant, and his mother, Mary, a Catholic daughter of an Irish farmhand. Neil has three siblings: Carolyn, Tim and Judy.
One of Neil's early dreams in life was to become a priest, but soon he got interested in music. He learned to play the piano and his parents encouraged him to sing with his brother Tim at their parties. When Neil was 12 years old he decided to become a musician. As a teenager, while studying at Sacred Heart College (a Catholic boarding school) and later at Te Awamutu College, he performed his music in prisons, hospitals and clinics in his hometown.
In 1976, he quit school and began working as a hospital orderly in Auckland, and formed a group called After Hours with Mark Hough (a.k.a. Buster Stiggs), later a member of Swingers, Geoff Chunn, former member of Split Enz, a band featuring Neil's brother Tim as lead singer, and Alan Brown. After Hours' debut gig was in Auckland on March 15, 1977. In the audience was Geoff Chunn's older brother Mike, bassist with Split Enz and in New Zealand to ask guitarist Alastair Riddell to replace the recently departed Phil Judd in Split Enz. Around two weeks later, Neil got a phone call from his brother Tim in London. Alastair Riddell had turned the offer down, and Mike Chunn had suggested Neil Finn to be the new member of Split Enz. Chunn had been impressed by Neil's abilities as a singer and a songwriter and reckoned that he had potential as a guitarist. Neil arrived to London on April 7, 1977, to join Split Enz. Neil spent seven years with the group and was responsible for writing their biggest hit, "I Got You". When brother Tim left Split Enz for a solo career in 1984, Neil briefly considered to keep Split Enz going, but eventually decided that it would be better to start from scratch with a new group. After a farewell album and a farewell tour in Australia and New Zealand, Neil went on to form a new group, Crowded House (originally known as Mullanes after Neil's middle name). In 1994, Neil started work on a long-planned duo album with his brother Tim. Neil Finn lives in Melbourne, Australia, and Auckland, New Zealand, with his wife Sharon (whom he married on February 13, 1982) and their sons Liam Mullane (born on September 24, 1983) and Elroy Timothy (born on October 25, 1989) and their dog Lester.
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Show/hide comment form
 Edmund Hillary26/12/2009 Sir Edmund Percival Hillary, (20 July 1919 - 11 January 2008) was a New Zealand mountaineer and explorer. On 29 May 1953 at the age of 33, he and Sherpa mo [ ... ] |
 Cliff Curtis04/06/2009 Curtis, one of nine children, was born in Rotorua, in the North Island of New Zealand, and is the the son of an amateur dancer. He is of Maori descent and his tribal affiliations are Te Arawa and Ngat [ ... ] | More famous people | ||