Neil Tennant
:
This article is about the musician. For the philosopher, see Neil Tennant (philosopher).
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Neil Tennant (right) with collaborator Chris Lowe (left) |
Neil Francis Tennant (born
July 10,
1954 in
North Shields,
Northumberland,
England) is an
English musician, who, with his colleague
Chris Lowe, makes up the successful
pop duo, the
Pet Shop Boys.
As a child, Neil attended St. Cuthbert's, a
Catholic school in
Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. The songs "This must be the place I waited years to leave" and "It's A Sin" refer to his early life in
Catholic school and the strict Catholic upbringing there. "It's A Sin" caused controversy with its explicit criticism of Catholic education.
Whilst at school, Neil played guitar and cello. At the age of 16, he played in a group called Dust. Their most popular song was a called "Can you hear the dawn break?" and they were heavily influenced by The
Incredible String Band.
In 1975, after completing a degree in history at
North London Polytechnic, Neil worked for a brief time as an editor for the UK branch of
Marvel Comics. He was tasked with
anglicizing the dialogue of Marvel's catalogue to suit British readers, and also indicated where over-risque women needed to be redrawn more decently for the British editions. In 1977, he moved to Macdonald Educational Publishing and, later, ITV Books. In 1982, he joined the British teen pop magazine
Smash Hits, where he rose to Assistant Editor.
At
Smash Hits, an opportunity arose to go over to
New York and interview
The Police. Whilst there, Tennant arranged to meet
Bobby Orlando, a producer who both he and Lowe admired. Tennant mentioned that he was writing songs in his spare time and Orlando agreed to record some tracks with him and Lowe at a later date. Orlando later produced
Pet Shop Boys' first single "
West End Girls".
Although Tennant avoided the issue of
homosexuality in the 1980s, preferring his lyrics to be androgynous, he publicly "
came out" shortly after the release of
1993's
Very in
Attitude, a UK gay lifestyle magazine. According to the musician
Superchumbo, they had a brief romantic relationship.
Tennant and Lowe are
as of 2006 still going strong as
Pet Shop Boys. Although they have not had a Number One since 1988, their singles regularly appear in the Top 20 in the UK chart. Neil has a hi-tech, state of the art
recording studio in his home in
Durham and many songs from 2002's
Release album were recorded there.
Tennant is also known for his support of modern art, and was a judge for the 1998
Turner Prize as a representative of the
Patrons of New Art.
In
2005, Neil featured on a track called "Tranquilizer" by DJ Tom Stephan (a.k.a.
Superchumbo) and in June
2006, he featured on "Throw", taken from DJ Dan Fresh's new album.
Doctor Who star
David Tennant chose his acting surname from Neil Tennant. This came after reading an interview with Tennant in
Smash Hits shortly after learning that he would have to change his professional name in order to join the actors' union,
Equity, as there was already a registered member with his real name, David McDonald.
*Worked on the first album of the band
Electronic. Their commercially successful song "Getting away with it" featured Tennant on backing vocals. In another of their song
Disappointed, Tennant is on lead vocals.
*
List of bands/musicians from North East England*
Official Pet Shop Boys Site
