Neil Tennant

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Neil Tennant
Neil Tennant singing in a Pet Shop Boys concert in Boston, 2006
Background information
Birth name	Neil Francis Tennant
Born	10 July 1954 (1954-07-10) (age 55)
Origin	North Shields, Tyne and Wear, England
Genres	Synthpop, dance, electropop, electronica, alternative dance
Occupations	Musician, singer
Instruments	Vocals, keyboards, guitar
Years active	1981–present
Associated acts	Pet Shop Boys, Electronic
Website	Official Pet Shop Boys website
Notable instruments
Synthesizer, Guitar

Neil Francis Tennant (born 10 July 1954) is an English musician, singer and songwriter, who, with partner Chris Lowe, make up the successful electronic dance music duo Pet Shop Boys.

Biography

Childhood

Neil Tennant was born on 10 July 1954, North Shields, near Newcastle upon Tyne to William (1923-2009) and Sheila Tennant (1923-2008). He has one sister, Susan, and two brothers, Simon and Philip.^[1]

As a child, Tennant attended St. Cuthbert's Grammar School, an all-boys' Roman Catholic school in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. (Sting went to the same school.) Tennant's 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 implicit criticism of Catholic education.^{[citation needed]}

Whilst at school Tennant played guitar and cello. At the age of 16, he played in a group called Dust, whose most popular song was called "Can You Hear the Dawn Break?". They were heavily influenced by The Incredible String Band.

Later life

In 1975, having completed a degree in history at North London Polytechnic (now London Metropolitan University), Neil Tennant worked for two years as London Editor for Marvel UK, the UK branch of Marvel Comics. He was responsible for anglicising the dialogue of Marvel's catalogue to suit British readers, and for indicating where women needed to be redrawn more decently for the British editions.^{[citation needed]} He also wrote occasional features for the comics, including interviews with pop stars Marc Bolan and Alex Harvey. In 1977, he moved to Macdonald Educational Publishing where he edited "The Dairy Book Of Home Management" and various illustrated books about cookery, playing the guitar and other home interests. Then he moved to ITV Books where he edited TV tie-in books. After having commissioned Steve Bush, then the designer of "Smash Hits" and "The Face", to design a book about the group Madness, he was offered a job at Smash Hits as news editor of the British teen pop magazine in 1982. The following year he became Assistant Editor. He also edited the 1982, 1983 and 1984 editions of "The Smash Hits Yearbook".

At Smash Hits, an opportunity arose for him to go to New York to interview The Police. Whilst there, Tennant arranged to meet Bobby Orlando, a producer whom 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 subsequently produced the Pet Shop Boys' first single "West End Girls".

Current career and future

Tennant and Lowe are still going strong as Pet Shop Boys. Neil has a studio in his home in County Durham and many songs from 2002's Release album were recorded there. Pet Shop Boys' soundtrack for the silent film, The Battleship Potemkin, was also written and partly 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.

Tennant was the executive producer for the Rufus Wainwright album Release the Stars, released in May 2007.^[2] Wainwright made a special appearance performing the track "Casanova In Hell" at a live Pet Shop Boys show at the Mermaid theatre, London on 8 May 2006. The concert was subsequently broadcast on BBC Radio 2 and released on CD with the title 'Concrete', 13 November 2006.

In December 2008 Tennant appeared alongside the Killers and Elton John on the Christmas track, "Joseph, Better You Than Me."

In February 2009, Tennant appeared with Chris Lowe to receive the BRIT Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music and did a medley of their songs with Brandon Flowers from the Killers and Lady GaGa.

In May 2009, they released the song Love etc., which reached #14 in the UK charts. Their studio album Yes charted at #4 in the UK charts.

Politics

In 1998 Tennant was named in a list of the biggest private financial donors to the Labour Party (UK).^[3] He has since switched allegiance to the Liberal Democrats, citing disillusionment with Labour's ID card scheme.

Radio

In August 1991, Neil and Chris were invited to take over Simon Bates' then mid-morning show on Radio One for a week. They choose all the records, principally dance music. Chris swore on-air once, but they were invited back to fill the same role in July 1992, when they played the seminal Watch Out For Stella remix of The Age of Love every morning.^[4]

In March 2009, Tennant and Lowe had two radio appearances. On March 15th, they presented a radio cover show at Absolute Radio, while DJ Geoff Lloyd was on holiday. They played all their favorite new music as well as some old favorites.

On March 16th, Tennant and Chris Lowe appeared on Rob Da Bank and Friends showcasing their A to Z of music.

Non-Pet Shop Boys appearances on record

• In 2008, Tennant's vocals featured in The Killers' Christmas song "Joseph, Better You Than Me" alongside Brandon Flowers and Elton John.
• In 2007, Tennant co-produced Rufus Wainwright's album Release the Stars.
• In June 2006, Tennant provided backing vocals on "Throw" by DJ Fresh.
• In 2005, Tennant provided lyrics and sang on the track "Tranquilizer" by DJ Tom Stephan (a.k.a. Superchumbo). Under numerous guises and aliases, Stephan had previously remixed Pet Shop Boys tracks such as "Paninaro '95", "Minimal", "New York City boy" and "Sexy Northerner".
• In 1998, along with Neil Hannon of The Divine Comedy, Tennant sang backing vocals on the Robbie Williams' single No Regrets.
• In April 1996, Tennant's vocals were featured on two live recordings by the British group Suede that were released as b-sides to their single "Filmstar". One track was a cover of the Pet Shop Boys track "Rent", while the second was a duet with Suede singer Brett Anderson on the Suede song "Saturday Night".
• Worked with the band Electronic, which consists of Johnny Marr (formerly of the Smiths) and Bernard Sumner of New Order and Joy Division. Tennant sang backing on vocals on their first single "Getting Away With It" in 1989 while taking lead vocals on the 1992 single "Disappointed". Along with fellow Pet Shop Boy, Chris Lowe, he wrote and appeared on the Electronic album track "Patience of a Saint", on which he shared lead vocals with Sumner.

David Tennant

The Scottish actor David Tennant (born David McDonald), primarily known for starring in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who, chose his acting surname from Neil Tennant. This came after McDonald read an interview with Neil Tennant in Smash Hits magazine shortly after learning that he would have to change his professional name in order to join the actors' union, Equity, as an actor called David McDonald was already a registered member.^[5]

References

External links

• Pet Shop Boys – official website.
• Neil Tennant discography at Discogs.
• Neil Tennant at the Internet Movie Database.