Neil Finn

This article is about the musician. For the football player, see Neil Finn (footballer). For the baseball player, see Neal Finn.

Neil Finn
OBE
Finn performing with Fleetwood Mac at Werchter Boutique in 2019
Finn performing with Fleetwood Mac at Werchter Boutique in 2019
Background information
Birth nameNeil Mullane Finn
Born (1958-05-27) 27 May 1958 (age 66)
Te Awamutu, Waikato, New Zealand
Genres
Occupations
  • Musician
  • songwriter
Instruments
  • Vocals
  • guitar
  • keyboards
  • percussion
Years active1976–present
Labels
Member of
Formerly of
Websitewww.neilfinn.com Edit this at Wikidata

Neil Mullane Finn OBE (born 27 May 1958) is a New Zealand singer-songwriter and musician. He is best known for being a principal member of Split Enz, of which he shared lead duties with his brother Tim, and the lead singer, guitarist, and a founding member of Crowded House. He was also a member of Fleetwood Mac from 2018 until 2022. Ed O'Brien of Radiohead has hailed Finn as popular music's "most prolific writer of great songs".[2]

Finn joined Split Enz in 1977 after the departure of founding member Phil Judd and facilitated the band's shift away from art rock towards new wave pop. Gradually rising in creative prominence within the band, he wrote the majority of the band's hits in the 1980s, including "I Got You", "One Step Ahead", "History Never Repeats", and "Message to My Girl". After Split Enz broke up in 1984, Finn helped form Crowded House with Split Enz's final drummer Paul Hester and served as the band's lead singer and principal songwriter. Crowded House achieved international success in 1987 when they released the single "Don't Dream It's Over", written by Finn.

After Crowded House disbanded in 1996, Finn and his brother released two albums as the Finn Brothers, before reforming Crowded House in 2006. In April 2018, Finn joined Fleetwood Mac for their tour that year and was a member of the band until they disbanded in 2022. Finn has also recorded several successful solo albums, assembled diverse musicians for the 7 Worlds Collide project, and contributed to several film and television soundtracks.

  1. ^ Christman, Ed. "Publishing Briefs: UMPG signs a Smeethington, Kobalt gets Neil Finn". Billboard.
  2. ^ "Airheads". Rip It Up (281). Hark Entertainment Ltd. June–July 2001.