Famous Like Me > Composer > T > Neil Tennant
Profile of Neil Tennant
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Name: |
Neil Tennant |
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Date of Birth: |
10th July 1954 |
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Place of Birth: |
North Shields, Tyne-and-Wear, England, UK |
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Profession: |
Composer |
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From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia
Neil Francis Tennant (born July 10, 1954 in North Shields, Northumberland, United Kingdom) is a British musician, who, with his colleague Chris Lowe, makes up the successful pop duo, the Pet Shop Boys.
Childhood
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 latter 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.
Later life
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 then current catalog to better suit English readers, and also indicated where over-risque woman needed to be redrawn decently for the British editions of the comics. In 1977 he moved to Macdonald Educational Publishing. In 1982, he joined Smash Hits.
At Smash Hits, an opportunity arose to go to New York and interview The Police. Whilst there, Tennant also interviewed Bobby Orlando, a producer who both he and Lowe admired. Orlando later produced the Pet Shop Boys' first single "West End girls".
Although Neil Tennant denied rumours of being gay in the 1980s, he publicly came out shortly after the release of 1993's Very in Attitude, a UK gay lifestyle magazine.
Tennant and Lowe are still going strong as the Pet Shop Boys. Their albums are still gathering fame and songs drawing attention. He has a hi-tech, state of the art recording studio in his home in Durham. Many of his songs after 2000 were recorded in it.
External Links
Official Pet Shop Boys Site
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