Finn, Tim

Music Home >> Music Genres >> Undetermined Music



< < < < < > > > > > More Info on Finn, Tim Similar Undetermined Music Search Artistopia

Biography

: "Brian Finn" redirects here. For the fictional New Zealand police officer, see Shark in the Park .

Brian Timothy "Tim" Finn , Order of British Empire|OBE (born 25 June 1952) is a New Zealand singer and musician. His musical career includes forming 1970s and 1980s New Zealand rock group Split Enz , a number of solo albums, temporary membership in his brother Neil's band Crowded House and his joint efforts with Neil Finn as the Finn Brothers .

Early Biography

Brian Finn was born in Te Awamutu , New Zealand. He went to Sacred Heart College, Auckland , a Catholic boarding school . In 1971 he started a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Auckland . There he jammed in music practice room 129 (later the name of a Split Enz song) with friends and future Split Enz bandmembers Mike Chunn , Robert Gillies , Philip Judd and Noel Crombie . Music soon became more important to him than his studies; in mid-1972 he quit university. A few months later, Phil and Tim (the band's members used their middle names as stage names) formed group Split Enz|Split Ends (renamed Split Enz , shortly before their first trip to Australia in 1975). The bands' music moved towards a more mainstream sound in later years; their music style is best described as Eclecticism in music|eclectic , incorporating influences from art rock , vaudeville , swing music|swing , Punk rock|punk , glam rock , rock and roll|rock and Pop music|pop . Between 1972 and 1977, Tim and Judd alternated as frontman for the band. Once Judd permanently left the band, Tim Finn's younger brother Neil Finn took his place.

Solo

In 1983 Finn recorded his debut solo album , Escapade (album)|Escapade , while still a member of Split Enz. This met with major commercial success both in Australia and New Zealand, and yielded hit song Fraction Too Much Friction , which revealed a more rhythm-based sound than Split Enz had been known for. After contributing four songs to Split Enz album Conflicting Emotions (album)|Conflicting Emotions , Finn left the band permanently in June 1984, to focus on a solo career. The following year he moved to London. 1986 saw the release of his second solo album Big Canoe . The album utilised a wide variety of instrumentation, including guitars, orchestral backings and traditional Indian instruments - most notably on single No Thunder, No Fire, No Rain , which was inspired by the Bhopal chemical disaster. Though Big Canoe reached number three on the New Zealand charts, it failed to become the international breakthrough that Finn or record company Virgin had hoped.

During this time, Finn's focus also turned to soundtrack music, and he landed a few acting roles on-screen. Finn has composed for a number of Australian films and TV productions, including 1981 teen tale Puberty Blues and comedy Les Patterson Saves the World . He had a small part in Australian film The Coca-Cola Kid alongside then girlfriend Greta Scacchi, and a larger one in her Italian-shot romance La Donna della Luna (The Moon Woman).

Crowded House, Finn, Solo work

In late 1989, Finn was back living in Melbourne, recording his eponymous third album, Tim Finn (album)|Tim Finn , for Capitol Records . The album would yield strong reviews and New Zealand hit Parihaka , based on a Maori village known for its campaign of passive resistance to European occupiers. In early 1990, he began playing music with younger brother Neil, for an intended Finn brothers record. After working together on some songs, Neil later proposed incorporating the tracks onto the latest album of Crowded House , the group he had formed after Split Enz dissolved. Tim performed with the band to promote the band's album Woodface , and co-wrote eight songs, including the hit Weather with You . But some time during the tour which followed the album's American release, all concerned realised that the combination was not a good fit. Finn returned to pursue his solo career.

Both Tim and Neil were made Order of British Empire|OBE for services to New Zealand music in the Queen's Birthday Honours|1993 Queen's Birthday Honours List . The brothers Finn collaborated on another album in 1995, playing most of the instruments themselves. Finn (album)|Finn was released as the first Finn Brothers release. In support of this album, the brothers toured Europe, Australia and the USA. Also in 1995, Finn formed band ALT (band)|ALT , with Irish musicians Andy White (singer-songwriter)|Andy White and Liam Ó Maonlaí (from band Hothouse Flowers (band)|Hothouse Flowers ). ALT's name was formed from the initial letters of their names. They released the album 'Altitude' and toured Europe and Australasia.

5 June 2000 was proclaimed “Tim Finn Day” by the Mayor of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania , in the USA during Finn’s tour of the United States that year.

2000 also saw the release of album Together in Concert: Live , featuring Finn, and fellow New Zealand singer/songwriters Bic Runga , and Dave Dobbyn . Recorded in August and September 2000 in venues around New Zealand, the album saw the three performers each equitably showcased. Both the concerts and album feature all three performers providing vocal and instrumental backing on each other's songs. The album spent 16 weeks in the New Zealand charts, but was not released in the UK until 29 May 2007.

In 2004, the Finn brothers released their second album together, Everyone Is Here (album)|Everyone Is Here . The album was originally intended to be produced by Tony Visconti but the final release shows most production credits going to long-time Finn producer Mitchell Froom . Reviewing the album, a writer for Mojo (magazine)|Mojo magazine argued that it contained "some of the most haunting music to bear the Finn imprint".

Finn has continued to release solo albums, mining many genres along the way. He also contributed a song to the soundtrack of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe entitled “Winter Light,” which later appeared on Finn's Imaginary Kingdom album.

Finn aso guested on Peter Gabriel 's song "Whole Thing" from the 2008 collaborative album Big Blue Ball .

Personal Life, Steel City

Finn is currently married to television presenter Marie Azcona , formerly of MTV and TVNZ One 's Music Week ,. Finn and Azcona have two children; a son, Harper, and a daughter, Elliott. The pair have collaborated on several songs, some of which are featured on Steel City (album)|Steel City , the dance show that Finn wrote. Aside from co-writing two tracks with Azcona, Finn collaborated on another with former Split Enz member Mike Chunn .

Discography

''This discography relates to releases by Tim Finn only. See Finn Brothers#Discography|Finn Brothers' discography , Crowded House discography and Split Enz discography for other related works.

Date	Title	Label	Charted	Country	Catalog Number
Album
1983	Escapade (album)>Escapade	Mushroom Records	#161	U.S.	D19230
1986	Big Canoe	Virgin Records	–	–	CDV-2369
1989	Tim Finn	Capitol Records	–	–	CDP7-48735-2
1993	Before & After	Capitol Records	–	–	CDP-594904
1999	Say It Is So	Sonny's Pop Records	–	–
2001	Feeding the Gods	Sonny's Pop Records	–	–	002
2006	Imaginary Kingdom	Capitol Records	–	–
2008	The Conversation	EMI Records	–	–
2009	North, South, East, West...Anthology	Capitol Records	–	–	–
2011	The View is Worth the Climb	ABC Music/ Universal Music	–	–
EPs
1999	Far Out	Fan club release	–
2001	'' What You've Done	EMI Records	–	–
Collaborations
1987	The Les Patterson Long Player	WEA	–	–	2547791
1991	Woodface (with Crowded House )	Capitol Records	83	U.S.	CDP-7-93559-2
1995	Altitude (with ALT (band)		–	–
1995	Finn (with Neil Finn )	Discovery Records	–	–	77043
1998	Steel City	CRS Records	–	–	5011402000
2000	Together in Concert: Live (with Dave Dobbyn & Bic Runga )		–	–
2004	Everyone Is Here (with Neil Finn )		2	AUS
2009	The Sun Came Out	Sony Music	–	–	88697568272

Singles

Year	Song	Peak chart positions			Album
Year	Song	author=Steffen Hung	url=http:/ / www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/ rpm	author=Steffen Hung	Album
1983	" Fraction Too Much Friction "	8	–	2	Escapade
1983	"Made My Day"	22	–	–
1983	"Staring At The Embers"	34	–	–
1984	"Through The Years"	–	34	–
1984	"In A Minor Key"	–	–	–
1985	"Home For My Heart"	87	–	–	The Coca-Cola Kid Soundtrack
1986	"No Thunder No Fire No Rain"	46	–	24	Big Canoe
1986	"Spiritual Hunger"	–	–	–
1986	"Carve You In Marble"	–	–	33
1987	"You Saved The World"	–	–	–	Les Patterson Saves The World
1987	"With You I'm Alive	–	–	–	Les Patterson Saves The World
1989	" How'm I Gonna Sleep "	24	77	2	Tim Finn
1989	"Crescendo"	97	–	–
1989	"Not Even Close"	–	91	–
1989	"Parihaka" (with Herbs (band)	–	–	6	New version of a track originally from Tim Finn
1990	"Long Hard Road" (with Phil Judd )	–	–	–
1992	"Islands" (with MC Fli T)	–	–	–
1993	"Hit The Ground Running"	–	–	14	Before & After
1993	" Persuasion (Tim Finn song)	62	–	6
1993	"Many's The Time"	–	–	–
1994	"Runs In The Family"	–	–	9
1998	"Steel City"	–	–	–	Steel City Soundtrack
1999	"Twinkle"	–	–	–	Say It Is So
2001	"What You've Done"	–	–	48	Feeding The Gods
2006	"Couldn't Be Done"	–	–	–	Imaginary Kingdom
2007	" Horizon (song)	–	–	–	Imaginary Kingdom
2008	"Out of This World"	–	–	–	The Conversation

Copyright Citations

This article is licensed under the GNU License
Click here for original article: Finn, Tim


1. Split Enz

Undetermined Music Artists