English singer Neil Francis Tennant was born 69 years ago in North Shields, Tyne and Wear and is also a songwriter and music journalist. He is best known as one of the members of the synth-pop duo ‘Pet Shop Boys’.
As a kid, he went to grammar school and whilst there he played the cello and the guitar. When he was a teenager, Neil joined a folk music group named ‘Dust’ with whom he used to play and he was also a member of a local youth theatre. He continued with his studies at university where he obtained a degree in history.
Once finished from school, Neil got a job at Marvel Comics as a production editor and in later years worked for the 80s popular magazine ‘Smash Hits’ as news editor. In 1981, he formed the duo ‘Pet Shop Boys’ with his friend Chris Lowe.
Whilst working for the magazine, Tennant travelled to New York to interview the English rock band ‘The Police’ and whilst there, he met a record producer who eventually collaborated with Neil and Chris and produced their UK & US number 1 hit ‘West End Girls’.
During the 80s, the duo had three more UK number one hits: ‘It’s a Sin’, ‘Always on my Mind’ and ‘Heart’, plus several other successful UK Top 20 tracks like ‘Love Comes Quickly’, ‘Opportunities’, ‘Suburbia’, ‘What have I done to deserve This?’ dueted with Dusty Springfield, ‘Rent’, ‘Domino Dancing’, ‘Left to my own Devices’ and ‘It’s Alright’.
In the last 3 decades, the duo released 46 albums, 3 EPs, over 50 singles and more than 40 music videos. As for Neil, he worked on other side projects with various artists including providing backing vocals, singing in duet, providing lyrics, co-producing albums etc.
Neil is a philanthropist and supports the Elton John AIDS Foundation. He has also published a book featuring Pet Shop Boys’ songs. As ‘Pet Shop Boys’, the duo received 24 awards including 3 Brit and 2 Ivor Novello.
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