Neil Francis Tennant (born July 10, 1954 in North Shields, Tyne and Wear, England) is an English musician, who, with his colleague Chris Lowe, makes up the successful pop duo, Pet Shop Boys. Image File history File linksMetadata Petshop225. ... Chris Lowe (left) with collaborator Neil Tennant (right) Christopher Sean Lowe (born on October 4, 1959 in Blackpool, Lancashire, England) is an English musician, who, with his colleague Neil Tennant, makes up the successful pop duo, the Pet Shop Boys. ... is the 191st day of the year (192nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... North Shields (or locally just Shields) is a town on the north bank of the River Tyne, in the metropolitan borough of North Tyneside, in North East England. ... Tyne and Wear is a metropolitan county in the North East of England around the mouths of the Rivers Tyne and Wear. ... Motto (French) God and my right Anthem No official anthem - the United Kingdom anthem God Save the Queen is commonly used England() – on the European continent() – in the United Kingdom() Capital (and largest city) London (de facto) Official languages English (de facto) Unified  -  by Athelstan 927 AD  Area  -  Total 130... Chris Lowe (left) with collaborator Neil Tennant (right) Christopher Sean Lowe (born on October 4, 1959 in Blackpool, Lancashire, England) is an English musician, who, with his colleague Neil Tennant, makes up the successful pop duo, the Pet Shop Boys. ... For popular forms of music in general, see Popular music. ... Pet Shop Boys are an English synthpop/pop music duo, consisting of Neil Tennant who provides main vocals, keyboards and very occasionally guitar, and Chris Lowe on keyboards and occasionally on vocals. ...

Biography

Childhood

As a child, Neil attended St. Cuthbert's Grammar School, an all-boys' Catholic school in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. (Sting went to the same school.) Neil'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. Newcastle upon Tyne (usually shortened to Newcastle) is a large city in Tyne and Wear, England. ... Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner, CBE (born 2 October 1951), universally known by his stage name Sting, is an English musician from Newcastle upon Tyne. ... Its a Sin was a song recorded by the Pet Shop Boys which reached #1 on the UK Singles Chart for three weeks in June 1987. ...

Whilst at school Neil played guitar and cello. At the age of 16, he played in a group called Dust, whose most popular song was a called "Can You Hear The Dawn Break?". They were heavily influenced by The Incredible String Band. Bold text The Incredible String Band (or ISB) is a Scottish acoustic band which, (in the words of one of their early songs [1] ) way back in the 1960s built a popular following within British counter culture, and the members of the group are considered psych folk musical pioneers. ...

Later life

In 1975, having completed a degree in history at North London Polytechnic (now London Metropolitan University), Neil worked briefly as an 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. In 1977, he moved to Macdonald Educational Publishing and, later, ITV Books. In 1982 he joined the British teen pop magazine Smash Hits, where he rose to Assistant Editor. The University of North London is the name of a former university in the United Kingdom, one of the former Polytechnics. ... London Metropolitan University (sometimes abbreviated LMU or London Met) is a university in London. ... The Mighty World of Marvel #1: The very first Marvel UK title published in 1972. ... Marvel Comics is an American comic book line published by Marvel Publishing, Inc. ... This does not cite any references or sources. ... The cover of a May 1981 edition of Smash Hits magazine Smash Hits was a pop music based magazine, aimed at children and young teenagers, and originally published in the United Kingdom. ...

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 who 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". NY redirects here. ... The Police was a three-piece British pop band which was strongly influenced by reggae, and came to prominence in the wake of the punk rock phenomenon and rose to become one of the most popular groups in the world from the late 1970s to the mid- 1980s. ... Bobby Orlando, also known as Bobby O, is a dance music artist and record producer who was most successful in the early 1980s. ... West End girls is a song by pop group the Pet Shop Boys. ...

Current career and future

As of 2007 Tennant and Lowe are still going strong as Pet Shop Boys. Neil has a hi-tech, state of the art studio in his home in Durham and many songs from 2002's Release album were recorded there. For a one-room apartment, see Apartment. ... County Durham is a county in north-east England. ... Release is the twelfth album, the eighth of entirely new music, by the UK electronic music duo Pet Shop Boys. ...

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. The Turner Prize is an annual prize given to a British visual artist under 50, named after the painter J.M.W. Turner. ...

Tennant was the executive producer for the Rufus Wainwright album Release The Stars, released in May 2007 ^[1]. Wainwright made a special appearance performing the track "Casanova In Hell" at a live Pet Shop Boys show at the Mermaid theatre, London on May 8, 2006. The concert was subsequently broadcast on BBC Radio 2 and released on CD with the title 'Concrete', November 13, 2006. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Rufus McGarrigle Wainwright (born July 22, 1973) is a Canadian-American singer-songwriter. ... Release the Stars is Rufus Wainwrights fifth studio album released on May 15, 2007. ... is the 128th day of the year (129th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBCs national radio stations and is the most popular station in the UK. It broadcasts throughout the UK on FM radio between 88 and 91 MHz from its studios in Western House, adjacent to Broadcasting House in central London. ... is the 317th day of the year (318th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ...

Personal life

Although Tennant avoided the issue of homosexuality in the 1980s, preferring his lyrics to be androgynous, shortly after the release of 1993's Very he publicly "came out" in Attitude, a UK gay lifestyle magazine. According to the musician Tom Stephan aka Superchumbo, they had a two-year romantic relationship. Homosexuality refers to sexual interaction and / or romantic attraction between individuals of the same sex. ... If referring to a flower, see disambiguation under bisexual Androgyny is the state of indeterminate gender, or characteristics of gender. ... Very is the seventh album, the fifth of entirely new music, by the UK electronic music group Pet Shop Boys. ... Come Out was composed by Steve Reiche in 1966. ... attitude is an award winning British gay lifestyle magazine distributed worldwide. ... Tom Stephan is a progressive house DJ. Tom Stephan // Biography Tom Stephan was raised in the upstate New York town of Olean but moved to London to go to college. ... Superchumbo is the stage name used by house music DJ, producer and remixer Thomas Stephan, originally from Olean, New York. ...

Non-Pet Shop Boys appearances on record

• In February 2007, Pet Shop Boys remixed The Killers track "Read My Mind". The mixes are an extended "Stars Are Blazing" mix and a seven-inch edit. The mixes feature additional vocals by both Neil Tennant and (briefly) Chris Lowe.
• In September 2006, Tennant can be heard on two tracks (both produced by the Pet Shop Boys) on Robbie Williams's Rudebox album. The first, co-written by the Pet Shop Boys, is called "She's Madonna" while the second "We're the Pet Shop Boys" was written by My Robot Friend.
• In June 2006, Tennant provided backing vocals on "Throw" by DJ Dan Fresh.
• In 2005, Tennant provided lyrics and sang on the track "Tranquilizer" by DJ Tom Stephan (a.k. Superchumbo). Under numerous guises and aliases, Stephan had previously remixed Pet Shop Boys tracks such as "Paninaro 95", "New York City boy" and "Sexy Northerner". In 2006, he would remix "Minimal".
• In 1998, along with Neil Hannon of The Divine Comedy, Tennant sang backing vocals on the Robbie Williams' single No Regrets.
• Tennant provided backing vocals for the Tina Turner track "Confidential", which was written and co-produced for her by the Pet Shop Boys.
• 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".
• In 1996, Tennant effectively sings a duet with David Bowie on the Pet Shop Boys remix of Bowie's "Hallo Spaceboy".
• Tennant provided backing vocals on Boy George's Pet Shop Boy produced cover of "The Crying Game".
• 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 1991 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.
• Tennant's backing vocals can be heard on many tracks by Cicero, who was signed to the Pet Shop Boys record label.
• In 1989, Gina Scarvo's "All I Ever Wanted Was One Night (With You In My Dreams)" features Neil Tennant on backup vocals.
• "Nothing has been proved" by 'Dusty Springfield (written and produced by the Pet Shop Boys for the film Scandal) features a spoken interlude by Tennant ("It's a scandal... such scandal... it's a scandal.")
• "Losing my Mind" and "Don't Drop Bombs" from Liza Minelli's Pet Shop Boys produced Results feature Tennant on backing vocals.
• The Swedish group Le Sport has a song titled "If Neil Tennant Was My Lover".

For footballers with the same name, see Robbie Williams (footballer). ... Rudebox is the name of Robbie Williamss tenth solo album, and seventh studio album, released on October 23, 2006 in the UK. It was originally scheduled to be called 1974, the year Williams was born. ... Shes Madonna is the third international single release from Robbie Williamss album Rudebox. ... My Robot Friend is a electronic dance music collective from New York. ... In violence/fighting, sports and martial arts Compared with dropping, where a person releases something that just falls down because of gravity, a thrown object (projectile) is released with a certain velocity in a certain direction. ... A sedative is a drug that depresses the central nervous system (CNS), which causes calmness, relaxation, reduction of anxiety, sleepiness, slowed breathing, slurred speech, staggering gait, poor judgment, and slow, uncertain reflexes. ... Superchumbo is the stage name used by house music DJ, producer and remixer Thomas Stephan, originally from Olean, New York. ... Minimal is a song by British synthpop band Pet Shop Boys and is featured on their 2006 album Fundamental. ... Neil Hannon (born 7 November 1970[1]) is a singer and songwriter, best known as the creator (in 1989) and frontman of the orchestral pop group, The Divine Comedy. ... The Divine Comedy is a pop band from Northern Ireland fronted by Neil Hannon. ... No Regrets is a single by Robbie Williams from 1998. ... Tina Turner (born November 26, 1939) is an 11 time Grammy Award-winning (sharing three), American Singer, Dancer, Record Producer, Executive Producer, Film Producer, Actress, Writer, Performer, Songwriter, Author and occasionally Painter whose career has spanned from 1956 to present. ... The cover of Tina Turners Wildest Dreams album Wildest Dreams is an album released by Tina Turner in 1996. ... suede (or The London Suede in the U.S.) were a popular and influential English rock band of the 1990s that helped start the Britpop musical movement of the decade. ... Filmstar is the fifth and final single off the album Coming Up by Suede, released on April 7, 1996 on Nude Records. ... Rent is a 1987 single by the Pet Shop Boys. ... Beautiful Ones is the third single off the album Coming Up by Suede, released on January 13, 1996 on Nude Records. ... David Bowie (IPA: []) (born David Robert Jones on 8 January 1947) is an English singer, songwriter, actor, multi-instrumentalist, producer, arranger and audio engineer. ... Hallo Spaceboy is a song by David Bowie and Brian Eno from his 1995 album Outside, and was issued as a single. ... George Alan ODowd, better known as Boy George (born June 14, 1961 in Eltham, Kent) is a pop singer-songwriter. ... The Crying Game is a song by Geoff Stephens, released first by Dave Berry in July 1964. ... Electronic was an alternative rock/dance group formed by New Order singer and guitarist Bernard Sumner and ex-Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr. ... Johnny Marr (born John Martin Maher on 31 October 1963 in Ardwick) is an English guitarist, keyboardist, harmonica player and singer. ... Bernard Barney Sumner (born Bernard Dicken, 4 January 1956 in Broughton, Salford, Lancashire, England) was the guitarist and keyboardist with Joy Division. ... New Order are an English rock group formed in 1980 by Bernard Sumner (vocals, guitars, synthesizers), Peter Hook (bass, electronic drums), and Stephen Morris (drums, synthesizers). ... Joy Division were an English rock band that formed in 1976 in Salford, Greater Manchester. ... Getting away with it was the first single released by the English band Electronic, which comprised Bernard Sumner of New Order, ex-Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr, and guesting vocalist Neil Tennant of Pet Shop Boys. ... Disappointed was the fourth single by the English band Electronic. ... For David Cicero the painter, go to David Cicero (artist) David Cicero David John Cicero (born on 29 May 1970) is a singer and keyboardist who was signed in 1989 to Spaghetti Records, a record label owned by by Pet Shop Boys. ... Dusty Springfield OBE (16 April 1939 - 2 March 1999) was a popular English singer whose career spanned four decades. ... Scandal (1989) is a [[[United Kingdom|British]] drama film, a fictionalised account of the Profumo affair. ... cover of Single for Dont Drop Bombs Dont drop Bombs was the second single from Liza Minnellis Results (album) produced by the Pet shop boys, Dont drop Bombs was popular on the club circuit but failed to make the top ten in the UK and the US. UK Single... Liza Minnelli (born March 12, 1946) is an American actress and singer. ... Results is the 1989 Liza Minnelli album produced by Pet Shop Boys. ...

Trivia

• Doctor Who star David Tennant chose his acting surname from Neil Tennant. This came after reading an interview with Tennant in Smash Hits shortly after learning that he would have to change his professional name in order to join the actors' union, Equity, as there was already a registered member with his real name, David McDonald.^[2]

• In the early 1990s, an interviewer for The Advocate noted to Neil Tennant that many compare him to the late, British, openly gay writer Noel Coward. Tennant replied that he loved Noel Coward. The Pet Shop Boys recorded Coward's song "Sail Away" for the charity album, "Twentieth Century Blues" which Tennant compiled.

• In Details magazine - July 1992 p52 Neil Tennant wrote a piece titled "Hated It", it closes with;

"The Pet Shop Boys have always hated most of the prevailing attitudes and tried to do the opposite. Our hatred of what other people do has always helped us redefine our actions. To hate a lot of things is tantamount to really caring about others. If you like everything, you deal with nothing. When people hear Chris and me talking, they're sometimes shocked by how negative we are. We're constantly critical of everything, including ourselves. But I come from a generation that liked its artists to say what was wrong with our lives. I retain the old-fashioned belief that pop music is meant to be a challenge to society as well as an affirmation of it. And so I consider it my duty to hate things." Doctor Who is a long-running award-winning British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The series depicts the adventures of a mysterious time-traveller known as the Doctor who explores time and space in his TARDIS time ship with his companions, solving problems and righting wrongs. ... David Tennant is the stage name of David John McDonald (born 18 April 1971), a Scottish actor from Bathgate in West Lothian, best known as the tenth actor to portray the Doctor in the television series Doctor Who. ... The British Actors Equity Association (now called Equity) is the British actors trade union. ... The Advocate (ISSN 0001-8996) is a US-based LGBT-related biweekly news magazine. ... Noel Coward Sir Noel Peirce Coward (December 16, 1899 – March 26, 1973) was an English actor, playwright, and composer of popular music. ... Cover of an issue of Details magazine Details, a monthly mens magazine, is published by Condé Nast Publications. ...

References

1. ^ Pet Shop Boys singer produces new album Rufus Wainwright
2. ^ Shannon, Sarah. "David Tennant: His days of blissful anonymity are numbered", The Independent, 2005-12-07. 

Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 341st day of the year (342nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

See also

• List of bands/musicians from North East England

This is a list of noteworthy bands and musicians from the North East of England. ...

External links

• Official Pet Shop Boys site
• Neil Tennant at the Internet Movie Database