Born on May 27: Neil Finn (Crowded House), family father of New Zealand rock

He was born in 1958 in Te Awamutu, New Zealand, and his reputation has long since spread beyond his native island. Quite simply, he's rightly regarded as one of the finest songwriters in Anglo-Saxon rock.

He first came to prominence as a member of the crazy New Zealand band Split Enz, alongside his brother Tim Finn, before founding Crowded House in 1985 with Nick Seymour and Paul Hester.

The trio soon became world-famous for songs such as Don't Dream It's Over, Weather With You and Fall At Your Feet. With a British talent for observation, Neil Finn develops a very personal style, grafting his willingly instrospective lyrics onto luminous, elegant and bewitching melodies. It's no coincidence, then, that he's often compared to the great British songwriters of the 1960s and 1970s, such as Ray Davies (The Kinés) and Cat Stevens, as well as Paul Heaton (Housemartins), Ricky Ross (Deacon Blue) and Paul Weller, among his slightly younger contemporaries.

Over the decades, Finn has built a career with countless entry points. He has a dozen albums to his credit. The latest, Caught By The Heart with Phil Manzanera (Roxy Music), was released in 2021. He has also composed music for the Steel City show and even ventured into spoken word with Anna Paquin in 1994! In his eyes, nothing replaces family; more than once he asked his partner Marie Azcona, ex-MTV presenter, to share the writing with him. He has also recorded with his sons Liam and Elroy. After a long and frosty period of recurring tensions, he also "reunited" with his older brother in 1995. Under the banner of The Finn Brothers, they released an album called - surprise! It's worth remembering that Tim took part in Crowded House's emblematic Woodface in 1991, providing the template for Weather With You and Four Seasons In One Day.

Initially a trio, Crowded House can be considered Tim Finn's adopted family. Since the death of Paul Hester (2005), Neil Finn and bassist Nick Seymour remain the only two original members still active. Since 2020, Liam and Elroy have officially joined their father and are featured on Gravity Stairs (2024), the band's eighth and latest album.

Always eager for new experiences, even the most perilous, Neil has also replaced guitarist Lindsey Buckingham on Fleetwood Mac's 2019 farewell tour. He still hasn't quite recovered from the surprise: "I was literally stunned when Mick Fleetwood called me. I had just turned sixty and considered myself to have had a wonderfully diverse musical career. He said to me: 'We've decided to get rid of Lindsey, would you be willing to replace him? Although the challenge was immense, I could hardly refuse such an opportunity! Lindsey's irritation was also perfectly understandable...".

Photo: Neil Finn with Fleetwood Mac at the Werchter Boutique festival (Belgium) on June 8, 2019