Tim Finn

Brian Timothy Finn (born 25 June 1952) is a New Zealand singer, songwriter, musician, and composer.

He is best known as a founding member of Split Enz.

Brian Timothy Finn was born on 25 June 1952 in Te Awamutu, New Zealand, weighing 10 pounds at birth, to parents Richard and Mary.

He has two sisters, and one younger brother, Neil Finn.

At the age of 13, he went to Sacred Heart College, Auckland, a Catholic boarding school, on a scholarship.

In 1971 Finn commenced a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Auckland.

There he played 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.

Finn founded the band in 1972 with Phil Judd and served as lead singer and principal songwriter.

In 1972 he quit university.

A few months later, Phil and Tim formed the group Split Ends, renamed Split Enz in 1975, shortly before they left New Zealand for Melbourne.

Between 1975 and 1984, the group released nine studio albums.

Following Judd's departure in 1977, he was joined by brother Neil.

Finn wrote or co-wrote some of the band's best-known songs, including "I See Red" and "Six Months in a Leaky Boat".

Finn had his first success away from Split Enz in 1981 when his discarded demo "They Won't Let My Girlfriend Talk to Me" became a top 10 hit for Australian band Jimmy and the Boys.

While still a member of Split Enz, he began a solo career, scoring the two hits "Fraction Too Much Friction" and "Made My Day" in 1983; he left the band in early 1984, briefly returning for their farewell tour later that year.

He reunited with Neil and subsequently joined Crowded House for their third album Woodface, co-writing the majority of the songs on the album, including the hits "Four Seasons in One Day", "Weather with You" and "It's Only Natural".

In 1983, Finn recorded his debut solo 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.

Split Enz played its last show on 4 December 1984 in Auckland.

After contributing four songs to Split Enz album Conflicting Emotions, Finn left the band permanently in June 1984, to focus on a solo career.

In 1986 Finn released his second studio 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.

In 1987, Finn composed music for the Australian comedy Les Patterson Saves the World, which yielded the Australian hit "You Saved the World".

Finn 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).

In late 1988, Finn recording his eponymous third album, Tim Finn, for Capitol Records.

The album yielded strong reviews and the New Zealand hit "Parihaka", based on a Māori village known for its campaign of passive resistance to European occupiers.

Finn also created the song "Cane Toad Blues" which played during the credits for the documentary film "Cane Toads: An Unnatural History."

Leaving the band after the album's release, he reunited with Neil again later in the 1990s under the name Finn Brothers.

Finn has participated in various collaborations with other artists, including former Split Enz members, and has also composed scores for films and musicals.

Along with his brother, Finn was appointed Officer of the Order of British Empire in 1993 for his services to music.

In 2000, the album Together in Concert: Live was released, 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 peaked at number 2 on the New Zealand chart.

In 2015, Finn composed further for theatre, with an opera Star Navigator commissioned by New Zealand Opera, Victorian Opera and West Australian Opera, and the musical Ladies in Black to premiere in Brisbane by Queensland Theatre Company in November 2015.

As England and New Zealand went into COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, Finn and Phil Manzanera began working collaboratively on an album under the name Tim Finn & Phil Manzanera, which is called Caught by the Heart.

The album was released on 26 August 2021.

The album is produced by the two of them, with Manzanera doing the lead instrumental and Finn doing the vocals.