Neil Tennant

This article is about the singer, songwriter and music journalist. For the American philosopher, see Neil Tennant (philosopher).

Neil Tennant
Tennant performing with Pet Shop Boys at Hyde Park in 2019
Background information
Birth name	Neil Francis Tennant
Born	(1954-07-10) 10 July 1954 (age 70) North Shields, Northumberland, England
Origin	Newcastle upon Tyne, England
Genres	Synth-pop electropop dance disco alternative dance
Occupations	Singer songwriter music journalist
Instruments	Vocals keyboards synthesizer guitar
Years active	1970–present
Labels	Parlophone Spaghetti
Member of	Pet Shop Boys
Website	www.petshopboys.co.uk

Neil Francis Tennant (born 10 July 1954) is an English singer, songwriter and music journalist, and co-founder of the synth-pop duo the Pet Shop Boys, which he formed with Chris Lowe in 1981. He was a journalist for Smash Hits, and assistant editor for the magazine in the mid-1980s.

Tennant coined the phrase imperial phase to describe the period in which a musical artist is regarded to be at their commercial and creative peak simultaneously. This observation was initially self-referential, made as the Pet Shop Boys had achieved commercial success with four British number one hits ("West End Girls", "It's a Sin", "Heart", and "Always on My Mind"), had received unanimous critical praise for their first three albums and had expanded their creative horizons through innovative collaborations in the visual and performing arts.^[1]

Biography

Early life

Neil Francis Tennant was born in the town of North Shields, approximately 8 miles east of Newcastle upon Tyne, to William W. Tennant (1923–2009), a sales representative, and Sheila M. (Watson) Tennant (1923–2008).^[2] He has an older sister, Susan, and two younger brothers, Simon and Philip.^[3] The family moved to Greenfield Road (opposite the corner of South Bend), Brunton Park, Gosforth shortly after Neil was born.^[4]

Tennant attended St Cuthbert's Grammar School, an all-boys' Catholic school in Newcastle upon Tyne. His 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 upbringing there.^[5][6]

As a child, Tennant taught himself to play guitar and piano and started writing songs.^[7] He also played cello in school.^[8] During his teenage years, he played in a folk music group named Dust, who were heavily influenced by The Incredible String Band.^[9] Tennant wrote several of their songs including "Can You Hear the Dawn Break?", which he regards as his first 'proper' song.^[10] He was also a member of the youth theatre at the People's Theatre, Newcastle upon Tyne.^[10]

Early career

In 1975, having completed a degree in history at North London Polytechnic (now part of London Metropolitan University), Tennant worked for two years as the production 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 for the British editions.^[11][12] He also wrote occasional features for the comics, including interviews with pop stars Marc Bolan and Alex Harvey.^[13] In 1977, he moved to Macdonald Educational Publishing,^[12] where he edited The Dairy Book of Home Management (1980)^[14][15] and various illustrated books about cookery, playing the guitar and other home interests. Then he moved to ITV Books, where he edited TV tie-in books. After having commissioned Steve Bush, then the designer of Smash Hits and The Face, to design a book about the group Madness, he was offered a job at Smash Hits as news editor of the British teen pop magazine in 1982.^[16][13] The following year, he became assistant editor. He also edited The Smash Hits Yearbook from 1982 to 1985.

At Smash Hits, an opportunity arose for him to go to New York to interview The Police. While there, Tennant arranged to meet Bobby Orlando, a producer whom he and Chris Lowe admired. Tennant mentioned he was writing songs in his spare time, and Orlando agreed to record some tracks with him and Lowe at a later date. Orlando produced the Pet Shop Boys' first single "West End Girls".^[17]

Pet Shop Boys

Main article: Pet Shop Boys

Tennant performing at Pori Jazz 2014 in Pori, Finland

Solo appearances

Alongside his work with Chris Lowe as Pet Shop Boys, Tennant has worked on several side projects including:

• In August 2024, he recited spoken-word lyrics of the song "Why?" by Bronski Beat on a remix by Superchumbo for the 40th anniversary edition of The Age of Consent.^[18]
• In June 2024, he appeared on the Michael Berkeley album Collaborations, singing "Zero Hour", a song about Ukraine for which Tennant also wrote the lyrics.^[19][20]
• In 2023, Tennant provided vocals on "Skydive" by UK rapper Casisdead.^[21]
• In 2017, Tennant sang a duet with Chrissie Hynde on "Let's Get Lost", which originally appeared on the 2016 album Alone by The Pretenders.^[22]
• In 2014, Tennant provided vocals on "Were You There" by Diamond Version.^[23]
• In 2008, Tennant's vocals featured in The Killers' Christmas song "Joseph, Better You Than Me".^[24]
• In 2007, Tennant co-produced Rufus Wainwright's album Release the Stars.^[25]
• In June 2006, Tennant provided backing vocals on "Throw" by DJ Fresh.^[26]
• In 2005, Tennant provided lyrics and sang on the track "Tranquilizer" by DJ Tom Stephan (a.k.a. Superchumbo).^[27] Under numerous guises and aliases, Stephan had previously remixed Pet Shop Boys tracks such as "Paninaro '95", "Minimal", "New York City boy" and "Sexy Northerner".
• In 1998, along with Neil Hannon of The Divine Comedy, Tennant sang backing vocals on the Robbie Williams' single "No Regrets".^[28]
• In 1998, he coordinated a charity album Twentieth-Century Blues: The Songs of Noël Coward raising money for Red Hot Organization. The album featured cover versions of songs composed by Noël Coward. In addition to the track "Sail Away" contributed by Pet Shop Boys, Tennant co-produced "There Are Bad Times Just Around the Corner" contributed by Robbie Williams and sang backing vocals on "Twentieth Century Blues" contributed by Elton John.^[29][30]
• 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", and the second was a duet with Suede singer Brett Anderson on the Suede song "Saturday Night".^[31]
• In 1992, his backing vocals featured prominently on the Boy George single "The Crying Game"^[32] and on the Cicero single "Love Is Everywhere".^[33] Both reached the UK Top 40 singles chart.^[34][35]
• In 1989, he worked with Electronic, singing backing vocals on their first single "Getting Away with It" and taking lead vocals on the 1992 single "Disappointed". Along with Lowe, he wrote and appeared on the Electronic album track "The Patience of a Saint", on which he shared lead vocals with Bernard Sumner.^[36]

Books

• One Hundred Lyrics and a Poem (2018) – a collection of Pet Shop Boys' lyrics and song-by-song commentaries.^[37]

Personal life

Tennant came out as gay in a 1994 interview in Attitude magazine.^[38][39] Otherwise he remains quiet about his personal and romantic life, preferring to be a "man of mystery", as he states it.^[40] He maintains a house in London. He owned a house in County Durham^[41] in the countryside of North East England,^[42] but has since sold it.^[43] He and Lowe also have an apartment in Berlin.^[44]

Tennant is a patron of the Elton John AIDS Foundation.^[45] In 1998, Tennant was named in a list of the biggest private financial donors to the Labour Party.^[46] However, in the 2005 general election he voted for the Liberal Democrats, citing disillusionment with Labour's ID card scheme.^[47] The Pet Shop Boys agreed to personal appeals by then-Mayor of London Boris Johnson and then-Prime Minister David Cameron, both prominent Conservative Party politicians, for the group to play at the "winners' parade" taking place shortly after the 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony. Enjoying the event's atmosphere and how their stage presence turned into a well-received performance, Tennant subsequently texted Cameron's staff pushing Cameron to use gay scientist Alan Turing's centenary year as impetus for the UK Government to formally pardon Turing.^[48] The formal pardon did go through on 24 December 2013, with the related official paperwork signed by Queen Elizabeth II.

Tennant has praised the group The Specials and singer-songwriter Elvis Costello, highlighting "Ghost Town" and "Shipbuilding" as protest songs successfully putting politics into pop music.^[48]

He has criticised ageism in the music industry, stating in 2013 that radio professionals would tell him that they want to play Pet Shop Boys songs on the air, but will not because the duo, then in their 50s, were considered to be "too old".^[48]

Legacy

Actor David Tennant adopted his stage name from Tennant when joining Equity, as another actor was already registered with his birth name, David McDonald.^[49][50][51]

See also

• Notable alumni of St Cuthbert's High School

References

1. Ewing, Tom (28 May 2010). "Imperial". Pitchfork. Retrieved 21 October 2022. I felt at this time that we had the secret of contemporary pop music, that we knew what was required. We entered our imperial phase.
2. "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
3. Heath, Chris (2020). Pet Shop Boys, Literally. London: William Heinemann. p. 278. ISBN 9781473575691.
4. Graham, Hannah (25 November 2016). "Childhood homes of North's stars; Where Our Famous Sons and Daughters Grew Up". Evening Chronicle. Newcastle, UK. Retrieved 11 October 2024.
5. Tennant 2018, p. 16-17, 96-97, 192-193.
6. Heath, Chris (2018). Behaviour: Further Listening 1990-1991 (booklet). Pet Shop Boys. Parlophone Records. pp. 6–7. 0190295818852.
7. Tennant 2018, p. 9.
8. Harrison, Ian (August 2013). "Pet Shop Boys Interviewed: We prefer not to be fake". Mojo. Retrieved 8 October 2024.
9. Tapper, James (10 April 2022). "From Pet Shop Boy to nostalgic folkie: Neil Tennant plays guitar". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 8 October 2024.
10. Tennant 2018, p. 10.
11. Pet Shop Boys, Annually. 1989. ASIN 0723568421.
12. "Pet Shop Boys Official Site, History Section 1975". petshopboys.co.uk. Retrieved 11 October 2024.
13. Ellen, Mark and Hepworth, David (hosts) (9 April 2024). Word in Your Ear ep. 621: Neil Tennant remembers the pop press and the last great era of forward-looking songs (podcast).
14. "The Dairy Book of Home Management - Hardcover". ABE Books.co.uk. 1980. Retrieved 8 October 2024.
15. Turner, Luke (20 May 2024). "Playful yet Professional, Nevertheless: a Pet Shop Boys Interview". The Quietus. Retrieved 11 October 2024.
16. Perrone, Pierre (5 April 2012). "Eric Watson: Photographer who worked with the Pet Shop Boys and for pop bible Smash Hits". The Independent. London. Retrieved 11 October 2024.
17. Heath, Chris (2018). Please: Further Listening 1984-1986 (booklet). Pet Shop Boys. Parlophone. p. 1. 0190295831745.
18. LeJarde, Arielle Lana (7 August 2024). "Bronski Beat's 'Why' remixed by Pet Shop Boys' Neil Tennant and Superchumbo: Listen". DJ Mag. Retrieved 3 November 2024.
19. Fairman, Richard (26 June 2024). "Composer Michael Berkeley is joined by famous friends on 'Collaborations' — review". Financial Times. London. Retrieved 3 November 2024.
20. Achenbach, Andrew. "M Berkeley Collaborations". Grammophone. Retrieved 3 November 2024.
21. Davies, Sam (26 October 2023). "An extremely rare interview with Casisdead". The Face. Retrieved 11 October 2024.
22. Giles, Jeff (6 February 2017). "Pretenders Release New Version of "Let's Get Lost" Featuring Pet Shop Boys' Neil Tennant". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved 10 October 2024.
23. Carlsson, Johan (24 April 2014). "Neil Tennant sings on new song by Diamond Version". Release Music Magazine. Retrieved 10 October 2024.
24. Vozick-Levinson, Simon (4 August 2020). "U2, Elton John, and the Killers record Xmas songs for charity". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 12 October 2024.
25. Cohen, Jonathan (12 February 2007). "Rufus Wainwright Seeing 'Stars' On Next Album". Billboard. Retrieved 11 October 2024.
26. Spencer, Roy (1 May 2020). "Classic Album: DJ Fresh". Future Music. Retrieved 12 October 2024 – via PressReader.
27. Hogwood, Ben (19 June 2005). "Superchumbo - Wowie Zowie". Resident Advisor. Retrieved 12 October 2024.
28. "No Regrets - Robbie Williams". petshopboys.co.uk. 23 November 1998. Retrieved 12 October 2024.
29. "Noel Coward — Twentieth Century Blues". petshopboys.co.uk. 6 September 1998.
30. Dalton, Stephen (12 March 2012). "From Rock's Backpages: Neil Tennant & Brett Anderson on Noel Coward". The Quietus. Retrieved 12 October 2024.
31. "Film Star". petshopboys.co.uk. 1 August 1997. Retrieved 7 October 2024.
32. Kenny, Glenn (1 March 1993). "'Crying' Time for Boy George, Pet Shop Boys". Rolling Stone.
33. Earls, John (29 August 2023). "Cicero - Future Boy". Classic Pop. p. 95.
34. "Boy George Songs and Albums: Full Official Chart History". Official Charts. Retrieved 12 October 2024.
35. "Cicero Songs and Albums: Full Official Chart History". Official Charts. Retrieved 12 October 2024.
36. Draper, Jason (31 May 2021). "Interview: Johnny Marr looks back on Electronic's debut album 30 years on". Music Radar. Retrieved 11 October 2024.
37. Tennant, Neil (2018). One Hundred Lyrics and a Poem: 1979–2016. London: Faber & Faber. ISBN 9780571348909. OCLC 1085375005.
38. Burston, Paul (13 March 2016). "Attitude Archive: Neil Tennant's 1994 Coming Out Interview". Attitude. Archived from the original on 14 March 2016. Retrieved 29 August 2016.
39. "For Hard-Core Petheads: The Tennant Interview in Full". The Atlantic. 5 June 2009. Retrieved 29 August 2016.
40. "I prefer to be Neil Tennant, man of mystery". The Herald. 25 January 2020.
41. "I refuse to be restricted by background - or fear". The Guardian. 4 September 2004. Retrieved 14 February 2016.
42. Desert Island Discs, BBC Radio 4, Kirsty Young
43. Diament, Robert and Tovey, Russell (hosts) (25 April 2024). Talk Art, season 21, ep. 5: Pet Shop Boys (podcast). Event occurs at 1:13.
44. "Pet Shop Boys: Neil Tennant mag fast alles an Berlin". morgenpost.de. 21 January 2020. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
45. "Elton John AIDS Foundation patrons". ejaf.com. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
46. "'Luvvies' for Labour". BBC News. 30 August 1998.
47. "Pet Shop Boys protest at ID cards". BBC News. 1 March 2006.
48. "The Pet Shop Boys on texting Cameron and Russian homophobia". New Statesman. 10 June 2021.
49. Tim Walker "David Tennant: The good doctor", The Independent, 29 March 2008
50. Shannon, Sarah (7 December 2005). "David Tennant: His days of blissful anonymity are numbered". The Independent. UK. Archived from the original on 21 April 2006.
51. "David Tennant reveals Pet Shop Boys inspiration". BBC News. 19 March 2015. Retrieved 1 August 2022.

External links

• Pet Shop Boys official website
• Neil Tennant discography at Discogs
• Neil Tennant at IMDb