There's a haunting, poignant quality to the songs of Neil Finn. No other singer has had quite the musical progression of Neil Finn. Born in Te Awamutu, a small New Zealand town in 1958, he had a very happy upbringing with the kind of close knit family that you thought only existed in the movies. It was not uncommon for the finn family, the parents, older brother Tim, his sisters and Neil to sing the night away around the piano a cold evening in Te Awamutu. But did Neil ever want to make a career out of singing? Not at stage and he really just fell into it. In the early 1970s older brother Tim formed one of the most successful bands to ever originate from New Zealand, Split Enz. Neil was too young to join the band, as he was still a teenager. When Neil graduated high school in the late 1970s it never crossed his mind that he would join the band that his brother was so successful in. Going into a career in hospital administration, Neil's whole life was changed one day when he got a call from his brother Tim: Tim wanted Neil in the band. tim knew what chemistry the two brothers had together and thought that they could take Split Enz to heights they had still not achieved if the two brothers collaborated. Neil did not even have to think about it. He was in. Some of Split Enz's most memorable moments come from Neil, including "Message to my girl" and the beautiful "I got you" and one feels that without Neil, Spilt enz would not have been half as successful as they were. Neil married a woman called Sharon Johnson, and had to children with her, Liam and Elroy. After Split Enz broke up in 1983 Neil decided he wanted to continue with his music, so recruiting Enz drummer Paul Hester and Australian Nick Seymour, Neil formed Crowded House. Named crowded House because they all lived together in a cramped shared house while recording their first studio album, Crowded House found the kind of success that Split Enz could never even dream of. Making number 2 in America with "don't dream it's over" crowded house took the world by storm... but their happy faces were just a show. Drummer Paul Hester suffered from severe depression and left the band in 1993. Crowded House recruited Mark Hart for their latter years, and still were successful. When they broke up in 1996 they played to sold out concerts around Australia. Neil is still very active in the musical scene. Having released two solo albums, an album with his brother and a Split Enz tour on the horizon one never knows what Neil Finn will do next. But, as Neil Finn sung "I don't pretend to know what you want, but I offer love", one of the most thrilling things about Finn is the anticipation of what he will be doing next.