Biography by Chris Woodstra
Singer/songwriter keyboardist/guitarist Tim Finn was born in Te Awamutu, New Zealand. Influenced by not only British Invasion acts like the Beatles, the Move, and the Kinks, but also his Catholic upbringing and the communal singalongs of the native Maori people, Finn founded the '70s art-rock turned new wave band Split Enz, leading the band through several albums to moderate international success. The success of the between-albums solo project, Escapade, led to his leaving the band in 1983.
He followed with the more ambitious second album, Big Canoe (1985) which went virtually ignored (it was unreleased in the U.S. until the success of his brother's band, Crowded House, stirred up enough interest by 1988). Finn returned in 1989 with a self-titled album for Capitol Records. Despite good reviews, this too failed to make much of a impact.
He joined his brother Neil Finn's band, Crowded House, for their Woodface album but left mid-tour and released his fourth solo album, Before and After in 1993. In 1995, he joined with Hothouse Flowers' Liam O Maonlai and Andy White, releasing an album under the group name ALT. A long-rumored collaboration between the Finn brothers was finally released in late 1995 under the name Finn brothers (it was released in the spring of 1996 in the U.S.). Finn returned to his solo career by the fall of 1996.
In 1999, he completed work on his fifth solo album, Say It Is So, which was released early the following year. Together in Concert: Live, a live album documenting his highly successful tour of New Zealand with Bic Runga and Dave Dobbyn, was issued in early 2001.
In fall the same year, Finn released another full-length, Feeding the Gods. A second Finn brothers album was released in 2004 and in 2006, following a brief Split Enz reunion, he returned with a solo album, Imaginary Kingdom. In November of 2008, Finn released The Conversation, an intimate album recorded with former Split Enz members violinist Miles Golding and keyboardist Eddie Rayner, along with guitarist Brett Adams.
Content provided by All Music Guide (C) 2013 All Media Guide, LLC.
