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Neil Tennant

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Neil Tennant is the singer and lyricist of the Pet Shop Boys. He was born in 1954 in North Shields and grew up in Newcastle, where as a teenager he acted in a youth theatre, taught himself guitar and started a small folk group. From 1972 he studied history in London. He then worked at publishers, including Marvel UK, and from 1982 at the pop magazine Smash Hits, where he was news editor and interviewed, among others, Madonna.

Music and breakthrough

In August 1981 Tennant met Chris Lowe, and the two began writing songs together as Pet Shop Boys. In New York Tennant met the producer Bobby Orlando, who made a first version of West End Girls in 1984. In 1985 the duo signed with Parlophone and Tennant left Smash Hits. Up to 1988 four number 1 hits followed in England. Tennant himself coined the term imperial phase for such a period in which an artist seems able to do no wrong.

Influence

Tennant writes most of the duo's lyrics. They are full of literary and political references and are set to dance music. He sings in a dry, detached manner, and sometimes speaks his lyrics more than he sings them. In It's a Sin he worked in memories of his schooldays. In 1994 he told the magazine Attitude that he is gay. He also sang with Electronic, including on Getting Away with It, and in 2018 his book One Hundred Lyrics and a Poem was published.

Listening

Listening tip. In West End Girls, listen to the verses, in which Tennant speaks his lyrics more than he sings them, almost like a rapper. Notice the cool, calm tone of his voice above the deep bass line and the synthesizers.

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.

Categories: Artists