1. Neil Francis Tennant was born on 10 July 1954 and 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.
18 Facts About Neil Tennant
1. 2.
Neil Tennant was a journalist for Smash Hits, and assistant editor for the magazine in the mid-1980s.
3.
Neil Francis Tennant was born in the town of North Shields, approximately 8 miles east of Newcastle upon Tyne, to William W Tennant, a sales representative, and Sheila M Tennant.
4.
Neil Tennant has an older sister, Susan, and two younger brothers, Simon and Philip.
5.
Neil Tennant was a member of the youth theatre at the People's Theatre, Newcastle upon Tyne.
6.
In 1975, having completed a degree in history at North London Polytechnic, Neil Tennant worked for two years as the production editor for Marvel UK, the UK branch of Marvel Comics.
7.
Neil Tennant 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.
8.
Neil Tennant wrote occasional features for the comics, including interviews with pop stars Marc Bolan and Alex Harvey.
9.
Neil Tennant edited The Smash Hits Yearbook from 1982 to 1985.
10.
Neil 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.
11.
Alongside his work with Chris Lowe as Pet Shop Boys, Neil Tennant has worked on several side projects including:.
12.
Neil Tennant came out as gay in a 1994 interview in Attitude magazine.
13.
Neil Tennant owned a house in County Durham in the countryside of North East England, but has since sold it.
14.
Neil Tennant is a patron of the Elton John AIDS Foundation.
15.
In 1998, Neil Tennant was named in a list of the biggest private financial donors to the Labour Party.
16.
Neil 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.
17.
Neil Tennant 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".
18.
Actor David Neil Tennant adopted his stage name from Neil Tennant when joining Equity, as another actor was already registered with his birth name, David McDonald.