Neil Tennant | |
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![]() Tennant performing with Pet Shop Boys at Hyde Park in 2019 | |
Background information | |
Birth name | Neil Francis Tennant |
Born | North Shields, Northumberland, England | 10 July 1954
Origin | Newcastle upon Tyne, England |
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Years active | 1970–present |
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Member of | Pet Shop Boys |
Website | www |
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]
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.