Neil Hannon facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Neil Hannon
Hannon performing in 2007
Background information
Born	(1970-11-07) 7 November 1970 (age 54) Derry, Northern Ireland
Origin	Enniskillen, Northern Ireland
Genres	Alternative rock Britpop art rock baroque pop art pop chamber pop jangle pop orchestral pop alt-pop film score
Occupation(s)	Singer songwriter
Instruments	Vocals guitar piano keyboards
Years active	1986–present
Labels	Setanta Parlophone Divine Comedy

Edward Neil Anthony Hannon (born 7 November 1970) is a talented singer and songwriter from Northern Ireland. He is best known as the founder and lead singer of the band The Divine Comedy. He's been the only constant member of the band since it started in 1989. Neil Hannon also wrote the famous theme songs for the TV shows Father Ted and The IT Crowd. More recently, he wrote the original songs for the musical film Wonka (2023).

Early Life and School

Neil Hannon was born in Derry, Northern Ireland. His father, Brian Hannon, was a minister in the Church of Ireland. Neil spent some of his childhood in Fivemiletown before his family moved to Enniskillen, in County Fermanagh, in 1982. While living there, he went to Portora Royal School.

When he was younger, Neil really liked music made with synthesizers. He said that bands like the Human League and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) were the first music that truly excited him. Later, in the late 1980s, he started to love the electric guitar and became a fan of indie music.

Music Career and TV Work

Neil Hannon is the founder and main person behind The Divine Comedy. This band became very popular in the mid-to-late 1990s with albums like Casanova (1996), A Short Album About Love (1997), and Fin de Siècle (1998). Neil continues to release new music under The Divine Comedy name. His most recent album is Office Politics (2019).

Neil also composed the theme music for the popular TV comedies Father Ted and The IT Crowd. He wrote the Father Ted theme especially for the show, and later turned it into a song called "Songs of Love" on The Divine Comedy's Casanova album. Both of these TV shows were created or co-created by Graham Linehan.

For a Father Ted episode called "A Song for Europe", Neil helped write and sang "My Lovely Horse". This was the funny song that Ted and Dougal entered into a singing contest. He also wrote "The Miracle Is Mine" for the same episode, which was a parody of a typical Eurovision song. Neil also wrote and performed "My Lovely Mayo Mammy" for another episode.

In 2004, Neil Hannon performed with the Ulster Orchestra at the opening of the Belfast Festival at Queen's. In 2005, he sang on the soundtrack for the movie The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

In 2006, Neil lent his voice to the Doctor Who soundtrack. He recorded two songs: "Love Don't Roam" for the 2006 Christmas special, and a new version of "Song for Ten". The next year, fans tried to get "Love Don't Roam" into the UK music charts by downloading it a lot.

In 2007, Neil Hannon won the Choice Music Prize for his 2006 album, Victory for the Comic Muse.

In 2009, Neil worked with Thomas Walsh from the band Pugwash to create a pop album about cricket. They called themselves the Duckworth Lewis Method. Their first album came out in 2009, and a second one, Sticky Wickets, was released in 2013.

Neil also composed music for a stage play based on Arthur Ransome's book Swallows and Amazons. This play first opened in December 2010. A new Divine Comedy album, Bang Goes the Knighthood, was released in May 2010.

In 2012, Neil's first opera, Sevastopol, was performed by the Royal Opera House in London. He also composed music for another opera called In May, which premiered in 2013.

In 2013, Neil was asked to write a piece for the newly fixed organ at the Royal Festival Hall in London. This piece, called To Our Fathers in Distress, was inspired by his father, who had Alzheimer's disease. In 2015, Neil received the Legend Award from the Oh Yeah organisation in Belfast.

Neil wrote the music and songs for the Irish science fiction film LOLA. For this work, he won an IFTA Award in 2024. He also wrote the songs for the 2023 musical film Wonka.

In January 2024, Neil Hannon was a guest on the BBC Radio 3 show Private Passions. He shared some of his favorite classical music pieces during the program.

Personal Life

Since 2009, Neil Hannon's partner has been the Irish musician Cathy Davey. They got married in January 2023 and live in County Kildare, Ireland. Before this, Neil was married to Orla Little, and they have a daughter who was born around 2002.

Neil and Cathy Davey are supporters of an Irish animal charity called My Lovely Horse Rescue. The charity is named after the famous Father Ted Eurovision song that Neil helped create.

Discography

The Divine Comedy Albums

Other Music Contributions

• The Cake Sale (compilation) – "Aliens"
• Doctor Who: Original Television Soundtrack (compilation) – "Song for Ten" (performer)
• Doctor Who: Original Television Soundtrack (compilation) – "Love Don't Roam" (performer)
• Amélie (compilation) – "Les Jours tristes" (instrumental version) (co-writer)
• L'Absente by Yann Tiersen – "Les Jours tristes" (English version) (co-writer and performer)
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Soundtrack (compilation) – "So Long and Thanks for All the Fish" (performer)
• Reload by Tom Jones – "All Mine" (as the Divine Comedy) (performer)
• Pocket Symphony by Air – "Somewhere Between Waking and Sleeping" (writer and performer)
• Songs from the Deep Forest by Duke Special – "Our Love Goes Deeper Than This" (performer)
• Hyacinths and Thistles by the 6ths – "The Dead Only Quickly" (singer)
• Eleven Modern Antiquities by Pugwash – "Take Me Away" (performer)
• Punishing Kiss by Ute Lemper – (multiple tracks) (performer and writer)
• Les piqûres d'araignée by Vincent Delerm – "Favourite Song" (duet track)
• A Mãe by Rodrigo Leão – "Cathy" (performer)
• God Help the Girl by God Help the Girl – "Perfection as a Hipster"; Neil Hannon with Catherine Ireton (performer)
• "No Regrets" by Robbie Williams – backing vocals with Neil Tennant of Pet Shop Boys
• The Silent World of Hector Mann by Duke Special – "Wanda, Darling of the Jockey Club"
• Irrepetible by Coque Malla – duets on "My Beautiful Monster"
• Adventure Man by Eg – "Pay Later" (co-writer and performer)
• Adventure Man by Eg – "If You Run" (co-writer and performer)
• LOLA – soundtrack and songs
• Wonka – songs (co-writer)

See also

• The Duckworth Lewis Method
• Tinsel and Marzipan