Tim Finn

Tim Finn is an New Zealander singer and songwriter, best known as the frontman of Split Enz. He debuted as a solo artist with the 1983 album Escapade, which spawned the cross-Tasman No. 2 hit “Fraction Too Much Friction.” In 1985, he appeared as a bandleader and jingle-writer in the Australian romantic comedy The Coca-Cola Kid. He scored a minor US hit with “How’m I Gonna Sleep” from his 1989 third solo album.

His younger brother, Neil Finn, formed Crowded House after Split Enz disbanded in 1984. Tim joined them for their 1991 third album Woodface, which features seven Finn–Finn co-writes. They later released two albums as the Finn Brothers. 

Background

He was born Brian Timothy Finn on June 25, 1952, in Te Awamutu, Waikato, New Zealand; one of four children borne to Mary, an Irish-born catholic; and Richard, a farmer’s son and World War II veteran. Finn has two sisters and one younger brother, Neil Mullane Finn, born on May 27, 1958.

Brain (and later Neil) attended Sacred Heart College, a catholic secondary school in Auckland, where he met Jonathan Michael Chunn. Inspired by The Beatles, Finn and Chunn formed a band that competed in the school’s 1969 Walter Kirby contest. They won first prize with a rendition of the Bee Gees‘ “Words.”

Discography:

• Escapade (1983)
  
• Big Canoe (1986)
  
• Tim Finn (1989)
  
• Before & After (1993)

Sources:

• Discogs: Tim Finn