Neil Hannon (born 7 November 1970) is a singer and songwriter, best known as the creator (in 1989) and frontman of the orchestral pop group, The Divine Comedy. The band's official website even goes so far as to say, "The Divine Comedy is Neil Hannon," and Hannon is quoted in an interview as saying, "The Divine Comedy will always be my band because... I thought of it first!"

Hannon was born in Derry in Northern Ireland, the son of Brian Hannon (born 1936), an Anglican clergyman who was Bishop of Clogher from 1986 to 2001. He moved with his family to Enniskillen, in County Fermanagh, in 1982 . While there he attended Portora Royal School.

In 2004, he played alongside the Ulster Orchestra for the opening event of the Belfast Festival at Queen's. In 2005 he contributed vocals to his long-time collaborator, Joby Talbot's, soundtrack for the movie version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

In 2006, it was announced that Hannon was to lend his vocal ability to the Doctor Who soundtrack CD release, recording two songs — "Love Don't Roam" for the 2006 Christmas special, "The Runaway Bride", and a new version of "Song For Ten", originally used in 2005's "The Christmas Invasion". On January 12, 2007, the MediaGuardian.co.uk website's "Media Monkey" diary column reported that Doctor Who fans from the discussion forum on the fan website Outpost Gallifrey were attempting to organise mass downloads of the Hannon-sung "Love Don't Roam", which was available as a single release on the UK iTunes store. This was in order to attempt to exploit the new UK singles chart download rules, and get the song featured in the Top 40 releases.

In 2007 Neil added his vocal talents on the new Air album Pocket Symphony featuring on the track Somewhere Between Waking and Sleeping.

Neil won the 2007 Choice music award for his 2006 album, 'Victory for the Comic Muse'. Ironically, it was announced the next day that he left EMI by 'mutual consent'.

When the band Keane played at the O2 Arena in London in July, A Bad Dream was introduced by Hannon. He introduced it by reading the poem by W.B. Yeats upon which the song is based.

Discography

• Fanfare For The Comic Muse - July 1990
• Liberation - August 1993
• Promanade - March 1994
• Casanova - April 1996
• A Short Album About Love - February 1997
• Fin de Siecle - August 1998
• A Secret History The Best Of - August 1999
• Regeneration - March 2001
• Absent Friends - March 2004
• Victory For The Comic Muse - June 2006

See also

• The Cake Sale
• Tinsel and Marzipan

References

1. Neil Hannon at the Internet Movie Database
2. The Divine Comedy - Neil Hannon, locked in a room (1999).
3. The Church of Ireland Diocesan Press Release (29 October 2003).
4. Who's in the pop charts?. Guardian Unlimited (2007-01-12). Retrieved on 2007-01-13.

External links

• Biography of Neil Hannon - part of the official Divine Comedy website
• Neil Hannon interview
• a short site about The Divine Comedy
• Culture Northern Ireland