iSound

Millions of people are born in London, or Chicago, or Barcelona, but Neil Finn is not one of them. On May 27, 1958, he was born in Te Awamutu, a rural town in New Zealand. At that time the country was as culturally isolated as it is geographically remote from the rest of the world. "You had to walk miles to find a museum," Neil remembers, and even when you got there, it might be just an old man's collection of twigs." Musical entertainment in the Finn household was often a homemade affair. Neil and his elder brother Tim would be called upon to perform at their parents' frequent parties, their mother Mary leading the fray at the piano. The Finns were Catholics and at these parties priests would mingle with drink, to thrilling effect. The sing-a-longs made a lasting impression on the tiny Neil -- years later, playing at the Sydney Opera House for the huge turnout at Crowded House's farewell concert, "I was suddenly four years old again, performing in front of what...