Music and Commedia for the Soul

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Which singer-songwriter and his group have had hit records,  written multiple TV show theme tunes, songs for films, sung backing vocals on a Robbie Williams song, and written possibly the best comedic song about a horse ever...

This man has. Neil Hannon is a singer-songwriter from Northern Ireland. You'll know him better though as the frontman of the Divine Comedy. Hannon though is the band's only constant member since its inception.

The Divine Comedy first came to most people's attention in 1996 with their record "Something For The Weekend," although this lucky break was by a stroke of luck, or maybe it was fate? 
In an interview in the Guardian, Neil Hannon explained: "Chris Evans said something on his Radio 1 breakfast show about having been blown away by a song he’d heard at a friend’s house, by Divine something-or-other. My plugger, listening in the shower, battled travel chaos as he rushed to get a copy to the studio. He handed it in about 10 minutes before the show ended, and Chris played it twice."
The next few years provided them with several hit records, including "The National Express," their biggest hit to date. 

As well as writing and producing 12 albums so far,  Hannon has also provided backing vocals on a Robbie Williams song (No Regrets), as well as producing songs and music for film and TV. These include the theme tunes for the television sitcoms Father Ted and The IT Crowd, as well as the original songs for the musical film Wonka (2023).
Hannon composed the theme music for the sitcoms Father Ted and The IT Crowd, the former theme composed for the show and later reworked into "Songs of Love", a track on the Divine Comedy's breakthrough album Casanova.
For the Father Ted episode, "A Song for Europe", Hannon co-wrote and sang "My Lovely Horse", the song Ted and Dougal enter in Eurosong (a parody of the Eurovision Song Contest). For the same episode, Hannon wrote "The Miracle Is Mine", the 'typical' Eurovision ballad sung by Ted's nemesis, Father Dick Byrne.
As well as being exceptionally busy, he is also a very nice down-to-earth chap, I've met him a couple of times, and both times he was happy to stand and chat. 

But how does he keep productive making music after more than 30 years in the business? On the Divine Comedy Website, Neil Hannon says 
“You need just two key ingredients in order to make interesting music. Knowledge and ignorance. Knowledge is important because you need to feel like you have something to impart. But ignorance is just as important because in failing to get a certain sound or imitate your favourite band, something original happens in the process. Also, if you knew how little you knew when you were starting out, you might never summon up the wherewithal to try.”

The Divine Comedy's next album, "Rainy Sunday Afternoon," is out later this month, and I, for one, cannot wait to hear it.

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