Fin Greenall, known professionally as Fink, is an English singer, songwriter, guitarist, producer and disc jockey born in
Cornwall
Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...
and currently based in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
and London. From 1997 to 2003, he focused on electronic music and DJ'd internationally, releasing in 2000 his debut album ''Fresh Produce'' on
Ninja Tune
Ninja Tune is an English independent record label based in London. It has a satellite office in Los Angeles. It was founded by Matt Black and Jonathan More (better known as Coldcut) and managed by Peter Quicke and others.
Inspired by a visit ...
. Since the 2006 release of his album ''
Biscuits for Breakfast
''Biscuits for Breakfast'' is the second album from British musician Fin Greenall and, collectively as Fink, the band's debut album. It was released in 2006 on Ninja Tune.
Background
Prior to this album, Fin Greenall had been DJing and produc ...
'', the name Fink has also referred to the recording and touring trio fronted by Greenall himself, completed by Guy Whittaker (bass) and
Tim Thornton (drums).
Most recently, he has written in collaboration with
John Legend
John Roger Stephens (born December 28, 1978), known professionally as John Legend, is an American singer, songwriter, pianist, and record producer. He began his musical career by working behind the scenes, playing piano on Lauryn Hill's " Ever ...
,
Banks
A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets.
Becaus ...
,
Ximena Sarinana Jimena or Ximena (given name), Ximena is the female version of the given name Jimeno, derived from the Basque ''Semen (name), Semen''. It has come to be viewed as a form of the name Simone (given name), Simone, though their origins are distinct. Th ...
and
Professor Green
Stephen Paul Manderson (born 27 November 1983), better known by his stage name Professor Green or simply Pro Green, is an English rapper, singer, songwriter, actor, television personality and mental health activist from London.
Growing up on ...
. With
Amy Winehouse
Amy Jade Winehouse (14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011) was an English singer and songwriter. She was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres, including soul, rhythm and blues and jazz.
A membe ...
, he co-wrote the song "Half Time", which appears on Winehouse's posthumous collection ''
Lioness: Hidden Treasures''. In 2012, Fink collaborated and performed with the
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra ( nl, Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest, ) is a Dutch symphony orchestra, based at the Amsterdam Royal Concertgebouw (concert hall). Considered one of the world's leading orchestras, Queen Beatrix conferred the " ...
in Amsterdam, resulting in the live album ''
Fink Meets The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra''. Fink is signed to his own label, R'COUP'D Records, a subsidiary of
Ninja Tune
Ninja Tune is an English independent record label based in London. It has a satellite office in Los Angeles. It was founded by Matt Black and Jonathan More (better known as Coldcut) and managed by Peter Quicke and others.
Inspired by a visit ...
, on which he has released his latest albums.
Biography
Early life
Greenall was born 1972 in
Cornwall
Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...
and grew up in
Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
. Greenall recalls "the one thing of his dad's that he wasn't allowed to touch was the old Martin acoustic guitar." Greenall said, "It was his one possession where he said, 'everything in this house is owned by everybody – apart from that.
Their presence influenced his future in music. "The great thing about growing up in a house where music is a big factor... was the fact that music being part of your life was a perfectly natural thing." During his teenage years, he accumulated eclectic musical interests, gravitating towards
The Cure
The Cure are an English Rock music, rock band formed in 1978 in Crawley, Crawley, West Sussex. Throughout numerous lineup changes since the band's formation, guitarist, lead vocalist, and songwriter Robert Smith (musician), Robert Smith has re ...
,
The Smiths
The Smiths were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1982. They comprised the singer Morrissey, the guitarist Johnny Marr, the bassist Andy Rourke and the drummer Mike Joyce. They are regarded as one of the most important acts to emerg ...
, The Orb, African music, and Japanese hardcore, before discovering electronic and dance music at
University of Leeds
, mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased
, established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds
, ...
.
He earned his degree in History and English at University of Leeds and, with student friends, formed the short-lived dance act EVA, who signed to Kikin' Records in 1993. For the remainder of the 1990s and much of the early 2000s, Greenall worked in the music industry for various London-based labels, including
Virgin
Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...
's Source,
Def Jam
Def Jam Recordings (also simply known as Def Jam) is an American multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It is based in Manhattan, New York City, specializing predominantly in hip hop, contemporary R&B, soul and pop.
The ...
, and
Sony
, commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...
. Simultaneously, he pursued a musical career, remixing and producing for various artists, including
Ryuichi Sakamoto
is a Japanese composer, pianist, singer, record producer and actor who has pursued a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO). With his bandmates Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi, Sakamoto inf ...
and
Elbow
The elbow is the region between the arm and the forearm that surrounds the elbow joint. The elbow includes prominent landmarks such as the olecranon, the cubital fossa (also called the chelidon, or the elbow pit), and the lateral and the media ...
but also as a DJ.
Career
Fink's serious recording career began with
Ninja Tune
Ninja Tune is an English independent record label based in London. It has a satellite office in Los Angeles. It was founded by Matt Black and Jonathan More (better known as Coldcut) and managed by Peter Quicke and others.
Inspired by a visit ...
subsidiary N-Tone's release of his debut single "Fink Funk" in 1997,
followed by the album ''Fresh Produce'' in 2000, which was well received. In the following years, he continued to produce other artists, including
Martin Taylor,
Michael Pitt
Michael Carmen Pitt (born April 10, 1981) is an American actor, model, and musician. Pitt is known in film for his roles in ''Murder by Numbers'' (2002), Bernardo Bertolucci's '' The Dreamers'' (2003), Gus Van Sant's '' Last Days'' (2005), and M ...
and
Robert Belfour
Robert "Wolfman" Belfour (September 11, 1940 – February 24, 2015) was an American blues musician. He was born in Red Banks, Mississippi. When he was a child, his father, Grant Belfour, taught him to play the guitar, and he continued his tut ...
.
Towards the mid-2000s, Greenall developed a disillusionment with dance music and being a DJ and began to turn to more traditional musical avenues. It was this feeling which resulted in 2006's ''
Biscuits for Breakfast
''Biscuits for Breakfast'' is the second album from British musician Fin Greenall and, collectively as Fink, the band's debut album. It was released in 2006 on Ninja Tune.
Background
Prior to this album, Fin Greenall had been DJing and produc ...
'', the first album to feature current collaborators Guy Whittaker and
Tim Thornton, with whom Greenall had been friends for a few years but had not yet worked. Built around his bluesy voice, finger-picking acoustic guitar and the stripped-back live rhythm section, the self-produced ''Biscuits'' boasted a fledgling pop sensibility while retaining some of the signature Ninja Tune sonic hallmarks. He became the label's first singer/songwriter.
The album, along with single "Pretty Little Thing", helped define his style and began to bring his name to a wider, and higher-profile, audience, notably
Zero 7
Zero 7 are an English musical duo consisting of Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker. They began as studio engineers and in 1997 formed the group Zero 7. Their debut album, '' Simple Things'', was released in 2001 in which their song " Destiny" stayed ...
, who invited Fink to support them on their UK tour.
2007–2009: ''Distance and Time'' and ''Sort of Revolution''
During the extensive European and American tours which accompanied ''Biscuits'', Greenall began to write songs for the follow-up album. For this, he collaborated both with his bandmates and third parties, teaming up with
Blair MacKichan
Blair MacKichan is a British musician and songwriter.
He started his musical career playing drums, then later progressed to the piano. As a musician he fronts a band named ''Blair and Friends''.
MacKichan writes a lot of his own material. He w ...
for the writing of the "This is the Thing", and producer Andy Barlow of
Lamb
Lamb or The Lamb may refer to:
* A young sheep
* Lamb and mutton, the meat of sheep
Arts and media Film, television, and theatre
* ''The Lamb'' (1915 film), a silent film starring Douglas Fairbanks Sr. in his screen debut
* ''The Lamb'' (1918 ...
. The eventual album, ''
Distance and Time'', was released through Ninja Tune in October 2007, and was immediately recognised as a more robust, band-led affair than its predecessor, with
musicOMH
MusicOMH (stylized as musicOMH) is a London-based online music magazine which publishes independent reviews, features and interviews from across all genres including classical, metal, rock and R&B.
History
MusicOMH was founded and launched by ...
stating that "the soft-spoken confessionals of their debut are more accomplished this time, taken to the big city and returned home just as wounded, but more worldly-unwise than their little brothers."
The tour following
Distance
Distance is a numerical or occasionally qualitative measurement of how far apart objects or points are. In physics or everyday usage, distance may refer to a physical length or an estimation based on other criteria (e.g. "two counties over"). ...
's release took Fink to new territories such as Germany, South Africa and Canada, and also saw the band supporting Italian rock band
Negramaro
Negramaro is an Italian pop band formed in 1999 and successful since 2005. Their name stems from ''Negroamaro'', a wine produced in their native district, Salento in Apulia.
After years spent in the Italian alternative market, they finally bec ...
at their climactic
San Siro
Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, commonly known as San Siro, is a football stadium in the San Siro district of Milan, Italy, which is the home of A.C. Milan and Inter Milan. It has a seating capacity of 80,018, making it one of the largest stadiums in ...
stadium show in
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
.
One of ''
Distance and Time''s tracks "If Only" attracted the attention of American singer-songwriter
John Legend
John Roger Stephens (born December 28, 1978), known professionally as John Legend, is an American singer, songwriter, pianist, and record producer. He began his musical career by working behind the scenes, playing piano on Lauryn Hill's " Ever ...
, with whom Greenall collaborated on tracks for his album ''
Evolver''. The hit single "
Green Light", featuring
André 3000
André Lauren Benjamin (born May 27, 1975), better known as André 3000, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. He is best known for being a part of southern hip hop duo Outkast alongside fellow rapper Big Boi.
B ...
, won a
BMI Award for Greenall in 2010.
Legend reciprocated by collaborating on songs for Fink's 2009 album ''
Sort of Revolution''. Greenall decided to return to production duties for this set, resulting in a more experimental approach that the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
's Keira Burgess described as a "sublime study in the art of pleasing yourself without drowning in indulgence".
became a fan of Fink's work at this time, posting the song "Q&A" on their website playlist.
, who commissioned a live session for his late-night show, recorded at the BBC's
.
s accompanying tour was more extensive than previous outings, taking the band to China and Australia for the first time. In the latter country, Fink headlined a three-night stand at the
.
, and the pair decided on a collaboration for Green's upcoming debut album, 2010's ''
''. The track, "Closing The Door", features a rap from Green, a sung vocal from Greenall and instrumental backing from Thornton and Whittaker. The experience led Green to request a further partnership, this time for his 2011 release ''
".
On the American trip for the ''Revolution'' album, Fink was invited to perform at a tribute concert for
. Greenall performed a solo rendition of "The Apologist" from the band's 1998 album ''
''.
Songwriting sessions for Fink's fifth full-length album began in early 2010. For this album, Greenall's process was very different. Greenall recounted in an interview that "after all the live shows and all the fun we'd had on stage, we jammed first as a band. No vocals, just these massive soundscapes. We did about 30 of them. Then a couple of weeks later, go through them, pick the best bits. "Perfect Darkness", the song, was one riff, one bass line and one moment of a 20-minute jam."
The band travelled to Los Angeles to record the subsequent album with producer
On 27 March 2011, the track "Perfect Darkness" was made available for free download via the band's website, followed by the album release on 13 June. The critical reception the album received was positive, with ''
''s Caroline Sullivan describing it as a "delight... achieves such loveliness you don't want it to end",
...