Neil Tennant, singer and songwriter with the Pet Shop Boys, is one half of the most successful British pop duo of all time, having sold 100 million records worldwide. With his musical partner of over 40 years, Chris Lowe, Neil Tennant is known for wry, observational lyrics set to electronic dance beats and bittersweet melodies. They’ve made 14 studio albums, all of them with one word titles - from Please and Actually in the 80s, to Super and Hotspot in recent years.

Neil Tennant tells John Wilson about his most important cultural influences. He joined the Young People’s Theatre in his native Newcastle in the 1960s, the start of a lifelong passion for drama and live performance. He recalls buying an acoustic guitar at the age of 11 and writing his first ever songs. David Bowie was a huge influence on Neil, having seen the legendary Ziggy Stardust show at Newcastle City Hall in 1972. He later collaborated with his hero when Pet Shop Boy remixed the Bowie track Hallo Spaceboy in 1996. Neil also recalls the social and cultural influence of Heaven nightclub in the early 1980s, the centre of London’s gay scene, where he first heard the work of producer Bobby Orlando and other pioneers of electronic dance music.

Producer: Edwina Pitman