Misplaced Pages

Joanne Hogg: Difference between revisions

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
Browse history interactively← Previous editNext edit →
Revision as of 20:59, 17 January 2009 editRobbot (talk | contribs)94,607 editsm robot Modifying: ga:Joanne Hogg← Previous edit Revision as of 14:10, 18 January 2009 edit undoThe Prince of Darkness (talk | contribs)Pending changes reviewers9,623 editsm moved Joanna Hogg to Joanne Hogg over redirect: official website says "Joanne"Next edit →
(No difference)

Revision as of 14:10, 18 January 2009

Joanna Hogg is an Irish singer and songwriter for the band Iona.

Biography

Hogg was born in Ballymena, Northern Ireland and is best known as the lead singer and songwriter with the Christian progressive Celtic/pop/rock band Iona (named after the island Iona). Her father is a Presbyterian minister, her mother a nurse; her family also includes three sisters and two brothers. With medicine strong in the family, it was natural for Hogg to become a doctor. Thus, she studied medicine at Queens University in Belfast. In her third year, Joanna was singing at the Christian Artists talent event and was convinced sing in a school ministry at Youth For Christ in Denmark. After a year, Joanna returned to the University to complete her two remaining years of schooling.

She started working as a junior doctor in the Belfast Hospital, but in 1988 she was invited to form a band with Dave Fitzgerald and Dave Bainbridge. In 1989, Joanna stopped practicing medicine and Iona was born. Since then, Joanna has sung all over Europe and America. Iona's recordings have become successful worldwide, making them Europe's best selling contemporary Christian band.

Hogg recorded her first solo album in 1999, entitled: 'Looking Into Light'. The tracks that feature on this album are a beautiful selection of re-arranged traditional hymns, with Iona providing the instrumental melodies. In 2001, Hogg collaborated with vocalists Maire Brennan and Margaret Becker for the release: "New Irish Hymns", however to date there have been a further three volumes of the "New Irish Hymns" series of albums involving other vocal. Iona also provided the instrumentals.

Her vocals were further featured in the Sony PlayStation role-playing videogame Xenogears. Composed by Yasunori Mitsuda, the ending-theme song "Small Two Of Pieces", along with an extra track "Stars Of Tears" (not featured in the game) were recorded. Mitsuda also invited her to record the vocal themes for the 'prequel' to Xenogears, Xenosaga: Episode One. Two tracks were recorded for this game: the ending-theme "Kokoro", and insert song "Pain". Soundtracks were released for both of these videogames on the Digicube label. The song "Kokoro" was also released as a CD single. Hogg's vocals were not featured in any of the later Xenosaga releases, as Yasunori Mitsuda was replaced as the game's musical composer.

In 2008, Joanna release two solo albums: Raphael's Journey and Personal. 'Raphael's Journey' is available only as a download and features friend Moya Brennan of Clannad. The album is available only through Kingsway Music UK. Joanna, in her personal press release, says:

Musically, this album is a collection of songs with a few instrumentals. Frank Van Essen has been working with me on this for several years not only as producer, but also co-writing and playing. There are beautiful performances from all my mates in Iona, gorgeous string arrangements from Frank, beautiful guest vocals from the amazing Moya Brennan and piano and vocals from myself......so, please download it and tell others about it."

Her 'Personal' album was also released with a press release by Joanna Hogg, "to give fans the true story of the album".

Discography

Collaborations

References

External links

Categories: