English singer-songwriter Neil Tennant was BOTD in 1954. Born in North Shields, Northumberland, he was raised in Gosforth. He showed an early talent for music, teaching himself to play the guitar and piano, and played in a folk group in his teens. He studied history at North London Polytechnic, he worked as an editor for Marvel UK and teen pop magazine Smash Hits magazine. In 1981, he formed synth-pop band Pet Shop Boys with Chris Lowe. Their 1984 debut single West End Girls became a worldwide No 1 hit, selling over 1.5 million copied worldwide. The song won a BRIT Award and an Ivor Novello Award, with Tennant’s detached, melancholic vocals drawing comparisons with Deborah Harry and Marlene Dietrich. Further success followed with the queer-coded singles Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots of Money), It’s a Sin and Rent, and high-energy covers of Willie Nelson’s Always on My Mind and the Village People anthem Go West. Tennant collaborated regularly with filmmaker Derek Jarman, who designed their early stage appearances and directed the music video for It’s a Sin. They also turned heads with a homoerotic video for their single Heart, starring Ian McKellen as a horny gay vampire. Their 1987 song What Have I Done to Deserve This?, written for and performed with Dusty Springfield, was credited with reviving her career. They performed a similar career resuscitation on Liza Minnelli, producing her 1989 album Results, including a cover of Stephen Sondheim‘s song Losing My Mind. Their popularity waned in the late 1980s, though they continued recording and touring, returning to the music charts with a disco remix of U2’s Where the Street Have No Name and their 1991 retrospective album Discography. Their 1994 charity single Absolutely Fabulous, written in tribute to the popular TV comedy series, was also a surprise hit. They collaborated with David Bowie, Tina Turner and Kylie Minogue, and produced the Noël Coward tribute album Twentieth Century Blues, with contributions from Elton John, Marianne Faithfull, Bryan Ferry, Paul McCartney and Robbie Williams. Their recent projects include rescoring Sergei Eisenstein‘s film Battleship Potemkin, a musical tribute to gay codebreaker Alan Turing, and the 2024 album Nonetheless. Now recognised as one the most successful duos in British music history, the Pet Shop Boys have sold 100 million records worldwide. Famously enigmatic about his sexuality, Tennant finally came out as gay in Attitude magazine in 1994. He has homes in London, County Durham and Berlin. His relationship status is unknown.