Joanne Hogg

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Joanne Hogg
Joanne Hogg.jpg
Joanne Hogg during a 2010 Iona concert
Background information
Occupation(s)Musician
Instrument(s)
  • Vocals
  • guitar
  • keyboards
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Joanne Hogg is a Northern Irish musician, best known for her work as the lead singer and songwriter with the Celtic Christian progressive rock and pop band Iona (named after the island Iona). [1]

Contents

Early life and education

Hogg was born in Ballymena to a family of medical missionaries. [2] 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 and she studied medicine at Queen's University Belfast. In her third year, Hogg was singing at the Christian Artists talent event and was convinced to sing in a school ministry at Youth for Christ in Denmark. After a year, Hogg got married and returned to university to complete her two remaining years of schooling. [2]

After graduating, Hogg interned as a junior doctor at Belfast City Hospital to complete her registration. Six months into working at the hospital, she was taken ill and stopped working for seven months to recover; [2] after recovering, she completed her registration as a doctor, but was advised on medical grounds not to continue in full-time medical work for a year.

During her convalescence, she had been contacted by Dave Bainbridge and Dave Fitzgerald, who had considered forming a band. In 1989, Hogg ceased practising medicine, and Iona was born. [3] Since then, Hogg has sung all over Europe and America. Iona's recordings have become successful worldwide, making them Europe's best-selling contemporary Christian band. [4]

Musical career

Hogg recorded her first solo album in 1999, entitled Looking into Light . The tracks that feature on this album are a selection of re-arranged traditional hymns, with Iona providing the instrumental melodies. In 2001, Hogg collaborated with vocalists Máire Brennan and Margaret Becker for the release New Irish Hymns . [5] There have been a further three volumes of the New Irish Hymns series of albums involving other vocals. Iona also provided the instrumentals.

In 2008, Hogg released two solo albums, Raphael's Journey and Personal. [5] 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. Hogg, 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 Hogg, "to give fans the true story of the album".

Her vocals were further featured in the 1998 PlayStation role-playing video game Xenogears . [1] 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 spiritual sequel to Xenogears, Xenosaga: Episode One released four years later in 2002. Two tracks were recorded for this game: the ending-theme "Kokoro", and the song "Pain", which plays during the final cutscene of the game. 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 with Yuki Kajiura as the game's musical composer. Hogg later returned to the Xeno series with the release of Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed , for which she performed the ending theme, "Future Awaits", again composed by Mitsuda.

Awards

Hogg has won the Classic Rock Society award for Best Female Vocalist on two occasions. [6]

Discography

Collaborations

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<i>New Irish Hymns 3</i> 2004 studio album by Margaret Becker, Joanne Hogg, Kristyn Getty

New Irish Hymns 3: Incarnation is the third in a series of themed albums created and produced by Keith Getty. This album features vocalists Margaret Becker, Joanne Hogg, and Kristyn Getty performing songs by Keith Getty and others. Margaret Becker and Joanne Hogg performed on the first New Irish Hymns album with Moya Brennan; all three singers on this CD also performed on New Irish Hymns 2: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and New Irish Hymns 4: Hymns for the Life of the Church.

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New Irish Hymns 4: Hymns for the Life of the Church is the fourth and final album in a series of themed albums created and produced by Keith Getty. This album features vocalists Margaret Becker, Joanne Hogg, and Kristyn Getty performing songs by Keith Getty and others. Margaret Becker and Joanne Hogg performed on all four albums in the series. Kristyn Getty performed on nos. 2-4; printings before her marriage to Keith Getty used her maiden name, Kristyn Lennox.

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New Irish Hymns is a series of Christian-themed albums created and produced by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend. Each album is performed by different singers:

  1. New Irish Hymns - - sung by Máire Brennan, Margaret Becker and Joanne Hogg
  2. New Irish Hymns 2 - sung by Margaret Becker, Joanne Hogg, and Kristyn Lennox (Getty)
  3. New Irish Hymns 3 - sung by Margaret Becker, Kristyn Getty and Joanne Hogg
  4. New Irish Hymns 4 (subtitled Hymns for the Life of the Church - sung by Margaret Becker, Kristyn Getty and Joanne Hogg
<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keith & Kristyn Getty</span> Northern Irish Christian duo

Keith & Kristyn Getty are a musical duo from Northern Ireland, focusing on hymns and other Christian music. They are best known for the 2001 hymn “In Christ Alone”, co-written with Stuart Townend.

References

  1. 1 2 IMDB website, Joanne Hogg
  2. 1 2 3 Iona website, Joanne Hogg
  3. Music Glue website, Iona
  4. "Joanne Hogg". Celticatlanta.com. Archived from the original on 28 July 2014. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
  5. 1 2 Cross Rhythms website, Joanne Hogg: The Iona singer talks about prophetic worship, article by Tony Cummings and Martin Purnell dated 31st May 2009
  6. Musical Discoveries website, Iona