Joanne Hogg

Joanne 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, Joanne 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, Joanne 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, Joanne 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, "". 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.

Discography

*"Raphael's Journey" - (2008)
*"Personal" - (2008)
*"Looking Into Light" - (1999)
*"Celtic hymns" - (2006 reissue of "Looking Into Light")
* See "Iona for a list of its recordings

Collaborations

*"New Irish Hymns" (2002) (with Moya Brennan and Margaret Becker)
*"New Irish Hymns 2" (2003) (with Margaret Becker and Kristyn Getty)
*"New Irish Hymns 3 Incarnation " (2004) (with Margaret Becker and Kristyn Getty)
*"New Irish Hymns 4" (2005) (with Margaret Becker and Kristyn Getty)
*"Songs for Luca" (with other Iona members and various other artists)
*"Veil of Gossamer" (with Dave Bainbridge)
*"Xenogears Original Soundtrack" (with Yasunori Mitsuda)
*"" (with Yasunori Mitsuda)
*"" (with Yasunori Mitsuda)
*"" (with Yasunori Mitsuda)
*"The Unseen Stream" (solo release by Troy Donockley)
*"The Pursuit of Illusion" (solo release by Troy Donockley)

References

* [http://www.iona.uk.com/newindex/2004_pages/history_homepage.htm Official Iona Band biography]
* [http://www.gospel.it/iona/biography.html Iona Band biography]
* [http://www.iona.uk.com/joannebio.htm Joanne Hogg's page]
* [http://www.squareenixmusic.com/vocalists/hogg.shtml Profile at Square Enix Music Online]

External links

* [http://www.iona.uk.com Official Iona website]