Across five decades and counting, New Zealand-born singer/songwriter and Crowded House founder Neil Finn has become one of the best-loved figures in popular music, crafting enough hits along the way—‘Weather With You’, ‘Locked Out’, ‘I Got You’, ‘Fall At Your Feet’, ‘It’s Only Natural’, and of course ‘Don’t Dream It’s Over’—to forge his very own one-man Great Antipodean Songbook.

One fateful day in April 1977, teenage Neil received a transcontinental phone call that would change his life. It was his older brother, Tim, calling from London, England, with a simple question: ‘Do you want to join the band?’ That band, the art-rock combo Split Enz, would provide the launchpad for a career that has taken in widespread international success with Crowded House, as a solo artist, back with Tim in The Finn Brothers, and as a touring member of Fleetwood Mac.

There have been bumps along the road, including repeated clashes with Tim and the tragic death of original Crowded House drummer Paul Hester, but taken as a whole, Finn’s story is one of the most inspiring musical sagas of modern times. Australian author and journalist Jeff Apter has observed Neil’s career from close quarters since the late 70s, from frantic early Enz gigs to private listening parties to huge reunion shows and numerous points in between, giving him the perfect perspective to write this intimate, even-handed biography.